"Moving truck should be here in a couple of days. Got enough to keep me happy until then." He gestured to a set of bags strapped to the back of the bike. "I'm officially unemployed and homeless, ready to jump at your beck and call."
She patted his chest. "You have never jumped for anyone's beck or call. I know how you are, Cy." She grinned. "And I'm still working on getting an internet connection."
I couldn't take it. I had to speak up. "Wifi down at the grill is DSL. Has a pretty decent connection."
Both of the overly pretty people looked at me, Violet with a smile. The guy? Not so much.
"Is it possible to get DSL outhere?" Violet asked, finally stepping away from her groping new friend.
I just shook my head. "Nope. Up on the hill, you might be able to get line of sight, but not this far from town. Only thing out here are cows."
Cyan groaned. "Ok. This whole moving to the country thing? Worst idea we ever had."
"We'll make it work," Violet promised. "We have to. Besides, that gives you something to work on until your stuff gets here."
"Right." He looked over at me again. "Ever gonna introduce us, Vi'?"
She moved halfway in between us. That put her in the middle of the driveway. Cyan stood defiantly by his bike, me on the opposite side with my truck acting like a barrier. We weren't exactly going to be shaking hands. I had no interest in being this guy's new best friend. Everything about him was annoying, from his pretty turquoise shirt to his short beard and well-styled hair. No one should have nice hair after wearing a helmet. Hell, a hat was bad enough. That this guy was neither soft, small, nor hideous was a problem. That he was moving in? I was doing my best not to break the asshole's face just on principle.
"Luke, Cyan, and vice versa." She smiled beautifully at both of us, just like the perfect hostess. "And now for the rules, boys. If either of you gets some dumb-ass idea to turn into a neanderthal?" One perfectly painted nail pointed down the hill toward the gate. "That's the way out. Magenta already tried to piss on me, so don't even think it, Cy. Luke, you know that didn't work like you wanted last time. Now be all nice and polite. I'm gonna go put on my makeup. Come in when you're done being stupid."
In a flounce of pastel colors, Violet damned near pranced back into the house, leaving both of us standing with our mouths slack. All the rules I'd learned about proper manners were not in her vocabulary. She'd set the boundaries and expected us both to respect that. Unfortunately, that did nothing to stop my urge to put a fist into this strange man's face.
The tough guy didn't seem opposed to it either. Squaring his shoulders, he crossed the gravel drive, heading right to my truck. Then, without asking, he just leaned against the bed, looking in at the tools I was gathering together. Acting like he couldn't give a shit, the glare in Cyan's eyes was a lot more honest. I chuckled under my breath.
"Cyan, huh? Fancy name, or is that just your color?"
"Both." The prick shrugged. "Luke, huh? Good country name. Noticedyoudon't have a color."
"Nope, I'm just from a long line of country folk. So how do you know her?" I half expected the guy to say they'd dated.
But he didn't. "Grew up here. Known that girl a very long time and very, very well."
"Not supposed to kiss and tell, bud."
Arrogantly, Cyan crossed his arms on the bed rail. "There's a whole lot of things in this world I'm not supposed to do. Does it look like I care?"
"Kinda looks like she does." I tossed a few more things into my toolbox and yanked it out. "Now, if you want to piss on the place, I'll just leave you to that. Already upset her once, and I'm not planning to do it again."
Cyan didn't bother moving. Why couldn't the latest asshole have been some scrawny fucker? Or hideous. Yeah, ugly would have worked. Then again, I should have known better. Of course Violet had a lot of good looking men in her life. Girls like her always did. I just hadn't expected things to take a turn so quickly. I was supposed to get at least a few weeks to sweep her off her feet and carry her away on my white horse before more competition arrived. And yeah, I had a white horse to do that.
"Her grandmother just died," Cyan said, knowing his words would stop me before I could get too far. "Pretty sure she's not really looking for either of us to play hero. Also doesn't mean she couldn't use a few."
I couldn't help myself. Setting the toolbox down a little too hard, I spun back on the arrogant prick. "Ya think?" I kept walking until I was right up in his face. I had an inch on the guy, at least, but Cyan was broader. "Vera was a fuckin' saint, ok? I don't care what you think of this town, those of us who live out here, or anything else. I'm just trying to help out."
Cyan didn't budge. "And get in her pants."
"Fuck you."
"Uh huh." This bastard's smug smile was annoying as hell. "You sure didn't deny it. Let me tell ya something, bro. Vi? Yeah, she likes men with brains and drive. She wants to feel beautiful. She also has a whole lot of trust issues and they all started in this damned town."
"Yeah, she told me. So did the last man to swing through here using a color as his name."
"Magenta," Cyan said, proving he knew about that. "Did either of them tell you why?" Cyan stepped just a bit closer. "I'm not going to let you inbred fucks screw her up again. Am I clear?"
"Jealous?" I taunted, hoping the idiot would throw the first punch.
Cyan had no interest in making it easy. "Nah. See, I know a lot of things you don't, and you just proved it." Then he chuckled. "In other words, I'm not too worried about you. You won't last the month, farm boy. I'll call when we have another task that might chip her nail polish."
