AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Spare me the big Disney speech. Just spit it out.” I clutched the steering wheel in a death grip. “Use as few words as possible.”
“So I finally found out why everyone hates you. Suzanne, who owns the spa down the street, was one of my customers tonight. She filled me in.” She puckered her lower lip, pinching it between her fingers.
Here we go.
“Are you really going to do what they’re saying you’re going to do?” Cal asked worriedly.
“Yup.” I itched to light up a cigarette.
“But…why?”
Descartes was built over an old railroad that was no longer in operation. I’d bought the land—all five acres of it—for a pitiful price and restored the train station building, turning it into a dazzling restaurant. Gutted it and spent most of my savings on it. I had attracted tourists. Revived this shithole. And put Staindrop on the map. Six months ago, when I’d received a jaw-dropping offer from GS Properties, one of America’s biggest construction companies, to sell the land and everything on it, I hadn’t thought twice. I’d needed a way out and a fat paycheck for my next venture, and they’d needed space to build a luxurious monster mall attached to a hotel close enough to the Canadian border.
I wanted to get out of here, fast. I’d already achieved what I came here to do and saw no need to stick around in Buttfuck Creek. That was why the locals were angry at me. For cashing out and handing the town’s keys to a bunch of corporate suits who, in their eyes, were going to kill its quaint charm and small-town legacy and inject it with Botoxed designer stores.
“Why not?” I stroked my jaw. “Descartes was a vanity project. I came, I saw, I conquered. Time to move on. Selling the land is the logical thing to do.”
“For you, maybe. But what about the people in this town? The small business owners? The folks who grew up here and stayed because they love the old-fashioned lifestyle?” Her entire body was angled toward me. I had her undivided attention, and suddenly I felt like someone had poured lava down the pit of my stomach.
You’re not smitten. You’re horny. Which is a form of excitement that can be dealt with using your right hand and some shower gel.
“The local morons couldn’t spot a good idea if it hit them in the face with a Sub-Zero fridge,” I drawled. “Building a five-star hotel is exactly what this place needs. Employment is nonexistent, opportunities are scarce, and once Descartes shuts down, people won’t even make this a pit stop to get gas and take a piss. Whatever family businesses are still open here are struggling and would only benefit from the rush of tourism.”
“Even if what you’re saying is true, the station is the crown jewel of this town. It is the second oldest train station in America. It’s historical. It’s a holiday draw—”
“It’s dead.” I cut her off through gritted teeth. I didn’t usually give a crap about criticism, especially not regarding this subject matter, but being seen as the villain in Cal’s eyes didn’t sit right with me. “You haven’t been here in five years. Business is at a standstill, the population is in decline, the median salary is thirty percent lower than the national average. It’s mostly elderly people and poor folks forced to stick around who are left. If building a hotel and a mall means cannibalizing one drawcard, I’ll take my chances.”
“It’s not for you to decide though, is it?” She tilted her chin up courageously. “Let them vote. It’s a democracy.”
“The country is, my wallet isn’t,” I corrected her. “I’m selling.”
“They’ll never forgive you if you go ahead with it.”
I took a right turn and entered her street, with its manicured trees, white picket fences, and ice cream–colored houses. “Good thing I don’t give two shits about what people say, huh?”
“You think you’re cool because your hackles are so far up you can’t see past them.” She shook her head.
“Don’t patronize me, Dot.” What the fuck? What are you saying? “I’m a self-made millionaire and not even twenty-eight. The shit I’ve achieved, you haven’t learned how to spell yet.” I needed to shut the fuck up and do it as soon as possible. I didn’t like myself around her. The gap between Row and McMonster was insane.
Cal stared at me speechlessly. “Bite me.”
“Thought you’d never ask. Just say where.”
She looked pissed, but she didn’t look scared. And I didn’t know why, but it made me very fucking pleased that my sexual innuendos didn’t scare her.
I parked in front of her house and unbuckled. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
She undid her seat belt. “No thanks. It’s literally less than ten ste—”
“It was a statement, not an offer.”
She massaged her temples, drawing an exasperated breath. “You’re the only man I know who manages to be chivalrous and a complete jackass in the same breath. It’s a talent.”
“One of many—” The rest of the sentence died in my throat when I spotted Kieran fucking Carmichael loitering outside her door. At two in the goddamn morning. What was he doing here?
Was dying this week on his bucket list or something?
I didn’t want her to feel targeted by some huge jock. He was obviously going to be a threat to her, which meant I had a great excuse to finally beat him to a pulp.
