Chasing Serenity (River Rain 1)

“So you do work here,” she stated.

“I do, ma’am, I—”

He said no more when she griped, “Oh my God, do not call me ‘ma’am’.”

Judge nearly laughed.

Instead of doing that, he started, “I’m sorry, I—”

He again got no more out.

“You should be sorry,” she declared. “Do you often walk through the store that employs you, making personal comments to the customers?”

He’d done that.

He’d said two words, but the words he said were not what he meant, and she hadn’t missed it.

It was uncool.

But he knew why he did it.

Because he didn’t even know this woman’s name, and she was under his skin, so he’d done it angling for what was happening right then.

The particulars of that, however…

They weren’t something he was going to think about.

And now he needed to move on from what he’d instigated and get far away from her…and fast.

“You’re right, I should have kept my mouth shut,” he admitted. “You have my apologies.” He patted his chest with a flat palm. “Sincerely. I was out of line.”

She watched his hand on his chest, and for some reason, she got even more ticked when she did.

She then raised her eyes to his.

And he felt a variety of things in a variety of places (and regrettably, one of those places was his dick), when he saw she was not going to let this go.

She was going to dig in.

Deep.

“And I asked, do you do that often?” she demanded.

“I apologized, and—”

“An apology must be accepted,” she sniffed.

“And it should be,” he shot back, “if it’s genuine. Which it was.”

She raised a perfectly arched, perfectly waxed, dark brow.

“Was it?” she asked, making clear she knew the answer and it wasn’t what was about to come out of his mouth.

“Of course it—”

“Please,” she drawled. “Don’t assume I’m stupid.”

“I’m not assuming you’re stupid,” he returned. “In fact, if I made an assumption about you, that wouldn’t be it.”

What the fuck are you doing, man? Don’t goad the woman. Walk away.

Her head cocked, which wasn’t a surprise. What was in it undoubtedly was her weapon of choice.

“And what would that assumption be?” she inquired.

“How about you get on with your day, and I do the same thing?” he suggested.

“No, I’d really like to know what that assumption would be,” she pushed.

And Judge let her push him.

He knew why he did.

He also wished he didn’t.

He looked her down and up, then down again, making sure to take in the boxes of riding boots, hiking boots, rain boots, and for shit’s sake, a pair of mountaineering boots, and finally, the delicate, expensive, spike heeled booties she’d walked in on, then back to her.

“You’re very aware the cost of your shoes could feed dozens of children for a week, and you still used that money to buy them. I’ll leave it at that,” he shared.

She blinked, rapidly, several times, because what he said was out of line.

And he saw it happening.

Before, she was miffed.

Before, she was in a mood.

Now…

She was pissed.

Precisely his intention.

Because she was fantastic.

And he was an idiot.

“So do you verbally attack all the women that you make erroneous judgements about who come into this store?” she asked. “Or,” she drifted one of her beautiful hands in a spiral through the air, “wherever you might be.”

“Only ones that have fifteen pairs of boots they’ve made one of our associates go fetch for them when, let’s be honest, you don’t even know what mountaineering is.”

She made an irritated noise clicking her tongue before she retorted, “I’m sure when I get back to Duncan’s and ask, he can explain it to me.”

That was when Judge blinked.

Not rapidly. The opposite.

And only once.

Duncan?

She wouldn’t have mentioned “Duncan” unless she meant Duncan Holloway.

His boss.

In fact, everyone’s boss. He was founder and CEO of River Rain stores.

Judge couldn’t believe this. Duncan was strong, fit, a good-looking guy, but he was also old enough to be her father and wasn’t that type of dude.

“Duncan Holloway?” he asked.

“One and the same,” she confirmed.

“You’re seeing Duncan?”

She shook her head. “He’s a friend of the family.”

Well, that made more sense, even if Duncan was one of the most down-to-earth people Judge knew, and this woman appeared to be…not.

“And you’re dropping his name because…?” he prompted.

“I’m dropping his name because I don’t think he’d be very happy one of his employees is wandering around his store, throwing shade.”

This was absolutely true. Duncan would not like that.

That said…

“I wasn’t wandering around throwing shade,” he asserted.

No, when he’d thrown his shade, he’d pinpointed it at her.

Another hitch of her perfect brow.

“But I’ll remind you,” Judge continued, “not five minutes ago, I tried to avoid this discussion and not three minutes ago, I apologized, genuinely, for saying something I shouldn’t. I then tried to end this discussion. It was you who wouldn’t let it go.”

“And are you in the habit of confronting and arguing with customers?”