Little White Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

it.
    “That’s what I want to talk to you about. I…”
    “No need to be bashful, boss lady,” he went on, misreading the look on her red face and apparently undeterred by her less than friendly attitude. “I imagine you get pretty lonely without a man. I could see things weren’t exactly great with your uh… friend the other day.”
    Maggie swallowed. This wasn’t going at all as she’d planned, and while she didn’t want to antagonize Jack, she definitely wanted this conversation back on track.
    “Look, Jack, what I do with my friends is no concern of yours,” she began, pulling herself up to her full height and squaring her shoulders. “This kind of talk is exactly what I wanted to speak to you about.”
    “So talk,” he told her sharply, leaning against the building and folding his arms across his chest. Although he was an attractive man with his blonde hair, good looks, and muscular build, he did absolutely nothing for her. She knew he was a drinker, and the word around was that his wife had left him because of it. Maggie always sensed anger in him, even when he was being deceptively calm. For a moment she considered just firing him and being done with it, but Maggie was a fair woman, and she wanted to be sure she made her position perfectly clear. In the past, there had been men who had a hard time adjusting to a woman foreman; the majority of them had worked out just fine after they realized she meant business.
    “Jack,” she began, removing her hard hat and wiping her sleeve across her forehead. “First off, I want to say that I think you’re about the best brick layer I’ve ever seen—”
    “You should see me without the bricks,” he grinned.
    “Damn it, that’s just about enough,” she almost shouted, really angry now as she pointed her finger at him. “I think you could be a real asset to this crew, Jack, but you have got to stop speaking to me in that manner. I may be a woman, but I’m your boss. I don’t appreciate
    you—”
    “You would if you’d let yourself.”
    Maggie gasped in rage.
    “You may try to act like a man, boss lady, but I could make you feel like a woman,” he drawled smugly, raking her body with hot eyes.
    Maggie was speechless with anger. The nerve of this guy was colossal.
    Taking her silence as an invitation, Jack reached out and hauled her against him, his lips smothering her protest. For a second she was too stunned to react, but when she did it was violently.
    His hard arms squeezed her ribs, and she struggled to draw breath. She was sorry she’d decided to have this talk after hours. Panicked, Maggie brought her knee up quickly and stumbled back at her almost instant release.
    “You bitch,” he ground out painfully between clenched teeth. “What did you do that for?”
    Maggie wiped her hand over her mouth and stood perfectly straight. Her eyes glittered with fury, and when she spoke to him there was no question she meant every word.
    “If you ever lay a hand on me again, you’re through. I’ve tried to explain how things work around here, buddy, and if you’re too thick to understand, get your stuff and get out. I am the foreman and you are an employee, and that’s all we’ll ever be. You do your job and keep your hands to yourself. Treat me with the respect you would a man, and we’ll get along just fine. If that’s not acceptable to you, then you know what to do. And if you’re back here on Monday, then I’ll assume we have an understanding.”
    Spinning on her heel, Maggie walked away quickly. She couldn’t let him see how shaken she really was as she felt his eyes boring into her back. Once in her pickup, Maggie’s hands were so slippery with sweat she could hardly turn the key. She’d had troubles of this nature before but never to this extreme. Most guys got the message quickly enough, and as she drove home she tried to figure out what the difference was this time. By the time she’d driven two miles, she knew. This time she was