company?”
Scott glanced at her, a small smile playing on his face. “Yeah, he does. You should see some of the shit he puts me through while trying to hold my job over my head. This bullshit with you is just another hoop to jump through.”
She was a bullshit hoop? The words dug deeper than she expected. Still, she could spin it to her advantage. If he needed her around, she wasn’t going to be the one to beg. It was his dime. She stopped. “I don’t have to be here. This isn’t going to work anyway if you’re not going to try.”
“What?” He spun, already several steps ahead of her. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It is.” She crossed her arms. “You pretended to fall asleep during my presentation, and you’ve dodged every attempt I’ve made to do my job this morning.”
He clenched his jaw. “Because I’m difficult and need fixing. Isn’t that why I hired you?”
“It’s certainly a convenient excuse.” She turned away. “I’ll be in the car, doing work for people who want me to be working. Find me when you’re done traipsing through the sand.”
“Kenzie.” His call hit her back.
She kept walking, irritation pumping through her. It wasn’t hurt. Not even close. She didn’t care if he thought little to nothing of her job, as long as he let her do it. The non-ache grew as she reached the SUV and realized he still hadn’t stopped her.
“Wait.” His hand wrapped loosely around her arm.
The contact sent a pleasant jolt through her, one she didn’t want to be feeling. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.
He let go abruptly. “I didn’t mean to be insulting.”
His sincerity was salve in wounds she didn’t want to acknowledge. Contrite was exactly what she needed, and she had to push her advantage. She spun back to face him. “That’s what we’ll start with. You need to learn to think before you speak.”
He shrugged. “I always think. I just don’t expect people to take it so personally.”
Of course. She blew a loose strand of hair out of her face.
He watched her silently, brown eyes wide and pleading.
Damn that look. “Okay, we’ll try again. You have to work with me, though.” She locked her gaze on him, trying to convey how serious she was.
He separated his camera and lens, and nestled both back in their bag. “Then you have to do the same.”
She scowled. “That’s kind of what I do. Like it’s my entire job.”
He traced a finger down her arm. “All right, we’ll talk. You can assault me with questions to figure out how to manipulate me, and I can use metaphor and obtuse examples to subconsciously convince you I’m perfect as is.”
His touch was enticing, and a warm tremor ran through her. That sounded fantastic. And counterproductive to her job. “That’s not cooperating.”
He winked at her. “You won’t know any better if I do it right.”
Her tentative grip on the situation was slipping. “That’s not how this works.” Gawd he was so infuriating. And fascinating. How did he get away with it? The easy way he ignored convention and slid into whatever he wanted regardless of what was appropriate.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Your hair looks gorgeous in this light. It catches the golds just right.”
His compliment warmed her further, and she mentally told her pleased reaction to calm down. “This isn’t helping me do my job.”
He tilted his head to the side, the corner of his mouth pulled into a disarming half-smile, and his brown eyes raked over her face. It took him a moment to answer. “Me neither.” He clicked the locks off on his SUV and stepped around her to open the back door. “Come on.”
She could tell he had a plan—that he wasn’t just flitting from one thought to the next without direction—but damned if she could figure out what it was. The ordered part of her loathed it. The part of her that wanted to be more reckless was fascinated to watch him work. “We’re leaving? That didn’t take long.”
He slammed the door shut and locked the car again. He stepped next to her and nodded toward the buildings in the distance. “Not unless you’re really miserable. That’s what I’m actually here for.” He held up a folded blanket, the navy fleece absorbing the sunlight. “But I need to take a lot of pictures. This is so you have a place to sit without getting your skirt dirty.”
Her cheeks warmed at the consideration, and