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I clear my throat, and when Darla comes over to take our order, I smile up at her, choking down the curse words I want to spew at the jerk across from me. “I need a few more minutes, please.”
“No worries.” She tops off my water glass and then bustles away.
“Are you implying that Huckleberry Bay isn’t a functioning townnow?”
Here comes that condescending smile again. “June, it’s a tiny town. It’s like a baby. It needs a little nurturing, a little help.”
“For what goal? What do you envision this town to look like as an adult?”
“Okay, we can do this.” Eric leans back in his chair. “I think it needs to double, maybe triple, in size. Cater more to the tourists, and offer more in the way of vacation homes that are bigger and more updated than what is currently available. There needs to be theater, art, and better restaurants. This one is good, but the town needs more places to dine, possibly some of the national chains, as well as more hotels.”
He says the town needs more hotels, yet his one-year goal is to put Luna out of business. That makes zero sense.
“And where would we put these things? We’re a seaside town, Eric.”
“There’s plenty of space for growth, sweetie.”
“Says who?” I make a point of ignoring the disgusting term of endearment.
He tilts his head to the side, watching me. “You don’t think those things would be valuable here?”
“No, I don’t.”
“I guess it’s true what they say—if you’ve never had it, you don’t miss it. You must not be very well traveled.”
I’m not irritated anymore. I’m pissed. “I’ve traveled plenty. Ilikethe town the way it is, and so do most of the people who live here. I can’t believe the city officials would ever agree to all of this expansion.”
“They haven’t yet. It’s all part of the long-term vision I have, and why I want to build the hotel. I should close on the property in the next thirty days, sixty at the most, and break ground in the spring. I’m here to make sure that everything is lined up and ready to go, and then I’ll go back to New York until we begin the build. God knows I don’t want to spend the winter in this hellhole.”
“No, you wouldn’t want that.” I give him a wide, toothy smile, holding myself back from reaching out to smack him. “I guess I’m curious as to why you asked me out tonight. I’m certainly not your type, and you’re only here for a short time.”
“True,” he immediately replies, and it’s so idiotic that it doesn’t even hurt my feelings. “I thought you were funny, and you intrigued me. My instincts were right, too, because you clean up very well.”
I want to punch him. Not just smack him.
“Sure, I’m only here for a few days, but we can have a lot of fun in those few days.” He winks at me over his glass, but then his eyes drop to my cleavage before returning to my face.
“Right. You know, I think I’m going to pass on dinner.”
“Okay.” He blinks in surprise, and then he tosses a couple of twenties onto the table to cover his drink and tip and follows me out of the restaurant. “Good idea. We can cozy up at my rental and get to know each other better.”
I’m not going to make a scene in this restaurant and embarrass my friends, so I wait until we reach the driver’s side of my truck, and I turn to him.
“No, I’m not saying that I want to skip dinner so we can have sex. I’m saying I’m not interested inanythingwith you, Eric. This date was a mistake.”
His handsome face twists into an angry snarl.
“What are you, some kind of fucking tease?”
“No, I’m an intelligent woman who knows an arrogant, narcissistic asshole when she sees one. You can go back to New York, Eric.”
I turn to open the door, but he yanks on my shoulder, pulling me back around to face him.
“Listen, you bitch—”
“No,youlisten. Take your hands off me. I didn’t give you permission to touch me.”
“You small-town, white-trash hillbilly, I’ll fuckingtouchyou all I want.”
