Free Strictly Business

think?”
    Tony grinned.
    “If you hit the house, I will personally take it out of your hide!”
    Jess smiled at Nick as she climbed onto the back-hoe. “It’s just a little backhoe, and I’ve got a license to operate it. Would you like to see it?”
    “No, I’d rather get your hide!”
    “As long as we understand each other.”
    After he went into the model house, Jess slapped the earphones over her head, pulled on her red gloves, and started up the vehicle. The din, she knew, was horrendous, but fortunately the ear coverings deadened the worst of it.
    Pushing controls and shifting gears, she concentrated on getting the front property contoured into its general shape.
    No more hiding in bathrooms, she thought in relief. The incident with Tony and Nick last night had taken ten years off her life. This morning she had steeled herself and marched right up to Nick to tell him of her day’s plans. Actually, it hadn’t been too bad. In fact, he’d been quite nice, never even mentioning that he’d stopped by. And although she’d felt the pull of attraction, she had managed to dampen it to a mere ache.
    She was now thinking and acting like an adult, instead of a crazy woman, she acknowledged proudly. From this day on, she’d be able to handle herself as a true profes—
    Duane suddenly ran in front of the backhoe, frantically waving his arms. She stopped the machine and pulled the earphones off.
    “What?” she shouted over the noise of the engine.
    He pointed to her left. Glancing around, she saw that she had contoured her way past the model and onto the adjoining property. She hadn’t hurt anything, but still…
    Giving herself a mental slap, Jess backtracked the vehicle and began again. Okay, she thought, so she had a few glitches to work out.
    She managed to finish the general contouring without further incident, although her mind occasionally wandered into forbidden territory. Once she was done, she turned the machine onto the dirt roadway and brought it to a halt in front of the trailer. Jumping down to the ground, she dusted her hands off and surveyed the front property. The sloping she’d created was so gradual, it was almost unnoticeable. There was only the nice deep gouge on the property next door to mar her work. Good thing the house was barely framed out, she thought. She would have had a heck of a time explaining her boo-boo to the buyers.
    Somebody pulled away her earphones.
    “I said, ‘How about lunch?’ ”
    Startled, she whirled around to find Nick grinning at her. “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”
    He chuckled and flicked a finger at the earphones. “I noticed. Now, for the fifth time, how about lunch?”
    “I thought you needed to lose a few pounds.”
    He laughed. “I’m off my diet today. Besides, it will give me a chance to see those sketches you mentioned.”
    She found herself becoming mesmerized by his charming smile. Mentally shaking herself, she realized that the invitation was for a business discussion. That she could handle.
    “I’ll go get the sketches.”
    Ten minutes later, she was sitting in the office trailer, eating a sandwich. Although neither of them had been dressed for a restaurant, she had envisioned a McDonald’s. Instead, Nick had produced a packed cooler.
    “More ‘wine’?” he asked, holding up a bottle of ginger ale.
    She shook her head as she took a bite out of her hoagie.
    “I like these very much,” he said, studying the sketches. “You must have worked all night on them.”
    “Mmm,” she said around a mouthful of tomatoes, lunch meat, bread, and onions. She swallowed. “I wanted them ready for today.”
    “Very professional,” he murmured as she took a sip of her soda. “It’s exactly how I imagined the property. You know, I think we’re going to work very well together.”
    She immediately choked on her soda. She waved him away when he stood up to help her.
    “I’m okay,” she gasped. “I just swallowed wrong.”
    “Are you