Forged of Steele Bundle (Books 1-4) - Brenda Jackson [114]
Jocelyn laughed. “What she’ll do is drop us like a hot potato.”
“I don’t think so.”
The only thing he had in his favor in making that statement, Jocelyn thought, was that he didn’t know Marcella. “And why wouldn’t she?”
“Because she would want the best outfit building her home, someone she knows will do it right. You said this isn’t the first home you’ve built for her, right?”
“Yes, it’s the third.”
“Then there’s a reason she keeps coming back.”
“Yes, to get on everyone’s last nerve.”
“But at some point it has to stop. I suggest we try it. The next time she makes changes tell her Mason Construction has implemented a new policy and then explain the surcharges to her.”
Jocelyn hated admitting that what he was suggesting sounded reasonable, but as she’d told him earlier, Marcella would never go along with it. Her family had money, the man she’d married had money, and she liked to flaunt that fact. She was used to getting anything she wanted, no matter whom she inconvenienced.
“Like I said, it won’t work.”
“Try it. What do you have to lose?”
“Her business.”
Bas chuckled. “I doubt if she would do anything that drastic this late in the building phase.”
Jocelyn sighed deeply. She didn’t relish the thought of Bas meeting up with Marcella, given her reputation as a married woman with a roving eye. But Jocelyn quickly decided that Bas was old enough to handle his own business and he deserved a confrontation with someone like Marcella. It would be the first real test he’d fail.
“Fine, if you want to tangle with Marcella then go right ahead, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she tossed over her shoulder as she moved down the hall.
When she got to her office, she closed the door behind her, immediately dismissing Marcella from her thoughts. Instead she thought about the kiss she’d shared with Bas. Okay, they had kissed and it was out of her system. She licked her lips still moist with his taste. Out of her system? Not by a long shot.
Chapter 4
Bas tossed aside another folder before looking at his watch. It was close to midnight. He’d accomplished a lot in his first week and felt pretty good about it. As he’d told Jocelyn, already he’d come across several red flags. Luckily, none of them were major and all could be taken care of before they reached problem status.
And speaking of Jocelyn…
He frowned at the stillness, the silence, the complete lack of sound. At one point during the night he had heard the keys of a computer clicking, the opening and closing of file cabinets and the soft hum of a song from a feminine voice. But now he heard nothing and since she would have had to pass him to leave, he could only assume she was still here. And if she was, just what the heck was she doing?
Curiosity had him standing and making his way down the narrow hallway. The door to her office was ajar and he could see that the room was crammed with a desk, a computer and several file cabinets, not to mention a number of healthy-looking green plants. He knocked.
“Come in.”
He pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside, glancing around. Jocelyn was stretched out on a sofa, flat on her stomach, in a comfortable position. And she was…coloring. He blinked, certain he was seeing things, but he wasn’t. She had a thick coloring book and a huge box of crayons in front of her and was diligently at work. Instead of a twenty-seven-year-old woman, she reminded him of a ten-year-old.
All it took was a look at those serious curves outlined beneath her jeans and blouse to know she was definitely no kid; however, there was something about her gliding that crayon across the page that gave her an air of innocence. At that moment some unknown force crept into him and he was touched by a degree of tenderness he experienced only on very good days and then solely for certain people. Unable to help himself, he crossed the room and stared down at her for a moment. “What are you doing?”
She glanced up as if annoyed at the interruption. “What does it look like? I’m coloring.