She growled again. She knew he was right, but knowing he was right didn’t make her want to share anything with him. But if she didn’t get this off her chest, she might just go out of her mind.
She reasoned with herself that he was her business partner and therefore had a right to the information. It wasn’t as if she were acting weak by telling him what was happening. Plus, she didn’t have to fill him in on the sexual-tension part of the story. Everyone in the business world knew that the Knight brothers had a reputation for being a pain in the ass to work with. Those men thought they were gods.
“Come on, McKenzie, how did the meeting go? Who was it? Please tell me that we are going to bring in more riches than we could ever possibly spend in our lifetime.”
“It was a horrible meeting,” she grumbled.
“Well, we’ve had failed meetings before. Just because we didn’t get this one client doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. My meeting went well, even though it was just a mom-and-pop place. We will make this work.”
Zach was ever the optimist.
“We did get the job.” Why she was fighting a panic attack she didn’t know. Byron was a dirtbag — a true kick-you-when-you-are-down sort of man — but he wasn’t going to force her into doing anything she didn’t want to do. Maybe that was the problem. She was worried that she would want to do lots of things with him. Things she most certainly would regret.
“All right, sugar britches. I’d never even try to decipher the female mind, but I have to ask you this: Why aren’t you a lot happier about obtaining another client? Until now, I thought it was just small-potatoes stuff that you considered a waste of our time.”
“He has demanded that I work there personally,” she groused, finally making eye contact with Zach.
His jaw dropped and he was for once silent, if only for a moment. “How in the world will this place run if you’re working at a job site?” he asked her. A bit of worry had crept into his usually bright eyes.
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m frustrated,” she said, her voice rising and her hands lifting into the air. She’d barely fought back the urge to yell.
“Um…do we need this client that badly? Who in the heck is it?” Zach asked, rapidly regaining his composure.
Good for him.
“Knight Construction.” She didn’t need to add more. The name was powerful in itself.
Her partner was quiet as he thought over the different options. She could practically see the wheels turning. If one of the Knight brothers wanted McKenzie to work there in person, that’s exactly what would happen. You just didn’t turn down clients like them.
And she and Zach both knew it.
“We do have very good employees, McKenzie. Did you point that out to him?”
“Of course I pointed it out to him, dammit.”
“I just had to ask,” Zach said in self-defense.
She had to tell him something or he was going to be spinning for a while. This wasn’t their typical situation. “I…uh…kind of have some personal business with him from a previous job. I guess he figures he’s killing two birds with one stone.” Was she giving anything away in her voice? She hoped not. She didn’t want Zach to go from point A to point Z in a matter of milliseconds with his own fantastic conclusions.
“Personal…or business?” he said slowly.
McKenzie Beaumont never shared anything personal with anyone. Okay, except for maybe little tiny snippets with Jewell, but even that was rare. Zach very much knew this, so she was a bit peeved with his pushing the personal and business words she’d hurriedly put together, but she had sort of opened up that jar.
“Does it really matter?” she said with a huff. “He thinks it’s personal. I don’t.”
“Okay, you’re going to play things close to your vest. That’s what you always do, but I think you should really think about this. Yes, we could use the boost we’d get from having a client as powerful as Knight Construction, but it could also kill us if this man has some private agenda against you. If he disses our business, we’ll be royally screwed.”
Zach was always the voice of reason, and McKenzie thought about his words for a moment before speaking. “Byron Knight is an ass of the highest order — or lowest order.” Damn. She really didn’t want to be thinking about his ass. “And though he’s gunning for me, I don’t think he’s unethical in business. If I do the job well, which of course I will, I seriously doubt he’ll slander us. My working there will bring us in a lot of money for the actual job, and then word of mouth will help our company immeasurably,” she said. And she tried not to think about Byron’s mouth.
“Well, then, I guess you are going to take the job,” Zach said, his smile back in place.
“And I’ll work nights on business here,” she promised him.
“I can handle things here. You already don’t sleep enough. I’ll bring in a temp employee to keep up with the crap work, and you just worry about securing us a good full-time position with Knight Construction,” he said, springing down from her desk.
“I can’t just walk away from the work here, Zach.” McKenzie felt pushed out, but that was absurd.
“You can take a break from here with daily and nightly emails and phone calls from me to assure yourself we aren’t going under. This will build our business,” he told her, looking more professional than she’d ever seen him. Gone was the carefree look that he wore so well.
“I don’t know how I would do this without you, Zach,” she said in a rare moment of open affection.
“Of course you don’t, sweetie. You wouldn’t survive a day without me,” he told her, then surprised her when he moved around her desk, knelt in front of her, and grabbed one of her hands. “Don’t let this upset you. You’re McKenzie Freaking Beaumont, badass businesswoman.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the combination of serious tone and almost flippant words. “I really do appreciate you, Zach,” she said while tugging against his hold. She didn’t do well with casual touching.
Zach knew exactly what she was thinking. He threw her a brilliant smile, and then stood up and walked from the room.
McKenzie didn’t allow herself to dwell any further on Byron Knight. She had a lot of work to do before Monday, and there was no time like the present. She would prove to herself and to Byron that she knew her stuff.