Leo glowered at whoever it was at her back. Without further prompting, Tripp gripped her elbow and guided her away for another dance.
Kat tossed one look over her shoulder in Leo’s direction, but he was gone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Leo knewhe shouldn’t have left Kat the way he had at the wedding. He should have shoved his cousin aside and told him to go looking for someone else to dance with. That fact had been made even more clear when he’d taken Kat home in complete and utter silence.
She’d seemed mad the entire ride and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with the dress she’d worn.
Scrubbing at his jaw, Leo shook himself out of his reverie. The building was coming together. There was a large auditorium with access to the outside. It’d be filled with dirt for the horses that would be brought inside. The rest of the building would house offices and therapy spaces for those who needed sessions with a therapist one-on-one.
Jane’s architect certainly knew what he was doing when he’d proposed the setup. And that fact couldn’t have been made clearer than when Mr. Jerris gave his stamp of approval.
Folding his arms across his chest, Leo allowed himself to scan the crews working. There was more he could have been doingright about now. Heaven knew that Bo would give him a talking to if he caught Leo spending too much time waiting around for?—
Leo swallowed hard and glanced toward the entrance of the building for what felt like the hundredth time. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he’d chosen to come to the construction site over taking care of his usual list of chores.
Okay, that was a lie.
He knew exactly what he’d been thinking. He’d been hoping to see Kat and maybe gauge how she was feeling after their little not-date. Dragging a hand down his face, Leo grimaced. As much as he’d wanted to pretend it wasn’t a date, he knew better. He’d been so close to kissing her that his heart still thrummed with that nervous energy from the night before.
All he wanted was one glimpse of her. That’s what he told himself, anyway. He wanted to make sure she was okay, then he’d leave. He could do that.
The sound of the men’s chatter filled the space as they continued working. It mingled with the sound of power tools and boisterous laughter. Leo watched them for a few more minutes, taking note of their progress and how they were using their time so he had something he could report to Kat.
Then, with a heavy sigh, he headed for the front entrance.
He made it halfway there when the door opened and the woman he couldn’t get out of his head entered.
Kat scraped her muddy boots across a mat just as her attention snagged on his. From this distance, her expression wasn’t readable at all. He didn’t know if she was mad or if she could possibly be happy to see him.
Probably the former based on the cold shoulder she’d given him on the ride home.
He rubbed at the back of his neck and continued his stride in her direction. She was utterly, devastatingly beautiful and all she was dressed in was a sweater, jeans, and those old, hand-me-down cowboy boots.
Kat was starting to look like she fit in. Gone was the stiff businesswoman he’d met earlier that summer. Her hair was pulled back into a French braid and it hung down her back with whisps escaping around her face. She didn’t wear a cowboy hat, but if he were honest with himself, it’d make it more difficult to see those pretty eyes of hers.
“Leo,” she mused softly, “I didn’t expect you to be here.”
He cocked a brow. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“I didn’t say it was a disappointment.” Kat maintained their stare as if she didn’t want to be the first one to break the hold one had over the other. There was the cutthroat woman he was falling for.
Wait a dag-gone minute.
Falling for?
He couldn’t be falling for her.
And yet there was no other way to put it.
She’d gotten under his skin, sure. But to develop feelings for someone who had been so utterly annoying in the beginning? He had to be losing his mind.
Leo chuckled. “I’m just doing my job. You know, the one where I keep tabs on this place and give you my input.”
She’d been holding a clipboard with one hand, and she reached for it with the other so she held it with both hands in front of her. Kat tilted her head slightly, studying him for a moment before she asked, “Okay, so what do you have to report?”
He jerked his chin toward the men who were at work framing the office spaces. Currently the whole space was wide open. “They appear to be on track with their schedule. Supplies are at expected levels. There’s been little waste. And the men seem to be more than capable of staying on task.”
