another hour of work time left.”
Bas leaned back against an unpainted wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I gave them the rest of the day off.”
Jocelyn’s mouth dropped. She wondered why it hadn’t just fallen to the floor with his statement. “What do you mean you gave them the rest of the day off?”
“You would have done the same thing. Manuel has worked with these guys for almost a year. They’re like family. All of them were shocked that he’s in this country illegally, but they still felt bad that he won’t be working with them any longer. They like him.”
Jocelyn inhaled deeply. Bas was right. Now that she thought about it, she would have done the exact same thing. “What’s going to happen to Manuel? He has a family. A wife and child.”
“Yes, and he also admitted to receiving public assistance benefits, public education for his son, public housing and other taxpayer-funded benefits over the past year without being detected.”
Jocelyn glared. “You make him sound like a criminal,” she snapped.
“Just stating the facts, ma’am. And something else you need to remember is that illegal immigration in this country is a crime that extends to anyone giving them a job.”
“I know that, and I’m sure Dad didn’t know he was an illegal. Like I said, Manuel’s papers looked legit.”
“I’m sure Jim didn’t know. As for what will happen to Manuel, I have a feeling he’ll be moving his family again. I agreed not to turn him in to the authorities.”
Despite herself, she appreciated him for that. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
For a long moment neither said anything else, but Jocelyn felt it just as clearly as if it was something tangible that she could reach out and touch. It was there, that same damn attraction she had felt from the first moment when her gaze had collided with his in Jason’s office. It was the same attraction that was there each time she’d stopped pacing on Jason’s carpeted floor and found him staring at her with those intense dark eyes of his.
And it was there now as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his head cocked to the side as if taking in the full view of her. A little more than a few feet separated them and whether she wanted to or not, she could feel his heat, and even at the distance she stood she could actually feel the warmth of his breath on her lips, coaxing her own to draw in his heat, mingle in his taste.
She inhaled deeply, thinking she must be losing her mind. She didn’t want to be attracted to the man who owned a fourth of her company. The man who would be a pain in the butt for the next few months.
A man who had her stomach sizzling and intense heat gathering between her legs.
Drawing in another deep breath, she took a step back, started to move past him and stopped when he reached out and grabbed her wrist, gently pulling her closer, bringing her toe to toe, body to body.
“And another thing,” he said huskily, before reaching out and lifting his hand to the knot in the scarf on her head. “I understand that on occasion you’ll wear a hard hat or a scarf like this when there might be a lot of dust in the air. But just so you’ll know, I really like seeing your head uncovered.” And with that, he expertly took off her scarf, which made her curly locks tumble to her shoulders. And, as if he was satisfied with what he’d done, he then handed the scarf to her.
She balled it in her hand, crushed it while wishing it was his neck. Tilting her head, she glared at him. “I don’t care what you like.”
“Then maybe you should,” he said, leaning in close, bringing his lips within a breathless inch. He smiled. “You have some temper and whenever I see you mad it makes me want to taste your anger.”
Taste her anger? What he said didn’t make sense because she didn’t have a temper…at least not normally. Typically, it took a lot to make her mad. But she had to admit that for some reason he seemed to bring out the worst in her. When she opened her mouth to state that fact, he inched even closer and was within a heartbeat of closing his mouth over hers when the sound of a car door slamming had them quickly moving apart.
Jocelyn was grateful for the timely interruption before anything could happen. Something they would both regret.
“That’s probably Marcella coming to check on today’s work…as well as to make more changes. Goodbye, Bas,” she said, moving swiftly past him and walking as fast as her legs could carry her.
Chapter 3
An entire week later, Jocelyn was still thinking about how close her and Bas’s lips had come to touching. It would only have been a kiss, she’d tried telling herself over and over again. No big deal, she’d locked lips with other men before, although she could count on one hand the times she had done so.
Still, it annoyed her to no end that even after a week she could feel every muscle of Bas’s body that had been pressed against hers. Then there had been his mouth, close, hot, ready. She could only imagine the taste of it. Her heart beat wildly in her chest at the mere thought. If Marcella hadn’t shown up when she had, there was no doubt in Jocelyn’s mind that they would have kissed.
Bas’s face had been close to hers, breathing in her scent the same way she’d been breathing in his. Never had any man gotten absorbed in her senses so quickly the way Sebastian Steele had. And then it seemed that once Marcella arrived he had vanished into thin air, leaving the job site by way of the back entrance, making her wonder if the entire thing had been real.
She had tried to avoid him, knowing he was spending time at the office going through files and records. She had no idea what he was looking for, but as long as he stayed out of her way that was fine. Twice she had seen him when she had stopped by the office to sign some papers. He had been so wrapped up in what he’d been reading that he’d barely acknowledged her presence, and she’d barely acknowledged his.
“That pork chop is already dead, Jocelyn. There’s no need to keep stabbing it to death.”
Jocelyn snatched up her head and met Leah’s gaze. Jocelyn had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had completely forgotten her sister was sitting across from her. They hadn’t exchanged a lot of conversation during dinner and eventually their dialogue had drifted to a dead end.
Leah was nervous, Jocelyn could tell. If she had been stabbing at her pork chop for the past few minutes, then Leah had been guilty of nervously nipping at her lips, an old habit when she knew she was about to get into trouble. Evidently Leah had something on her mind, something serious. Jocelyn wondered if her sister was ready to explain why she’d left home so abruptly. The explanation was five years too late, but then, better late than never.
She decided to go ahead and get the conversation started. “Last week you said you wanted to tell me something when you felt you could talk about it. Can you talk about it now?” Jocelyn asked, after taking a bite of her pork chop and savoring the taste. Evidently Leah had kept up her cooking skills during the five years she’d been away.
Whenever she’d come home—which had only been twice in five years—she’d only stayed for a couple days, as if passing through, and she never talked about why she had left Newton Grove or what she was doing in California. The only thing she would say was that she was fine and making
