Back to Luke by Kathryn Shay

it.” Not only did her overexertion piss him off, he also wasn’t used to people questioning him on the site.
    “Like hell. I was doing just fine until you rushed here on your white horse.”
    He stared her down; she moved in closer and nudged him out of the way with her shoulder. “I mean it, Luke.”
    Damn it. Let her pull a muscle. Maybe an injury would keep her out of the way. He stepped back.
    Though her biceps strained, she carried the lumber—backward no less—over to the foundation. Yanking off her hard hat, she stalked back to him. Those violet eyes looked like purple flame and her damp hair gleamed in the sun. Her face was beet-red. Appealingly, Luke thought incongruously, as she was ready to ream him out. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
    “Excuse me? I’ll run this site however I choose. I am the contractor.”
    “Damn you, you said you’d stay out of my way. Or did you just mean I should stay out of yours?”
    Actually, he had.
    “Oh, God, you did.” She stood straight and threw back her shoulders. “Don’t interfere with what I’m doing.” Her expression was haughty and, despite her somewhat bedraggled appearance, she seemed like royalty. “In case you didn’t notice, I carried that just fine.”
    He’d noticed. “You’re stronger than you used to be. So what?”
    “FYI, I can bench-press my own weight and I run two miles every day. I’m in great shape.”
    Because he couldn’t disagree with the proof of her buff body, and because curiosity got the better of him, he asked, “How come?”
    “So,” she said, again like queen chiding her subject, “I don’t have to deal with chauvinists like you pushing the little lady out of the way.” She turned and walked back to the truck.
    “Ooo-ee,” Ranaletti said, “she sure told you, boss.”
    “The bitch.” This from Hank Herman, a framer who had no tact and never dealt well with women in construction.
    “Man, how long is she going to be here?” Juan Gomez asked. He was a peacemaker and one of Luke’s favorite workers.
    Luke faced his crew. They shouldn’t be letting loose with nasty comments, but since he’d just made an ass out of himself as an example, he didn’t correct them.
    Damn it, how the hell was he going to keep his head on straight and run the site with this woman from his past in his way? Especially since all he really wanted to do was jump her bones?
     

    O NCE AGAIN , Jayne sat in the trailer late that afternoon, taking a break from physical labor. She’d been glad to get away from Luke, who was watching her like a hawk. On the desk, she noticed a picture of Jess, Luke and Timmy, probably from high school, as they were all wearing football jerseys.
    “Jess, where’s Timmy?”
    Jess’s hand froze on the cell phone he was about to use. “Timmy?”
    “Yeah, I haven’t heard you or Luke talk about him much.”
    “We don’t.” He perched on the edge of the desk.
    “Why?”
    “I…” His phone rang. Jess seemed relieved when he said, “Gotta take this. Why don’t you check out the plans more closely? See if there’s anything that doesn’t look up to speed to you.”
    Jess answered the call. After a moment, he rose, went to the file cabinet and got out a folder. Before today, she’d had no idea how complicated his job was. He’d dealt with paperwork for the funding all morning, and now he was trying to set up delivery schedules for floor tile.
    Jayne rolled out the blueprints and began to study them. It was a while before he ended the call and crossed to her. Hunching his shoulders back and forth to let out the tension, she guessed, he said, “How do they look?”
    “I, um, think you could do more for the home owners with a few changes.” She traced a line in the kitchen drawing. “If you moved this wall, you’d still have plenty of space in the dinette, and you could put in a small laundry room over here.”
    Jess examined the blueprints, as he used to in college before he quit. “Actually, I