Dare to Resist (Wedding Dare, #0.5)(10)
“I thought you were going to be back in time for the site visit with Carson tomorrow,” Bob said without as much as a hello. The fact that she’d gone over his head to propose going after the project at this Panther Canyon facility had significantly moved her name up on his shit list. When she’d gotten the tip about the request for proposals here, Kady had known she couldn’t go through Bob with it. He’d either block her effort or take credit for the find—or both. So she’d gone to Mr. Resnick directly with full awareness doing so would earn Bob’s ire. But she’d decided it was worth the risk, and she’d been right. Resnick had been impressed enough by her identifying the job and her proposal for it that he’d given her the green light to bid as the project manager—which meant landing the contract was in essence a promotion. To not have to work for Bob Chase would be a dream come true… “If you can’t…commitments on smaller projects, how do you think…to manage bigger ones like this boondoggle you’re on…?”
Despite the weak cell service, Kady got the gist of Bob’s tirade. And she wasn’t really surprised. But boondoggle? Seriously? Was it 1953? Kady sucked down the snark and made nice. “I understand, Bob. And I apologize. There’s a terrible storm here and the airport canceled—”
“None of which would’ve been a problem…stayed at the office,” he barked.
Anger settled into Kady’s chest and a multitude of responses rushed to the tip of her tongue. Like, reminding him how lucrative this contract could be, because the initial systems they wanted were just the start of a potentially long-term relationship with this facility and others like it. Like, that Resnick had given Kady his permission and blessing to be here. Or even, just maybe, that he was a giant hemorrhoid. “I understand,” she said instead, forcing some sugar into her tone. “But fortunately, Carson was fine rescheduling for Friday afternoon, which actually worked better with his schedule.”
Apparently deciding to ignore the most important point of their conversation—the client was actually happier with the new meeting time—Bob plowed on. “Why can’t you rent a car so that you can…this meeting?”
A click sounded from across the table, and Kady looked up to find that Colton had closed his laptop and sat staring at her. No, scowling. And clearly listening in.
Ugh. She’d been so intent on handling Bob that she’d momentarily forgotten she wasn’t having this conversation in private. She got up from the chair, crossed the room, and closed herself in the bathroom. The last impression she ever wanted Colton Brooks to have of her was that she couldn’t hold her own in this field—in any and every manner.
What part of “terrible storm” don’t you understand? she thought, as she fought to hang on to her composure. “I wish I could,” she said in a tone you might use with a pouty toddler. “But there’s literally nothing here. The nearest car rental is at the airport, which I can’t get to.”
“Something you have to learn when you’re a program manager is how to manage competing time commitments. If you can’t, I’ll reassign Carson’s project,” he said. Click.
“Asshole!” she whispered as she braced her hands on the counter. She forced a deep breath. “He doesn’t matter. None of that matters. Because you’ll get the contract and then you’ll be out from under him.” She nodded, the pep talk releasing some of the tension in her shoulders.
Facing the door, Kady straightened her spine and relaxed her expression. She didn’t want Colton to think the call had ruffled her feathers in the least. Flicking the light switch off, she opened the door and smacked face-first into six foot two inches of hard masculine flesh.
Chapter Three
Hands braced on either side of the doorjamb, Colton stared down at Kady. God, she was a little thing. But lush, with sexy, feminine curves—the feeling of which was now emblazoned all down the front of his body from where she’d just walked into him.
“What was that about?” he asked, the heat of anger stirring in his gut. Someone had been hassling her.
“Oh,” she said with a shrug that was supposed to come off as nonchalant. “Just work, you know.”
“No, Kady. I don’t know, which is why I’m asking.” He was well aware that she had to deal with a lot of bullshit from the men she worked with and competed against. The whole computer field—from programming to security to games—was male-dominated and somewhat proudly chauvinistic. Colton didn’t agree with it in the slightest, but that didn’t make it any less true. And for someone like her? Who was not only brilliant at the work but feminine and beautiful and sharp-tongued? Yeah, she dealt with more than her fair share of it.
“Bob was just worried about a meeting I had scheduled tomorrow, that’s all,” she said.
And now Colton was getting pissed for a new reason. Kady was lying to him. “Bob Chase is a tool,” he said. “And he was hassling you about something over which you have no control, cutting you off, and generally, from what I could hear of your side of the conversation, being a pretentious, overbearing blowhard.”
She shrugged again. “Pretty much. No biggie.”
Except that wasn’t true, either. Colton had known this woman for more than fifteen years. He knew her facial expressions, intonations, and body language—though, admittedly, not as well as he wished he could. And right now, the cast of her eyes, furrow of her brow, and curl of her shoulders all read that the call had upset her. And that combined with the fact that she wasn’t being straight with him made him a little crazy. “Why did you go in the bathroom to finish the call?”