Maddy's Oasis (3 page)

"She didn’t seem like an idiot," Javier
said.

"Well, she is," Jake
responded. Irritated, he rose and withdrew his dinner from the
oven. "Typical city-girl, self-absorbed, controlling, no common
sense or respect, demanding this and that … I dated enough of them
to know,
tio.
"

"You didn't have any luck dating girls from
here, either."

"Guess it's not my forte. I
don't have my
tio's
charm."

Javier chuckled. Jake sat down to wolf down
his sister's latest creation: some sort of spicy meatloaf. Kitty's
food was always good, even if he didn't recognize all the spices
she used from the weed garden Javier built her or what kind of
animal it came from.

"You're sure you want us working on this
one?" he asked.

"Pretty sure," Javier said in his slow drawl.
"Can't be that bad."

"All righty, then. I'll do my best," Jake
said.

"Good kid. Life ain't so hard."

Jake wasn't so sure but cleaned up and made
his lunch for the next day. He wondered what city-girl would say
when he told her the cost.

“Five million just to get things back on
track?”

He'd heard rumors from his usual financiers
and suspected funding would be a problem, but seeing the assistant
to a billionaire pale at the paltry number confirmed his instinct.
Her striking green eyes grew larger, amplified by the dark teal
suit she wore this day. He hadn't seen her on her feet yet, but he
knew she'd be wearing inappropriate shoes.

The women from back east were predictable
like that.

“How long will it take you to finish?” she
asked.

He studied the heart-shaped face with its
button nose and large eyes, smooth skin, and tanned complexion. Her
gaze was steady and direct; even Javier had commented on it. Javier
liked a man-- or woman-- unafraid to look him in the eye.

“Nine months to complete our portion of the
work.”

At this, the city-girl looked ill.

“That’s too long.”

“With more men and money, it’ll be less,” he
said with a shrug.

“More than the thirty million?”

He nodded.

“Jesus,” she murmured. “How much and how many
men?”

“Another crew, maybe two, depending on when
you want it done,” he responded.

“I need to-- ”

Her phone rang and cut her off. She looked
down, muttering, “Excuse me.”

“I’ll be out there,” he said as he rose. The
city-girl waved a hand in confirmation without looking up.

“Good morning, Jake.” Her assistant, Eric,
beamed a smile as he opened the door.

“Mornin’,” Jake responded.

“How’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“Great, that’s great!” Eric said with fake
enthusiasm.

Jake ignored his attempt to enter and pushed
by him, agitated. Toni, a leathery man twenty years Jake’s senior,
gave a knowing grin from his position leaning against the rickety
stairs.

“They may not have to fire us,” Jake said
with a shake of his head. “At this rate, I’m about two straws from
walking away.”

“The money’ll be good,” Toni countered.

“If
there's money,” Jake replied. They started toward the building
and made it a few dozen feet away before he heard the trailer door
slam open.

“Jake, I’d like a tour!” she called after
him.

“Christ,” he muttered without turning.
“Change shoes and bring a hard hat.”

“I didn’t bring extra-- hello? Nigel?”

He tried hard to tune her out, but she
trailed them, talking in low, agitated tones on the phone.

“The foundation on the east and part of the
northern block are pretty solid. We should only need to pour
two-thirds of it over again,” Toni said as they walked toward the
small work station Jake had set up.

“Yeah, we’ll definitely need to work on the
foundation. Everything else needs to come down where we’ll pour.
City-girl here doesn’t understand, so keep it quiet. I’ll move her
office to the opposite side, so she can't see what we're doing.
She'll be out of the shade of the building for most the day, but I
doubt she can tell one side of the site from the other,” Jake
stated. “We’ll need to bring in about twenty laborers.”

They exchanged a look, and Toni grinned.

“I’ve needed some good tequila,” he remarked.
“I’ll take a trip south tonight. Has she considered moving in some
trailers to save on travel costs during the week?”

“Haven’t asked. It’ll make our job easier if
our men can stay here instead of driving in every day. I’ll give
Carla a call today,” Jake said.

They paused at his work area to pick up hard
hats.

“I’d like to see the damaged area first,
then-- ” the city-girl started. “What are they doing?”

Jake turned to look in the direction she
indicated. Two of his workers were hanging out by the water
tank.

“Taking a break,” he said.

“It’s only six-thirty. What are the union
laws here?”

“Leave my men to me,” he warned.

“Do you intend to make them-- hello?”

Jake picked up a third hard hat and turned,
snagging the BlackBerry and plopping the hat on her head before she
could object. He clicked the phone off and dropped it on the
table.

The city-girl gazed up at him with a frown,
her lovely face irritated.

“I need that, Jake.”

“Chin up,” he said, ignoring her words.

He adjusted the hat, surprised to notice how
soft her skin was. He withdrew without meeting her challenging gaze
and slapped her upside the head. City-girl gasped. Toni
grinned.

“C’mon.” Jake turned and began walking toward
the building. “We’ll start at the entrance.”

He led her through the beams, explaining the
layout and how the new blueprints would adjust the current
design.

“I don’t know how you can envision any of
this,” she said when he paused. “I see nothing but beams and
cement. These don’t look like spas, conference rooms, or anything.
This looks like a pool might go here.”

Jake turned in time to see her stop beside a
gaping circular hole beyond a set of beams. City-girl leaned
forward for a better view, and he saw the beams to the left and
right shudder.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said, and reached
out with lightning reflexes. He wrapped one arm around her warm
body and pulled her back as the beam she leaned upon dropped. Her
body fit well against his, and he could feel the combination of
soft curves and athletic muscle beneath.

“Wow,” she muttered. “Is that supposed to
happen?”

“When Smithson heads your project, yes,” he
said. “You see the support beams there and there?”

She absently leaned against him, following
his hand with her eyes as he pointed above her. Vanilla-scented
hair tickled his chin.

“They’re held together with a single
fastener.”

“And?”

“They should be held together with about a
dozen.”

“A
dozen
? Maybe I’ll call and fire him
again,” she murmured, stepping away from him.

“Just don’t lean on anything,” Jake advised.
His gaze traveled over the hourglass form rendered blocky by the
masculine suit. Dark eyes settled on her impractical shoes once
more. “You might want to check the insurance on this place before
coming out here in those shoes again.”

City-girl gave him an irritated glance over
her shoulder. Jake joined Toni and continued on the tour. It was
not until she tripped for the third time that he took pity on her
and took a shortcut back to the office.

“They’re still on break.”

Jake looked, already aware of whom she spoke.
While he made an attempt to keep his staff as qualified and
motivated as possible, occasionally a lazy one or two slipped
through when he needed numbers.

City-girl took a deep breath and set off for
the pair. Jake snagged the collar of her suit to stop her.

“You don’t mess with my men,” he warned her
again, this time more sharply.

City-girl tugged free and faced him. He
crossed his arms to expose his roped forearms and met her gaze head
on.

“First, if you don’t keep your men occupied,
I won’t hesitate to get rid of them,” she told him. “Second, keep
your hands off me.”

“First, you don’t tell me how to deal with my
men. I won't be micromanaged by someone who knows nothing about my
job. Second, you don’t talk to my men. You take any issues to me,”
he said just as firmly.

She gazed up at him, assessing him, then
said, “Very well. I want those two gone.”

She turned and walked away toward his work
space to retrieve her BlackBerry. She flung the hard hat on the
ground beside the card tables he used as desks in his work
space.

“Are all the women out east like that?” Toni
asked, shaking his head.

Jake watched her walk with a purely feminine
sway despite the masculine business suit.

“I mean
now
, Jake!” she shouted back at
him.

Toni looked at him, astonished. Jake’s jaw
twitched.

“They breed ’em different,” Toni added.

“That they do,” Jake said, reining in his
temper.

“I see why you left.”

Jake snorted, fed up with the reminder of his
time back east already.

"We'll do our best," Toni said.

"Should know in a few days just how bad
things are. I have a feeling we haven't seen the worst of this
place."

CHAPTER TWO

It was on the fourth long day, when she
forced herself to the office half an hour before the workers, that
she finally admitted to herself how doomed the project was.
Normally, her optimism took months to wear off, but this time … no,
this time she knew upon standing in front of the project that it
was only a matter of time before she would run for the hills like
Alex.

The office was finally clean and the files
organized. The tiny bathroom still stunk, but she couldn't quite
determine where the smell came from. This day she carried a suit
bag and bathroom essentials. After sleeping a mere three hours a
night in the hotel an hour drive away, she had decided to spend the
night at the office. Five hours of sleep was not her usual, but it
was better than three.

She entered the office, flipping on the two
lights. Her eyes fell to the blueprints she had laid out on the
desk the night prior. She pulled two books-- one a new accounting
book to replace Alex's disgusting attempt to track finances, and
the second a book on reading blueprints-- from her bag and tossed
them on top of the blueprints.

Her phone buzzed, and she tapped the
Bluetooth.

"Madeleine Winters."

"Hey, baby."

"Hi, Mama. How're you feeling today?" she
asked, sitting on a couch.

"Can't complain," was the chipper response.
"How's your new project going?"

Madeleine looked around her and suppressed a
sigh.

"It's going, Mama," she answered.

"You can always quit and come home. I'll meet
you at the airport."

"No, Mama," she said. "You know that's not
possible. We need the money."

"Money isn't everything, baby."

"Mama, you know we need it to make you
better."

"Of course, if I keel over dead this week,
I'd probably be thinking I'd rather have the time with you than
know you're a million miles away for money. I'm getting old, and
the doctor's almost out of options, Maddy," her mother said. "He's
told me twice I've only had six months to live."

"And twice he's been wrong," Madeleine
pointed out. "The cancer's on the last leg, Mama. Just a little
more time and a helluva lot more money, and you'll be better."

"All right, baby, if you say so."

Madeleine chuckled at her disapproving tone,
unable to quell her sense of panic at her mother's words and
condition. A small part of her realized her mother was right: if
she couldn't beat the cancer, or if it came back as the doctors
thought it might, the time she spent on this project would be some
of the last good months her mother had alive.

Then again, if she continued paying what she
was for the best cancer treatment in the world, her mother would
have a better chance of making it.

"I've gotta get going, Mama," she said. "Rest
well today."

"Love you, baby."

"Love you, Mama."

Madeleine hung up and sat
for a long moment, her mind on her mother. She crossed to her desk
at long last and opened her notebook to her list of priorities, one
of many lists she made on a regular basis. Her priorities list was
small and squeezed between a length to-do list from last week and
her packing list for her trip out. Absently, she noticed she'd
forgotten to cross off
socks
from her packing list. She crossed it out and then
underlined her priorities list again.

1.Complete Desert Oasis; 2. Pay off medical
debt; 3. Ask Nigel for raise.

She felt like a bank robber that needed the
Big One in order to retire. She lowered the notebook and looked in
the direction of the Desert Oasis. The disaster of a building was
her Big One, and she'd do whatever it took to complete it.

She set about going to work, aware the heat
of the day would soon make her too hot to sit still. She entered
the numbers supplied to her by Mr. Howard’s office into the
accounting book and tapped her pencil with a frown.

The numbers before her and the numbers she
had managed to glean from Alex’s chaos did not remotely match up.
According to her calculations, there were tens of millions missing.
By Jake’s calculations, she would need an additional $47 million to
have the work completed in half the time he quoted.

She was almost $100 million in the hole. Alex
had promised money to the people building, but paid less than ten
percent of what was due. The money just … disappeared.