My head rears back, eyes blinking rapidly, temper at the ready. “The names of the downtown businesses arecharming, asshole.”
Who the hell does he think he is? God’s gift to naming things?
“They’re so cheesy, I need a Gas-X,” he says, barking a laugh.
The rich, deep sound definitely doesnotscrape against my insides, and my nerve endings don’t respond to it, not even a little. My nipples always pebble when it’s ninety degrees out with just shy of a hundred percent humidity.
I bristle, standing from the ground to face down the outsider with the ego problem. I’m starting to see how he and my sister might’ve been acquainted. “Well, what would you call it then?”
He shrugs a shoulder, bouncing his head a little in the air, not needing much time to think it over. “Homegrown. Or ifyou made me use this weird word play this town seems to be obsessed with, Palate Palace. I could think of a dozen more if you give me thirty seconds.”
Dammit. Those are fucking good.
“We’re proud of our town,” I tell him, instead of giving him a shred of credit for pulling those out of his ass. “And considering we serve thelocals, I think we should stick with our adorable local names. Not that you have any say in it anyway.”
“Please.” The infuriating man laughs again, taking absolutely no offense at anything I’m saying. It doesn’t even look like my pissy tone has affected him in the least. He’s still got a giant grin on his face. “If there was a massage parlor across the street, they’d probably call it Smoky Strokey.”
Shit, I almost burst out a laugh at that, but I bite down, grinding my teeth to hold it in. “Sorry, that name’s taken,” I tell him, moving my hands to my cocked hips. “That’s the name of the cardiac ward at the hospital.”
He laughs again, not trying to hold it back. He sees me as so little of a threat, he is openly laughing at my jokes. What a dick. Can’t he smell an instant rivalry when he sets one off?
“Anyway,” he moves past it all like I didn’t just almost claw his eyes out on the street in broad daylight with the trowel by my feet. “I’ve gotta get to my job interview. Have fun getting dirty.”
His dark eyes heat with something playful, something dangerous, as he looks down my body, covered in soil, sweat, and God knows what else at this point, and then he’s through the doors to the restaurant.
And it’s at that moment, with my blood coursing through my veins, bubbling in my ears, that I decide I don’t haveanydesire to show up to that interview with what should’ve been our new chef.
Someone that vain, that full of himself, withthatlittle regard for the town he’s invading?
Nope.
I can already tell he would be a terrible fit for the restaurant and there’s not a snowball’s chance in a southern summer I’m hiring him as the new chef. I’d sooner blow him.
An age passes, finding new ways to toil in the boxes I’m planting, beneath the shade of the deep pink crepe myrtle tree in front of the restaurant. The mountains make a hell of a backdrop for downtown, catching my eye every time I sneak glances through the window, where the chef stands around, getting more and more fidgety as no one shows up to meet him.
Eventually, he pokes his head back out of the door and calls out to me.
“Hey, gardener lady.”
“I have a name,” I bite out, nearly a growl.
“I’m sure you do. You probably know the name of the boss here, too, don’t you?”
No response from me is clearly good enough for him.
“Think you could text them that Wilder Amante is here about the head chef position? They’re late.”
I let my petty streak—okay, it’s more than a streak—out to play.
“Maybe you shouldn’t start off your first day in a new town where you’re applying for a new job insulting the locals and their beloved institutions.”
“Aren’t half these places brand new and not even open yet? How could they be beloved, they’re be-closed.” He gestures with his strong chin my way, wide smile on his face and looking for a laugh that I don’t give him.
“That’s besides the point.” Ugh, he is insufferable. “Smoky Heights is a small town. Word travels fast. I bet management has already heard what a prick you are.”
“Only way they’d have heard that is if you told them that,bella.”
He shoots me a wink that makes my stomach flip.
