Page 5 of Built to Last

“How is my mouth still on fire?” I ask five hours after the worst corn dog experience of my life, and yes, it is sad that I rate them. Being friends with a woman who loves street food can be an adventure at times.

Not that Ivy is the only reason I often eat like crap. I work in construction. We eat a lot of street food.

I prefer the times when I’m doing a quiet reno. I bring my own lunch and sit in the house I’m working on and think about how I’m making someone’s home better.

I don’t want to admit it, won’t admit it out loud, but Reid is right about the normal construction work I do being different. It’s necessary, but I don’t love it the way I do renovations. I don’t get to do them often. There’s a lot of administrative work involved in running a company. Even a family one.

“Your mouth is on fire because you lost the game,” Ivy points out.

I wasn’t aware lunch was a game. I’m losing at all the games today. We’re sitting in my apartment, the whole gang having come over for pizza—that did not include ghost peppers but did have cheese.

“I can’t believe you ate it,” Heath says with a shake of his head.

“She was pissed off at the time,” Ivy explains. She called her fiancé over when we left for the day.

I managed to avoid Reid Dorsey the rest of the afternoon. Mostly because I had to take a couple of hours off to run to a job site and deal with a picky client. And yes, it was a grocery store in Jersey. But a nice one. Still, I didn’t say a word to anyone about what a massive ass Reid Dorsey is. I’m waiting for the right time. “Why would you say I was upset? Also, why would that make me try a weird corn dog?”

Anika takes that one. “When you are angry, you tend to say yes to anything that might vaguely be seen as a challenge. And you see everything as a challenge when you get into that head space.”

I can be prickly, but they don’t know I was angry this afternoon. “I wasn’t mad.”

“Also, I totally overheard you talking to Reid Dorsey,” Ivy admits.

Or they did.

“What happened?” Anika sits up in her chair, eyes on me.

I’ve been thinking about this all afternoon. How to talk to my bestie gently. Ani has a lot of stress right now. She’s starting a brand-new business, planning a royal wedding, and getting ready to lead a country. Hearing that she made a poor choice when hiring Reid Dorsey is probably the last thing she needs. So I have to be gentle. Subtle. “That man is a massive ass.”

Maybe not so subtle.

“Ah, so this is what he meant when he said he’d met you and didn’t make the best impression.” Ani puts down her slice of quattro formaggi. “I thought maybe he mistook you for a production assistant and asked you for coffee or something. You wouldn’t get upset about that. I should have known. What did he do? Did he hit on you?”

I wanted him to hit on me. At first. Then he opened his gorgeous, stupid mouth. “Yes, but that didn’t bug me. The man is hot. But he doesn’t think a girl can be a contractor, apparently.”

Not fair, but I’m not feeling fair. I’m feeling…restless and a little mean. I can’t stop thinking about that man, and not in a good way.

“Uh, seriously?” Ivy’s eyes narrow on me.

Shouldn’t my friends let me be a heinous bitch when I feel the need? Not mine. They call me out when I’m overstating things. So unfair. “Fine. He didn’t know I’m the contractor and all he knew were the initials. He thought HR Ross was a man, and he doesn’t like my construction business. He said my grocery stores are blights on the city.”

Ani looks back to Ivy for confirmation.

Ivy shrugs and sits back. “He didn’t use the word blight, but it was kind of implied. He was a bit on the dickish side. But I think it’s mostly because he wants to use this other guy he knows.”

“How much eavesdropping did you do today?” Heath asks, though he merely looks curious. I think Heath is endlessly amused by Ivy.

“It’s a hobby,” Ivy admits. “I definitely did enough to know that Reid was totally into Harper. He talked to his brother later in the day and said how was he supposed to know that someone that hot was a construction worker. He thought she was a model or something. You know, a model working her way into reality TV. I don’t think he knows how that industry operates. Also, Jeremiah talked to someone named Lenny. Jeremiah told him he didn’t think they would be able to get him on the show because there was already a contractor, but Reid said he would work on it.”

That gets my eyebrows rising. “He’s going to work on getting rid of me.”

“I’m not getting rid of anyone,” Anika assures me.

“Maybe we should get rid of Reid,” I offer since it seems like the best idea ever. “We can keep the brother. He’s at least got a brain.”

Anika’s head shakes. “There is no Dorsey brothers without Reid. He’s kind of the leader. Jeremiah does a lot of the artistic work, but Reid moves them along. At least that’s how they describe it. Harper, I can’t get rid of him. I signed a contract. If I fire him for anything other than a gross violation, I owe him a lot of money. Money I’m supposed to use to rebuild my new country.”

“How much are you paying him?” I probably don’t want to know. I know how much I’m getting, and it’s not much. But then I’m new, and she’s taking a chance with me.

---