As Nevada spun to face him, he noticed she wasn’t wearing much in the way of makeup and her face was pale.
“Good morning.”
She blinked at him. “Maybe for you.”
Her eyes were red and looked a little puffy. Judging by the shadows underneath, he guessed she’d had a difficult night.
“Hangover?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Had she been out drinking because of him? Well, them. He hoped he was the cause of her morning pain. If only for proof that their meeting had affected her as much as it had affected him.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” she told him.
“Why?”
“You’re looking smug. It’s annoying. In fact, you should go away. Why are you here, anyway? Are you looking for Ethan?”
“I’m looking for you.”
She touched her forehead, as if trying to rub away pain. “I can’t imagine why.” “Sure you can.”
Despite the dark circles and her pallor, she was still appealing. He liked Nevada in jeans and a T-shirt, rather than dressed for an interview. These clothes were more like the woman he remembered.
“I want a do-over,” he told her. “The interview,” he added, just in case she thought he was talking about sex. Not that he would say no to a chance to prove himself.
“I have nothing left to say to you. You have my résumé. That’s enough.”
“You’re right. It is. I want to hire you as a construction manager.”
“Go to hell.”
“Is that an ‘I’ll think about it’?”
“It’s a go to hell. I’m not interested in being played.”
“Why would you think I’m playing you?”
“You’re only offering me the job because I said you were lousy in bed.”
He winced, hoping her voice wouldn’t carry. “This is a project worth tens of millions of dollars. Do you think I’d risk that because of my ego?” He moved toward her. “You’re more than qualified, which is important, but as you pointed out yesterday, you’re a local. You know how things are done around here. You can help us avoid making mistakes.”
It was a lesson he’d learned the hard way more than once. Paying attention to the seemingly foolish rituals and expectations of the locals could often mean the difference between coming in on time and on budget and blowing through all projections.
“I know you’re interested,” he continued. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered applying or showing up for the interview.”
“It was supposed to be with your father,” she snapped. “Not you. I never wanted to see you again.”
“I’m the one in charge.”
“Exactly. Which is why it’s okay for you to leave now.”
As rejections went, she was more than clear. He didn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to beg. He nodded once, then left, still confused about what was going on. He got halfway across the parking lot when a pickup pulled in next to him.
“You’re a long way from the Amazon,” a familiar voice called.
Tucker saw Ethan climbing out of the truck and grinned.
“What are you doing here?” Tucker asked. He and Ethan shook hands, then slapped each other on the back.
“I run the place,” Ethan said, pointing at the sign. “Not that I’m here much these days. I’m over with the turbines.”
Tucker knew his friend had become involved with turbine construction. Wind energy was a growing field and Ethan’s product was in high demand.
“I have some names for you,” Ethan told him, pulling a worn briefcase off the passenger seat. “Good guys you’ll want to think about hiring. A couple work for me, but I’ll let them go. With Nevada leaving, there’s going to be less construction work.”
“Leaving? Where’s she going?”
“To work for you.” Ethan looked surprised. “I know she applied.”
“She did. I just offered her a job, but she turned me down.”
“I don’t get it,” Ethan told him. “She was excited about the opportunity.”
“I wanted her on board.”
There had to be something else going on, Tucker told himself. It couldn’t just be the past. Assuming what she’d said was true, that their time together had been … awful, even that shouldn’t be enough to keep her from coming to work for him. He wasn’t some jerk of a boss.
“I was planning on giving her a team of my best guys.”
Ethan frowned. “Let me talk to her.”
Tucker shook his head. “Don’t. She either wants the job or she doesn’t. It needs to be her choice.”
“Okay. But don’t think this means you’re going to be in town and avoiding me. I want to have you over for dinner. You can meet Liz and the kids. See all you’ve been missing with your nomadic lifestyle.”
“I like my nomadic lifestyle.”
“That’s because you never were as bright as the rest of us.”
NEVADA DID HER BEST to ignore the pounding in her head. She’d taken as much aspirin as she thought was safe and had hydrated enough to water fifteen acres of corn, but she still felt as if she would have been smarter to shoot herself that morning.
Jo had tried to warn her, she reminded herself. She’d been very specific on the consequences of drinking that much—especially for someone who generally limited herself to a single drink. But had she listened? Of course not. Now she was paying the price with a pounding headache and a body that hurt everywhere but her eyelashes.
“I can’t believe you turned down the job.”
The loud words came unexpectedly, causing her to jump. She glanced up and saw her brother standing in the doorway to her office. Tucker had filled up the space nicely, she thought, remembering how good he’d looked and how that had pissed her off.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled, wondering when the last of the alcohol would finally get out of her system.
“You’re going to talk about it. This is what you wanted. You said you were interested in a challenge. Tucker’s offering all that. He thinks you’d be good for his team.”
Telling her sisters what had happened was one thing, but explaining the details to her brother wasn’t a place she was willing to go.
“I’m not interested anymore.”
“Why? I don’t get this. Are you scared?”
“No.”
“Then, what?”
Ethan was a great big brother. In school, he’d looked out for his baby sisters, and as an adult, he’d put his own dreams on hold so he could run the family business and put his younger siblings through college. He’d grown Hendrix Construction into a much larger company and had started a successful turbine business as well. He was a good guy.
That was why she couldn’t tell him about her sordid past with Tucker. Ethan would feel the need to do something, which would only complicate the situation.
“Ethan, I love you. Let it go.”
He stared