Page 5 of Resisting Mr Black

He glances over his shoulder, then turns back to me with a smile. “That car?”

Irritation fires in my gut. He might be good-looking, but he’s coming across as a cheeky git.

I glance at my watch impatiently. The photographer will be out the front in one minute with a wedding party of fifty guests waiting. I haven’t got time for this. I’m here to do my job, and he’s getting in the way.

I force a smile and play the game. “Yes, sir. The car you arrived in less than two minutes ago.”

His smile disappears at my patronising tone. “I don’t understand. I presumed that’s the car park.” He looks from me to Lucy then to me again. “Well, is it, or isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is usually, but today we have a wedding and there are signs out front which say no parking.”

“I didn’t see any signs.”

I’m bringing him down a peg. I can’t help myself. “Given that you carelessly careered down the drive at a ridiculous speed, I’m not in the least bit surprised, sir.”

I stress the word “sir” again and fold my arms. He assesses my reaction and copies my body language, crossing his arms over his chest, causing his biceps to bulge.

“Carelessly careered. So that’s what you think of my driving style?” The glint of amusement is back in those brown eyes, and he appears to find my response funny, yet again, and seems to be waiting for me to take the next shot.

“There’s also a very large sign outside the front, right next to where you dumped your car. Are you telling me you didn’t see it?”

He juts out his bottom jaw and shakes his head. “Nope.”

I don’t believe him. He’s seen it alright and chosen to ignore it because he obviously thinks he can do whatever he bloody well likes and clearly has no regard for anything. So, he’s extremely attractive but extremely arrogant to go with it. Almost perfect.

“Then I suggest, sir needs to have his eyes tested because you’d have to be blind to miss it.”

“You’ve managed to insult me twice in the past sixty seconds. That’s quite an achievement.” He cocks an eyebrow but his mouth twitches into a smile, telling me he’s not as pissed off about it as he’s making out.

In fact, I get the distinct impression he’s quite enjoying sparring me.

I’m never usually this rude with guests, but there’s something about this guy’s cockiness that’s pushing my buttons. Both the good and the bad type.

“When we have weddings cars aren’t allowed to park outside the front of the building—”

“In the actual car park.”

He’s baiting me and I refuse to rise to it.

“In exactly thirty seconds, the wedding party will be having photos taken out there and I don’t think the bride and groom will want your fancy sports car in their photos,” I reply dryly.

“It’s an Aston Martin Vanquish.”

I presume he expects me to be impressed by the fact that he owns an eighty-grand car, but money and flash cars mean nothing to me. I shrug. “I don’t care. It’s in the way.”

The guy tilts his head to the left and smirks. The last thread of my patience snaps. I’m about to give him a piece of my mind when the photographer hurries through the front door.

“Goodness me,” he puffs, red-faced, clearly not enjoying the sunshine. “I need to take the shots out front and there’s a car that needs moving, quickly.”

I glare at Mr Arrogant. “Sorry, Harry. There’s been a bit of a hiccup. I need to go and get the assistant manager to remove the problem.”

“No need. Who needs the monkey when you’ve got the organ grinder?” the guy pipes up.

He strolls up to the photographer, takes his hand and shakes it.

“Allow me to introduce myself, Harry. I’m the new manager. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, I’ll get it moved immediately,” he replies politely.

I hear a gasp from Lucy.

---