Give Us a Chance (14 page)

"Which is just another reason why he's not boyfriend material."

"When I saw you two at Hoedowns, Jake couldn't take his eyes off you. He didn't even look at the other girls. That has to mean something, Ivy."

"It means he was working really hard to impress me so he could get what he wants later."

She sighs. "You're going to end up an old maid, you know that?"

"I'm only 23. I have a long ways to go before that happens."

"So are you and Jake going out this weekend?"

"Yeah. And tomorrow he's picking me up and we're going over to the house so he can look at the bathroom. He's going to help me remodel it."

"Wait—what? Hold on. You're letting Dad meet him? Already? Are you crazy?"

"It's not like that. He's only going there to take measurements. I'm not taking him there to introduce him to Dad. And besides, Dad already knows him, or at least knows who he is because of his dad. He's worked with Mitch Wheeler before. It's been a while, but still."

"And Jake wants to fix our bathroom? How much are we paying him?"

"We're not. He's doing it for free. I'm going to help, but I'm sure he'll end up doing most of the work."

She's quiet and then, "Ivy, I think this guy might be in love with you."

I burst out laughing. "Yeah, that's hilarious. Offering to help me remodel the bathroom means he's in love with me? You're such a hopeless romantic. You read too many romance books."

"Okay, maybe he's not in love, but he definitely likes you a lot. He's had a crush on you for months. The way you ignored him all those months, you'd think he would've given up on you, but he didn't. And now, he's gone out with you two nights in a row and you're going out again tomorrow, and this weekend. And his offer to help with the bathroom? He's doing it so he can spend more time with you. Ivy, this guy is serious. He really wants this to go somewhere."

"You're reading too much into it. It's not serious. We'll go out a few times and that'll be it. I am not going to be Jake Wheeler's girlfriend."

"Okay, but I think you're making a mistake."

"Good to know," I say sarcastically.

She laughs. "Fine. So you won't be his girlfriend, but at least take
this
advice. Right before you dump him, have sex with him. I've heard sex with Jake Wheeler is the best you'll ever have. You don't want to pass up that opportunity."

"You mean the opportunity to get an STD? I don't think so."

"If anyone was going to give you an STD, it would've been Ryker." She pauses. "He didn't, did he?"

"No! Gross. Geez, this conversation has headed down a path I'm choosing not to go down. I have to get to bed. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Yeah, goodnight. Sweet dreams," she giggles, "which they will be if Jake is in them."

I roll my eyes. "Goodnight, Liza."

I'm not ready for bed, so I take a shower instead. As I close my eyes and stand under the hot water, I keep imagining Jake in here with me, his big strong hands sliding over my wet body. It's infuriating the way he gets in my head like this. I told myself I wouldn't do this. That this thing with Jake wouldn't be about sex or anything even close to that. I'm done dating players. I'm supposed to be convincing Jake to lose interest in me. I'm supposed to be proving he's nothing more than a guy who uses women for his physical pleasure then tosses them aside. So why am I not sticking to the plan? I'm only a few days into this and my plan is already falling apart. So now what do I do?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ivy

The next day at work, I put all my energy into the detailed carvings I'm doing on the mantel. It's a scrolling design that looks kind of medieval. It's really cool and I'm beyond thrilled that Nash assigned me to do it. This is my favorite type of carpentry work. The intricate work. The fine details. A lot of carpenters find it boring or tedious, but I love it.

"How's it going?" I turn back and see Nick at the door.

"Good." I focus back on the mantel, hoping that ignoring him will make him go away.

"That's a lot of detail work," he says, his voice now right behind me.

"Yeah. It is," I say. "But I like detail work."

"You should come work for me and my dad. We could use someone like you."

"I'm pretty sure your dad wouldn't hire me."

"Why wouldn't he?"

Because your dad's a sexist pig, just like you. That's what I want to say, but instead I turn to him and say, "I don't know. Never mind."

"I could convince him to hire you. We'd make a great team, Ivy." He smiles and runs his hand down my arm.

I yank it away from him. "I'm not interested," I say, hoping he gets that I'm not just referring to the job offer.

He huffs and crosses his arms over his chest. "What else are you going to do for a job? No one's gonna hire a girl in this business. It's almost a hundred percent male."

I glare at him. "Then why would YOU hire me?"

He gives me a smug grin. "I already told you. We could use your skills."

"That's it? You only want me for my skills?" I'm holding a sharp chisel in my hand and I swear if he touches me again, this chisel's going to be wedged in his arm.

"Just think about it," he says, then walks away.

I can't stand Nick. Why is he suddenly so interested in me? He used to just leer at me from afar. Now he's up in my face. Touching me. Almost threatening me.

Later that morning, I bring a bag of trash out to the lobby of the library. We always leave them there, then when they start piling up, someone takes all of them out to the dumpster.

"It's your turn," I hear Nick say.

I whip around and see him sitting at one of the library tables, along with four other guys on the crew. I check my watch and see it's just after ten, which is when they take their break.

"My turn to what?" I ask.

"Dump the garbage," he says, smirking at me.

I never dump the garbage. The bags are heavy and I'm too short to toss them into the dumpster. I'd probably break my shoulder trying to hoist them up enough to get them in there.

"Whatever," I say, walking away. Nick is just being a jerk, as usual.

"Ivy." I hear Darren's voice this time.

"What?" I turn around and see all the guys watching me.

"You need to dump the garbage." He points to it. "It's piling up."

I sigh. "And why can't YOU do it?"

"I did it yesterday."

"And I did it the day before," Nick says. "Everyone here has dumped the garbage except you. It doesn't seem fair, does it?"

"I've worked here for months, and now you're getting on my case about this?" I know Nick put the other guys up to this. None of them care who dumps the garbage.

"Are you saying you want to be treated differently because you're a girl?" Nick smirks again.

I look over at the pile of garbage bags. There are at least twelve of them there, and I'm sure they're all heavy.

"Fine." I storm over to the bags and grab two of them, dragging them out the front door. I hear the guys mumbling to each other, followed by Nick's annoying laugh.
 

When I get to the dumpster, I try flinging one of the bags into it, but I don't get it high enough and it falls back to the ground, tearing open on one side.

"Shit." I pick it up and take a few steps back and swing it for momentum, then fling it again. It goes in but now my shoulder hurts.

"What are you doing?" I hear a guy say. I turn and see Nash there. He has his coat on and his keys in his hand. He must've been going to his truck but then saw me here.

"I'm just taking out the garbage."

"Why are
you
doing it? The guys should be doing that."

"It's part of the job. We take turns."

"Since when? I never made any rule about taking turns." He picks up the other bag, the heavier one, and tosses it in the dumpster without any effort at all.

"I know, but it looks bad when everyone does it but me."

"Looks bad to who?"

"The other guys."

"I don't give a shit. I can't have my best carpenter getting hurt dumping the freaking garbage."

Best carpenter?
I can't help but smile at that.

"Get inside," he says. "I'll find someone else to do the garbage."

"Nash, you don't understand. If I don't do this, I lose respect from the guys."

"If they don't respect you for your work and your talent, then they'll never respect you, no matter how many times you do the garbage. Come on." He motions me to follow him and we go back inside. The guys are still sitting at the table.

"Nick," Nash says, "I need you to take out the trash."

"Ivy's doing it," he says, a smug grin on his face.

Nash goes up to Nick, leaning toward him and slamming his palms on the table. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

Nick rolls his eyes. "No."

"Good." Nash stands up straight again. "Break is over. Everyone back to work."

The guys are pissed, especially Nick, but what was I going to do? Nash just took over. And there was no way I could get all those garbage bags in the dumpster.

I return to the reading room and get back to work on the mantel. I close the door so I'll hear if Nick comes in, but luckily, he doesn't.

Around noon, I hear the door click open.

"Ivy." It's Callie. She's walking in with some girl. "This is my friend, Jen," Callie says, as a petite girl with long dark blond hair comes up to me.

"Hi," I say, shaking her hand. "I'm Ivy. I think Jake mentioned you. He said you're kind of like his sister?"

She smiles. "Yeah. That's me. Nice to meet you."

"Jen and I are going to lunch," Callie says. "We wanted to know if you'd like to come with us. Nash said you could take an hour lunch today if you want."

I'm not that hungry after the shitty morning I had, but going out for lunch is a good idea. I can't concentrate on work right now and I could use a break from this place.

"Okay," I say. "Just let me put my tools away."

I always lock up my tools when I'm not here. They're expensive tools and I don't trust the guys not to steal them, specifically Nick, who would do it just to get back at me for not going along with his advances.

"Your work is incredible," Jen says as I'm putting my tools away.

"Thanks, but I haven't really done much yet. I just started on the mantel."

"I showed her that picture you did," Callie says. "That was really amazing, Ivy. How did you learn to do that?"

"My dad taught me. And I practiced a lot when I was in high school instead of doing my homework." I laugh. "I wasn't the best student, academically speaking."

"Well, you're definitely talented," Jen says.

"Ready to go?" Callie asks as I lock my toolbox.

"Yeah, I'm ready." I grab my wallet and we go out to Callie's car.

"There's this deli that just opened a few miles from here," Callie says as we're driving. "You guys want to try it?"

"Sure," Jen and I say at the same time.

Jen laughs. "I always do that. I say stuff at the same time someone else says it."

"Especially with Bryce," Callie says. "You two always do that. It's like you can read his mind."

"I wish," Jen says under her breath. She's sitting up front with Callie. Callie glances over at her but doesn't say anything.

Jake told me Bryce has a huge crush on Jen but refuses to make a move. From her reaction just now, I think Jen wants him to, and is frustrated that he hasn't. I don't know Bryce that well. I met him at the opening event for the Victorian and he seemed nice but we only talked for a few minutes. He's covered in tattoos and wears his hair really short. He's tall and muscular like his brothers. He must look like a giant next to Jen. She's tiny, even smaller than Callie. She can't be more than 5'2 and Bryce is at least 6'3. Jake is 6'4. Big. Tall. All muscle. He could easily toss me over his shoulder, then haul me to his bedroom and—

"You coming?" Callie is standing outside, holding my door open.

"Yeah. Sorry. I guess I was lost in thought." Naughty thoughts that I shouldn't be having about your boyfriend's brother, especially since I'm committed to never having sex with him.

We go inside the restaurant. It's a big open space with people bustling about and workers calling out names for people whose orders are up. The menu is written on a giant chalkboard behind the register. We place our orders then find a table to sit at.

"This place is kind of loud," Callie says, "but I like it. It has character with the exposed pipes and beams. It used to be an old wool factory but they converted it to retail."

"Kind of like that building Jake might be renovating. He had a meeting about it yesterday. He told me about it last night." Callie and Jen both stare at me, not saying anything. "Was that a secret? About the building?"

"It's not a secret," Callie says. "Nash told me about it. I just didn't know you were with Jake last night."

"We went out for dinner. He said he had to make up for taking me to Rodeo Freddy's the night before."

Callie smiles. "Yeah, they aren't known for their food. But the dancing was fun." She looks at Jen. "Nash and I went with them."

"You're dating Jake?" Jen asks me.

"Um, yeah. I guess we are." It sounds odd to admit that out loud. I keep telling myself we're just friends hanging out, but friends don't passionately kiss to the point that they lose all sense of time and place, which is what happened last night.

"Wow. Jake has a girlfriend. That's big news." She swats Callie's arm. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"It just happened. They've only been on two dates."

Two dates.
That's all Jake and I have been on and yet it seems like more than that. I've fallen way too hard for him in just two dates. I even felt a tiny flutter of excitement when Jen called me Jake's girlfriend. That's bad. Really bad.

Callie jumps up from the table. "They just called out our order. I'll go get it."

"I'll help," Jen says. "Ivy, can you watch our stuff?"

"Yeah, got it."

They return to the table with our sandwiches, which are huge. I normally don't eat this much for lunch.

"There must be over a half pound of turkey on here," Callie says. "I'm going to bring some of this back to Nash."