Chapter 1 #2
Harold flicked his tail, turning to show me his backside before settling in to give it a thorough cleaning. I sighed. I knew Harold would love me one day; I just wished he would hurry up about it. Because this outright hostility was getting old.
“I am so sorry. Are you okay?” The man who came in with Liam pointed the animal’s tiny face at me. It wore the cutest blue sweatshirt with the hood up. “Say sorry to the nice lady, Mr. Fluffy.”
I waved him off. “That’s the most affection Harold has shown me since I brought him home, so maybe I should thank your …” What kind of animal was that? “…furry snake? Weiner dog? Cat … sock?”
The man snorted a laugh. “Mr. Fluffy is a ferret. I’m Greg.
We came with him.” He jerked a thumb at Liam before turning his attention back to me.
“But don’t you dare thank Mr. Fluffy. He’s been a naughty boy, and he’s in big trouble.
” Greg shook his head at the ferret. “I’m so sorry.
He usually has far better manners than this.
It’s back to puppy class for you when we get home, mister. ”
I stared at the ferret, temporarily distracted from the blue-eyed bastard standing nearby. I’d never seen a ferret in person before, and now I couldn’t look away. “Can I pet him?” I couldn’t resist the fuzzy little cat sock. He was just too adorable.
“Of course.” Greg pulled Mr. Fluffy back when he hissed again. “But we should give him a few minutes to calm down first. I’d hate for him to bite you and add to your already impressive collection of puncture wounds.”
“Ahem.” Liam cleared his throat, cutting through my ferret-induced trance. “If you’ve finished fawning over Mr. Fluffy, can we get back to our conversation? I’d still like to know who you are.”
Right. Ferret snuggles would have to wait until after I finished giving Liam Bishop hell.
I fixed him with a glare. “Oh, I bet you would, wouldn’t you?
” I drew out my words, letting the deliciousness of the moment I’d been rehearsing for nearly two years sink in.
“What’s the matter? Too busy telling Nana all about your exciting life in the city to listen when she tells you she hired someone to manage the store? ”
The confusion on his face deepened.
“I’m Maya.”
Liam didn’t respond.
“Maya Parker?”
He gave me a blank stare.
I was sure my face mirrored his earlier confusion. He didn’t know who I was? Then again, he hadn’t visited his own Nana in years, so could I really expect him to remember something she would have said during a phone conversation?
I supposed it was true what they said. The pretty ones were too full of themselves to pay attention to what was going on around them.
“Sorry, Pipsqueak. Your name doesn’t ring a bell. Do you work here?”
The nickname Pipsqueak reignited the raging furnace of anger in my belly, but Liam remained oblivious to my reaction. He glanced around the shop, his gaze stopping at the giant copper espresso machine that sat on the back counter.
“Let me guess. You’re the one who convinced my Nana to bring that thing in? I can’t imagine she enjoys using it; she thinks the machines that use pods are too complicated.”
Frustrated, I threw my hands up. “Of course she doesn’t use it. I only finished refurbishing it six months ago. She’s barely looked at it, never mind used it.”
Liam stalked toward me, his steps confident, until he was close enough that I could smell his cologne.
The scent of him, like the forest before a storm, threatened to overwhelm me.
Focus, Maya. Neglectful, self-absorbed men can smell good too.
It didn’t excuse the fact that he hadn’t been to visit his grandmother in years.
She might not have been mad at him, but I sure was.
I knew all too well what it was like when family abandoned you, and I wasn’t about to let Liam do that to Nana without some repercussions.
“What do you mean she hasn’t looked at it?” His brows knitted together. “This is her store. And that thing is so shiny it’s practically glowing. There’s no way she wouldn’t see it.”
My brain screeched to a halt so fast I swore I heard squealing tires.
Didn’t he know she had retired?
“Okay, kids. I think that’s enough fun for now.” Greg stepped between us, his tone soft as he attempted to deescalate the situation. “How about we let Maya get back to work, and you can take me to meet Nana?”
Liam stepped closer again, his gaze locked on me while he spoke to Greg. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s go upstairs to visit Nana and leave Maya”—he narrowed his eyes like he thought I’d been lying about my identity—“to get to work. I’m sure Nana doesn’t let her employees sit around doing nothing all day.”
I pressed my hand against his hard chest to push him away, but you’d think he was welded to the floor for how much I moved him. Not that it mattered. Since I’d left home, I’d learned how to deal with people who tried to intimidate me.
Crossing my arms, I fixed him with a steely glare. “That’s fine. Stand as close as you want. I will not be bullied by the likes of you.”
“Is that so, Pipsqueak?” His disturbingly blue eyes twinkled as he took a step back. “Those are some big words coming from such a tiny woman.”
“I’m five feet and one-quarter inch tall, you dickweasel. That’s average.” I gritted my teeth. I’d been this height since I was twelve years old. I had never felt short, and this overgrown, blue-eyed bullshitter wasn’t about to make me start now.
Besides, I wasn’t that short.
“I believe the average height for women is five foot three, which makes you”—he sucked air through his teeth while making a show of looking me up and down—“below average.” He grinned before adding in a whisper, “Pipsqueak.”
That does it.
“Call me Pipsqueak again and I will hunt you down and slit your throat while you sleep.” The death threat rolled off my tongue with surprising ease, but it felt right. “And before you go stomping upstairs to bother Nana, there’s something else you should know.”