Lucky Baby (Crescent Cove 11)

I threw my phone onto the makeshift table I’d made out of leftover plywood. The blueprints and notebooks I used to keep notes and receipts together were scattered. I’d been on the phone all damn day, trying to find another crew to do the roof repairs.

“Everything okay, chief?”

I turned to Joe. He was one of the four guys Gideon had lended me for the job. He was in his late thirties, as lanky and strong as an ox. He’d become my right-hand man when it came to working long hours.

“Just got a call that the roof repair is being delayed again. Fucking weather.”

Joe pulled off his ball cap to bend the brim, his typical thinking pose. “Did you try Davey over in Syracuse?”

“Yep. I tried every contact Gideon had too. Oh, and the flooring has been backordered.”

Joe winced. “The cork floor you convinced her to get?”

I raked my fingers through my hair, dragging out my hair tie out in the process. “Yeah. One in the same.”

He whistled and settled the hat back on his head. “Not sure those kisses you distract her with are going to work this time.”

Butch trotted in with her battered avocado squeaker toy in her mouth. She wagged her tail and stared up at me until I picked her up. I set her on my shoulder where she happily curled up against my neck, her beloved toy tucked under her chest. I didn’t mind. Her warmth chilled me out a little.

“Don’t say that out loud, for fuck’s sake. She’s already going to skin me alive.”

We weren’t exactly secretive about the fact that our relationship was a bit more than foreman and client. But Ruby didn’t really like everyone knowing our business.

And I was okay with making sure I kept my hands to myself until after work hours. Most of the time. Now and then, I couldn’t help myself, especially when she got frustrated with timelines.

Ruby didn’t know the meaning of nine-to-five. We spent most evenings working on the barn after she’d already worked a full day.

Most nights, I spent in her bed. Sometimes after a tumble, sometimes we just passed the hell out. We were both pulling twelve-hour days. Butch and I had pretty much moved in, at least for the duration of the job.

I was tempted to buy a king-sized bed for her damn bedroom. My freaking feet hung over the edge. But in the end, it didn’t matter, since I woke with my Amazon curled around me most mornings.

She kept telling me she liked her space while sleeping, but she always found her way on top of me in the night. I hoped it was because she wanted to be close to me, not that her bed hadn’t been made for someone who was six-foot-four.

Oh, and a cat and a dog. Couldn’t forget them.

Joe let out a long exhale. “Well, we finished the reclaimed wood treatment on the feature wall. It’ll be ready for the shelving units, surround sound, and electronics by the end of the week.”

“How’s the upstairs looking?”

“We had to redo the second bedroom because it got wet.” Joe pointed at the ragged hole in the roof. “Want me to send Frankie up to tarp it?”

I sighed. “Yeah. Tell him to weatherproof it as much as possible.” I picked up my phone again. Now I had to find an alternative for the floor and hope it wouldn’t take more than two weeks to come in. This delay meant I couldn’t bring the furniture in either.

Fuck me.

“I’m going in the house to make some calls.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Text me if something else goes wrong.”

I lifted Butch off my shoulder and tucked her into the inside pocket of my jacket. Being this close to the water in November made for cold working conditions, even for me.

After gathering my stuff, I headed for her house. My phone buzzed with an incoming text from Ruby and one waiting from Dahlia, the decorator. I couldn’t take any more bad news today so I skipped the designer’s text in favor of my girl’s.

r /> “Shit,” I muttered and quickened my step. She was already on her way home for the day. I’d wanted to have some answers before she showed up.

Quickly, I texted her back to bring food, hoping that would give me a bit of a buffer. I opened the front door then juggled Butch out of my pocket, and she scrambled into the living room with her toy in her mouth. Probably to terrorize Ruby’s cat.

They had a love-hate relationship. Kinda like her mama and I.

I had one ace up my sleeve, but I wasn’t sure it would be enough to combat all of the less than awesome news I had for Ruby.