CHAPTER 3 – CITY GIRL VS COUNTRY MAN

CHAPTER 3 – CITY GIRL VS COUNTRY MAN

“I’ll give you a three-month trial. You don’t have to pay me!”

The entire warehouse suddenly fell silent. Even the fine wood dust seemed to hang in the air. Liam and Chatrine stared at each other sharply, like enemies forced to face one another.

“Tell me honestly, what do you really want?” Liam narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like jokes or drama. I still have much more important work to do.”

Chatrine straightened her posture and lifted her chin with elegance, even though inside she felt like she might faint from her racing heart and the dust.

“I truly want to work at your gallery,” she replied lightly, a faint smile forming on her lips. “I’ll prove it in three months, and you’ll thank me for the growth of your business.”

Chatrine Madison still held tightly to her professional pride. If she had been honest about her real intentions at that moment, things might have taken a very different turn.

Liam stared at her for a long moment. Then he sighed, turned away, grabbed a bottle of water from the table, and drank without paying her any more attention.

“I don’t have a place for you to stay. Just leave.”

“I can live anywhere!” Chatrine cut in quickly, her chin still raised with stubborn pride.

Liam set down the cutting machine and looked her up and down. A faint, mocking smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

“And you’re still wearing high heels on a workshop floor. If you fall, don’t expect me to help you.”

Chatrine held herself back from reacting to his condescending tone.

“I’ve traveled the world in high heels,” she shot back, then glanced at Liam’s damp, wrinkled gray shirt. “Wherever you are, you should still look presentable.”

Liam let out a short chuckle. Then he stepped closer, flicking a long wooden board and sending sawdust into the air. The particles immediately clung to Chatrine’s hair and expensive clothes.

“Hey!” Chatrine cried, panicking as she brushed at her hair and outfit. “Oh my God, this is Prada! Do you even know how much it costs?!”

“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Liam replied, his eyes glinting with irritation.

Chatrine blinked, then huffed. Somehow, he had once again made her feel foolish. At the same time, her heart was pounding too fast to ignore. She knew she had taken a reckless risk by coming all the way to Canterbury.

“I’ll wait until you finish working!” Chatrine declared, refusing to back down. “I’ll go home with you!”

Liam paused and looked at her with one eyebrow raised.

“I’m serious! There are no apartments like in New York here, no five-star hotels.”

“Stop underestimating me just because your skill is limited to cutting wood!”

That remark began to irritate Liam.

“Don’t act like you’re the only capable one just because you’ve spent your whole life in a small town!” Chatrine snapped.

Even so, her eyes kept following his every movement. The way his hands gripped the wood, turned on the machine, and tightened as his muscles tensed.

Then everything stopped. The machine fell silent.

Chatrine knew this would not end well.

Liam was angry.

The silence was overwhelming. She could hear her own heartbeat louder than the machine that had just stopped. Liam stood a few meters away, saying nothing, but his gaze was sharp, as if weighing whether Chatrine was truly insane or simply terrible at jokes.

Three seconds passed.

Five seconds.

Eight seconds.

The silence felt more intense than her first job interview on Wall Street.

Then Liam moved.

He set the wooden board aside, brushed the dust from his hands, and stepped closer. Each step echoed against the concrete floor, making Chatrine’s heart jump like popcorn in a microwave.

He came closer. Really close. Chatrine told herself not to panic. She was not a teenager. She was a grown woman.

“Don’t try to intimidate me!” Chatrine clutched her bag to her chest like a fragile shield.

Liam stopped only half a meter away, close enough for the scent of wood and sweat to overpower her expensive perfume.

“I don’t know what’s crazier,” Liam said in a low voice, almost a whisper, “you coming here for files that don’t even exist, or you actually wanting to work in this warehouse.”

Chatrine lifted her chin, though her neck felt stiff. “I’m serious. Don’t underestimate me.”

Liam leaned in slightly closer, leaving only a small space between them.

His gaze was intense, sending a shiver down her spine while making her stomach twist with nervous energy.

“You do realize,” Liam murmured calmly, “there are no air-conditioned meeting rooms here, no imported leather chairs, no glass elevators with city views. Just dust. Just wood. Just me.”

His last words caught her breath.

Why did those words sound both dangerous and strangely thrilling?

“I know,” Chatrine replied softly, her eyes burning with determination. “I calculated everything before I came here.”

Silence fell again.

Liam stared at her for a long moment. So long that Chatrine nearly wanted to scream for him to do something instead of just looking at her.

But Liam stepped back, exhaled, and grabbed the water bottle again. He drank without a word, as if trying to cool something inside him.

Meanwhile, Chatrine stood there, her chest rising and falling as she tried to steady her breathing.

Damn.

Even when he rejected her, ignored her, or mocked her, this man still managed to pull her in deeper.

Liam tightened his grip on the bottle, drinking more than necessary. Then he closed it and pretended to focus on marking a long plank with a carpenter’s pencil.

“If you’re here just to disrupt my work, the door is still open, miss,” he said flatly.

“I won’t disturb you. I’ll sit here and wait until you’re done!” Chatrine replied stubbornly.

And she did. She sat down on a cut wooden beam, no longer caring about her expensive clothes getting dirty.

“You have to let me work here!”

In truth, if Liam’s gallery had someone like Chatrine handling marketing, it could quickly grow into a well-known business. She had connections, strong networking skills, and sharp negotiation abilities.

The problem was simple. Not many men could stay focused working in a hot, dusty warehouse with someone like Chatrine around.

Beautiful, but undeniably bossy.