Big City Little Rebel

“Ouch.” He threaded his fingers through her hair, pried his lip from between her teeth, and kissed her as if his next breath depended on it.

Thump

Thump

Thump

“What do you want?” He yelled toward the door.

“We need you out here.” Kyle always had terrible timing.”The building inspector is here, and he has some questions.”

After a lengthy groan, he answered, “Be right there.” He pulled away from Bobbie with regret. That moment could have gone somewhere magical. “Hey, sweetheart, don’t you go anywhere.”

She looked down at her paper jail. “As if I could.” The roll of her eyes caused him to smile. What in the hell was he going to do with her?

He reached across his desk and grabbed the lead and asbestos survey results. “I want to show you these when I get back. Stay put.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips, grabbed his hard hat, and dashed out the door.

The building inspector was waiting out back. “What can I help you with?” His voice was sharper than he intended, but the man just interrupted what could have turned out to be an exciting morning.

The inspector studied him like he was mold on toast. “We’ve had a few calls reporting that you didn’t have the proper documentation for testing. You know these old buildings can be a health hazard.”

“Copies of those tests were filed with your office last week. I saw to it myself.” Though he was smiling on the outside, on the inside, he was screaming at Bobbie. This had her name written all over it.

“Do you have the originals? I’d like to see them.” The inspector rocked back and forth on his feet. He wanted to be there as much as Beau wanted him there.

“Yep, let me get them for you.” Thank the lucky stars because he knew exactly where those reports were. He’d just set them on the table to show Bobbie. The quicker he got them, the faster the man would leave, so he turned around and ran to his office.

When he arrived, the inspector was right on his heels. How was he going to explain the woman nailed to his wall?

He turned and halted, making the inspector come to a dead stop. “You can wait out here. My office is messy.” The door creaked as he opened it, just wide enough to slip inside. When he looked up, Bobbie was gone. The poster board was torn down the middle, and his curtains had been pulled from the window. All he could do was laugh as he pictured Bobbie wrapped in tattered, faded, blue curtains, sneaking away from the site.

The door behind him flung open, and the inspector stood there with his lips pulled in a tight line. “I don’t have all day.”

Beau scanned his desk for the reports, but the letters were gone. Damn it, Bobbie. ”I seem to have misplaced them. Can I bring them to you tomorrow?” He hoped the man would cut him some slack.

The inspector looked past him to the paper nailed to the wall. The word naked was still intact. “Interesting art you have.”

He ripped the paper from the wood paneling. “Worn by an activist.” He crumpled it up and tossed it aside. “You gotta love them.” The problem was he believed he could love Bobbie, but a thread separated love and hate, and Bobbie was tiptoeing on that fragile string.

“You have forty-eight hours to produce those results, or we’ll shut you down.” The inspector spun around and walked away.

When he pulled out his phone to dial Bobbie, he realized he didn’t have her number. He’d been seeing her for over a week and never thought to get it. What the hell was wrong with him? She had his, and he prayed she would call. This was getting out of hand.

Not being able to contact her meant he had to go with Plan B, so he called the testing agency to get duplicates. They were shorthanded and would put them in the mail as soon as possible. After minutes of begging, the customer service rep said she’d get them in the mail today. Hopefully, the mail service was at its peak performance because he had two days to produce those results, and he was out of business until he could.

The crew spent the rest of his day on floor joists. Once those were in, and he was confident all floors were structurally sound, they’d remove old walls and reframe. Then the fun stuff began. Transformations never took shape until the drywall was up.

At the close of business, he had one thing on his mind. He would have words with his little rebel, which would not be pleasant.