“Who the hell knows? I can’t imagine why you’deverbe annoyed at me, seeing as how I’m perpetually charming. Yet you always look angry.”
He snorted. “You’re delusional.”
I laughed shortly. “There’s a new one. Honestly, you’re totally disappointing me right now. What else you got?”
“You’re immature as hell.”
“Also not news.” But it stung, coming from him. Oh, yes it did.
“You’re impulsive. You don’tthink.”
“Uh huh. Get it all out.” I made a gimme gesture with my fingers as I fished a cherry out of the ice at the bottom of my glass with my tongue. “I’m a terrible person. Careless. Thoughtless. I hurt people. I ruin everything.” I showed him the cherry between my teeth before chomping down on it.
He scowled, either at my words or my cherry-related talents. “What?”
“Oh, don’t pretend you weren’t thinking it.” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and motioned to Jordan for a refill. She rolled her eyes but complied. “Everyone in O’Leary thinks it, so you might as well say it. Teflon,” I reminded him, making a sliding motion over the top of my head. “Slides right off. Tell me how badly I embarrassed you at the market, and how I’m basically an overgrown kid, and how my pranks aren’t amusing. You won’t hurt my feelings.”
Micah was looking at me funny, doing that laser-beam eye thing again, but less like he was trying to burn me alive and more like he was trying to see through my skull. It was disconcerting and all of a sudden I was pretty sure I didn’t want to stick around to hear whatever else he had to say.
“Time’s up,” I announced. “You’ve missed your window. So if you’ll excuse me.” I made to get off my stool, but he stopped me with one large hand on my arm.
“Constantine, I didn’t come over here to trade insults with you. Or to yell at you, either.”
I wasn’t a small guy by any stretch—I was the tallest in our family by inches, and years of hard, physical work had given me a way more defined body than most guys got in a gym. Micah was barely bigger than I was, physically. But there was something about him, hispresenceor something, that made me stop when I could’ve—should’ve—shrugged him off. I looked into his eyes, which were deep green and impossible to read in the light of the bar, and swallowed hard.
I looked down at his hand. His skin was a shade darker than mine, despite my spring tan, and the hairs on his arm were gilded by the overhead lights like gold on bronze. His fingers were callused, just a little, and the back of his hand was nicked and scratched to hell. It was not a soft hand any more than Micah was a softman, but for the first time I wondered what it would feel like touching me, and I was shocked by how badly I wanted to find out.
Which wasalsoinexplicable and annoying.
“So you came over for the same reason Tyler did?” I asked. I’d been going for skeptical, even amused, but my voice came out all husky and breathless andinterested,goddammit. “Wanted to be my flavor of the week?”
He dropped my arm like it was on fire and snorted. “Hardly. I wasn’t kidding before. You’re not my type.” Before I could react to this, he added, “I wanted to offer you a job.”
I snickered, sure that had to be a joke, but he didn’t so much as smile.
“A job? With you?” I belatedly snatched my arm away from him. “Are you insane?”
Micah was silent for a moment, like he was honestly considering the question, and the pulse of the music from the dance floor washed over us. “I have a lot of standing orders and a ton of larger projects in the next couple of months. Too many. And I need short-term help to fill them.”
“Your business is booming? How terrible,” I said, thinking of my mother’s words earlier. “Go hire a new employee. Preferably someone who needs the work. Or, here’s an even better idea: stop stealing Ross Landscaping’s clients and stick with what you’ve got.”
“Ican’thire just anyone and you know it,” he said, ignoring the second half of my statement. “I need someone experienced. Someone who knows the work so I don’t have to spend days training them.” He angled his body toward mine and grudgingly admitted, “It’s nearly impossible to find someone experienced who only wants limited hours and no benefits. You’d be perfect. In fact, you’re the only person I can think of who could do it.”
“How sad for you. No.”
Micah blew out a frustrated breath. “Hear me out, idiot. This could help both of us.”
“You’d be helping me? By giving me a job?” I laughed. “I already worktwo, but thanks anyway.” I turned to leave.
“Take the job, and I’ll give up the contract at the Crabapple Bed and Breakfast.”
“You what?” I stared at him, sure I’d heard wrong.
“You heard me. I’ll give up the contract to supply flowers to the B and B. They asked me for a bid and I haven’t submitted it officially. You come work for me, I won’t. It’s that easy.”
I shook my head. “No way. That’s…” Incredibly fucking tempting. Holy shit. It would take away the biggest worry hanging over my mother’s head and help Ross Landscaping survive, at least for the summer. “Ridiculous. You could find a dozen people who could do the work. And my schedule is insane already.”
“I’m telling you, I’ve tried to find someone. I can’t. And I’m willing to work with your schedule. I’d need your help late night, after-hours, to prep things for the following day, and really early mornings, when I need to pick up supplies.”
