Perfect Match Enemies to lovers romance - Leia Stone Page 0,11

looked down. “Shit, I gotta grab this real quick.”

Sure, leave me outside in the sweltering summer heat.

“Alright.” I played nice.

He stepped away a few feet and put the phone to his ear.

“My favorite cousin!” he answered cheerily, then immediately he frowned. “Come on, it’s only a month, forty-five days, tops.”

A moment of silence and then his frown deepened. “Richie, I need a fry cook and you’re the only one I trust. You know the kitchen and—”

Fry cook?

A really scary and disastrous plot unfurled in my mind. Maybe if I worked with him, I could have more access to him and then I could better help him. I mean, his shirt didn’t even look clean. He was screaming “save me,” without really saying it.

But was I in the position to save anyone?

Yes. I was.

This was what I needed.

This was my way out of my funk. Colin saved this guy’s life but I would really save him, and when I left, I’d move on because I’d know that Colin’s heart was in good hands.

“Alright. I understand.” He hung up and walked over to the apartment door, unlocking it with an angry jerk.

Upon opening it, we were directly in a stairway that went up. I pretended I didn’t hear the fry cook thing because I was doing a mental check-in with myself to be sure I wasn’t actually losing my mind. Cordon Bleu pastry chef turned fry cook at dingy country bar? Yep, losing my mind.

“Only three units here. Mine, the vacant one, and Mrs. Pennyweather.”

I nodded, taking in the dirty baseboards and general lack of a doorman or elevator.

“So, did you grow up around here?” I pried for personal information. Was he born with a heart defect? Was it an accident? Was it all the fucking smoking?!

“Sort of,” was all he answered before opening the door to 3b. “This is it. No air-conditioning, so you’ll have to get a window unit at the hardware store.”

Great.

I stepped inside and let my eyes roam over the space.

It wasn’t half bad, size-wise. Big for a studio, which I was used to in New York City. But the décor was yikes. Super ‘90s orange-ish wood paneling and pink tile with a floral wallpaper.

This wasn’t how I expected this day to turn out … I just wanted to glimpse Colin’s heart living on in another guy and then feel settled.

Instead it had opened a can of worms. Ashton was … rough, broken, and I wanted to fix him. I knew it was a mistake and I would probably live to regret it, but I was in the midst of my own quarter life crisis, so fuck it.

“Five-fifty a month and not a dollar more.” I crossed my arms. “I’d also like to apply for the fry cook job. I heard you on the phone.”

He narrowed his gaze at me. “You want me to lower the price and give you a job?” He chuckled, and the act of smiling did wonders for his face. He looked pleasant and less like the asshole he really was. “Oh, honey. That’s a tall order.”

I rolled my eyes. “I spent a semester in Paris learning to bake with one of the best pastry chefs in the world. I can handle some fucking chicken fingers.”

Ashton was one of those guys you had to push back or he’d trample all over you.

He crossed his arms, the shirt straining to accommodate his muscles, giving me another peek of that scar. “Six-fifty a month and you got the job.”

I gasped. “What? How do you figure that one?”

Did he just raise the price?

He grinned. “Because if I have to work with you all day, I need a little more cash for my pain and suffering.”

This motherfucker!

“Fine!” I snapped.

“Fine. Now change into something more normal. Happy hour starts in a half hour.”

More normal?

I pinned him with what I hoped he interpreted as a death glare. “You expect me to start work right away?”

My flight back to New York was tonight. I thought I would get two weeks to move my shit out here and break the news to Julie that I’d lost my mind.

“See ya in twenty, sweet cheeks. I’ll expect that check with first and lasts.” He tipped an imaginary baseball cap and handed me a key before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

I growled, stomping my feet like a toddler before realizing I’d made a huge mistake.

What was I thinking?

This was just a guy who happened to have an organ that belonged to