Everything looked normal.Just workers hauling plywood, someone using a nail gun, Hal arguing with an electrician who looked seconds from throwing him out a window.
She exhaled, turned toward the corner where she wanted the kettlebell rack installed, and froze.
Across the room, half-hidden behind a stack of insulation rolls, the construction worker from yesterday’s confrontation stood watching her.
He wasn’t working or moving.He was just watching.
His posture looked casual at first glance, but the tilt of his head, the way his eyes tracked her every shift, turned her stomach into a tight, sick knot.
There was no wave or nod.He didn’t pretend to be doing anything else but stare at her.
Something icy whispered down her spine.Kayne’s voice echoed in her mind:If he makes you uncomfortable again, you call me.
Chloe swallowed.She didn’t want to overreact, or seem dramatic, or get a man fired.She wanted to be a reasonable, rational adult.Except her pulse was thudding in her throat, loud enough to drown out the buzzsaw two feet away.
She pretended to check her tablet, angling her body subtly so she could watch him in her peripheral vision.He still didn’t move.Simply stood there as if she owed him something.
A chill skated through her.
Heknewshe’d seen him.She felt it in her bones.
She turned toward the opposite wall, trying to appear uninterested and professional, but every nerve ending screamed to look again.
She didn’t get the chance.
Strong, confident footsteps approached, and then Kayne was suddenly beside her, one hand resting lightly on the small of her back.The touch wasn’t possessive, but it was wildly, unfairly effective.
“What’s wrong?”
She tried for casual.“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me, Chloe.Your back is as stiff as steel.”A pause.“The angry kind, not the sexy gym-equipment kind.”
Despite everything, her mouth twitched.“I thought I saw the construction worker from yesterday,” she admitted.
“Which direction?”
“Behind the insulation rolls.Far wall.”
Kayne didn’t turn.Didn’t even shift.To anyone else, he looked like a guy casually surveying the room.But Chloe felt the tension hum through him, coiled and ready.
“His name is Joel Erickson.He’s not there now,” Kayne said.“He’s been warned, and he knows better, but I will keep a closer eye on him.”
The knot in her stomach loosened a fraction, but it was enough to matter.
Chloe didn’t know what warned meant exactly, but the way Kayne said it painted a very specific mental image.One involving Joel regretting his decision to take this job.
Relief washed over her because Kayne was here, with his hand warm and steady on her back, solid as a promise he had no intention of breaking.
Joel might have been watching her, but Kayne?Kayne was watchingeverything.
And Joel was done scaring her.
