Page 9 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
Besides, no arrogant, line-cutting jerk would run me out of town. I’d been pushed around enough by men who thought theyknew what was best for me. I’d married the last man who thought he could tell me what to do.
I’d learned my lesson, and I wasn’t going back.
THREE
RHETT
I wasn’tone for intentionally seeking out awkward situations, but there was something about the red spots on my newest employee’s cheeks that I couldn’t resist. That and the way she gripped her muffin bag like her life depended on it.
Piper Darling was my new designer, hired when the company who’d brought us this far had suddenly dropped out of the project. Her first name had rung a bell, but I hadn’t been able to place it. If I’d known who she was when she went toe-to-toe with me in Peak Coffee, I might’ve reacted differently.
Then again, I might not have.
When you’d worked as hard as I had to get to the top of the mountain, you didn’t take kindly to people trying to push you off it. Especially not when it happened within the walls of one of your own damn businesses.
There were precious few people who stood up to me these days, which might be why there was something intriguing aboutthe way Piper had done it. She hadn’t belittled me the way my ex would’ve. She’d stood up for what she believed was right.
That was…refreshing. I didn’t hate it. Maybe I’d gotten a little too used to people kowtowing to me in this town.
Piper’s shoulders were stiff and straight as she went down the stairs ahead of me. I’d enjoyed the look on her face when she recognized me. The slow, dawning realization. The horror. The panic. Hell, I’d enjoyed the look on her face when she’d tried to push me around back at the coffee shop.
She was a woman of medium height, dressed in a boxy white button-down and pinstriped pants that skimmed close to her hips. Her hair was clipped at the back of her head, and at first glance I’d thought it was plain brown. But as we crossed the ground-floor lobby with the sun streaming through the floor-to-ceiling glass, I found myself watching the way the strands reflected a thousand shades of brown and blond, with glints of red. A complicated shade for a complicated woman.
We exited the office and crossed the parking lot, where my company-branded pickup truck was parked in one of the spots closest to the door. I got behind the wheel as Piper slid into the passenger seat. I watched her stuff the muffin bag into her purse and slide her coffee cup into the center-console cupholder before clipping herself in with a kind of prim determination that made me want to grin.
Her features were sharp and angular. The hollows beneath her cheekbones gave her a severe appearance, and I wondered how a smile might transform her face.
I couldn’t decide if I liked or loathed her. With her snippy attitude, the best thing to do would be to show her the door.This project was already hemorrhaging money; I didn’t want to introduce more conflict. But I also didn’t have time to bring on someone new before ski season started, and we had to open the lodge as soon as possible. Besides, maybe I needed someone who wasn’t afraid to stand up to me.
“In the notes from your interview with Todd, he said you called yourself a team player,” I said as I started the engine.
Piper shifted in her seat. “That’s right.”
“What kind of team would that be?”
In my peripheral vision, I saw her glance over at me as I turned onto the main road that would lead us to the project site. “I’m not sure I follow,” she hedged, her voice tightly restrained.
“Team players are typically more accommodating than what I’ve seen from you so far.”
There was a sharp, icy silence before Piper replied. “If your team is mainly made up of pushovers and yes-people, then I suppose that’s to be expected. I might be more suited to a different type of team. One based on collaboration.” She paused. “And principles.”
“Principles,” I repeated, drumming my fingers on the window frame beside me. I bit back a smile. “You seem to be mentioning that word a lot this morning.”
“Well, unlikesomepeople, I actually have them.”
My smile fought me and won, twitching over my lips before I could regain the upper hand. Yeah, I liked her. I couldn’t have explained why—she was unpleasant, arrogant, and, based on first impressions, hard to get along with. But she’d put a twenty in the tip jar, and she’d stood up to me when she thought it was what the situation demanded. She had a backbone.
I could use that in an employee. It meant she wasn’t so likely to crumble and quit when I needed her to step up. Besides, maybe I’d gotten used to being King Rhett in this town, and it was time to get my feet firmly back on the ground.
Or maybe this was me slipping back into old patterns, seeking out toxic relationships when I was finally free of them. The thought unsettled me, so I turned my attention back to the woman simmering with anger beside me. How would she react to being needled a little bit more?
“You really have a thing for people cutting in line, huh.”
We drove past a sheer rock face covered in wire mesh that had been drilled deep into the mountain with anchors to prevent rockslides. The road swept around the base of the mountain to reveal another peak in the distance. High above us, a trickle of water wetted the rock, not yet frozen solid by the winter cold. In the summertime, it would be a gushing fall.
In the years I’d been away, I’d missed this place. The dramatic, larger-than-life landscapes had always reminded me that I was just a man. Being here kept me grounded the way nothing else could. It also hid the lurking memories of my past, ready to smack me across the head when I least expected it.
“It’s rude,” Piper finally replied. “You marched in there without the least bit of consideration about all the other people who had patiently waited.”
