Texas Curves Read Online Free Page B

available opportunity. Still smiling, I followed Red around to the front of the building. Stepping inside, he pointed at a desk then plopped down in front of the small AC unit plugging up the window, his face all but touching the grill.
    "Sweet Jesus it's hot!"
    I sat down at the desk, my gaze glued to a vase of freshly cut yellow roses. Next to it, a clean coffee cup, Kelly green in color, rested upside down.
    Seeing what held my attention, Red laughed. "Hawk said he might have strong armed you into working for me. I guess that's his way of apologizing."
    My mouth flattened and Red laughed even harder. "Looks like the boss might have to grovel a bit. Can I watch?"
    "No, I prefer to do my groveling in private." I hadn't noticed the Mustang parked near the building, but the smooth as silk voice came from the doorway behind me. The door had been closed when Red and I came in. Now Hawk McKinley filled it with his big frame. He slapped a rolled sheath of papers against his thigh then nodded at the computer in front of me. "Why don't you take a few minutes getting Ginny logged in, then we need to discuss the numbers coming out of rig eight."
    Those "few minutes" lasted fifteen as Red showed me where to find the inventory lists on my computer, the crew's time sheets, purchase orders and more, made sure I knew how to work the two-way radio and then set me to sorting out some open items before he disappeared behind the door marked Private.
    Red returned an hour later, checked on my progress then told me he was heading out for rig eight. There was a map on the wall, small pins sticking into it with little tags hanging from them marked with the names of the crew members at each location. He moved a red-tipped pin from the office we were sitting in and pushed it into a big number eight about five miles away.
    "Normally, the boys check in with their cell phones and it's logged automatically on the server, even in Iraq, but we've had to go old school out here." He grabbed a baseball cap and smoothed it over his gray hair. "I'll bring that air compressor back with me."
    I nodded, my insides jumping at the thought of being left alone in the building with Hawk McKinley. I spent the next fifteen minutes fidgeting with inventory lists at my desk, my ears sensitive to the slightest sounds within the building. Hearing the doorknob behind me start to rotate, I straightened at my desk and stared a little harder at the open spreadsheet. I was here to earn back every damn dollar in that envelope, and not a penny of it would be spent socializing with Hawk McKinley.
    "Red show you where the coffee maker is at?"
    My brows popped up. "Am I supposed to make coffee?"
    "No." He stopped in front of my desk and turned the cup over. "You're supposed to drink it. Of course, if you can brew a better pot than Red, please do."
    "I don't drink coffee." I nodded at the water dispenser with its inverted five gallon jug. "But I can brew it well enough."
    "Mm-hmm." Hawk grabbed the little green cup on my desk and proceeded to fill it with water.
    He brought it back, leaned close to place it next to me, then straightened and continued to stand in front of my desk as I worked. I lasted three minutes pretending he didn't exist before I lifted my eyes to glare at him. "Is there something else Mr. McK--"
    There was nothing professional in the face staring down at me. Hawk's mouth had formed a sultry pout, like he was holding a plump strawberry between his lips and trying hard not to dent the skin with his teeth. His eyes had gone soft, his gaze floating against my neck and the swell of my breasts. His hands danced along the top of my desk, the strong, deft fingers stroking its edge like a man might stroke the folds of his lover's sex.
    "Look here, Hawk McKinley." I pointed at my eyes then wagged my finger at him. "Thanks to your little heart-to-heart with the man who was my employer for the last eight years, I don't have a job any more. That's the only reason I'm here and