door. “Everyone’s in the boardroom!” she chirped.
I moved back, cupping Laura’s face, her gaze once again calm and tender.
“Tomorrow,” I promised.
“Tomorrow.”
Chapter 5
Jackson
Two hours later, her eyes were anything but calm or tender. They shot daggers at me as Hank yelled, his face almost purple in rage.
“You better have a good fucking explanation, Jackson. You just cost me a huge amount of business!”
I stood, slapping my hand on the desk. “He was out of line, Hank! I couldn’t sit there and listen to that shit. He was hitting on your daughter!”
Hank turned to Laura. “Is this true?”
“I could have handled it. I was handling it until you went all caveman, Jackson!”
I gaped at her, reminding myself she hadn’t heard the disgusting remarks he’d muttered when she left the room to grab a report from her desk. He’d actually winked in my direction as he had the gall to ask me if anyone in the office was “tapping that hot ass.” Then he went on to mutter some of the depraved things he’d do to her ass.
I’d had him pinned against the wall, my arm pressing on his throat, when Laura walked back in, Hank following her.
Chaos ensued; Vince Harris insisted I had attacked him unprovoked. He threatened not only to pull his business, but also screamed about legal action and insisted I be fired.
I shook my head at her. “You didn’t hear what he said when you left. You couldn’t handle that shit. Trust me.”
Laura’s eyes widened and her face blanched.
I met Hank’s gaze. “I couldn’t allow him to disrespect her, or you, like that.” I straightened my shoulders. “Fire me if you want.”
He ran a hand over his face and stood. “I’m not going to fire you. You said you had a bad feeling about him. I had just hoped he’d be a pain about budgets. Not hit on my daughter. I don’t want his business.”
“You want me to call him?”
“No, I’ll take care of it.” To my surprise, he reached out his hand. “Thanks for looking out for her.”
I shook his hand. “You’re welcome.”
Hank left the room, and I sighed. “I suppose you’re mad at me again?”
“What did he say?”
Quietly, I told her. “I couldn’t sit here and listen to that, Laura. Even if you weren’t…mine, I couldn’t. But the fact that you are…I couldn’t risk him ever trying anything. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you because I held back and played it safe for the sake of some business.”
Her hand slipped into mine. “I’ve never seen you like that.”
“I’ll do whatever I need to do to protect you.”
She bit her lip and grinned a little. “That’s rather hot, Jackson. No one has ever wanted to protect me, apart from my father. I hope you don’t go to jail for it. Your face is too pretty for that to happen.”
I chuckled, grateful she wasn’t angry. “Let me get this straight, Laura.” I lowered my voice. “You think I’m sexy, growly, and pretty? And my cock is smirky?”
“And winky.”
“Right. Winky, too.”
She nodded. “That about sums it up.”
“Wow, a man finds out a lot of things on a Monday he never knew before.”
She stood up, dropping a quick kiss on my mouth. “Wait until you see what I show you later.”
“I can hardly wait.”
A few days later, I sat at my desk in the trailer, trying to concentrate on the file in front of me. It wasn’t working. All I could think about was Laura. About us. Telling Hank. Wondering if the past few days would make what I had to tell him easier or harder. He had calmed Vince Harris down—no charges would be laid, but there would be no business happening between them either. When I told him what Harris had said, Hank paid him a visit, and after that, the matter was closed. An angry Hank was a scary Hank—I knew this from experience. I also knew Hank was discreetly making some calls to other companies, warning them about Harris.
The door opened, the loud noise of the site flooding the trailer, and Hank stepped in. I accepted the cup of coffee he offered me.
“Hey,” I muttered. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Laura needed one of the new guys to sign some papers.”
“So, you brought them down?”
“Nah, she came with me. She’ll be here in a moment. She said something about needing a conversation outside the office and wanting you involved.” He sat down heavily, taking a deep swallow of his coffee. He looked out the window with