King’s Million-Dollar Secret Read Online Free PDF Page B

into his burger. “Then stop being an idiot.”
    â€œShut up. I tried the happily-ever-after thing and it blew up in my face. Not going to do it again.”
    â€œDid you ever consider that maybe the reason it didn’t work was because you married the wrong woman?”
    Rafe didn’t even bother answering that jibe. What would have been the point?
    Â 
    Monday morning, the guys were still fighting with the pipes and Katie was ready for a week in Tahiti. She’d hardly slept all weekend. Though the peace and quiet were great, she’d been so busy filling cookie orders she hadn’t had time to appreciate it.
    Now she sipped at a cup of coffee and winced every time the whine of a drill shrieked into the air.
    â€œThe noise is worst the first week,” someone from nearby said.
    She turned to look at Joe Hanna, the contractor. “You’re just saying that so I won’t run away.”
    He grinned. “Once the new pipes and drains areinstalled, the rest will be easier for you to live with. I promise.”
    He had no sooner made that vow when a shout came from the kitchen. “Arturo! Shut off the water! Off! Off!”
    â€œCrap.” Joe hustled across the yard just behind Rafe while Arturo sprinted for the water shutoff valve out front. Katie was hot on Joe’s heels and stepped into the kitchen in time to see Steve crouched over a pipe with water spraying out of it like a fountain in Vegas.
    Katie backed out of their way while the men grabbed towels. Then Arturo got the water off and the three men in the kitchen were left standing around as what looked like the incoming tide rolled across the floor and under the house.
    â€œThat fitting wasn’t on there right, damn it,” Steve muttered and dropped through the hole in the floor.
    â€œShould have checked it out with the water on low,” Joe pointed out and got a glare from Rafe in response.
    â€œWhat happened?” Katie asked and both men turned to look at her.
    â€œNothing huge,” Joe assured her. “Just got to tighten things up. Looks worse than it is.”
    Katie hoped so, because it looked like a lake was in her kitchen and she couldn’t think that was a good thing.
    Joe slapped one hand on Rafe’s shoulder and said, “I should have checked his work personally before we tested it. Rafe’s been out of the game for a while, so he may be rusty. But he’s got potential.”
    Katie saw the flicker of annoyance cross Rafe’s features and she shared it.
    â€œIsn’t Steve the plumber?” she asked pointedly.
    â€œYeah,” Joe said, “but Rafe did the joint work on that pipe.”
    â€œIt was fine,” Rafe said. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
    â€œSure, sure,” Joe told him, then looked at Katie. “My fault. Like I said, I should have kept a closer eye on the new guy’s work.”
    Rafe was biting his tongue, no doubt worried about defending himself and maybe losing his job. Then she realized that he could be fired anyway, if Joe decided that his work was too sloppy. So before she could stop herself, she stepped in to defend him. “Rafe does excellent work. He set up my temporary kitchen, allowing me to keep my business going. He’s stayed late everyday cleaning up and making sure I’m inconvenienced as little as possible. I’m sure that whatever happened with that pipe was unavoidable.”
    â€œYeah,” a voice came rumbling up from under the house. “Found the problem. The first joint worked itself loose, so the water had to go somewhere. My bad. I’ll get it fixed and we’ll be back in business.”
    Katie gave Joe a look that said quite clearly, See? You blamed the wrong man. She smiled at Rafe and left them to clean up the mess and get back to work.
    â€œWhat was that all about?” Joe wondered.
    Steve poked his head up from under the floorboards and smiled widely. “Sounds