“Did he win?”
“Did who win?” she asked.
“The candidate of the political campaign you worked on.”
“Well, I’m living back home and working in a coffee shop, so that’s your answer right there. But he was an asshole and less intelligent than a box of white chalk.Youare neither of those things.”
Ross dropped his arms. “Let’s start with the pictures and see where it goes from there.”
Mia stood, slipped the camera strap on her shoulder, and made her way to the door. “Ross, do you know what the difference is between selling a politician and selling jewelry? I don’t have to use any fancy camera tricks or wordplay to make the jewelry look good. You’ve already done the work for me.”
Chapter Ten
“Are you anexpert in accounting yet?” Ross asked, relaxing on his living room couch with a beer in one hand, and his cell in the other. Hermes rested his head on Ross’s lap.
“I’m an expert in learning about how much I really don’t know.” Luna sighed in frustration on the other end of the phone line. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Ross, and I feel overwhelmed. Maybe I can’t do this, after all. Every day, I just want to flee and start over somewhere new, like Alaska.”
“You just need to give it a chance, and you’ll find your rhythm.”
“You sound like Grandpa.”
“Well, the man definitely had his own rhythm, but so does everyone else in this family, me especially. I was overwhelmed by school, and I still made it out on the other side. You haven’t been struggling long enough to give up yet.”
“How’s it going at the store? I can’t believe how much I miss it. There must be something wrong with me.”
Ross shook his head at his cousin’s dramatics. “The store is fine. Still standing. Nothing’s changed.”
“Do I get anything else? Come on, Ross, give me something. I don’t care how small and insignificant it is.”
Ross took a drink from his beer as he gave her request consideration. “Let’s see. Aanya’s working out well. She’s not getting on my nerves yet. Although she has a bad habit of humming, and I don’t recognize any of the tunes. I try to spend as much time as possible in the office or in the workshop.”
“Hmm. I think Aanya may have stumbled onto something really great here. This is a good tip for keeping you from scaring off the customers. Thanks, Aanya!”
“Damn, that’s all I need is a store full of hummers,” he said, laughing in response. “Oh, here’s something. You remember I told you about the woman who I went to school with?”
“The cute one?”
Ross let his silence be his answer for a moment. “I don’t remember saying whether she was cute or not.”
It would be a lot easier dealing with Mia if shewasn’tcute. Resenting her ability to charm him would certainly make things more convenient, but he didn’t always have the energy, let alone the willpower for it. Those amber eyes and single dimple could melt away a man’s resolve—or rather another man’s resolve. Not his.
“But you didn’t deny it,” Luna pointed out. “I think that makes it obvious.”
“Should I continue?”
“Still not denying it, but, yes.”
“She’s going to take some images for us to use online. She used to do social media work or something for some political campaign and is trying to push El Dorado Jewelry into the modern world.”
“Oh my god, Ross. Isn’t this exactly what I’ve been saying to you for a while now? Good luck to her getting through your stubborn head.”
“Well, it might be slowly working its way through. Mia just has a way of explaining things. It makes, whatever she wants, sound like the most obvious, logical choice. I guess her ability to persuade people shouldn’t be surprising. She was a star on the debate team, after all.”
He shook his head, eyes lifting to the ceiling. “She’s probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. Yet, half the time, I want to strangle her.” Ross imagined Mia pushing her glasses along the bridge of her nose with a finger while providing an in-depth, know-it-all explanation on how he could handle a strangulation situation better. Of course, in true Mia fashion, she’d be perfect and correct. Her lecturing him was both infuriating and possibly a turn-on.
“I think that’s exactly the type of person you need in your life. I like it,” Luna said, bursting through the fantasy playing in his head.
“You would.” Unfortunately, so would he. At least he had some resentment to keep him grounded.
