The waiter came in carrying menus. "Would you like to see the menus, Mr. Strong or do you know what you would like to order? We do have some off menu items we can offer."
Off menu items? Was that a thing too?
Hunter looked at me from across the table. “Do you like scallops?”
"Sure." I knew I had scallops before, but being a poor starving artist, it wasn't a regular on my meal plan. I was more of a noodles an
d tomato sauce or Ramen girl.
He ordered something that sounded French and then he turned back to me. "I think you will find this has all the flavors and textures that you require in a meal."
I smirked at him, even though inside I felt like a total bitch for the way I'd attacked him earlier. But of course, my inner bitch wasn't going to be kept down. "Well, if that turns out not to be true, I know of a great taco truck up the street."
"There's a time and place for great taco from a taco truck. This isn't it."
"Are we going to do this all night or are you just going to come out and tell me why it is I'm here?"
He gave a curt nod. "All right, let me cut to the chase. We want to offer you the lead artist job at Strong Incorporated."
My jaw dropped open. "After my interview, I can't believe you didn't set my resume on fire."
His fingers played with the stem of his wine glass. "Who says I didn't?"
"Then how did you get my number?"
He shrugged. I then realized that he didn't want to be here anymore that I did. Just like the interview, we were both here because his brother and my sister put us up to it.
"You and I don't get along. I don't see this working, no matter how much Ryan and Kelly wanted,” I said, figuring I’d work to get us both out of this jam.
"Are you saying you don't think you could do the job?" I knew he was taunting me. He was poking at my ego, or maybe my lack of confidence.
"I know that in theory I can do the job, but I can't produce drivel."
His jaw tightened as he turned to look out the window over the restaurant. Inwardly I kicked myself for being a bitch again. Why did my inner mean girl come out around him all the time?
Finally, he turned back to me, his expression unreadable. "Are you going to take the job or not?"
I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what his game was. Why was he going along with Ryan and Kellie on this?
"We can't even get through dinner without sniping at each other, how is it that we would work together?"
He leaned forward resting his forearms on the table as he stared at me intently. "Let me sweeten the deal for you a little bit. I can arrange for a solo showing of your artwork at a local gallery, if you'll accept a six month trial position."
This time I didn't just gape, my jaw dropped to the floor.
"Assuming neither of us kills each other, at the end of it, we can walk away and tell Ryan and Kellie that we tried."
Of course, I'd have to accept this. I'd crawl over broken glass to get a showing at a gallery. I'd been trying for years, but was never able to get in.
Still, I was surprised he was making the offer. Granted, I was sure Ryan and Kellie put him up to it. Somehow, they talked him into it.
"What's in it for you?" I asked.
"What do you care as long as you get what you want?" he answered.
He had a point. I didn't really care. Still, I was curious. " I just want to make sure that we’re fair and square here."
His lips twitched upward into a half smile, and holy moly it made him incredibly handsome. I wondered what he’d look like if he had a full smile.