“I’m light-footed.” Roman’s eyes glinted, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. She could almost always get a read on people, just not him. “I have to admit, I was surprised to hear you offering him a job.”
“Yeah, well.” Frankie cringed. “It just kind of happened. I didn’t want to discourage him, and he needs help.”
“Got it in just under the wire, didn’t you? Not much I can do about it without looking like the bad guy. Seeing as I won’t officially be chief until Monday.”
Frankie swallowed hard. “Didn’t exactly cross my mind. At first. Sir.”
Roman smirked. “And here I thought the diner this morning would be my trial by fire. I suppose I should thank you for not calling ahead and outing me the second I walked in the door.”
“Did you not have a good breakfast?” She tilted her head, blinked innocently.
“I had a wonderful breakfast, actually. These are for you.” He placed a white paper bag on the desk. “Pumpkin scones. Consider it a peace offering.”
Frankie scowled. Darn it! How was she supposed to loathe the man when he kept being so darned...nice.
“Mrs. Hastings says hello,” he said. “As does...what did she call them? The Cocoon Club? Along with half the town it seems.”
“Mrs. Hastings, huh? Now she’s a tough one.”
“Turns out she eats there every Thursday morning without fail. And she had quite a bit to say about you.”
She would not blush. “I’m innocent until proven guilty.”
“Not from what I hear. Look.” Roman sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “I get that you don’t want to make this easy on me, and truth be told, in your place, I’d probably be thinking about doing worse to someone who took the job I’d been working so long to get.”
Grudging appreciation slipped through her veins along with a good chunk of frustration. Didn’t anything irk him?
“Nothing is going to change the fact that I’m here,” he went on. “Or that I’m going to be here for a while. We need to find a way to work together, Frankie. And that means, first and foremost, we need to get this initial resentment behind us.”
Seeing him perched on the chief’s desk wasn’t going to speed up that process.
“And you hiring people behind my back isn’t going to go far in a truce.”
“I didn’t do it as a shot across the bow,” Frankie told him. Still, she loved her job, and for now, she wasn’t going anywhere. Which meant she needed to get on board with the chain of command. No matter how disappointed and disillusioned she was, her obligation to the town overrode any personal or professional setbacks she was meant to endure. “I did it because it needed to be done. You don’t know Jasper. You don’t know what he’s been through or what he’s overcome.”
“That’s true. I don’t. I don’t know anything about this town except what I’ve seen so far. That said, the respectful thing would have been for you to come to me first before making the offer to Jasper. I probably wouldn’t have said no, but you took the choice away from me. And that I don’t appreciate.”
“So you’re, what?” She really hated that he was right. “Going to say no now and place the blame on me?”
His relaxed face tensed, and for the first time, ice flashed in his eyes. “Snotty doesn’t work with me, Frankie.”
Her mouth twisted. Yeah. It didn’t work with her, either.
“You and I need to come to an understanding. You need me to sign off on Jasper’s employment as a probie.”
She gnashed her teeth. “Yes.”
“And I need you here, focused on the job. Not trying to find the best place to stab me in the back. I learned one important thing at the diner—I can’t do this job without you. So, here’s what we’re going to do.”
Panic seized her throat. Was he going to fire her?
“I’ll sign off on everything you want for Jasper. I’ll even go to the mayor and have a discussion about the budget and our need for more firefighters. I’ll lend my expertise in helping Jasper study and take over if you can’t do something. We’ll tag team and get him solidly into the program.”
“That’s...generous of you.” Not to mention unexpected. “And what exactly do you want in exchange?”
“Nothing.” A sly smile slipped across his full, amazing lips.
She tilted her head and arched a brow.
His smile widened. “Nothing yet. I’ll do it on credit.”
She smirked. “Thought so.” But he’d caught her interest. He wasn’t steamrolling over her. He could have, but for whatever reason, he’d chosen not to. And that she had to respect. And appreciate. “Okay. You work out a deal with Gil about Jasper and I’ll ease up. A little.” She didn’t want him to think she was a pushover.