Dare to Love user (ebook reader with built in dictionary .txt) 📖

wine and they spent a couple hours sitting outside in the backyard swing.

“I realized something tonight,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“We fought, made up, and we’re still together.”

“Is that unusual?”

“In my world? Yes.”

He laughed and slung his arm around her shoulder. “Babe. If we’re going to have a

relationship, get used to it. We’ll have arguments while we’re getting used to each other.

We come from different backgrounds. Plus, I’m kind of new at this. I haven’t really had a

steady girlfriend before. I’m sure I’ll screw this up more than once.” Girlfriend. She was his girlfriend. She felt giddy at the prospect. It was childish, but she loved it. She loved him. Everything was new and exciting and she felt much younger

than her age. Ridiculous, but she didn’t care.

She was having the time of her life, in love with a very special man.

She wasn’t going to let anything screw this up.

Chapter Eleven

Jake sat back at his desk and grinned, trying to concentrate on the mounds of paperwork littering his desk.

He was going to have to stop this mooning or his employees were really going to give him a hard time. Though they’d already done that. The guys had been torturing Jake

for the past two weeks, claiming he smiled too much and he was—God forbid—

turning

into a nice guy. They said it was so unlike him they kept asking if he was sick, possibly

dying.

Bunch of smartasses.

He couldn’t help it. Being with Lucy put him in a good mood. And for the first time in his life, he was genuinely content. He had a great career that satisfied him during the

day, and a wonderful woman to spend his nights with.

They’d been together every night, having dinner, going to movies or just hanging out

at his place. Lucy would bring her laptop and paperwork with her. They’d sit side by side

at his kitchen table while he worked on plans and she did legal briefs. Quiet, relaxing,

homey. It was weird as hell, but he liked having her there, and she seemed to enjoy being

there with him, even if neither of them said a word for hours. They’d settle into a companionable silence until one or both of them would look up and they’d make eye

contact. They’d put their work away and have a beer or a glass of wine, sit outside if the

weather was nice or in the living room if it was cold outside.

It was so different having someone to talk to about his day. Lucy listened well, didn’t

offer advice, just listened while he talked out his problems. She’d ask him what he planned to do to work out the issues. Then she’d wait until he asked for her advice

instead of inserting her opinion. And she told him about her day, about the cases she

could discuss or problems at the office, and asked for his advice. She treated him as an

intellectual equal, listening to what he had to say.

Even arguing with her about current events and issues was fun.

After they were talked out, they’d head into the bedroom—if they made it that far—

and spend a couple hours exploring each other, learning each other’s bodies, their likes

and dislikes. They’d already discovered they didn’t have a lot of dislikes, which made

Jake really happy.

Everything about Lucy made Jake really happy.

He was in love with her. He wanted her in his house every night. He wanted to share

his life with her, wanted to cook with her, do his paperwork at night alongside her, and

have her in his bed every night. He wanted to wake up feeling her warm body nestled

against his.

He already couldn’t imagine his life without her, and he was pretty sure she felt the

same way, though neither of them had said “those words” yet. He wondered if she’d

move in with him if he asked. He knew he lived pretty far outside the city, but they could

commute together. Even if she had to work late, he could always catch up on paperwork

at the trailer while he waited for her. He liked the idea of driving to and from work with

her. More time together.

He was even starting to imagine the future. Converting the other bedrooms into rooms for kids. Kids he and Lucy would have together.

He’d never gone that far in his thinking about a woman. With Lucy, the thoughts were starting to come pretty easy. And frequently.

He dragged his fingers through his hair and shook his head. God, he really was pathetic, wasn’t he? But hey, he was happy. Nothing wrong with that.

He straightened when Bob pulled open the door and stepped inside, a grim expression on his face.

“You aren’t going to like this,” Bob said, filling the trailer doorway with his bulky form.

“What am I not going to like?”

Bob tossed a stack of papers on Jake’s desk. “Our permits have been pulled. The project is halted as of right now.”

Jake’s heart slammed against his ribs. “What?”

“OSHA is demanding an immediate inspection, claiming anonymous complaints about potentially dangerous safety hazards. The architect’s plans are being called into

question—something about measurements being off spec, and our building materials

have somehow suddenly come up subpar and will need to be reinspected.” Jake stood and snatched the papers off his desk, scanning them all one by one.

Safety, engineering and materials. All at one time. His gaze shot to Bob’s. “This stinks of

sabotage.”

“No shit.”

“But who? There’s plenty of work to go around. Every single contractor in the city is

scrambling to find enough workers to fill their jobs. It’s not like any one of our competitors would want to shut us down. People in our business just don’t do that.”

Bob pulled off his hat and scratched his head. “Beats me. It’s not like the folks in our

business resort to this level. I’ve never seen anything like it. You’d have to know people

in all the right places to do a shutdown of this magnitude.” People in all the right places. Jake didn’t make enemies in his business. He was a fair

contractor who always handled his business