Page 31 of Invincible
Tyler climbed out of the truck, taking the steps to the office two at a time.Walking in the door, she was greeted by the secretary at the front desk.
“Hey, I just wanted to go over everything one more time with Brett to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“I’ll let him know.Did you bring that good-looking assistant with you again today?”The woman had to be pushing sixty, but Tyler guessed she could appreciate that you never grew too old to like seeing something pretty.She knew she would never get tired of it.Damn it, now she would just have to work harder at getting him out of her system.
“I left him to hold down the truck outside.Don’t want him wandering around unattended.”Tyler was saved from having to discuss Dex’s attributes further by the supervisor sticking his head out of his office.
“Tyler, please come on back to my office.”She gave a small wave to the secretary before walking down the hallway to the supervisor’s office.If this didn’t work, they may have to pimp Dex out again for information.
Settling in one of the chairs across from the desk, Tyler took out her notebook with her notes in it.
“I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.Of the six thousand feet of track, I found five sections in need of replacement.The sections are not large, but it should take approximately a week to finish.I’ve set up a schedule of the areas to be replaced each day per your request, so they can be closed to traffic.”
Tyler handed him a spreadsheet she had built last night with the timeline on it.She gave him a few minutes to look over it before continuing.“The largest section of forty feet will be around crane four.I don’t estimate that area being closed longer than two days maximum.”
As she finished laying out the plan for the repairs of the track, she covertly checked her watch.She had managed to give Dex twenty minutes so far.When the supervisor had no more follow-up questions stating he trusted her to keep him informed of her progress, she had no choice but to wrap up the meeting.
Shaking his hand, she turned and walked back down the hallway to the door.Waving again at the secretary, she climbed back down the steps to the truck.
“Anything?”she asked, putting the truck in gear to drive to the first section of rail they would be replacing.
“No.”Dex sounded frustrated as he closed the computer.“I found the servers, but I can’t get in.They have an impressive firewall, but I figured they would.Otherwise you could hack in to divert an entire ship to another place.Pirates would do it all the time.I knew it was a long shot, but still.”He huffed out a breath, setting the bag on the floorboard before climbing out to help unload the supplies.
“We’ll find her,” Tyler said, taking his arm in front of the truck, looking at the frustration clouding his face.He stood still, gazing at her with his soft-brown eyes before he let out a pent-up breath.
Dex lifted his hand, brushing the back of his knuckles down her cheek as she shivered in the heat.Tyler could feel her plan backfiring in that moment, the more she worked to get over him, the further he worked his way under her skin.
With a smile, she turned loose of him, walking to the first of the rails they needed to cut out.It didn’t matter anyway, soon this case would end one way or another.He would go back to his job in Washington, DC and she would still be a welder fighting her way up the ladder on the docks.
“So what is the plan of attack here?”Dex asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Right.Well, have you ever seen welding done using thermite?Instead of creating a seam, it basically fuses the two pieces of iron together.First, we need to get the old pieces out.”Grabbing a tape measure and welding chalk.She carefully measured the piece, making marks on the old rail with the chalk.“Normally the track would be lifted out of the bed for better access, but they are hoping to avoid that since this is one of the busiest ports in Houston.”
Dex followed her to the back of her truck, watching as she pulled out a large saw with a steel blade.When she motioned to him, he started up the generator on her truck.The saw was hooked up to an air hose coming from the generator.
With gloves, earmuffs, and safety glasses on, she guided the saw blade into the narrow channel above the rail.Within ten minutes, she had a clean line sawed through the rail.Unhooking the saw from the rail, she moved it to the next cut.
“Your turn,” Tyler said, wiping the sweat from her face.Handing an excited-looking Dex the saw, she gave him a few instructions before walking to the truck for a drink.It was already promising to be another long, hot day.
Grabbing two clamps with handles, she walked back over as Dex finished the next cut, freeing up the damaged piece of track.Handing him one of the clamps, she showed him how to attach it so they could pull the old rail out of the recess.
“Good Jesus, how much does this thing weigh?”Dex asked, backing toward the trailer.
“Since this is a dock capable of unloading heavy products, the rails have to be heavy.They are one hundred and twenty pounds per foot.”
“I’m working on a hernia, but you aren’t even cracking a sweat moving it.”
Here it comes.She could now chalk him up to a one and done.But when she looked up from the piece of rail she was carrying the end of, she was met with a grin that reached all the way to the mirth dancing in his eyes.
“So fucking sexy.”
Tyler almost dropped her side of the rail laughing.Who was this man?She had her hair pulled up inside of her welding cap, sweat was streaming down her face, and she was already smeared with grime.The best she could hope for was that her deodorant held out all day.But here was this gorgeous man calling her sexy.Just like that, she felt a little more of her resolve to let him go drop away.
“Dex, I don’t get you at all.”
“What?You are insanely sexy with your canvas safety pants on and the sweat running down your neck.Sweat that I desperately want to lick off.If there weren’t so many people around, I would have already bent you over the back of this trailer.Screw my rules about no dock sex.”
With a grunt, he set his side of the rail on the back of the trailer before stepping up to drag it up inside.Tyler shook her head, pushing the rail into place.Grabbing a small grinder out of the back of the truck, she walked back over to the track.
“I think you’re the one who’s insane.Any other man would have taken off by now or at least turned cold until they could leave.”
“You’re forgetting, I’m not any other man.The more I watch you, the more I want to hang around.I don’t know, maybe we’ve stumbled on a weird kink I have.”Tyler laughed again, hooking the pneumatic hose to the grinder.“I do remember having a thing for Superwoman as a kid.”
“Well, whatever it is, grind the edges smooth while I cut out our next section.”
“Mmm, strong and bossy.It’s like foreplay.”
Grabbing the tape measure and chalk, Tyler laughed all the way to the next piece of track.
