"Well, now, that's just rude."
"You know what I mean. You're not in the market for a job making coffee and handling cupcakes."
I can't hide the smile that tugs at the edges of my lips. "I was hoping to handle one particular cupcake."
I didn't think it was possible for her eyes to fly open wider, but they do. "There's not going to be any handling of anything," she says. But she pulls her lower lip between her teeth.
"Opal thinks I'm a terrific fit for this place," I point out.
Lily's eyes narrow. "Opal doesn't have hiring authority. And you are not a good fit for this place."
"Because I'm a man?" I ask. "That's just flat-out discrimination."
Lily groans in exasperation. I wonder if that's just her thing, or if she does it only around me. "Because you're a huge hulk of a man who looks like a lumberjack."
"Hunk," I correct.
"What?" My interruption stops her tirade, and she pushes away the errant strand of hair that flops out of her ponytail into her face. That ponytail. It makes me want to pull it. My dick twitches, pressing against the zipper of my jeans at the mere thought of my hand gripping her hair as she rides me.
"You said hulk but you really meant hunk.”
"I definitely meant hulk. That apron looks ridiculous on you and you are not the kind of person who does well with people."
"Maybe I like people," I lie. That's the furthest fucking thing from the truth. Except for my brothers, I have no interest in interacting with the citizens of West Bend. Solitude is just fine with me. It's just that this girl makes me crazy. I have this irresistible urge to push her buttons. And hell, being up at the cabin alone has been boring lately.
She laughs under her breath. "You hate people."
"You don't know that."
She cocks her head to the side. "Oh, please. It's written all over you. The last thing I need is you scaring off my customers."
I step closer to her, and she doesn't back away. She looks up at me, her face defiant. Fuck, I want to put my mouth on hers again. When I kissed her before, she tasted like strawberries and summer and frosting and – now I can't stop thinking about frosting her naked body.
"I promise I won't even scare off your customers. Only the asshole ones."
"See?" she squeaks. "You're doing it again. I don't even know you and you seem to have made it your mission to get involved in my store out of some misguided notion that you're protecting me."
"Wrong." I step closer to her. She's standing against the counter now, the metal edge pressing into her ass.
"Wrong about what?" She looks up at me. Her voice is softer, and when she runs her tongue along her lower lip, I have the nearly irresistible urge to bite that lip.
"You're wrong about why I'm here."
"Why are you here, then?"
"Because I want you in my bed. And on this counter. And up against the wall."
She inhales deeply, her breasts rising under her apron. For a second, I think she moves closer to me, like she wants me to kiss her. "You're barking up the wrong tree, caveman."
I raise my eyebrow. "You're not into men?"
A look of confusion flutters across her face, and then she sets her jaw. "Of course that's what you think."
"You're the one who said I was barking up the wrong tree." I shrug. There isn't any part of me that thinks Lily isn't into men, not with the way she looks at me like she's daring me to touch her.
"So that must mean I'm into women?"
"You tell me."
"Are you asking your employer about her sexual preference or her sex life?" she asks. "Because that would be so far beyond inappropriate that I'd have to fire you."
"You're saying you've hired me?"
"I didn't say that," she blurts out.
"You did say just you were my employer," I point out helpfully.
"I was speaking in theoretical terms."
"Careful. This caveman doesn't understand big words."
She narrows her eyes at me. "You're juvenile."
I lean in close to her, my lips near her ear the way they were the other day. "Good thing you're not my employer, then. Because it would be really inappropriate if I were to tell you that I can't stop thinking about how much I'd like taste you. Or how much I'd like to feel you on my tongue."
She inhales sharply, so sharply that I can hear her breath, and the sound makes me hard. I pull away and she looks at me for a long minute without speaking. Honestly, I can't decide if she's going to slap me across the face or not. She should slap me across the face; I totally deserve it.
"That is never going to happen."
She steps away from the counter – and away from me. She doesn't say anything else until she reaches the door to the front of the store. Then she looks back over her shoulder. "And for your information, I said you were barking up the wrong tree because I have a kid. She's seven years old. So I'm not the Jane to your Tarzan. And I'm definitely not a hook-up. So think about that before you decide whether you really want to keep up with this silly employee thing.”
9
Lily