Married to the Enemy: A Small Town Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Bliss River Book 2)

by Lili Valente

  I did manage to find out that Nick has food service experience, however, and that he’s looking for part-time work until he can find a tattoo parlor willing to rent him a chair.

  His parents are horrified by his choice of careers and most of his life choices in general. As the black sheep of my family, I already feel for the guy, even though we haven’t met yet. And I’m excited for a chance to help Nash. His happiness is swiftly becoming my happiness, and the man himself so much a part of me that I can’t wait to get home to him every day.

  He’s my home, his arms, his eyes, his voice telling me how much he’s missed me.

  I’ve never felt this way before, not even in the throes of my obsession with Liam. That’s what it was with my ex. Obsession, not love. I can see that now.

  Love isn’t painful or misery-inducing. Love doesn’t make you feel desperate or unworthy. Love lifts you up and makes you freer, happier, and better than you were before. With Nash, I feel like the best version of myself. The way he loves me just makes my soul shine a little brighter.

  I sigh again. “Isn’t love the best thing ever?”

  Lark laughs and tosses a wilted piece of lettuce at my face that hits me on the shoulder. “Now you’re even grossing me out.”

  “I am not! You’re way grosser than I am!” I toss the leaf back at her and follow it with a strawberry, laughing as it sails down the front of her shirt. “Ha! Direct hit! Serves you right. You and Mason are the grossest couple I know. Googly eyes for days.”

  “Oh yeah? Well at least I don’t hump his leg when I kiss him goodbye,” she says, throwing more lettuce with one hand while she fishes the strawberry from her bra with the other.

  “I do not!” I dodge the lettuce and toss another strawberry, laughing as it follows the first down her shirt. “I am unstoppable!”

  “Oh, I’m going to stop you, just wait,” she says, jogging around the table.

  I vault off my stool to avoid a crushed berry to the face and Lark and I spend the next few minutes in a deep food fight, until we’re both laughing too hard to aim and agree to call a truce before we make an unholy mess.

  Because love does that, too.

  It makes you laugh and smile and spread rays of happiness around you like sunshine. “People should always be in love,” I say, accepting the cup of coffee Lark’s made, topped off with extra cream, just the way I like it.

  “Agreed,” she says with a sigh. “Agreed.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Melody

  I’m about to head back into the kitchen when I hear Lark and Aria giggling inside and decide I just can’t take it anymore.

  I spin on my heel and flee my sisters, shedding my apron as I go and tossing it on an empty serving cart by the door. I’ll get it on my way back inside. Right now, I need to feel the wind blowing through my chiffon skirt. I need fresh air after being stuck in a hot kitchen all afternoon.

  “With Happy and Happier, the love zombies,” I grumble beneath my breath, and immediately feel guilty about it.

  This isn’t like me.

  I love my sisters and I love love. The fact that my sisters have both found the love they deserve should be wonderfully, inspirationally romantic. I should be twirling through the kitchen, high on happiness right along with them.

  But I’m not.

  I’m sour and cranky and don’t even know why.

  Yes, I’ve been on a roll with the bad dates, lately. Yes, I’ve been feeling lonely and sad and like something important is missing from my life, but that’s no excuse for being a buzz-killing grump.

  I’m better than this, and from now on I’m going to act like it.

  I vow to apologize to Aria and Lark when I get back to the kitchen, and immediately my heart rests easier in my chest. I pick up my pace, a spring coming into my step as I head up to the large Sunset Ranch staff parking lot.

  Lark hired two extra waiters for the wedding today—a gala affair with nearly five hundred guests—which takes some of the stress off the three of us. I won’t have to serve so I’ll be able to focus on food prep and then helping Aria bring out the desserts after the final course.

  All twelve of them. This bride’s mother has a sweet tooth and the cash to afford a decadent spread. The dessert table is going to be a showstopper, and Aria promised to make extra dark-chocolate-covered strawberries so we can gorge on them when the wedding is over.

  That’s what I’ll focus on today. Sugar trumps boys and Aria’s desserts never disappoint.

  Dreaming of berries covered in chilled chocolate brings a smile to my face as I join the group of regulars gathered in the shade of the Ever After van. Natalie, Mitch, Manny, George, and Sadie-Lynn are already suited up and a woman with dark brown skin and super cute braids, who I’m guessing is one of our temporary hires, is tying on her apron.

  But there’s no sign of any other newbies around, though I’m not sure exactly who I’m looking for.

  Lark interviewed applicants yesterday, while I was in Atlanta taking a French Sauces class before heading out on my disastrous date with Chad, the cheapskate. I only know we’re expecting one new guy and one new girl.

  I greet Braids—Lucinda—and tell her to reach out if she has any questions at all, then scope out a good place to take pictures. The staff parking lot is on a hill above the venue with a great view of the garden and faux Greek ruins. Aria thinks the fake, crumbling pillars look cheesy in the middle of the Georgia countryside, but I think they’re lovely.

  But then, I’m easy when it comes to lovely. I enjoy pretty things too much to care if they’re classy or locale appropriate.

  I take a dozen or so shots of the venue, then snap a few of Mitch making hideous faces that I’m sure Felicity will find hysterical the next time we’re flipping through my phone together. Then I check my email and post an update on social media with the appropriate wedding-catering-friendly hashtags, but fifteen minutes later, there’s still no sign of the other new hire.

  “Maybe I should run home and grab my uniform,” I say, nibbling my lip as I cast another worried glance at the time on my phone.

  “It’s cool, the six of us can handle it.” Mitch puts an arm around my shoulders, treating me to a whiff of his onion-y pit.

  “No, I can suit up and help out. I don’t want y’all to be slammed, and it’s Lucinda’s first day.” I fight the urge to wrinkle my nose and discreetly begin to breathe through my mouth. I can’t believe I ever thought Mitch was cute. Even for a minute. His body odor is seriously out of control.

  I make a mental note to convince Lark to have a talk with Mitch about his deodorant choices. I know he’s a hard-core, save the planet, don’t put poison on your body or in the earth kind of guy, and I love him for it, but surely something can be done. There has to be deodorant on the market that’s friendly to Mother Earth and other peoples’ noses.

  I’m about to head inside to tell Lark I need to run home to grab my server uniform, when a mechanical roar rumbles through the air from the bottom of the hill. The ungodly noise has all seven of us turning in unison to watch a decrepit MG Midget in desperate need of a muffler rattle up the hill.

  It stop-starts its way to the parking area, sputtering and coughing and threatening to die several times before finally shuddering to a stop beside Lucinda’s VW bug. A moment later, a boy with dark brown hair spiked up all over his head like an angry hedgehog emerges from the driver’s side and starts toward us.

  The sun catches him from behind, accentuating his wide shoulders, narrow hips, and long legs. I’m instantly struck by how cute he is.

  No, not cute…dangerously good looking, with full lips a girl can’t help but stare at and enough swagger for five Mick Jaggers.

  “Oh my, who is that luscious little dumpling?” Manny asks beneath his breath.

  “I’m assuming he’s the new guy.” I frown.

  New guy is admittedly easy on the eyes, but he’s fifteen minutes late and the cocky expression on his face practically oozes defiance. He’
s the poster child for Does Not Play Well With Others and a far cry from Lark’s usual, grounded, easy-going hires.

  What in the world was she thinking with this guy?

  “Hey.” New guy jerks his chin at us by way of greeting. “Nick.”

  “You’re late, Nick,” I say, sliding out from under Mitch’s arm.

  Nick shrugs, his eyes skimming over me to take in the rest of the staff. “Looks like we’re all still standing around to me.”

  My frown digs deeper into my forehead. “We’re still standing around because we were waiting for you.”

  “Oh, well…” He grins, and something about his smile makes me feel like a cat that’s been stroked the wrong way. “I’m sure we’ll still have plenty of time to wait on rich people today. Don’t stress, Blondie.”

  “Dude, Melody is, like, our boss,” Mitch says in a whisper that’s ridiculous considering I’m standing right next to him. “Or, like, the sister of our boss, which is almost like our boss.”

  Nick’s eyes return to me, flicking up and down with a bit more interest, his attention arousing a strange mixture of nerves and awareness that only serves to irritate me even further.

  I’m attractive, but I’m not the type of girl boys like this pay attention to. I’m wholesome and sweet looking, the girl most likely to be mistaken for a kindergarten teacher. Bad boys are as repelled by me as they are infatuated by tattoos, of which this guy has several if the ink peeking from beneath the sleeves of his white tee-shirt are anything to judge by.

  “So, you’re the one who married Nash,” he says with a huff, his eyebrows arching in surprise. “Never took him for a cradle robber, but…whatever works for you two.”

  “That’s my other sister,” I say through gritted teeth. “And I’m twenty-two. That’s hardly fresh out of my cradle.”

  “Sorry again, my mistake, Blondie,” he says with a mocking smile that makes me see red.

  Crimson red, the color of blood, with bombs shaped like Nick’s smug, spiky head exploding inside of it.

  “You’re fired,” I snap, the words out of my mouth before I realize I plan to say them.

  Before I remember that I don’t technically have the power to hire or fire anyone. Lark owns the business. But Lark was my sister long before she was my boss, and she would never tolerate a jerk talking to me like a dumb, fluffy, baby bunny.

  “What?” Nick’s green eyes lose the crinkle at their edges, but his smile remains firmly in place.

  “I said, you’re fired,” I repeat, standing up straighter. “So, you can leave. Now.”

  “I thought you needed the help,” he says, still smiling.

  Argh! Why is he still smiling? It makes me want to punch him right in his shiny, white teeth, an urge that’s so unfamiliar it makes my head spin, and my words breathy when I say, “Please. Leave. We won’t be needing your help today.”

  Or any other day, if I have anything to say about it, I think.

  “All right. Fine with me.” Nick shrugs, and his grin finally fades a watt or two. “Tell Lark I’m sorry I was late. I had car trouble. And tell your other sister I’ll see her at dinner later this week. Hopefully we’ll hit it off better than we did, huh? Since I guess she’s family now.”

  I cross my arms, keeping my frown firmly in place as Nick strides back to his car, looking like the hero of an angsty teen movie in his black jeans, tight white tee, and carefully mussed hair. I’m so angry with him, for reasons that continue to elude me, that Nick is in his car, pulling down the hill before I realize the full significance of what I’ve done.

  I’ve fired Aria’s brother-in-law.

  Who is maybe, sort of my brother-in-law, too?

  “Is he my brother-in-law if he’s Aria’s?” I squeak, turning back to the rest of the staff, panic rising inside of me.

  Natalie shrugs. “I don’t know, but firing him doesn’t seem like a good move, considering how often you’ll probably end up running into each other.”

  I bite my lip, my stomach clenching tight.

  Mitch shrugs. “Whatever. He was a douche, anyway.”

  “I don’t know,” Natalie says, casting an uncertain look my way. “Maybe you were a little hard on him, Mel.”

  “For sure. That wasn’t like you. You’re the sweet one, sugar,” Manny agrees with affection that makes his words even harder to take.

  Was I too hard on Nick?

  I have been in a terrible mood all day. Did I allow that to spill over onto some unsuspecting stranger?

  If so, it would be bad under normal circumstances, but with Nick being Aria’s family, it’s flat out awful.

  “Can I have your keys, Manny?” I ask, holding out a hand. “If I leave right now, maybe I can catch him.”

  “Here, take mine.” Lucinda offers the keys to the bug.

  “Thank you so much,” I say, making a run for her car, my heart slamming against my ribs, praying I’ll get to Nick in time to make this better.

  A few minutes later, I’m down the hill, closing in on the MG as it sputters to a halt at the stop sign marking the turn back to the main road, and dies.

  “Thank God,” I breathe, my chest loosening as I watch Nick get out and kick the tire. I’m going to be able to fix this, and everything will be fine.

  As I pull in behind him, Nick glances up, the surprise in his eyes hardening into an unreadable expression when I swing out of the car.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, closing the distance between us, determined to undo my mistake. “I was being a jerk. I didn’t realize you were Aria’s brother-in-law.”

  He shrugs, but his expression doesn’t change. “That’s all right.”

  “No, it’s not all right,” I say. “I’m not usually like that. I’m just…having a bad day. But that isn’t your fault and I’m really sorry. Can you forgive me?”

  Nick holds my gaze and, after a beat, his face softens.

  Shockingly, he looks even hotter without the attitude.

  “Me, too. A bad month, actually.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Sorry I was an asshole.” He grins, but this time it doesn’t make me want to punch him in the teeth.

  It makes me want to smile back.

  So, I do, beaming up at him like a flower getting her first dose of sunlight as Nick says, “Since you’re not my boss anymore, is it okay to say you’ve got a really pretty smile?”

  Oh boy.

  This is trouble.

  Big trouble, and all the more reason to get him back as an employee—and off limits as a potential flirting partner—immediately. There are other reasons I’ve always secretly been glad I repulse bad boys, namely that they intimidate the heck out of me.

  I would have no idea what to do with a guy like Nick if I captured his attention, so best not to try.

  “I was actually hoping you’d agree to come back and work the event,” I say. “And maybe we can…start over?”

  “So, I’m un-fired?”

  “You’re un-fired.”

  “Then forget what I said about the smile,” he says with a wink.

  “I’d rather not,” I hear myself say, surprising myself for the second time in less than fifteen minutes. There’s something about this guy that brings out the unexpected in me, which is also dangerous.

  I don’t like unexpected things. Especially when they’re coming out of my own mouth.

  Nick shifts closer, sending the soap, gasoline, and smoky campfire scent of him wafting my way. “What would your boyfriend think about that?” he asks in a husky voice that makes the hair at the back of my neck prickle.

  “I don’t have a boyfriend,” I murmur, sounding drunk even though I haven’t touched anything harder than a wine cooler in months.

  “Strange.” He cocks his head, considering me through narrowed eyes.

  “What’s strange about it?”

  “Girls like you always have boyfriends.”

  “How do you know what kind of girl I am?” I ask, standing my ground when he moves even closer, until only a
few inches separate us and I can feel the warmth of his body against mine. “We met ten minutes ago.”

  “You’re a sweet, loyal, do-gooder type,” Nick says, his grin never wavering. “You never miss church on Sundays, make time to visit all your elderly relatives and listen to boring stories you’ve heard a million times, and you wouldn’t say shit if you had a mouth full of it. At least not in front of strangers. You’re fun, but not too fun, and always in bed before midnight. You work hard, strive for excellence, and have high standards. Sometimes, it pisses you off when others don’t, but at the end of the day you try to be kind above all else. And that’s why you followed me to hire me back.”

  I frown, displeased by the accuracy of his description.

  Am I that boring and easy to read?

  “Sounds like you’ve got me all figured out,” I huff.

  He makes a noncommittal humming noise. “Maybe. But there’s one thing I can’t pin down.”

  “What’s that?” I ask, watching breathlessly as his lips move closer to mine

  “Why you’re flirting with me,” he murmurs. “And why you’re going to let me kiss you.”

  So, he thinks he’s going to kiss me, does he? the rogue voice in my head muses.

  A beat later, before I’ve made any rational decision to make a move, I’m cupping Nick’s handsome face in my hands and pushing up on tiptoe to press my lips to his.

  Our mouths meet with an intensity that sends a surge of delight rolling across my skin. Lips give way to tongues and before I can rethink the wisdom of pouncing a bad boy, Nick’s fingers are digging into my hips and I’m clinging to his shoulders as he presses me up against his car.

  He kisses me like I’ve always wanted to be kissed, like he can’t get enough of my mouth, like he’s starving and I’m the only item on the menu.

  No, like there are lots of other things on the menu, but I’m the only one he wants. I am the sole focus of his lips, his hands, his…