“Why are you here?” she repeated.
Cat stared at her, wide-eyed. Her full mouth trembled at the corners. “I knew it. You’re angry with me.”
“Not exactly.”
Tears filled Cat’s eyes. “I was so hurt by what you said. It was as if you stabbed me in the heart and then crushed my soul. The very essence of my being. What you asked me to do, how you want me to change… I thought you knew m-me.” Her voice trembled on the last word, as if she were holding in a sob.
Nevada swore under her breath. She moved away from the trailer, motioning for Cat to keep up with her.
“I wasn’t trying to crush your soul.”
“How could you have said those things to me?”
“Telling you Fool’s Gold doesn’t want a giant va**na in the center of town is the truth.”
“But it’s my gift. It’s who I am.”
“Transcendent?”
The corners of Cat’s mouth turned up. Nevada might not be into the girl thing, but she had to admit that Cat defined beauty.
“Yes,” Cat whispered. “I want to give this to them because it’s like giving it to you. Every time you see it, you’ll think of me.”
“You got that right.”
Crap and double crap, Nevada thought. Someone called out the one-minute warning. She grabbed Cat and moved her farther back.
“I already have a vagina,” Nevada said, unable to believe they were having this conversation. “Can you do something else?”
Cat shook her head.
Nevada sighed. “This isn’t about you. I understand that you’re giving us a gift, but don’t you care that we don’t want it?”
“You don’t understand. When you see it completely, you’ll be grateful. Everyone will be.”
“No, we won’t. We’ll be horrified. Can’t it be something else? A circle? The shape of a woman?”
Cat laughed. “Don’t be silly. Of course it can’t be something else. This is what I have to do. It’s out of my control.”
“Technically, it’s not. You’re the one building it. You’re the one who—”
Then she was flying through the air.
She’d been partially aware of some kind of countdown, but she hadn’t been paying attention. Who could notice anything else with Cat being her usual crazy self? That meant she wasn’t paying as close attention as she should have been and didn’t bother making sure they were back far enough.
One second she’d been talking, the next she was airborne, although not for long. The ground came up very quickly and turned out to be much harder than it looked. She slammed into it with a force that knocked the wind out of her.
For that heartbeat there was nothing, then she gasped for air, choking as she inhaled. Every part of her hurt. Her ears rang and her head seemed to be spinning.
“Someone has a lot of explaining to do,” she muttered, cautiously sitting up.
She moved her legs, pleased that nothing seemed injured. She drew in more breaths and found her head clearing.
Cat!
She saw her friend was also sitting, looking stunned. Thunder shook the earth. They both turned and watched part of the mountain fall away. A huge cloud of dust rose toward the sky.
“Are you all right?” Nevada asked.
Cat nodded.
“I should have been paying more attention,” Nevada said, thinking she should also be standing, but it seemed too difficult.
“I’m fine.” Cat crawled toward her. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Just shaken.” She laughed. “Like a James Bond martini.”
Cat grinned.
Nevada heard shouts from behind them. Great. Someone had noticed them flying by and was about to make a fuss.
“I’m not going to the hospital,” she muttered.
Cat moved closer and put her hands on Nevada’s shoulders. “You’ll be okay,” she said, then lowered her head and kissed her.
Nevada knew she might have some kind of post-explosion trauma thing going on, but she could still recognize a kiss when it happened. Warm, soft lips settled against hers. That’s what she noticed first. Soft, not firm. Gentle. Cat’s perfume surrounded her and those powerful artist’s hands gripped her shoulders.
Nevada sat frozen, not sure what to do. Pushing away seemed the best option, but she didn’t want to be mean about it. Nor could she figure out exactly where to push without giving Cat the wrong idea.
Before she’d worked out a plan, she heard someone yell.
“Gold!” a man’s voice cried. “Can you see the gold?”
Cat drew back. Nevada shifted away and told herself this would be an excellent time to stand up and run. Before she could, Tucker, Will and several of the guys surrounded them. She could hear someone yelling for the paramedics. Tucker knelt beside her and shook her slightly.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, sounding furious. “You could have been killed.”
He looked pissed and worried and somehow, in a twisted, girly kind of way, that made her feel ever so much better.
“I wasn’t,” she pointed out.
“Damned annoying woman,” he muttered, before leaning in and kissing her as well.
This time the contact was familiar and arousing. As he straightened and continued to glare at her, she couldn’t help smiling. Funny, after all these years, she’d suddenly become popular.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TUCKER STOOD OVER NEVADA as if warding off demons.
“I’m really okay,” she said for the fourth or fifth time.
He continued to ignore her.
Just as disturbing as her near-death experience and the realization that she could have been killed by the explosion or subsequent slide was the fact that Cat had made her move. Tucker rarely had to work to keep a woman in his life. Knowing his competition was playing for the other side made him uncomfortable.
He was aware that he’d told himself he needed to back off where Nevada was concerned. That they were too involved. But right now he didn’t give a damn about that. He wanted to stand over her, beating his chest, although he couldn’t figure out what that would accomplish.
One of the firefighters raced over, the EMTs right behind.
“Are they hurt?” the firefighter demanded, dropping to her knees by Nevada and holding a penlight up to her eyes.
“I’m perfectly fine, Charlie,” Nevada said, starting to stand.
“Don’t even think about it,” Tucker and the firefighter snapped at the same time. Nevada kept her butt on the ground.“I’m all right, too,” Cat called, her expression bemused. “Doesn’t anyone want to fuss over me?”
“I will.” An EMT dropped to her knees and reached for Cat’s wrist. “How are you feeling, ma’am? Dizzy? Does your head hurt?”
“Did you just say ma’am?” Cat closed her eyes. “I’m dizzy now.”
Nevada chuckled.
Tucker glared at her. “Don’t laugh,” he commanded. “You might be hurt.”
A second EMT joined Charlie. They examined Nevada while Tucker watched anxiously. He was aware of a group of men climbing up the side of the mountain and shouts about something he couldn’t hear. There was a lot of activity he would have to deal with later. Right now Nevada was his main concern.
About two minutes later, the EMT removed the blood pressure cuff. “You’re fine.”
Tucker was less convinced. “What if she hit her head?”
“I didn’t,” Nevada told him.
“You might not remember.”
She rolled her eyes. “My head doesn’t hurt, I don’t have any ringing in my ears. I’m okay.”
Cat was pronounced all right as well, but she didn’t seem as anxious to get up. Nevada scrambled to her feet. She held out her arms and turned in a slow circle.
“See? Not broken.”
Cat’s EMT helped her to stand. The other woman reached for Nevada and clung to her.
“I can’t believe we went through that today,” Cat murmured. “We could have been killed.” She gazed at Nevada. “We should go back to my hotel and rest.”
Nevada slowly disentangled herself. “I don’t think so. Tucker, could you find someone to take Cat back to her hotel?”
“Sure.”
He waved Jerry over and told him to drive Cat back to her hotel. Cat protested, but eventually allowed herself to be led away. The EMTs went back to their truck.
Charlie walked over to Tucker and glared at him. “You should know better. She was standing too close.”
Nevada shook her head. “Don’t yell at him. It was my fault. I got distracted.”
“Is that what you’re calling it?” he muttered.
Nevada glared at him. “Don’t start with me.”
“You were kissing her.”
He hadn’t meant to say it, but the words came out before he could stop them.
Charlie blinked at them both. “Excuse me.”
Nevada sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“I have time.” She looked from Nevada to him and back. “But I thought…”
“Me, too,” Tucker growled, not liking anything about this. In theory, the girl-on-girl thing was appealing. But not so much when one of the girls in question was his girl.
“Oh, really?” Charlie grinned. “How was it?”
“Different.”
“Different good or different bad?”
“Are you asking for yourself?” Nevada raised her eyebrows. “Cat’s entering her feminine stage.”
“She’s not my type and I’m not interested. Just curious.”
Will hurried over to them. “Boss, you gotta come see this. When they blew the side of the mountain, a whole bunch of caves were exposed. There’s gold in them. Statues and art and stuff. It looks old. Indian, maybe.”
“Mayan,” Nevada and Charlie said at the same time.
“The Máa-zib tribe,” Tucker said, wondering what had been unearthed and how much it was going to delay construction. Surprises like this were rarely good news for the contractor.
“Can you take her to the trailer?” he asked Charlie.
“Hell, no. I want to see it, too.”
“You heard them—I’m fine,” Nevada said, walking toward the crowd. “How is this discovery going to mess everything up?”
“We’ll have to find out. It depends on where it is and what will happen to it.” He studied the blast area and the people swarming over the side of the mountain. If any more earth gave way, they were all going to fall.
“We have to get the area roped off,” he told Will. “We’ll need security.” Not just for safety purposes, but if there really was gold… He swore. Nothing about this was going to be easy.
“It’s at the far end of what’s going to be the parking lot,” Nevada pointed out. “That’s good. Maybe the caves are past the property line. Then it wouldn’t be your problem.”
“I’m not feeling that lucky.”
He put his arm around her. “Still okay? No headache or bruises?”
“I got a little banged up hitting the ground,” she said. “Otherwise, I’m good.”
They reached the base of the hill. Before they could climb up, a car drove toward them. Tucker recognized it and the older woman climbing out.
“I received a call,” Mayor Marsha said as she approached. “We have ourselves a situation.” She glanced toward the crowd on the hillside. “They can’t stay there. The ground might not be stable.”
“I’ll get my men out.”
“Good. I’ve already called Chief Barns. She’ll post her people around the area until we can figure out what’s going on.” The mayor drew in a breath. “Is there really gold?”
“That’s what I’m hearing.”
“Because a giant va**na wasn’t enough,” the mayor mused.
“At least the gold will be a distraction,” he offered.
“If you do your job and make the va**na go away, we won’t need a distraction.”
“Oh, right. Good point.”
NEVADA LEFT WORK EARLY. Between the press, the police and interested people from town, the construction site was a busy mess. She would tackle what she had to in the morning. In the meantime she wanted a hot bath and some quiet time to process her new, complicated life.
While the tub filled, she kept having flashbacks to the last time she’d used it. That had been during her night with Tucker, the one that had curled her toes more than once. The man knew what he was doing, she thought as she climbed into the water. If the sex had been half that good ten years ago, she might have tried arm wrestling Cat for him. Not that winning would have made a difference. He’d been obsessed with the artistic beauty.
What a difference time makes, she thought, sinking into the hot water and smiling. Tucker had not taken Cat’s kiss very well. He’d been more upset than she was. An interesting turn of events, considering it was her first girl kiss. But now there was a Cat problem and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Turning her down went without saying, but how to do it? As much as the woman could infuriate her, she liked Cat and wanted them to stay friends. Tomorrow…she thought, stretching out in the water and letting the heat ease her bruised muscles.
When the water cooled, she got out and dressed. She was hungry and not in the mood to cook, which usually meant take-out. Before she could decide which restaurant, someone knocked on her door.