Why?

Because some people just like a challenge.

I was rounding a trail in Central Park when my phone buzzed with an incoming call. I checked it, prepared to ignore Zoe again, but Julian’s name popped up instead.

“Julian, what’s up?” I asked, using the opportunity to catch my breath. I was only halfway done with my run, but I stretched my hamstring with my free hand, careful not to overextend the muscle.

“Hey man, are you back in town?” he asked.

“Landed last night.”

“Let me guess, you went straight to work, barely slept, and now you’re what—working out?”

I smirked. Julian and I had been friends since college. He knew my habits better than anyone. “Touché, jackass. What do you want?”

He laughed and then I heard a female voice in the background. Likely, he was with his girlfriend, Josephine.

“I’m over at Central Park taking pictures for Jo’s blog. You should come by. I think we’re going to head to breakfast after we get all the shots she needs.”

I couldn’t do breakfast, but I was already in Central Park. It wouldn’t hurt to stop by for a few minutes. I’d finish the other half of my run afterward.

“Where are you?”

“Lower east side, right by 72nd.”

I glanced up at the street sign. I was at 66th and Broadway, so if I cut straight over, I’d be there in no time.

“All right, see you in a sec.”

Central Park was packed with families and tourists trying to make the most of their Saturday morning. In a few hours, the park would almost be too hot to inhabit, but with the sun hidden behind townhouses to the east, the temperature was still cool. I slowed to a walk when I neared 72nd Street and scanned the park for Julian and Josephine. I rounded Rumsey Playfield, and then kept walking along the trail. I was just about to hit 5th Avenue when I heard laughter.

“Lily. Shut up! I can’t take serious pictures if you’re making jokes the whole time.”

“What am I supposed to do?! Your face looks weird! I said to look like a tiger, not a constipated house cat.”

I veered toward the voices and scanned the trail until I spotted them off to the side, nearly hidden in the trees. Josephine posed up on a rock with the forest as her backdrop. She was dressed to the nines for her fashion blog and an unfamiliar blonde was snapping photos of her a few feet away. Julian stood off to the side, probably trying to stay out of the line of fire.

“Try doing something like this,” the blonde said, angling her body into a pose I’d seen celebrity women do a thousand times. The effort revealed an inch of tantalizing skin between her jean shorts and her white shirt. The simple outfit and her matching pair of Converse reminded me of the girls back home in Iowa.

I took a step closer, paused my music, and wrapped my headphones around my neck. My movement caught Josephine’s attention; she grinned and hopped off the rock. “The titan of industry made it!”

“Hey Jo,” I said before throwing Julian a nod.

Her photographer was the last one to turn to greet me. She was tinkering with the camera, staring down at it so that her hair covered nearly half her face. I focused on the half I could see, that single high cheekbone and the pink lips that curved into a smile.

I took another step closer and she glanced up, lazily flicking her gaze up my workout shorts and tank. I recognized her a moment before she made the connection; when my identity finally sank in for her, a flame flared behind her bright eyes.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked.

Chapter Six

Lily

Dean Harper had some nerve. (And a seriously toned physique, if you were someone who paid attention to that kind of thing. I, of course, could not have cared less.) After he’d axed me the previous evening I’d known we were bound to have a run-in sometime. I just hadn’t really anticipated that it would happen the very next morning.

I was still licking my wounds for Christ’s sake.

I stepped closer and gripped Josephine’s camera with enough fury to turn it to dust. She took notice and gently pried it from my fingers before it became a casualty of the turf war that was about to ensue.

To his credit, Dean looked just as pissed as I did. His dark eyes scanned me up and down, seemingly disgusted to see me standing there. “You’re Lily?”

“Lily Noelle Black,” I sneered. “Don’t worry, I’m not offended—it must be so hard for you to keep track of all the people you’re an asshole to.”

Julian stepped into no-man’s land, holding his hands up between us. With his dark hair and chiseled features, he usually seemed intimidating, but in front of Dean, he couldn’t compare. They were about the same height, but Dean had more muscle—muscle he probably wanted to use to strangle me at that very moment. “Jesus. What is wrong with you two?” Julian asked. “What happened last night?”

I crossed my arms, cocked my hip, and flashed Dean an “I got you, bitch” sort of smirk. “Go ahead, tell them, Dean. For the second time in twelve hours, I yield the floor to you.”

Dean tugged his hands through his hair, confirming my suspicion about his habit. Then he pulled his gaze from mine and looked to Julian. For what, solace? Moral support? Yeah right, bucko.

“Lily had her first night at Provisions last night and she turned my bar into a Coyote Ugly knockoff.”

My eyes bulged out of my face. Literally. They had to have fallen out of my skull in response to the amount of bullshit he’d just spewed. I glanced at the ground, confirmed my eyeballs were not in fact lying there, and then stepped closer to Dean with my finger pointed right at his chest.

Julian straightened his arms out between us, prepared to keep us apart if it came down to it.

“I did not mess up your bar. I made you so much money it’s ridiculous!”

Dean’s eyes flared with anger. “You insulted my menu in front of the customers! You disrespected me and my staff—”

“Oh c’mon! That drink menu sucks and you know it! Bahama Mamas? How innovative.”

“Okay! Whoa.” Josephine stepped in, grabbed me by the upper arms, and cut off my view of Dean’s death stare. I focused on her and for the first time since Dean had arrived, I was able to take a calming breath.

“Lily. You need to cool it,” she said.

“And Dean,” Julian cut in. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

We both grunted in annoyance, so in sync that I would have laughed had I not despised him so much. Jo turned to Julian and they exchanged a worried glance.

“Why don’t we go to our separate corners for a bit,” Julian suggested.

Jo nodded. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”

I hated being patronized. Dean and I didn’t need mediators. He and I could work out our problems on our own, but Julian had already turned and directed Dean back to the trail. I watched his back, waiting for him to turn around and throw me one last death stare, but he never turned back and Josephine pulled me away before I could think to hurl one last obscenity his way.

I kicked up dirt on the path, still reeling from the skirmish. Josephine squeezed my shoulder as we walked toward 5th Avenue.

“Wow. So that was—”

I glanced up at her. “Horrific.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Colorful.”

“You should have seen the way he treated me last night.”

She rolled her lips together and slid her green gaze my way. “Well, I can guess that it wasn’t very good.”

“He pretended to be a shitty customer and then fired me on the spot. Right in front of the other bartenders.”

She stopped dead in her tracks. “Seriously?”

I nodded.

“Do you want to go back? I’ll hold him down and let you kick his shins.”