Tragically Flawed Read online

  “Damn it, are you drunk? Do I smell alcohol on your breath?”

  She hated that she was eavesdropping, but it was impossible not to with the way Shan’s voice was raised. Why would Todd be so stupid to drink alcohol during work hours?

  “Answer me, Todd.”

  “I had a couple of beers at lunch.”

  “That’s it. You can consider your employment with Shandon Homes terminated as of this minute. Take your things and leave. I’ll call Janet and she’ll have your final paycheck waiting for you. You can pick it up in the morning. Now get out of here before I do something I regret.”

  Todd scrambled out of the room and nearly knocked Riviera on her butt as he left.

  “Damn!” she heard Shan yell from the other room. She imagined he picked up his phone next because she heard him say, “Phil, I need you to get someone over to the Carson house in Bachelor Gulch. I just fired Todd Milton. The fucker was drinking on the job, but you won’t believe the shit show he left here. The crown molding is fucked up and the wainscoting is gonna have to be ripped off and redone. Fuck!”

  Riviera wished she were anywhere other than this place right now. Why the heck had she finished that other project ahead of schedule? She could hear Shan slinging things around in the other room and all she wanted to do was sneak away and hide.

  It was one expletive after another. “No, goddammit, we can’t salvage any of this shit. It’s all ruined. You know how I feel about that, anyway. Just send someone over here. And Phil, let them know they’ll be dealing with the fucking devil when they get here.”

  She tried to concentrate on her walls but the stomping of his feet was getting closer and closer.

  “Jesus, not you too,” he said, sarcasm oozing off his tongue. Shan stopped a few feet away from where she was painting and took a look around. “Did you pick out this shit for color on the walls? It looks like you ran down to the local diner and grabbed some mustard bottles and squirted them all over the damn place. What the hell do you call this crap?”

  Inside, her gut twisted with a million snakes, even though she reminded herself she hadn’t done anything wrong. Her body automatically went into a protective mode … one arm moved up to her face, while the other tightened around her ribs. Her paintbrush dripped mustard colored paint on her jeans, but she couldn’t have cared less. Her face and ribs were way more important than her stupid jeans.

  Shan cocked his head and stared at her, wondering why she had assumed such an odd stance. Did she think he was going to strike her or something?

  With her head bent, she answered, “I don't know, sir. I didn’t choose the color. Marsha Sue did or perhaps it was the owners. I’m not sure. I’m just doing what I was told to do.”

  “Do you always do what you’re told to do, Ms. Benson?”

  The question triggered old memories of horrible events. They surfaced with a cruel vengeance, tumbling her back in time to when she was an adolescent, and then a teenager. She despised when those memories hit her, for they brought acute physical responses. Shan watched her breathing escalate until he became concerned about her. The band around her chest tightened as she hyperventilated, and soon she knew the nausea was imminent. The paintbrush slid out of her hand as Riviera clutched her chest. She pleaded with her body not to betray her. It wasn’t paying her the slightest bit of attention, though, and before long, she was on her hands and knees, fighting for air. Unfortunately, the panic attack won, leaving her a pathetic wreck.

  Riviera knew it was only a matter of time before she would black out. It had happened too many times … those stupid attacks. She’d tried her best to stop them, but it was going to take a ton of therapy to get to the bottom of it all.

  “Hey … hey, you still here?” he asked softly, wondering what the hell had just happened. Shan hoped it wasn’t his ass like behavior that had triggered this episode in her. Why did he have to act like such a prick around her?

  When it passed, she was on her side, lying on the floor and he was above her.

  She was mortified that it had occurred while he watched. She clambered to her feet, still a bit unsteady, when he reached out a hand to help her. She shrugged it off as she threw him an irritated look.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, her voice strained.

  His eyes drilled holes into hers. Icy blue, she thought, but they were a paradox. Instead of chilling her, as she’d expected they would, she found her body warming as she stared at them.

  “You want to tell me what that was all about?” His voice was soft again.

  “No,” she answered.

  “I see.”

  “You couldn’t possibly see.”

  “I see a hell of a lot more than you think I do, Riviera.”

  Her eyes widened, but she refused to respond. He scared her. He was large and powerful. Unlike Jasper, who possessed physical strength, this man had power in money and connections. Riviera knew he could break people in ways she couldn’t begin to understand. She’d been broken far too many times for her to risk it again. She wondered if maybe she’d made a grave error in going to work for Marsha Sue. Perhaps when she’d saved a bit of money, she would search for another job in a different town.

  Chapter Five

  Assitis

  “What do you know about Benjamin Shandon?” Riviera asked Amie.

  “Oh, he’s awesome.”

  Riviera nearly fell off the chair she was sitting on. “Are you serious?”

  “Well, yeah. Why?”

  “Because the little bit of contact I’ve had with him has given me a completely different opinion.” She explained her two unfortunate run-ins with Shan.

  Amie chewed her nail for a second. “I’m surprised. He does a ton of work for Shelby’s Shack. I think there’s a personal reason for it too, because he donates huge amounts of money. If I need something, all I have to do is make a call, and it’s there. His donations totally picked up after the fires too.”

  “Hmm. Interesting. He doesn’t seem to be the warm, fuzzy type. I’m really considering finding another job—he’s that rude.”

  Amie let out her breath. “Well, I do know this. He’s a well-known perfectionist. If it’s not right, he works his subcontractors until they get it right. So maybe you’ve just caught him on off days.”

  “I’ll say. He was so damn mean to me. Honestly, he scares me. It’s almost like he needs anger management.”

  “Wow. I don’t know that part of his personality. It must be the work, Riv. Seriously, give him a chance. I know you’ll eventually see a different side of him.”

  *****

  Riviera had finished the disastrous house and moved on to the next one. She’d been working for Marsha Sue now for about a month, and every home she’d been in had been ridiculously huge. Her current project was no different.

  She was doing an octagon-shaped room, and Riviera loved it. Wooden beams ran up the walls and across the ceiling and then met in the center. All the walls were going to be distressed and glazed, making them look old-world Italian.

  Listening to her music, turned down low, of course, she hummed along as she worked. Morning passed into afternoon, but she was so absorbed in her lovely walls, she hadn’t even noticed, nor did she care.

  “Are you by any chance hungry?”

  Startled, her head snapped around to see Shan. Truthfully, she would’ve known his deep voice anywhere. At least this time he wasn’t yelling at her. She eyed him warily, waiting for him to snap her head off or make some nasty comment about the color she was using.

  He blew out a long breath and said in a much gentler voice than the one he used during their last meetings, “I owe you a major apology. I’m terribly sorry about the way I’ve acted around you. I was totally out of line and that was completely uncalled for. You did nothing wrong and for me to treat you that way was unacceptable. I don’t generally behave like such a d-bag. Well, that's not altogether true. I always act like a jerkface when I go without slee
p, but that in no way excuses my behavior.” He scrubbed his face and stared at her for a second. Riviera felt a weird frisson of excitement ripple through her. She shivered and he flashed her a knowing look. “Anyway, that first day we met, the day before I'd been dealing with a massive amount of issues and I was pissed off and running on empty by the time I hit the bed. I was sound asleep when your music jolted me awake. So again, I’m about as sorry as I can possibly be.” He rubbed his chin, took another long look around and said, “I have to say, I’m more than impressed. Your work is amazing.”

  She still didn’t trust him, even though he was being polite. Jasper used to do that to her—act sweet and contrite and then … wham! She wasn’t going to fall for that ruse ever again.

  Riviera’s body betrayed her as her belly let out an enormous growl. Though it would be hard to deny she was hungry, she didn’t think it wise to go to lunch, dinner, or anywhere with that man. He’d scared the bejesus out of her and now her body was experiencing weird feelings around him.

  No doubt about it, though, Riviera couldn’t deny how handsome he was. Tall and rugged, he was muscular but not bulky and gross like Jasper had been. Shan was sculpted and well defined, but not jacked on steroids.

  “Well? You hungry?”

  Her stomach seemed to be answering him on her behalf, disagreeing with her verbal response. “No, I’m fine.”

  He laughed at her and said, “Come on, Riviera. I can hear your stomach growling. At least let me show you I have a fairly decent side.”

  Riviera felt like Little Red Riding Hood. She wondered if she was going to be lunch.

  “I don’t know,” she began and her darn belly gave another angry snarl.

  “You have to eat, so it might as well be with me.”

  She finally relented. “Okay.”

  He grinned. “I know a place right around the corner. Come on.”

  “I’m a mess.”

  “Riviera, look at me.”

  She did and gawd, did he ever look good. His shirt was molded to his arms and fitted over his abs. If a T-shirt could enhance a man, his did a fine job of it. There wasn’t anything about him that didn’t lure her in. Riviera knew she’d never seen eyes so compelling as his … piercing immediately came to mind. He wore his hair long, a deep chestnut with lighter streaks running through it. This was a man who spent a lot of time on his work sites and not sitting behind a desk. His tawny skin and sun-streaked hair were proof of that. But it was his beautifully perfect face that had her body twisted in knots. That electric flow slammed her again and her belly cartwheeled.

  There was something about the way he said her name too. He spent a long time on the “er” part, sort of drawing it out and making it sound sensual. She was still leery of him, but hell, she was suspicious of any man.

  “Okay, then. Let me get my brushes soaking.”

  As he watched her, he couldn’t help but notice her curves. He loved that she was tall, but she wasn’t lanky like so many girls were these days. Riviera had curves and one of them was aimed in his direction as she bent over her brushes. He forced his eyes to look at something else before she caught him ogling her ass.

  It didn’t take him long to notice her eyeing him cautiously. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”

  “Um, yeah.” He loved to watch her lips when she spoke. Full of promising kisses, that’s what they were.

  “I won’t bite, I promise,” he laughed.

  Riviera didn’t laugh with him. She’d been bitten by Jasper too many times to count and had the scars to prove it. It had hurt like hell and was something she wished she could forget.

  Noticing that her lips were pressed into a hard, thin line, he stopped and said, “It was a joke.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t find that humorous,” she clipped.

  Shan wondered about her comment but didn’t say anything. Something was troubling her, and he suspected it had to do with those terrible bruises she had when he first met her. He also admitted he should back away, maybe even run like hell. But she enticed him. He wanted to say it was because she was different, but there was much more to it than that.

  They walked out to Shan’s Ford F-450 dually Platinum and headed to the diner.

  “This thing’s gigantic,” she mumbled as she huddled close to the passenger’s door.

  “Yeah, but it comes in handy. Especially with some of the building sites I have to visit.” Shan glanced over at her, thinking she looked like a frightened bird.

  “Oh, I see.”

  “How long have you been with Marsha Sue?”

  “About a month. That day you yelled at me … that was my first day,” she quietly said.

  “So that’s why I didn’t know who you were. Like I said, I really am sorry I acted like that. You’re her new specialty painter, then?”

  “Yeah. Murals, trompe l’oeil, faux finishes are my specialties. You name it, I can probably figure out how to do it.”

  Shan thought she had the softest voice he’d ever heard. “Good to know,” he told her.

  She stole a glance out of the corner of her eye. “So, um, that day you were at the house? What were you doing there? Marsha Sue said no one would be there.”

  “Yeah. Sorry about that. Sometimes I crash wherever I can. I suffer from workaholism and occasionally it’s so bad, I get in the danger zone. When I’m that close to zonking, I need a place fast. So that was it.”

  They arrived at the diner, went inside and got a booth. “They have great soup and sandwiches here.”

  After the waitress took their order, Shan rested his elbows atop the table. There was a desperation about him when he said, “Riviera, please tell me you forgive me for being such a prick. I hate feeling like this, even though I deserve it. I worked late and my eyes were slamming shut on me. I knew if I didn’t crash soon, I’d be in big trouble,” he screwed up his face and massaged his temples. “I lost my temper and took it out on you. That was the wrong thing to do. And then that thing with Todd and the mustard-colored walls. Todd flew all over me. I can’t have someone working for me who drinks on the job. I was out-of-control pissed off that day. I know nothing can excuse the way I flew off the handle, but please forgive me, Riviera.”

  Not used to being apologized to, Riviera looked at him for a moment, and then finally nodded. “Sure.”

  Shan let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thank you. I'm going to do my best to redeem myself. By the way, totally off subject here, but you have the greatest name.”

  Her scowl morphed into a dark mask. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  He looked at her for a second. “Nope. Not at all. But by that comment, I take it you don’t agree.”

  “I despise my name and would change it if it didn’t cost so damn much,” she said bitterly.

  Her vehemence shocked him. “Whoa!”

  “Sorry. If you knew the circumstances, you’d understand a little better.”

  “Tell me, then.”

  Their eyes locked and something intense passed between them. Riviera felt that heated current shoot through her, starting in her chest, speeding its way through her belly and ending in a tingling at her toes. Her fingers curled into her palms, nails biting into the soft skin. Not understanding what had just taken place, she busied herself with her glass of water while wondering if he’d felt the same thing.

  Shan, for his part, wanted to smooth the creases from her forehead and gently touch her face where she’d once been bruised and swollen. There was something else he wanted to do too. The split in her lip had healed, but God help him, he wanted to press his lips to that same spot. He wanted to see if her full lips felt as soft as they looked because, damn, when she moved her mouth, it was difficult to pull his eyes off of them … that and the swell of her breasts. He gazed at her chest as it rose and fell with each breath.

  Riviera stared at her hands. She didn’t know what else to do. He made her nervous. It wasn’t because she was afraid he would physically harm her. That feeling had, strangely
enough, passed. She was afraid, but now for an entirely different reason. He was evoking feelings in her she’d never had before. Riviera had long ago ceased responding to the opposite sex. But it seemed something had changed. Shan had triggered something in her, and she didn’t know how to deal with it.

  “I’m waiting, Riviera.” His voice was soft, yet husky, as he prodded her for an answer. She’d nearly forgotten he’d asked her anything.

  She swallowed and then croaked, “It really doesn’t bear mentioning.”

  He gazed into her large, honey brown eyes and said, “Everything about you bears mentioning. But I can see you don’t want to talk about it. So let me change the subject and tell you this instead. Riviera, you’re very talented. I’ve never seen work like yours before. I have to say you astonish me every time I go into a home where you’ve been painting and I see what you’ve done.” Shan wanted to tell her many other things, but didn’t. He just sat there and stole glances at her as he ate his lunch. He thought she was unusually beautiful, with her streaks of blue and lavender in her milk chocolate colored hair. But it was her smile that really dug into him. It was probably because one had to be lucky enough to catch one, since it was rare when she let one escape.

  Riviera looked up and caught Shan staring at her. She immediately dropped her eyes back to her plate of food. Why is he looking at me like that, she wondered? She looked back up and their eyes caught and held.

  Shan reached across the table and touched her hand. “Thanks for coming to lunch with me, Riviera.”

  Chapter Six

  Secrets

  “Let’s get one thing straight. You are never ever to hobnob with my clients again. If I ever hear of you going to lunch, dinner, coffee, clubbing, bowling, church, babysitting, or the gynecologist with any of my clients, you will be fired and I will personally make it my mission to see that you never work in this town again. Are we clear?” Marsha Sue spat.

  “But he ...”

  “I asked you a question. Those are my terms. If you don’t like them, there’s the door. But I can make you a promise. You won’t find a suitable job anywhere in Eagle County. Are we clear, Riviera?”