Page 18 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Exactly,” she pursed her lips at me in disapproval. “Anyway, I reached out to Jean on Snug, and we’re now friends. I sent her a message mentioning that I was planning my trip to Hawaii, and I asked when the blooms were at their peak.”

“They start blooming in May,” I shot back at her.

All she had to do was ask me. I knew everything there was to know about heliotrope, except how exactly to distill it.

“That’s what she said, but there’s more to it than when they begin,” Piper replied. “They bloom through September, but the peak is in late July.”

“Which would be too late for us,” I ground out. The tight timeline was keeping me awake at night. “I need to secure the Sullivans’ agreement, harvest the blooms, and figure out the distilling nightmare within the next month. You need to stop dragging your feet. Get it done, Piper. Everything is hinging on this!”

She frowned and set her shoulders like she was bracing for battle. “Stand down, Mr. Forde. That kind of attitude is exactly why you’re in this predicament. If you’d been a little more chill, you could’ve closed the deal yourself at the party. But no, you came in like a wrecking ball, and here we are.”

The woman was enjoying every bit of her power over me. I, on the other hand, was not.

“Piper,” I growled. “This is serious. Time is of the essence. What are your next steps?”

She held my gaze for a beat. “If you’d let me finish, I would’ve also told you that she was going to speak to her head groundskeeper to find out the exact timeframe for blooms on their farm, then she was going to talk to Joe about dates for my visit. I did mention I hoped to come sooner rather than later, to build in enough time for the harvest.” She paused. “Which I will secure.”

I finally exhaled. Okay, maybe I needed to release my stranglehold and just trust the woman?

“When did she say she’d get back to you?”

Piper choked out a laugh. “No ‘way to go, Piper’? No ‘I knew you could do it’?”

I frowned at her. “Well, you haven’t yet. Nothing is scheduled.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she shook her head and glowered at me. “You’re lucky you made me sign a contract, because I’m tempted to walk right out of here this minute.”

The thought of it made my blood run cold, but I wasn’t about to let on. “That’s exactly why I made you sign it. Because I don’t trust you.”

She stormed closer to me and raised her chin at me defiantly.

“Good, then we’re even, because I don’t trust you either.”

I stared down at her, expecting her to blink first, but the woman didn’t look away. My heart started pounding because the way her chest was rising and falling meant she was ready to throw down with me.

That never happened. I could make anyone fold, but this demolition derby of a human was refusing to budge.

Holding her gaze wasn’t easy. I wanted to memorize all the details of her face. The dark eyes that almost looked black in this moment, the spray of freckles across the bridge of her nose, the lush mouth, even though it was downturned in a frown. Piper was distractingly beautiful up close.

And way too kissable.

No, I chastised myself, this was not what I needed to be thinking about. Piper was nothing but a pain-in-the-ass means to an end.

“What?” she demanded. “Why are you looking at me like that? Is something wrong with my face?”

I wanted to laugh at the thought of it. She brushed her hand across her nose quickly, and I realized I’d been way too obvious scrutinizing her.

“Listen, the faster you get to Hawaii, the faster we can be done with all of this,” I pointed between us. “I’m sure we both agree it’s been a disaster.”

“Hold on, you think I’m going solo?” she laughed. “Mr. Bossman, if I go, you go. They think we’re a couple, remember? And you already ticked them off by ignoring everyone for half the engagement dinner to focus on your phone. If you want them to like you, try not being the asshole who sends his girlfriend on vacation by herself because he can’t bear to drag his uptight self away from work.”

“If you go?” I questioned, only focused on the first part of what she’d said.

I noticed that she still hadn’t moved away. I could almost feel heat radiating from her body.

“When.”

Just the thought of going anywhere with her gave me a tension headache, but she was right. I needed to be there to seal the deal.