Free The Billionaire’s Rebellious Lover (The Maxfield Brothers Series Book 2) by Leslie North Page A

lumber and were yelling angrily at each other. The foreman went out to calm them down and find out what happened.
    “Something’s wrong with the crane,” he said finally when he came back to Gabe’s side. “Apparently, the trolley was jammed and refused to move causing the jib to tilt releasing the lumber.”
    Gabe lifted an eyebrow understanding half of what the foreman said. “The equipment is checked regularly. If there was a problem with the crane, we would have known before it was brought to the job site.”
    The crane operator climbed back into the cab and tried to get it to work, but it didn’t even sputter to life. “I don’t know what’s wrong!” he exclaimed.
    The foreman ignored Gabe’s suspicious looks and went to check it out himself. Gabe took a deep breath. Had the lumber landed on the foreman, it would have set the work back by several weeks. Maybe even more. And that would have been bad enough. But if it had taken out Gabe, or anyone else working on the site, Restore Eden would have been able to make a powerful, highly damaging statement about the safety issues on the site and get construction halted pending investigation.
    And if it had taken out Daisy, Jordan would have been able to step up and take her place. The thought of that made Gabe’s blood boil.

    * * *
    G abe was about to pack everything up and head home for the day when there was a soft knock on the door. Looking up, he saw Daisy hesitating in the doorway.
    “Did you find the paperwork?” he asked without preamble.
    “No. I spoke to Restore Eden. They said you’d corresponded through some emails, but when I read them, I realized that there was a misunderstanding. Restore Eden thought you were proposing to have some men work on the site. It was a simple mistake, Gabe. There’s no conspiracy behind it.”
    Leaning back, Gabe studied her. “The foreman said the lift had run out of gas. He said it happens all the time. The chain used to secure materials to move across the site was the wrong size, which caused it to jam. He’s investigating and someone is going to lose their job, but it seems like it was an accident.”
    Relief was written all over her face. “Gabe, I know you don’t trust me or Restore Eden and I get it, I do. I’ve done some things in the past, and Restore Eden has done worse things. But if you don’t start trusting us, none of this is going to work. You have to get over me as Nathan’s ex-girlfriend, and you’re going to have to trust me. Can we start over?”
    Gabe ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “I can’t get over it, Daisy. I want to trust you, but believe me, if I forget that you’re Nathan ex-girlfriend, we’re really going to have problems”
    “You’re talking about the kiss,” she said softly. “It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You’re a playboy. It’s sort of what you do.”
    It wasn’t what he did, but he didn’t point that out. “I tell you what. We can try to put all this behind us and start over. Clean slate. No history or back story, but you have to do something for me.”
    “What?”
    “I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that you’re over Nathan. I need to believe it.”
    She gave him a sad smile. “I can do that. I can tell you that Nathan and I were over long before we broke up. I can tell you that Nathan and I were never really in love with each other but were more in love with what we were doing together. But if you don’t want to believe it, nothing I say can ever make you believe it. I can tell you until I’m blue in the face, but the rest is up to you. We could do great things, Gabe. We could be good together. You have to believe that.”
    Closing the door softly behind her, she left him to his thoughts. Gabe sat back and closed his eyes. When she said they could be good together, did she mean professionally?
    Or did she mean something else entirely? Because maybe that was what he was afraid of.

10
    “ M ore , baby. More! Harder!