And that was when I realized he was still watching me.
“So, if you’re not related…” I thought about how best to phrase it without sounding utterly rude and gave up. “What are you doing on his property?”
The man cocked his head and narrowed his eyes on me, and a flutter of something unexpected rattled through me like a maraca.
I didn’t want to be shallow.
I wouldn’t just judge on looks.
But dang it.
The man was easy on the eyes.
“That’s personal between Mr. Medowski and me.” He looked far more amused with his answer than I was.
My brows pinched together in annoyance. I was known for making situations awkward, but this guy was downright rude.
“He likes to be called Vern.” I shook my head, shoving my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “You must be here on business.”
“Not at liberty to discuss.” He turned toward his truck, but little did he know I wasn’t a woman who took no for an answer.
“Are you from the bank?” I tried again.
The one thing I knew about this town was if Vern were in trouble, we’d certainly come together to help in any way we could.
“A realtor?” I offered.
The man turned around, and his sharp gaze focused on me. “As I said, I’m not at liberty to discuss details about Mr. Medowski.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned. “That’s okay. I’ll find out one way or another.”
His gaze flew over my shoulder as Liddie walked up behind me. She nestled her head on my shoulder as I watched the impossibly attractive man with his barely used boots walk back toward his truck.
Liddie had the right idea. Men were more trouble than they were worth.
The guy opened the door and turned back to look at me. “I’ll let you get back to your sheep, farm girl.”
My eyes widened. “My sheep? Liddie is a llama. How in the heck can you not know that?”
The man laughed and shook his head. “I’m not really a country boy.”
“That’s an understatement,” I muttered to Liddie.
“Pardon?” The man cocked his head and stopped short of getting into his truck.
“I just meant you didn’t have to tell me you weren’t from this area.” I cocked my head back and raised my left brow in a challenge.
His eyes narrowed on me, but he didn’t say anything. It almost looked like he got a kick out of this.
“Who knew we needed labels for our rescue animals?” I rolled my eyes. “Kindergarteners know their animals better than you do.”
That had to have stung. Score one for Violet.
My heart pumped a little faster, but I wasn’t sure if it was from how he looked at me or the feistiness roaring up from deep inside.
The man’s green eyes flicked to mine with a spark of something playful threatening to crack his salty demeanor. “Are you always this friendly to strangers?”
“Are you always this rude to locals?” I pursed my lips together to make things clear where I stood.