Constructing Love Read online

  “You’re all wrong about our brother Tatum, and about us,” Jedda said as he walked to the front of the golf cart and got it started up.

  “Believe the words he said to you. He hasn’t said them to any woman in this town or elsewhere. Oh, and fair warning, we Lantern men can be quite stubborn, and also very determined. Being retired Marines, we all can feel a bit possessive when we want something or when we set out on a mission to complete it,” Jedda informed her.

  “I’m not going to be your mission,” she replied.

  “So, you’ll come willingly then?” Hunter asked and smirked.

  She almost chuckled. He was relentless, they both were, and to top it off she actually liked them. It was a no, no, big time. “Not going to happen. Now, why don’t you bring me back, so I can then head out on my own to actually get work done instead of just play games.”

  Hunter reached over and slid his hand along her hip and then her ass as he passed her. “I don’t know, playing games with you out here all alone sounds like a lot of fun.”

  She didn’t say a word and tried her hardest not to think about the trouble she could get herself in with these two and no one around. When they arrived back at the double trailer, the guys got off and she moved to the driver’s seat.

  “You sure you’ll be okay out there?” Jedda asked her and looked her over.

  “I’ll be just fine,” she said and then took off back to the construction site and to the perimeter of the property. And don’t you know it. She missed their company. She definitely was just feeling lonely. They were military, Marines no less. If she’d wanted that kind of life, those kind of men in her life, then she would be returning Cortland’s phone calls.

  “Well that didn’t go too well,” Hunter said as they headed toward the trailer.

  “On the contrary, it went very well,” Jedda said to his brother.

  “How the hell to do you figure?” Hunter asked.

  “We found out that Tatum likes her, and he made quite the impression.”

  “She thinks he’s after a piece of ass.”

  “That can be fixed. Let’s focus on what she said, he said, and that he was fixing on getting to know her. Now I could tell there was more to that. Tatum doesn’t sugar coat shit.”

  “Yo, we got a problem. Where is Madeline?” Pentura asked as they entered the office and saw their dad talking on the phone and then grabbing the shot gun.

  “What’s going on?” Hunter asked.

  “Someone tried to mess with one of the excavators. It’s leaking fuel now, and one of the workers saw a guy running towards the woods. Where is Madeline?” Just as he asked that they heard an explosion.

  “What the fuck?” Hunter yelled and then ran toward the door. He heard his uncle say call the fire department, but Hunter’s mind was now on Madeline and on the fire and safety of workers there. He headed to his truck with Jedda, their fathers and uncles taking off towards the explosion. It sounded so fucking loud. When he came onto the scene, noticing the flames, the smoke and of course the empty golf cart, he panicked, but then he saw men with fire extinguishers and someone lying on the ground with Madeline’s shirt on, only wearing a cut off tank top and taking care of a guy, Merdock on the ground. She had black stuff on her and her jeans ripped, but she was caring for Merdock.

  “What the hell happened? Are you okay?” he ran to her along with Jedda, their fathers, and uncles as the fire was getting less and less because of the fire extinguishers on hand and the men using what they had to help start it.

  “I’m fine. Merdock has a nice big gash in his leg, and one on his head,” she said and held him on her lap with her top she had on earlier wrapped around his head and a thin belt over his leg as a tourniquet.

  “Err, it fucking hurts,” Merdock said, and she made sure the tourniquet was tight.

  “Sorry, Merdock, but applying pressure right now to slow down the bleeding is key. Keep your head against me, help is on the way,” she said to him.

  It was complete chaos, but Madeline looked amazing, had saved Merdock’s life apparently, and right after the explosion. She yanked him from the excavator when she saw it was leaking and smoke was coming out from underneath. The men were all talking about how she noticed and they hadn’t, and that she saved his life by climbing up in there and getting him out.

  The firetrucks arrived on scene and paramedics too, along with Tatum and a few deputies. He jumped out, and before even asking what happened, Tatum’s eyes landed on Madeline as the paramedics were helping Merdock onto the stretcher. “Jesus, you have blood on you, your jeans are ripped,” Jedda said as he held onto her after helping her stand.

  She turned to look at Merdock. “Thank you, Madeline. Thank you,” he said and she nodded.

  Tatum cupped her cheeks and looked into her eyes. “Are you hurt? Anywhere?” he asked.

  “I’m fine, Sheriff Lantern. Just some scratches. Not a big deal. Do you mind?”

  He had a scowl on his face. “Do I mind? Yeah, I fucking mind. You could have been hurt or killed,” he reprimanded her.

  She pulled back and nearly lost her footing, but Hunter was right behind her and he gripped her hips, his hands landing on her skin because the skimpy tank top she wore barely reached her belly button and didn’t cover much of her breasts. Every fucking guy was looking at her right now with desire in their eyes and he wasn’t having that and neither was Tatum or Jedda apparently.

  “Get her to the trailer to make sure she’s okay,” Jedda said.

  “No, I’m fine and we need to find out what the hell went wrong here. Don’t you guys regularly check this equipment?” she asked, pushing the hands away from her.

  “Of course, we do. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Hagan asked, showing up right behind them.

  “Someone was seen messing with it or we think. One of the workers saw a guy by the back of it as Merdock was getting in and started it up. He then started walking away when Phil yelled to him asking who he was and what he was doing. The guy then took off. That’s what we heard,” Romero, their uncle said. She narrowed her eyes.

  “The fire department will do a complete evaluation. Sheriff, don’t you think it would be wise to get a description and perhaps try to locate this guy based on witness description?”

  “I don’t need you telling me how to do my job,” he snapped at her.

  “I don’t need you coming in here thinking you can show concern and act like there’s something going on between us. Let’s do our jobs and leave it at that. I expect a full report on this, and if there’s trouble or something you’re all holding back, then we got ourselves a problem,” she stated and walked away to check on Merdock.

  Their father Lovera and uncle Roldolpho whistled. “That’s no way to win a woman’s heart,” Roldolpho said.

  “What?” Hagan asked.

  “Obviously the three of you found something that interests you and you don’t know how to handle it,” Lovera said.

  Dom chuckled. “Jesus, this is going to turn into a fucking mess.”

  “We’ll handle it,” Costaza said.

  “Handle what? Is there something going on you haven’t told us about?” Jedda asked.

  When Hunter saw how their dads and uncles got quiet, he got a bad feeling. “What the fuck is going on?” he asked.

  “Later. Let’s make sure everyone is okay, and that Tatum can find the man who did this,” Pentura said, and now Tatum looked just as angry.

  Madeline didn’t know what was going on, but right now her suspicious mind was thinking that these men were hiding some things from her, and perhaps they were flirting to try and butter her up or throw her off. She couldn’t figure out what they would be up to, and didn’t feel like they were being dishonest, especially at how Hunter, Tatum, Hagan, and Jedda reacted to their father and uncles comments. It was like this was the first accident on site. The men were definitely concerned for her, and right now she could feel herself getting tired and coming down off the adrenaline rush. Sh
e had climbed up onto the burning excavator and pulled to save Merdock, who had cut his leg on a piece of metal from the explosion, and then hit his head against the glass on the door of the machine. She sat down on the back of the pickup truck as Pentura grabbed a first aid kit.

  “My sons don’t know anything. We had a situation a couple of weeks ago with some faulty wiring that couldn’t be explained. Realized pretty quickly that someone came in during the night and tampered with things.”

  “Why didn’t you call your son?” she asked.

  He looked away and exhaled. “Being stubborn, I guess. Worried about Mr. Young or you finding out that there could be trouble and that he could pull out.”

  She stared at him and could understand his concern. “Do you know who it is?” she asked firmly.

  He shook his head. “It could be anyone. You know how these things work. Could be a disgruntled employee, a person who got pissed that we got the job, or that we didn’t hire them, I mean anything.”

  “What about the electrical problem? Professional or amateur?” she asked and he looked at her strangely as his sons all approached. He seemed embarrassed.

  “I’ve been around a lot of situations. From here on out I expect nothing but the truth from you. From all of you. Understood?” She looked at them.

  “We haven’t lied about anything, Madeline,” Hunter said, emphasizing anything.

  She exhaled. “First thing’s first, security must be brought in. We need to make sure that all equipment is checked and rechecked by multiple people. We can’t afford for anyone to get hurt, killed, or to lose time and money. Sheriff, can you—"

  “This is not some small hick town, despite what you may think, darlin’. We got a lot of capable investigators and a lot of connections especially as retired military. You leave this up to me,” Tatum snapped at her, cutting her off. She had a feeling he was the real deal and then some. Despite their fathers and uncles holding out information, she felt they were honest, good men, but this had the recipe for disaster. She would need to tell Broaden, because for all she knew, it could be one of his enemies and not one of theirs.

  Chapter 4

  “So, when were you going to tell us that you met a woman, Madeline, and basically told her you were going to make her yours?” Jedda asked Tatum later in the evening when they were back at their ranch.

  Tatum took a slug from his bottle of beer. “Shit happened.”

  “Well explain,” Hunter said.

  “Yeah, I want to know what the hell is going on. You two didn’t even have to work today and duffed out on the obstacle course and shooting range. So, spill the fucking beans,” Maximus said.

  Tatum began to explain about how he saw her in town the first time and about talking to her, going to the show room, and then meeting her again at the café.

  “Yeah, she thinks you’re a fucking player,” Hagan told him.

  “Well she has a point. You don’t exactly have to go looking for women, Sheriff,” Maximus teased.

  “Like you do? All of us get hit on all the fucking time. This is different. I felt the attraction instantly. I looked into those eyes, those eyeglasses she wears.”

  “Wait, she’s a nerd?” Maximus asked.

  Jedda chuckled. “Oh, just wait, man. I want to see your face when you meet her for the first time,” Hunter said to Maximus.

  “They all leaned back with their beers and exhaled.

  “I don’t fucking believe this. This woman is that hot?” Maximus asked.

  “She pulled Merdock out of a burning excavator, tied a tourniquet to his leg, pulled off her top to apply pressure to his head wound, and all before anyone else even moved into action,” Jedda told him.

  “She was shirtless?” Maximus asked and took another sip of beer.

  “No, and honestly the sight of her in the skimpy, barely there tank top was as much of a turn on than if she was just in a bra. She works out, has killer abs—" Hunter said.

  “Killer everything,” Hagan added.

  “And now she doesn’t trust any of you guys, our fathers, or our uncles, nor does she trust the capabilities of the small-town police department and you, Sheriff Lantern?” Maximus asked and started laughing.

  “Glad you think this is so fucking funny,” Hagan sad to him.

  “It is fucking funny. Only a year ago we were shooting our way out of the danger zone, dodging bullets, strategically planning missions, and now we’re living the dream in Warriorville, and you all are letting some hot chick fuck with your heads and make you weak. This is fucking hysterical,” Maximus said and then got up to get another beer.

  “You’re such an asshole,” Jedda said to him and that just made Maximus laugh harder.

  “Can’t wait to see this four-eyed beauty,” Maximus teased, still laughing, but the rest of them were somber and pissed off.

  Madeline didn’t really feel like going out to Mulligan’s but since Carissa was related to the owners, Octo, Copus, and Johnny, she figured it wouldn’t be so bad and she could hang a little, then sneak out early. She kind of needed a drink after she spoke with Broaden, mentioned the fire, and the suspicious wiring incident and how the local sheriff was investigating. He seemed angry, but calm and said to be careful, and that he didn’t want her on the construction site but to discuss progress with Pentura instead. It was weird and she got a feeling that Broaden maybe knew something or was suspicious. Broaden knew a lot of people and military as well, so if he had true concerns then he was probably tapping those resources and looking into things. She felt bad for Pentura and his brothers, and his brother in laws, the guys’ uncles.

  She hadn’t been there but two minutes and the guys were all trying to buy her drinks. They worked at the construction site and were grateful that she had helped Merdock. Before long, she was standing with a crowd of guys, as well as Carissa, and a few of her friends, all nice women close to her age, when some rowdy bunch of guys came in. There were five of them, locals she assumed, and from the grunts and words mumbled around her, she figured the group wasn’t well liked.

  One of the men locked gazes with her and stopped where he was. He eyed her over and she raised one of her eyebrows up at him. He licked his lips. “Sweetie, you’re with the wrong crowd. Come on down to my end and you’ll drink top shelf all night,” he said to her.

  She was about to retort, but then a strong, thick arm wrapped around her waist from behind, and a thick familiar body pressed close. She inhaled and knew without turning that it was the sheriff.

  “Keep on walking, son,” he said firmly, and the guys around her smirked.

  She placed her hand over Tatum’s as the others guy gave a dirty look and walked away because his friends pulled him along. She went to turn and instead he kissed her neck. She tightened up. “I see I can’t leave you alone too long, darling, or the wolves come along.”

  “You telling me you’re not one of the wolves?” she asked, turning toward him.

  He slid his arm around her waist, still holding her close, his hand almost to the top of her ass when she smirked. “I’m an Alpha, that’s the difference.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Maximus, meet Madeline.”

  She looked way up, locked gazes with one big ass man with tattoos, facial hair, muscles, and a lethal, wild look that said he was a Rambo kind of man. He didn’t look away as he reached out to shake her hand. Tatum only stepped back slightly, and when Maximus— what an appropriate name for the man— touched her hand, she felt it straight to her pussy, just like when his brothers touched her. “How about that drink?” Hagan asked.

  “Nice to finally meet the woman who is making my brothers act like a bunch of idiots,” Maximus said, and she felt her cheeks warm.