“Cade would have.”
“Cade’s had his head in a computer since he was born. I was fighting for our country. Want to weigh the two?”
“Not really. Considering my brother can start a war in 2.5 seconds on a computer, there’s not much to weigh,” Bastian shot back.
Dante laughed, so easy in his confidence even when it was being threatened. “You’re right. That guy is chaos waiting to erupt.”
“Tell me about it,” Bastian grumbled.
Dante’s green eyes cut to me again, and he lifted his shake with a smirk. “Guess we’re going to be getting to know each other much better Ms. Bailey. We can start with what you put in this shake. Is that lavender, citrus, and chia seeds?”
I heard the passion in his voice and saw the blatant disregard he had for his boss when he had a question about said passion. Bastian scowled behind him.
“You’re right,” I said. “I hide a lot of good stuff in there. I’m hoping you get an energy boost from the citrus but that the lavender keeps you calm.”
“Oh, I already know I will. Tastes like the right mix,” he mumbled. “I’ll be back for more for sure.”
I laughed at the way he vigorously nodded at his drink. I loved seeing people happy with something I created.
Bastian tapped his friend on the shoulder and Dante immediately stepped aside as he nodded to me and walked off toward the car. Good, they were going. Hopefully only Dante would come back while they were in town.
Once he was out of ear shot though, Bastian dashed my hopes. “You know something about this town and I have business in it, Morina.”
“Well, it’s a small town. Everybody knows something. Ask anyone.”
“I want to ask you though. I have business with your grandmother. You seem to have figured out a little trick and I need to understand why.”
“What do you do, Mister…? Armanelli was it?” I waited for him to confirm.
“You know you can call me Bastian.”
“Sure it can’t be daddy anymore?” I couldn’t hold back. If he was going to throw little girl in my face, I was going to bite back. I turned and grabbed the large pitcher to take it to the sink.
“Oh, it still can,piccola ragazza,” he growled low enough that I almost didn’t hear.
My body reacted immediately. Jesus. He jumped from gentleman to just man so fast. I knew he was dangerous and into something questionable now more than ever. Still I was stupid enough to find him attractive.
I flipped my hair over my shoulder and glared at him. “No thanks. I’ll go with Bastian.”
We stared one another down. Maybe this would be the farewell battle, the one where he left me alone after.
Instead, he asked, “Care to share why you’re so defensive?”
“I don’t like you insinuating I’ve done something shady with my food truck. I’ve been here for years. My family ran this truck, and it’s been a staple of the area. There’s nothing odd about it.”
“Except that you’re the only one.”
“We don’t make much money. Maybe people just decided they wanted to make more in an actual building. The beach isn’t for everyone.”
He hummed low like my explanation didn’t make much sense. It did to me because that’s what had happened. I made just enough to get by because there wasn’t much overhead. I’d inherited the thing. We kept with tradition and this was part of it. Might have not been the smartest idea, but it didn’t matter.
“I have to clean up and get ready for the day.”
“Hmmm. Finally getting into work attire?” His gaze drifted behind me to where most of my clothes were together with a lot of other knick knacks.
Suddenly, I felt the urge to clean and that infuriated me. I couldn’t control my eyebrows slamming down. “If you think your smoothie is contaminated, I’m happy to take it back.”
As I reached for it, he backed up immediately. Ah, he liked it just as much as Dante had. “I’m keeping the smoothie.”