Free Construction Beauty Queen by Sara Daniel

yesterday, T-shirts were the construction ensemble of choice, so she dressed in a pink Ralph Lauren design with jeans, along with her denim blazer, since the air blowing in her open window was chilly. The thumb she’d smashed yesterday was bruised but didn’t bother her as long as she was careful with it.
    She covered her feet with Band-Aids and put on her black boots. Sneakers would have been more comfortable, but she’d already figured out that boots were expected in this industry. Matt needed to see her as a professional, so instead of waiting for him to pick her up at her trailer, she drove to the Kortville Construction office to meet him.
    His truck was already parked in front of the small building across the street from the diner. She strolled inside and almost turned and dashed out again. Papers were strewn everywhere. A large desk in the middle of the room had teetering stacks nearly two feet high that completely obscured a computer monitor. If a keyboard was underneath the piles, she saw no sign of it.
    “What are you doing here?” Matt stepped into the hallway from farther back in the dusty, dingy building.
    “Thinking of hiring a cleaning service,” she teased. “I assume you have a method to all this and you don’t have a secretary smothered under these stacks?”
    “I haven’t checked, but I assume not, since we haven’t had a missing persons case in Kortville for a while.” He stepped closer. “What have you eaten today?”
    “I ate.” She glanced over the piles on the desk. One section was a stack of unopened bank statements. Her fingers twitched to open the envelopes and reconcile the number on the statement to the actual balance in his account.
    “I don’t want a repeat of yesterday. I think you should stay home and rest.”
    And not make it to day two, let alone day thirty? Not a chance. “Yesterday I needed carbs and protein, which you provided in stunning fashion. Do you know you’re the first man to cook for me?”
    Awareness flared in Matt’s eyes but when he spoke, his tone was clipped. “Carbs and protein were all I offered.”
    He’d actually offered her a lot more: on the floor of the trailer, laughter so strong it made her forget all her worries. The companionship of his adorable niece when she was overwhelmed with Pauline’s intensity. And the sweetness to go above the call of duty and open his home and his kitchen to her.
    “It wasn’t a date, and I won’t cook for you again,” he finished emphatically.
    “Gotcha, boss.” If he wanted to go the all-business route, she could suck up and accommodate. “I am one hundred percent prepared for this roofing job. I did a lot of reading last night. You’re going to be so impressed.”
    He raised his eyebrows.
    Okay, she’d probably gone a little over the top. “After today, though, you might want to think about putting me to work in the office.” Her blisters would weep with thanks. “I’m good at analyzing business plans and determining their profitability potential. I think I could probably even find your computer under that mess and show you how to turn it on.”
    “What good would that do if I’m not going to use it for anything? I already have a fine handle on which jobs are the most profitable.”
    “Most business owners think so,” she agreed, not the least bit intimidated by his curt tone. She’d seen how tenderly he dealt with his niece following the espresso-soaked grilled cheese incident in the diner. “It’s always interesting to see where the numbers meet your expectations and which ones surprise you.”
    He was getting annoyed; she could see it in the tightness of his mouth. All of a sudden, she wanted to kiss it until it relaxed again.
    “Anyway,” she rushed on before he could speak or she could act on her impulses, “you can think about it while we strip that roof.”
    The awareness sprang to life in his eyes again. Her heart jumped when she realized that maybe he wasn’t thinking about