Page 3 of Love Over Time

I let the car roll to a stop in front of the Cavalier Hotel. My car tires crunched over gravel and broken glass. This was a nightmare. It had to be. I squeezed my eyes shut…one, two, three…Maybe I’d wake up in a fancy hotel in Paris, wrapped in soft, cool sheets. I opened them. No such luck. I was still here in freaking Paradise Creek, which had once again managed to not meet my incredibly low expectations of it.

“It’ll be like when we were kids. Like a vacation,” my sister, Lisa, had said. A vacation, my ass. I swallowed my tears, shaking out my hands. I owed her this. Lisa had always been there for me. It was my turn to take care of her. She’d waited long enough.

I climbed out of the car. My pulse spiked when I reached the place that held so many memories. The sunrays bounced off the double-glass doors of the hotel and prickled my bare shoulders. This was the worst idea. I pushed on the wood panel, using my shoulder and body weight. Shards of glass scuffed across the marble floors as the door creaked open just enough to let me through. I placed a hand over my mouth while a sinking feeling swirled in my stomach.Lisa, what have you done?I wasted half of my life savings for this hole in the wall?

This wasn’t the fancy boutique hotel I remembered, with red velvet sofas in the lobby and a grand staircase going up to the second level. Lisa and I had snuck into this place countless times to spy on the grown-ups while they danced the night away at yet another Cavalier lavish shindig. My favorite party was the Cavalier’s annual New Year’s Eve bash. Lisa and I would spend hours hidden in the coat closet, watching through a crack in the door as guests danced in their expensive clothes and toasted with champagne at midnight. How quickly everything had ended when our parents died. It all seemed like a lifetime ago. I wiped my face with the back of my hand. My chest hurt with the usual ghost pain of an old wound. Seeing all this brought back memories I’d hoped never to face again.

I ran my hand across the exposed red brick. Though everything was still here—the furniture, the art, area rugs—half of it was covered in spider webs. The other half lay under a pile of rubble. I walked past the stairs and sat at an old barstool near the leather-upholstered bar. I wiped a finger across the counter and frowned. It was clean or at least not layered in inches of dust. Overhead, a sparkly chandelier hung off-center. Someone had cleaned it recently. Someone had also brought down the wall separating the bar from the main lobby. I couldn’t tell whether that’d happened before or after the building was abandoned.

Sweat ran down my back as I climbed the stairs. With every step, shuffling noises scattered along the walls. Great. We had rats. I went into the first room on the left and let out a sigh. It had a bed, desk, chest of drawers, and even curtains. Not horrible. A good cleaning and fresh windowpanes could make the room livable. I moved on to survey the other twenty rooms. Overall, the upstairs was in fair condition, even if most of the scattered furniture was covered in droppings. How long had the hotel been like this? I’d only been gone for ten years. I shook my head, rubbing my temple. Did Lisa know?

Every muscle in my body quivered. “Home sweet home.” My voice echoed on the opposite end of the building and sent tiny feet scurrying across the floor again. I cursed, burying my head in my hands. So much for a hot bath and a warm bed.

“Fuck my life.” I stomped to the bar, picked up the counter stool, and slung it against the mirror covering most of the moldy wallpaper. We should be in Paris. As a family, together. Just as we’d always planned.

Holy shit, Lisa. What did you get me into?

Chapter Two

Two Deeds, Two Owners

Henry

“Jesus, Russ.” I clenched my jaw as the incredibly hot blonde winked at me. I’d met women like that before, women who thought they owned the world, who thought they could get men to bend to their will. If Russ had just a smidgen of self-control, he would’ve seen through her goddamn charade of damsel in distress.

“Sorry.” Russ kneaded the nape of his neck as if waking up from some sort of spell. “I didn’t think there’d be any harm in her going through. She’s just going to her hotel.”

I rubbed the stubble on my cheek. “Russ. What fucking hotel? The only hotel on Main Street is condemned. We just blew up the entire block, remember? We spent all week evacuating people because it isn’t safe.”

“The survey is as good as done. The foundation held up.”

We’d taken weeks to plan this operation. The thing about dealing with explosives was that we couldn’t know what part of the road wasn’t up to spec or recorded accurately. “Until every inch is inspected, the survey is not done.” I threw my hat in the back of my truck and took off.

“Where you going?” Russ asked.

“Just going up the road for a few minutes. I’d like to know why the fuck there’s a woman in town thinkingmyhotel is hers.” I stomped away from the construction site with city hall in my line of sight.

“Oh. I thought that was odd she said that.”

I snorted and turned to face him. “You were thinking? It certainly didn’t look like it from where I was standing.”

He adjusted his pants, ears red. “I’d never seen a woman like her, is all. It’s not just me, right? You saw her?”

Yeah, I saw her, smelled her, felt her. But if a couple of her fingers tapping on my chest could make me want to forget about everything, I was in deep trouble. No, I’d come this far. I couldn’t let some blonde bombshell with the face of an angel ruin my plans. I didn’t care how tight those skinny jeans were. She was trouble, and she couldn’t stay. “Get back to work. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Two blocks down, I climbed the steps to city hall and went straight to the mayor’s office. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that sleazeball, but the hotel situation couldn’t wait.

“Good morning, Patty.” I smiled at his receptionist. “I need a word with the mayor.”

She smoothed out her skirt and pulled at her top before she scurried around her desk to stand between the door to the mayor’s office and me. “I’m sorry, Henry. He’s in a meeting.”

Through the glass panel, our honorable mayor sat at his desk, stuffing his face with donut holes. I raked a hand over my face and hair. I met Patty’s gaze, and her cheeks flushed. She offered an apologetic one-shoulder shrug and continued to hold her ground.

I stepped toward her, cocking my head so we were eye to eye. “I need to talk to him. And we both know he’s not in a meeting. That would actually make him productive.”

She swallowed, making a sound like she was gasping for air. “Fudge. Okay, but—”

“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.” I sidestepped her and marched into the office. Behind me, Patty said something about knocking first. Please. It wasn’t as if the asshole couldn’t see us out here.

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