Deeper Than Need (24 page)

His phone made another click.

Noah’s chuckle drifted over the line. “You’re my hired floozy, huh? I’ve never had a hired floozy. Just what does that entail?”

“Very funny, Noah.”

“Well, it’s kind of interesting really. Do floozies go to work just to get married? Does that mean your intentions are honorable? Are mine? This is confusing me now that I think about it.”

“Do you realize that all I’ve had to eat today is a granola bar?” she said, keeping her tone easy. “I get really cranky when I’m hungry. I’m not even close to done with the spreadsheet and you’re joking about floozies and intentions while all I can think about is pizza. For the record, I’m not the one who made the
floozy
comment. I’m just passing it on. Who uses that word anymore anyway?”

“Apparently people around here … or at least, Leslie does.” The humor continued to linger in his voice as he said, “Okay, so I assume you’re calling to give me a heads-up about the fact that you took this job to try to trick me into marriage.”

“You’re quite the comedian. It was more to let you know that she’s mad. Very mad, but yes, you’re forewarned.”

“That doesn’t always help in some cases, but at least now I’ll have something to chuckle about once the conversation is done,” he said, the humor fading from his voice. A heavy sigh drifted over the phone. “I’m pretty busy the rest of the day, so I doubt I’ll be able to talk to Leslie before quitting time, but I will get in touch with her.”

“Better you than me,” she muttered. An error on the spreadsheet caught her eye and she corrected it. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

“When I talk to her, I’ll be sure to let her know you’re not my hired floozy, either.”

She made a face at the phone. “Noah, you’re not helping.”

He laughed. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.” He paused, then added, “I’m sorry she gave you a hard time.”

“That’s not your fault.” Her belly rumbled again and she darted a look at the clock. Almost time for lunch. That pizza was beckoning; she could all but hear it.

“Listen … I can’t do lunch, but if you can maybe wait until dinner, I could help you out with that pizza thing. I wouldn’t mind some myself.”

Her breath caught. Such a simple statement, and if it came from almost anybody else she would have taken it at face value. But that wasn’t what this was.

She knew it. Noah knew it.

This was it. Her chance to move forward on whatever was going on between them, or just … not.

“I…”

Dating a guy you’re working with. You did that before; remember how it turned out?

But Anton wasn’t Noah. Noah wasn’t Anton.

“I think I can do that,” she said softly. It was amazing how remarkably calm her voice was, considering that she had butterflies the size of sparrows flying through her belly.

“Excellent. I’ll see you two after work.”

The call disconnected and she blew out a breath and leaned back in her chair, staring at the monitor without seeing anything.

Maybe it wasn’t a smart idea to get involved with somebody she worked with, especially considering he was her
boss,
but Trinity had spent too much of her life worrying about the
right
thing.

Anton had
seemed
like the right kind of guy. He had
looked
like the right kind of guy; he had
acted
like the right kind of guy.

Look where all of that had landed.

Look where
he
had landed.

An image of Noah’s eyes, those dark, beautiful blue eyes, flashed through her mind. She thought of the way he’d taken the time to talk with Micah, how Noah had sat beside a grieving man … the way he’d looked at her when she kissed his cheek. Then the way he’d touched her right before he kissed her.

Maybe it wasn’t the
smart
thing to do.

But it damn well
felt
right … for once.

It felt more right than anything in her life had ever felt.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Now, Leslie … I don’t know exactly what you expect me to do,” Noah said, fighting hard not to let any sign of temper show in his voice.

It was hard, though. He’d let her calls go to voice mail throughout the day, but in retrospect maybe he should have just called her up and gotten it over with instead of putting it off until he was done working.

All Leslie had done was get madder and madder, and now here she was, glaring at him over the bed of his truck. She’d been waiting for him when he got back to the shop and he’d felt the dread rush through him the second he’d seen her car.

“I want you to come out and do the damn work, Noah! That’s your job, ain’t it?” She shoved her hair back, face flushed, one thin hand clutched into in a fist so tight her knuckles were white.

“I’d be happy to, once a deposit is made. I can take a check, cash or credit card.”

“I’ll pay once the work is fucking done, just like I always have.” She skimmed a look around the shop, her gaze bouncing off the shelves, his truck, before landing on him for the briefest moment. “We’ve never had a problem doing it that way before.”

“Actually we have. You never paid what you owed me on the last job.” The mention of that had her getting redder and she opened her mouth, but he cut her off. “I wrote that debt off, but I’m not doing it again. If you want me to do any more work for you, ever, there will be a deposit made, up front, and monthly payments. That’s just how it is.”

She glared daggers at him.

He bit back a sigh. She wasn’t going to let this go without it getting ugly.

Bad things come in threes.

The thought hit him out of the blue, and although he wasn’t superstitious by nature, he couldn’t help think of that old belief. First the body found out at Trinity’s. Then Lee’s death. Half the town was buzzing around like a bunch of angry hornets and it looked like Leslie was definitely in that camp.

“I don’t have the money right now,” she said, her voice unsteady.

What a surprise.
He looked away, reaching into the truck bed for his tools. “I’d be happy to come back and do another estimate—to figure out what is absolutely necessary and what could be put off for a few more months.”

“I need it
all
done,” she said, her voice practically shaking. “I want to sell the damn house and get out of this place. But I can’t do that until that shit is fixed. I don’t know how to
do
any of that, Noah.…”

Her voice shifted, lowered to a husky pitch as she circled around the truck, her lashes sweeping down over her eyes. “Look. I’m sorry about the money. You don’t know what it’s like. Mike up and left me broke. Took all the money we had in the bank, left the place such a mess. I’m all alone out there. The hole in the hall, he did that one night when he was mad at me. I thought he’d hit
me.
…” She darted Noah a look out from under her lashes.

Noah knew, as sure as he was standing there, that she was working him. As much as he hated it, it was even having some effect, too. Guilt nipped at him, but this was the same thing she’d done last time, manipulated him into doing a job without paying anything up front and then, after paying maybe two hundred bucks, she’d just stopped paying. He wouldn’t see another red cent out of her on that debt and he’d accepted that, but he wasn’t going to have her manipulate him like this again.

Mentally squaring his shoulders, he put a few feet between them before he turned back to face her. Keeping the table between them, he said softly, “Leslie, I sympathize with your situation. But I can’t work for free.”

She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything the door to the office opened and Micah came running out.

Saved by Rocketboy,
Noah thought, relief crashing into him. Maybe
he
should buy the kid a cape.

Trinity appeared a moment later. “Micah, boy, if you don’t get back here and clean up that mess, you and I are going to go a round.”

Micah stopped in his tracks, all but vibrating as his eyes locked on Noah. “Mr. Noah!”

“Hey, Rocketboy,” he said, smiling at Micah. Then Noah shifted his attention back to Leslie. “Once you decide what you want to do, call the office during business hours. Leave the information with Trinity. She’ll make sure it gets to me. If I need to revise the estimate, I will. Or—”

“I don’t want the fucking estimate revised.”

Any ounce of sympathy he might have felt fizzled and died. Slanting a look at Trinity, he said, “Take Micah back in the office, please.”

Fury danced across her face, but she nodded, her features tight and blank.

Once the door shut behind her, he looked over at Leslie.

“You’re going to watch how you speak on my property, Leslie. Especially when there’s a child around. Otherwise, we won’t do business again. Ever.” He waited a moment, let those words sink in. “Are we clear on that?”

“Damn it, Noah, I just need to get that work done. I can’t pay you two hundred dollars right now. I don’t have it.”

He sighed. “You have enough money to go party down at Belterra come payday, Leslie. If you got the money for that, then you can find a way to pay for the repairs you need at the house. If you’re not willing to do that, then you don’t need them that bad.”

Her face went red. “You son of a bitch. It’s no business of yours if I go gamble.”

“No. It’s not. I don’t really care how you spend your money … but if you want to stand there and hand me a sob story about how you can’t pay me for the work you want done, after I just wrote off a debt of more than eight hundred dollars, and I know for a fact you’re out there gambling on a regular basis—I was sitting
behind
you in the diner last week when you were talking about how you just won two grand, by the way—if you’re going to do that, and then hand me a sob story, don’t expect me to completely
buy
the sob story.” He grabbed the toolbox and headed toward the office. “You need to head out. I’ve got to close the doors and nobody is allowed in this area without me.”

“I’m not done talking to you.”

“That’s too bad, Leslie. I am done discussing business matters at this point. I explained the payment terms I’m willing to accept. You can either work with them or not—it doesn’t concern me. But it’s something we’ll discuss during business hours.” He looked at the big clock hanging on the western wall. “It’s now
after
business hours.”

She curled her lip at him. “You can shove your business hours up your fucking ass, Preach. How’s that for a decision?”

He sighed and watched as she spun around on her heel, storming out of the work area. Once she’d cleared the doors, he didn’t waste any time closing them, though. He wouldn’t put it past her to come back and lay into him again. He didn’t know why she was so determined to take her mad out on him today, but he definitely wasn’t in the mood to put up with it.

*   *   *

“Who was that woman?”

Trinity leaned against the door and told herself she didn’t need to go there and lay into the bitch.

Blowing out a breath, Trinity looked over at Micah. “Somebody who knows Mr. Noah, baby.”

“She sounded mad.”

“Uh-huh.” She ruffled his hair. “Next time, you better listen to me, young man, understand? Mr. Noah has stuff in the back that’s dangerous and you can’t go out there without me or him with you.”

“But I heard his truck. He would have been with me.” Micah stared at her, all big eyes and innocence.

“Nice try, no luck.” Shaking her head, she pushed off the door and gestured to the room that had become Micah’s little kingdom. “Go pick up your toys. We’ll head out for pizza whenever Mr. Noah is ready
only
if you’re done picking up.”

Micah’s shoulders slumped and he dragged every step of the way. Once he hit the door, he paused and looked over at her. “Mama, what’s
fucking
mean?”

She closed her eyes.
This is just one of those things a parent has to handle, Trinity,
she reminded herself. The same way she’d had to explain why two lions had been
wrestling
at the zoo a few months back.
Yeah. Wrestling.
Opening her eyes, she met Micah’s gaze. “It’s a bad, ugly word. A grown-up one, and one you shouldn’t say.”

“Then why’d that lady say it?”

“Because she’s mad. You’re not in trouble this time because you didn’t know, but if I ever hear you say it again you’ll be in trouble. You don’t use that kind of language.”

“It’s a cussword, isn’t it? Like the ones you fuss at Grandpa about using around me? Like when you said the
s
word in the shower?”

“Yes.” Arching a brow, she pointed a finger. “Now get to work or it’s bread and water tonight instead of pizza.”

He laughed and disappeared inside the room. Somehow, she didn’t think he was intimidated by her threat, but judging by the sounds coming from beyond the door, he was making an attempt to set the room to rights. That was good enough.

She settled down behind the desk and got to work on doing the same thing—setting
her
area to rights, filing the rest of the invoices, stacking up the checks that needed to be deposited. Noah actually had a decent chunk of change come in this week, along with a couple of notes:
Sorry, Preach, I’d totally forgotten about this. I can’t send the entire sum right now, Noah, but I’ll get this caught up as soon as I can. Why didn’t you let me know I was so far behind?…,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Two people had actually paid in full and her eyes had all but popped when she saw
those
checks.

Maybe she should make him pay her a collection fee.

Smiling a little, she tucked them inside the envelope but didn’t seal it. The man needed to be aware of just how much money he was owed. Maybe he could actually
afford
full-time if he’d keep up on his accounts better than this. Of course, she didn’t want full-time, couldn’t do it.

Shifting her attention to the computer, she saved the files she’d been working on and sent one last e-mail to him for his approval. She’d have to finish it up next week.
There … all done,
she thought.
Now, pizza.