Wolf's Heir

Chapter 1-2

ASIDE FROM HIS MEMORIES coming back to taunt him, it had been a long month of doubling up on duties to make up for no assistant that was finally catching up with him. He preferred to be at work well ahead of his crew, but since that was clearly not happening that day, he figured he could at least stop and pick up some donuts and coffee for them. Besides him, everyone was pulling longer shifts, and he knew they had to deal with the brunt of his surly attitude on the worst days.

He raced through his morning routine to make up for lost time. He flipped on his coffee maker, showered, dressed, made eggs and toast, and sat down to eat. He took one bite and cursed. He’d forgotten he had to wear a suit today. He strode back to his closet to change. He would have been on top of all of this had he still had an assistant.

Lucy, his old assistant, was virtually irreplaceable. She’d had her own way of doing things that weren’t as updated as he might have liked, but she had made up for it with a surly attitude that never failed to make him smile. She was well into her seventies but still as sharp as anyone half her age. She’d retired reluctantly at the behest of her daughter who wanted her to come live with her. Jalen was happy she had family close enough to her who wanted to care for her. It said a lot about her, and her family, of course.

He arrived on site, nodding to a few of the crew members who watched him pull up. He held up the boxes in invitation and inclined his head toward the trailer where he was headed. Bill, his foreman, was scowling behind the desk when he walked in.

Bill had been tasked with hiring a new assistant for Jalen that week. Jalen had done multiple interviews when he could, but he was unable to find anyone capable or willing to take on the daunting task of taking care of all the desk work and anything else he threw their way. He did offer a generous amount, but the work load and odd hours made it a difficult job to sell.

“You’re never going to get anyone to accept a job with that look on your face,” he joked.

“You should be doing these interviews,” Bill didn’t mince words. “And by the way, how did Lucy get out of doing these before she left? She could have at least trained a new gal.”

“Are all the applicants female?” Jalen asked, idly flipping through some of the correspondence that needed replies.

“Far as I can see.” Bill shuffled the resumes in front of him. “If we can find ourselves another Lucy, we’ll be golden.”

Jalen snorted. “If there was another Lucy, she’d be too good for this job, and she’d never apply in the first place. Lucy only worked here because she felt pity on me when I started this place up, remember? She was already past retirement.”

“Well, she sure as hell aged well,” Bill grumbled with a note of admiration in his tone. Jalen knew he missed his daily banter with Lucy or he never would have complimented her, even in her absence.

“I’ll be sure to tell her that when she calls later. You know, she’s dying to know what’s going on over here. She’s been calling nearly every evening when she knows I’m about to walk out the door, to hear the scoop. She asks about you every night, too,” Jalen teased.

“Don’t you dare!” Bill thundered. “I’ll quit on you, too; see how you’ll do without me. You keep your thoughts to yourself. Just keep your nose out of my affairs,” he warned. Then he sighed. “You sure you can’t do some of these?” He stared at one glumly, clearly unimpressed by the credentials listed. “There’s one decent looking one, but I’m calling to verify the information once more offices open up, which may be in another hour or more.”

“I wish I could,” Jalen lied. He didn’t envy the job at all. It was tedious to ask the appropriate questions and then be faced with paying attention to the equally dull responses.

“Liar,” Bill glared at him.

“Donut?” Jalen pushed an open box in front of Bill’s face. Some frown lines disappeared from his forehead as he reached in the box to select one.

“You think this is enough? I’m going to need more than a bear claw to make up for this.” He tore into it while Jalen poured him a cup of strong black coffee.

“Well, I can’t thank you enough for covering. I didn’t realize the Gundersons would be in town so soon. They were barely cleared from the zoning department for the build last week. I would have put it off if it weren’t such a huge project. I need to be available to answer any of their questions. By the way, I need you to pull out the file with architects and look for one who might be right for the job.”

Bill nodded reluctantly. “I know. You wouldn’t want them to pull out. They’ve done it before, I heard. Real jittery when it’s in the planning stages. Alright, let me look over what they have in mind before I find one for you.”

“I’ll tell you what—if I finish up early, I’ll come in and take over. I wouldn’t want to chase you out of this place, too.”

“You need me,” Bill agreed with a warning look in his eye. “And you can’t chase me away, I need to stick around and make sure you repay me for all these favors I been doin’ ya.”

Jalen chuckled. “Sure, I’m happy to.” He patted the older man on his shoulder and grabbed a donut as the crewmen began to filter in. “Grab some coffee too, fellas,” he called on his way out. “You’ll all need at least a couple cups.” He heard a chorus of groans and threw them a grin on his way out.

It was a long day of meetings and tours of sites before Jalen returned to the trailer in the early afternoon. He was tired enough to go home, but he knew he had several more hours before he could even consider that. He always stayed until the last man left, and he knew they were more loyal to him because of this.

Bill looked relieved to see him. For once, Jalen saw a hint of a smile on the old man’s face. “You’re back, thank God. There’s one more lady coming through, but dammit, I can’t do another one. None of these women have enough grit to last a day in here. But her credentials check out, so there’s that. Glowing recommendations on this one, whatever it’s worth these days.”

Jalen looked at his watch. “Why don’t you head home early today? I can take care of this last one and take a look at some of the paperwork that’s been piling up.” He looked pointedly at the growing tower of papers that sat at the corner of the large oak desk.

Bill hesitated. “You want me to go check on the men? I can stay a little longer, just so long as I don’t have to stay cooped up in here anymore.”

“You can stay, but you’re free to leave when you want. I need you fresh for some more meetings later this week. The Gundersons want a clearer picture of what their project will look like completed.”

“I reached out to some of the firms from the file when I had a few minutes to spare,” Bill said, opening the file. “Some of them aren’t able to take on any projects for another couple of weeks, and the one that I thought would be better suited for the job said they’ve worked with the Gundersons before and they had a difficult time making sure they were satisfied.” He closed the file and looked at Jalen for direction. “What do you think we should do?”

“The most I can do is refer them to that new architecture firm that sent us their rates a while back. I don’t mind footing the bill, but they need some direction and have to see something concrete so they can make an informed decision. Also, it might make them more invested in this once we supply a rough idea.” Jalen talked as he rifled through the papers to locate the resume for the next interviewee. “If they don’t like them, maybe they can bring in their own. It’s really not our job to worry about it.”

“Here,” Bill slapped a folder into his chest as he rose from the chair. “Josephine Elizabeth Lancaster. She’s due here in thirty minutes.”

Just as the words left his mouth, the door flew open and in walked the woman who had tortured Jalen’s nights since the day he’d met her. He’d met her at a friend’s wedding and recognized her beautiful, silky brown locks even though they were pulled back in a strict ponytail.

He remembered them vividly spread out on the pillow underneath her. Her light brown eyes had darkened when his lips had brushed her lush mouth. He felt himself stiffen and then heard her small intake of breath. Bill might have missed it, but he saw her mouth part in surprise as well.

“Well, you’re a timely gal,” Bill said approvingly. “The boss likes that,” he jerked his thumb toward Jalen. “I’m Bill, and this is Erik, but you can call him Jalen.”

Jalen heard the teasing note in Bill’s voice. He’d probably never seen Jalen lose his speech before and was rubbing it in by talking more than he normally did in weeks.

“Thank you,” Josephine’s voice sounded decidedly husky, which only made Jalen want her more. He couldn’t possibly hire the woman. How was he supposed to get any work done?

She sat down on the seat opposite the one where Bill had been moments earlier. He sank down into it, staring at her. She stared back momentarily before blushing and looking away.

“Well, I’m pleased to meet you,” Bill said with a wink in Josephine’s direction. “You let me know if he’s behaving himself.”

Josephine gave him a small smile as she watched him leave.

Jalen cleared his throat. He couldn’t get certain images of her out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. He’d wanted to reach out to her after the night they’d spent together, but the number she’d given him hadn’t been working. He’d assumed that perhaps she’d decided against seeing him again.

It wasn’t as if she made a habit of sleeping with men and leaving. He knew this for a fact because the night they spent together was her first. A virgin, of all things. She hadn’t even told him. He’d felt like a complete heel, and it had made him mad at her. Why had she chosen to keep that from him? He should have had some say in the matter, after all. But what was done was done. There was no going back now. And yet here they were, face to face again. Unable to talk about their night of passion.

He scanned her resume. “I’m sorry. I just came in, and so I’ll need a moment to look at the resume. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself while I look over your work history?” A little bit about herself? His thoughts taunted him while he pretended to be engrossed in her file.

“Well, I... uh, actually have no real work history. I have, however, volunteered for several organizations. I also have my degree in architecture, so that’s what made me interested in this position. I would like to develop some of my skills here along with the other duties that you outlined in the job description.”

She spoke rather breathlessly, and Jalen knew why. She recognized him, which was evident. But also, it was clear she still wanted the job. She wasn’t deterred by the fact that he would be her boss. The only one incredibly uncomfortable by the idea was him. He shifted in his seat when he saw one tendril escape her ponytail and brush the side of her cheek. He itched to tuck it back behind her ear, but resisted. Barely.

Architect. She had come at the right time. He winced at the direction of his thoughts as they took him back to their night together. “Everything looks good,” he said, impressed with the work she had done after graduating. “You did a lot of freelance? That’s impressive. Hard gigs to land; no one wants to hire a newbie because they’re afraid of what they’ll get.”

“A lot of people took a chance on me because of my free initial consultation. Not a lot of firms offer something like that. If they do, there are strings attached. Then I lowered my rates considerably to get some jobs under my belt. It helped me get the feedback I needed, and I was able to raise my rates to a respectable level after that.”

Jalen knew why she had still been a virgin before they were together now. Her resume was filled with volunteering, free work she did for underprivileged communities, her freelance work, school, and workshops dedicated to her craft. She was determined, driven, and smart. She had the grit that Bill was looking for, that was certain. In fact, everything on her resume demanded that he hire her on the spot.

But he looked at the deep pools of brown that were her eyes and felt a familiar surge of desire. How was he expected to function when he had to walk in and see her every day? He could just refer her to Bill for questions, that’s how. That would limit his exposure to her, problem solved.

“It looks like all we need to train you on is the system that we’re using right now. I know Bill can help with that and with any other questions you might have. Otherwise, everything else looks like it’s in order, and we’d like to offer you the job. We’d need you to start tomorrow, if that’s alright. We already have a need for an in-house architect, so it would be great if you could show us some of your past work so we can get a good idea of your style and start referring you to our customers.”

He saw the briefest flicker of hesitation on her face before she quickly accepted. Her lashes fluttered down as she reached for her handbag that rested next to her on the chair. She rose and smiled politely at him, extending her hand to shake.

He grasped it, feeling her slender fingers squeeze his own large palm. He felt an immediate urge to yank her closer to him to taste those lips again. Her lips had a sweet honeyed flavor that lingered in his memories, and looking at her impersonal smile now, he felt like a predator. If she could forget their night together, so could he. So she’d just used him to rid herself of her innocence. No big deal.

Except it was. She released his hand and slid her hand out of his. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” her voice became husky. “What time should I be here?”

“Well, at eight o’clock is fine. But for tomorrow, if you want to come earlier to familiarize yourself, that would be great. I usually come in earlier myself, and I can make sure Bill is here so that he can help get you acclimated to the office routine.” He spoke brusquely.

Josephine nodded in agreement. “I’d like that. Bill did seem overwhelmed when we spoke on the phone last week. I assume there’s a lot of backlogged work?”

“That’s an understatement,” Jalen said more gruffly than he’d intended to. Josephine’s eyes seemed to darken at his change in tone, and he suddenly felt acutely aware of how close they were standing. He cleared his throat again. He felt a familiar bristling of his chest hair and resisted the urge to scratch. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said in a forced voice.

“Yes,” she said, her tone low, “tomorrow.” She adjusted the strap of her handbag over her shoulder and walked to the door, giving him a shy smile on her way out.

Jesus. Jalen sank down on the office chair. Even though she’d left, her scent still lingered. He inhaled sharply. It was a light floral scent; he remembered it from the night they were together. It had been lighter that night, though. That night it had been mixed with a little bit of her sweat, making it headier on his senses. He groaned and rubbed his face roughly with his hands. It was going to be another long night tonight.

*