Flawless River (Grizzly Bear Lake #2) - Ruby Shae Page 0,11

stormed out of the building. The words “stupid fat bitch” were only loud enough for her to hear, and for that she was grateful. She didn’t want Lael’s pity because some stranger called her names.

“What did she say?”

Lael had been so methodical in securing the building that his roar from across the room startled her. The woman’s words were spoken so quietly that she wasn’t even sure how he could have heard anything at all, but she wasn’t about to repeat them.

“I don’t know. Do you need any help?”

He stopped and stared at her for a few seconds, as if he knew she was lying and trying to figure out why, but he didn’t call her on it. Instead, he went right back to his task.

“No, I’m good,” he said. “I’m glad you came early, because I’m ready to get out of here.”

He finished the last window, and then grabbed his shirt off the chair and pulled it over his head. He was gorgeous either way, but she immediately missed looking at his perfect, shirtless chest.

God!

She needed to get a grip.

“Hi there.”

Stacey jumped as a female voice echoed through the room, and she turned to see another beautiful woman standing in the doorway. She had one hand on each side of the doorframe, and she was pushing her barely covered chest in Lael’s direction.

“Sorry, were closed,” he said to the woman. Then he looked at her. “Are you ready, sweetheart?”

Now that she hadn’t imagined. For some reason, Lael wanted this woman, and the two others, to believe they were hooking up, but she had no idea why. Did he think that seeing him with her would make some of the women back off, or was his behavior some kind of joke that they would all laugh at later?

She didn’t know the answer, and she didn’t really care. After today, she was going to stay as far away from Lael as possible, but until then, she would play along.

“Yeah, handsome. Let’s do this thing.”

He’d fucked up.

Lael wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, but he had a pretty good idea, and he wanted to kick himself for moving way too fast back in the equipment shed. He should have kept his mouth shut, and never used the “sweetheart” endearment, but the word had been hammering around in his brain for most of the day, and it just slipped out.

It had been too soon, though, and now that stupid wary smile was back in place, and it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere any time soon.

Fuck me!

He hated that smile. It was cautious, and uncertain, and nothing like the smile she’d shown his siblings. In fact, he had seen that smile—her real smile—for a couple of minutes in the shed when he had been walking toward her without his shirt on, and now he was greedy and wanted to see it all the time.

He momentarily mused taking off his shirt again, but after a quick glance at Stacey sitting next to him in the golf cart, he quickly squashed the idea. There was something else going on, something else besides his “sweetheart” comment that had forced her on the defense, but, unfortunately, he had no idea what it was.

“After we scope out the storage shed, I can give you a tour of the property if you want.”

“Don’t you have to get back to work?” she asked, her voice stern, and almost scolding. “It seemed like a lot of people really wanted to talk to you.”

The way she said the words, it almost seemed like she was…jealous? But that couldn’t be right? Could it? He thought back to the night before, when the idea of whether or not she liked him had floated through his brain.

Could she be jealous of the lake girls?

A slow smile spread across his face, but he reminded himself not to get too cocky. She might like him—at least a little—but that wasn’t the only thing bothering her. And neither were the lake girls, because she’d had the same look on her face the night before, and there had been no lake girls around.

Of course, it was very possible that she didn’t like him at all. That she thought he was weak, or ugly, or he simply wasn’t her type, but if any of those things were true, he had a feeling her reaction toward him would be completely different.

“Nope, I’m done with work for the day so I’m all yours.”

She tensed at those words, but he ignored her