CHAPTER ONE
“AND SHE DOES this thing with her tongue” was not what Piper Dalton expected to hear when she walked out of Windsor Hall to join her construction crew. Piper and her father had owned Dalton Contracting for several years. She was used to hearing guys talk about all sorts of things, and she didn’t think it was much different from the way women talked. She found three of the guys standing around a table where the plans for the old farmhouse they were renovating were spread out. Piper glanced at her project manager, Kase Force, a large man with granitelike features and an ever-present baseball cap, and lifted her brows. Kase and the two men he was with, Mike Renway and Darren Wilcox, had worked for Piper for the last few years. They were trusted and valued employees.
“Don’t look at me, boss,” Kase said, holding his hands up.
Darren, a baby-faced blond who looked closer to eighteen than twenty-five, said, “Mike was just trying to convince me not to get married in August.”
Mike shrugged, flashing a cocky grin.
The guys knew Piper didn’t have a problem with them shooting the shit as long as the work got done. But she did have a problem with three-times-divorced and far-too-cynical Mike trying to convince a man who was madly in love with his fiancée to think twice about tying the knot. Mike was in his midforties and didn’t have a faithful bone in his body, but at work he was as dependable and hardworking as the rest of Piper’s crew. She might be the boss, but it wasn’t her place to judge her employees’ personal lives.
“Is that so?” Piper crossed her arms, meeting Mike’s steady gaze and cocky grin. She might be only a size two, but there wasn’t a man on earth she wouldn’t stand up to. “So, this thing she does with her tongue—does she do it to all the guys she blows, or just you?”
Kase and Darren chuckled.
Mike’s brows knitted. “Um . . .”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Piper said. “How about you let Darren be happy? I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who’s into sloppy seconds . . . or thirds.”
“Aw, come on, Piper,” Mike said. “I don’t see you running to the altar.”
“Can you imagine Piper trading in her jeans and work boots for an apron and heels?” Kase shook his head. “You’re too cool for that, boss.”
“Thank you,” Piper said.
“And too tough,” Darren added. “You’ve got bigger balls than most of the guys I know. I mean, my girl is always hanging on my every word and giving me foot rubs. I just can’t see you doing those things.”
“Rubbing your feet? Really?” That kind of grossed Piper out.
“Not to mention you’re about as unfiltered as a muddy creek, which is awesome, but some guys are too insecure for truths.” Mike patted her on the back and said, “If you were ten years older, I’d beg you to marry me. You’re everything I want in a woman. You’re smokin’ hot, you won’t give me shit for swearing, you’ve got a good brain and a kick-ass job, and you don’t mind having beer and wings at Dutch’s for dinner.”
Piper laughed right along with them. She had dinner at Dutch’s Pub most days of the week, oftentimes with a few of her crew. She loved her job, and she didn’t like watching her language. But she’d witnessed each of her four siblings falling in love, and it had definitely opened her eyes to what she was missing. She hoped one day to find a man who would love her the way her siblings were loved, but she wasn’t looking to get married, nor holding her breath for that man to suddenly appear. She knew she wasn’t most men’s long-term cup of tea.
“So, what do you say, Piper?” Mike waggled his thick blond brows. “Want to hook up with an older man who knows all the tricks?”
Piper’s phone rang, and DEBRA DUTCH appeared on her screen. “Saved by the bell.” She walked away to answer the call. Debra’s family owned Dutch’s Pub, which was run by one of Debra’s sons—Piper’s close friend Harley.
“Hi, Deb. Is Delaney okay?”
Delaney was Harley’s older sister, and a single mother to two wonderful girls. She had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone a double mastectomy two weeks ago. Debra was taking care of her while she recovered. Delaney’s diagnosis had rocked her family and friends to their core. Luckily, the cancer hadn’t spread, and all the cancerous cells had been eradicated during surgery.
“Yes. She’s getting stronger every day,” Debra said. “Honey, it’s Harley. He’s had an accident at work and he needs a ride home from Harmony Pointe Hospital. I didn’t know who else to call.”
“Oh no. Of course I’ll get him. Is he okay? What happened?” Many moons ago, the youngest Dutch sibling, Marshall, had been Piper’s first love. He’d been as risky and rowdy as Delaney and Harley were responsible. Marshall had left town to attend college, but he’d quit after his third year and returned home so rarely since, even his family had no idea where he was living. Harley had always picked up the slack. Piper was sure that times like these, though rare, made it even more difficult for Debra.
“I don’t know exactly. I just know he had an accident.”
“Don’t worry, Deb. I’ll leave now.” She ended the call and hurried over to the guys with her heart in her throat, hoping Harley wasn’t hurt too badly. “That was Debra Dutch. Harley’s in the hospital. I have to go get him.”
“Is he okay?” Kase asked.
“I don’t know.”
“The cockblocker strikes again,” Mike said teasingly. “Tell him I said thanks a lot.”
Piper glowered at him, although Harley did have a habit of scaring off her dates. “Kase, I’ll text you when I know something,” she said as she headed for her truck.
“Give him my best,” Darren called after her.
“Tell him his timing sucks!” Mike added.
Piper flicked Mike the bird as she climbed into her truck. She knew he was kidding, but she was worried about Harley.
Harmony Pointe was a small town, and her job site wasn’t far from the hospital. A few minutes later, she rushed through the emergency-room doors, heading for the registration desk. The waiting room was crowded, and the woman behind the desk was on the phone. Piper’s anxiety rose as she waited. She hated hospitals. The lights were too bright, the atmosphere too sterile, and the underlying thrum of pain was inescapable. Oh God, is Harley in pain?
She tried to keep from drumming her fingers on the desk as she waited for the woman behind it to get off the phone. She thought about all the times Harley had broken up barroom brawls, taking punches like they were given by children instead of grown men. He’d gotten a few deep gashes over the years from broken bottles and out-of-control patrons, and he’d always refused medical treatment, which left him with tough-looking scars from cuts that should have been stitched. Piper couldn’t imagine a fight breaking out at the bar on a Wednesday afternoon, much less what had to have happened to land him in the hospital.
As soon as the woman behind the desk hung up, Piper said, “Hi. I’m here to pick up Harley Dutch. He came into the emergency room earlier.”
The woman typed something into her computer, then pointed to a set of double doors. “You can go through those doors and they’ll direct you.”