“I know that too.”
“Then why—”
“I’ll pay you triple,” I said, cutting in without raising my voice. “And I don’t want your employees or the florist across town. I want you.”
The shop went quiet enough that I could hear the hum of the cooler in the back.
Juliet’s eyes flashed not with interest, but with something sharper. “I don’t sell myself,” she said.
I nodded once. “Good.”
That stopped her cold.
“I’m not buying flowers,” I continued. “I’m buying trust.”
She stared at me like she was trying to decide if that was worse.
“I need your eye,” I said. “Your hands. Your accountability. If something goes wrong, I want it to be because we misjudged, not because it was passed off to someone who didn’t care as much.”
Her jaw worked. “You don’t know how much my employees care.”
“I can tell how much you do.”
That was the truth of it. This place mattered to her. That mattered to me.
“You’re asking me to only work with you and step into your world,” she said quietly.
“I am.”
“And you’re throwing money at it.”
“I’d like to think of it more as respecting your time.”
She shook her head. “Men like you always think—”
“Don’t,” I said, not sharp but firm. “Don’t tell me what kind of man I am.”
Her breath caught. I saw it and didn’t push.
I straightened, taking a step back, giving her the space she clearly needed. I grabbed a pen off the counter and scribbled my number on it. “Think about it. If the answer’s no, it’s no.” I paused, then added the part she needed to hear. “No pressure.”
She didn’t respond. Just watched me like she was seeing me clearly for the first time.
I turned and walked out, the bell chiming behind me.
I didn’t look back.
Because I already knew.
Chapter Three
Juliet
Jenna waited exactly twelve seconds after the bell chimed behind him before she exploded. “TRIPLE,” she stage-whispered, hands flying into the air like she was praising some unholy deity. “Juliet. He said triple again. It wasn’t a fluke the last time. Do you understand what that means?”
“I understand math,” I said, turning back to the roses I’d been pretending to arrange since Asher Jake walked out of my shop for the second time. “I also understand calendars. I’m booked.”
Jackie leaned against the counter, arms crossed, eyes narrowed in thought. “He wasn’t wrong, though.”