He laughed softly. “You’re not painting me with the best brush. Did I not make a good impression of you last night?”
She snorted. “You’re joking, right? You were parked in a super dangerous spot in the middle of a dark and secluded road, trying to get a signal on your phone. You couldn’t have been more citified if you tried.”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “I get it. You don’t like me ’cause I’m city.”
“What? No. Not just that.”
“What else?”
“I don’t like people who come into town and think they can just fit in.”
“I never said I could fit in. I am trying, though.”
“Why are you even here? Your brother didn’t seem to know you were coming. He was surprised to see you. Who just drops in like that?”
He shrugged. “He had no clue I was coming to see him. I just had to leave where I was.”
Her brows flew into her hairline. “Are you telling me you ran away from your problems in the big city to come here?”
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
“That’s not a good look on anyone,” she pointed out.
“No, maybe not. But it’s what brought my brother here. He was supposed to be here for a few weeks, but the next thing I knew, he was the Sheriff.”
Lila shook her head. “What? No. Sorry to tell you this, Mason, but your brother lied to you. He came here because he was hired by Mrs. Francis and a few of the elders before he even moved here. He took the job sight unseen.”
Cohen had lied to him? Then his big brother was more broken than Mason had originally thought.
“Huh. Go figure.” He shrugged. “Guess that makes sense. My brother had his heart torn apart in a pretty epic way. That’s why he’s here.”
Lila shook her head and waved her hands across her ears. “La-la-la. Shh! Don’t tell me stuff like that. I don’t need to know the Sheriff’s personal life.”
Mason laughed again. “I’m sure he’s told a few people.”
She turned, giving him a shocked look. “Are you serious? You’ve met your brother, right?”
“Oh, fine. There’s not a chance in hell my brother told anyone anything about his life. I guess you have that in common with him. I’ve been working for you for almost a full day, and I don’t know anything about you.”
“And you won’t,” she assured him.
He pursed his lips. “Why not? It would be such great team building for us to get to know each other.”
“I’m your boss, and you’re my employee. That’s a line we shouldn’t cross, especially given this is all very temporary. You’ll be gone before you know it.”
“Come on, Lila,” he sang, ignoring the jab in his chest at the thought of leaving Lila behind. “Tell me something I couldn’t squeeze out of Bobbie.”
“Don’t you dare try to get info out of her,” she warned. She was trying to be menacing, but she only ended up looking adorable as hell.
“Why can’t I ask Bobbie for some intel on you?”
“Just don’t.”
“I have a feeling she would tell me everything I wanna know about you if I found the right way to ask her.”
“Precisely why I don’t want you talking to her too much.”
He chuckled. “I’m not so bad.”