What Might Have Been: Daniels Brother #4 (Daniels Brothers) by Sherri Hayes Read Free Book Online Page B

the time he crawled behind the bush where the control panel was, he was pretty much drenched. Trent tried to ignore the water pelting him from behind as he searched for a shutoff. The setup was fairly basic. He pressed and held what should have been the reset button, but nothing happened.
    “There’s not a valve on the other side of this wall that can be closed?” Trent asked.
    “If there is, then it’s behind drywall.”
    Trent got up and ran out of the line of fire. He raked a hand through his hair to get some of the water off him. “There’s a finished wall on the other side of this?”
    “Yep. Bathroom.”
    Shaking his head, Trent headed back toward Abby. When he’d been out to take a look at the property the week before, he’d made a note to upgrade the control panel for the sprinkler system. He had no idea why it was outside to begin with.
    Abby’s eyes widened as he neared her. He knew he was probably a mess. Not only was he wet, he’d been crawling around in mulch behind bushes. His khakis were covered in mud.
    Luckily, he always kept a towel in his truck. This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten an unexpected shower on the job.
    He dried off the best he could, and then walked over to where Abby was standing in front of her vehicle. She still had that wide-eyed look and he wondered what was going through her mind. If they’d been alone, he would have asked her.
    Trent cleared his throat.
    Abby met his gaze and blushed. It made him even more curious as to the direction of her thoughts.
    “So what do you think?” Marty asked. “Can you fix it?”
    Trent turned away from Abby. There would be time to find out what had caused that blush later. “It will take some doing, but yeah, I can fix it. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to turn off the water inside the building. I’ll try to keep it to under an hour, but I can’t guarantee that.”
    Marty shook his head. “They ain’t going to be happy.”
    The man was beginning to get on Trent’s nerves. “There’s no way to redo the system with the water free flowing like it is now.”
    The other man nodded reluctantly.
    “When can you get it done?” Abby asked, breaking her silence.
    Trent noticed that the blush had faded. He had to admit he was a little disappointed. Still, he was there to do a job, not flirt with Abby. “I’ll need to head back to the office and pick up some supplies. Shouldn’t take me more than an hour to get everything together and get back here.” Then he looked to Marty. “Think you can spread the word inside the building that they’re going to be without water in about an hour or so?”
    “I’ll take care of it,” Abby said a little too quickly. It made him wonder what was going through that head of hers. “Trent, you need to get out of those wet clothes, and Marty, you should probably change into something you don’t mind getting dirty, in case Trent needs your assistance.”
    Marty didn’t look all that happy that Abby had volunteered him. Trent doubted he’d need the other man’s help, but considering he would be on his own with this one, he wasn’t going to turn down the extra pair of hands. 
    “Sounds like a plan to me,” Trent said as he gave the back of his neck another swipe with the towel.
    Abby headed into the building, careful to avoid the sprinklers that were positioned to cover the walkway. It reminded Trent a little of playing hopscotch.
    Marty didn’t wait for Abby to get inside the building before he got into his van and drove away. Trent shook his head. He wasn’t sure if Marty was in a bad mood because of the sprinklers or if that was his normal demeanor. Either way, his short responses to Abby weren’t likely to gain him any points with his new boss.
    Not wanting to follow that train of thought, Trent drove to his house to change and get another set of clean clothes. Chances were good that he’d get this set wet or muddy, or both, before the day was over. He still couldn’t figure out