Page 24 of Falling for Mr. Grump, the Big City Billionaire

My phone buzzes with another text from Mona:Don't mess this up.

I take another swig of cold coffee. They think I'm going soft on the town.

They're wrong. This place is exactly what I thought it would be – small, inefficient, stuck in the past. Our resort would be an improvement.

But Skye...

"Damn it." I loosen my tie completely, throwing it aside.

Another burst of laughter from outside. I can picture exactly how her eyes crinkle when she laughs, how she throws her head back. How she looked this morning in the sunrise, all fire and defiance.

How she'll look when she finds out who I really am.

My gut twists, and it's not from the coffee.

She'll hate me. Not the playful antagonism we have now, but real hatred.

She'll look at me the way she looks at those developers she's always ranting about.

Because that's exactly what I am.

“It's just business," I tell my empty room. The words sound hollow even to me.

More messages pop up on my phone. Lillian sending market analyses. Mona with board expectations. Harrison Corp's latest moves in the area.

This is what I'm good at. This is what I do. Take underperforming assets, turn them into profit centers. Clean. Simple. No messy emotions.

No beautiful, infuriating women with wild hair and wilder spirits looking at me like I've betrayed them.

Tomorrow, I'll call the lawyers. Start the paperwork. Get this deal moving before Harrison Corp beats us to it. It's the right business decision.

And if my chest feels tight every time that I think about Skye finding out... well, that's what more coffee is for.

I'll close the deal, go back to New York, and forget all about food trucks and sunrises and smiles that make me forget who I'm supposed to be.

It's just business.

But as another laugh floats up from the beach, I realize I'm not even convincing myself anymore.

I grab my phone, dialing the family lawyers' number. Then I hang up before it connects.

Tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow.

Tonight, I'll let myself watch the bonfire a little longer, pretending I'm someone who could walk down there and sit beside her. Someone who deserves that smile.

But I'm not. I'm Troy Bellamy, CEO of Bellamy Hotels and Inns. And I have a job to do.

Chapter six

SKYE

I'm practically drowned in glitter right now.

And somehow, there's paint in my hair. Again. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

This community art show is going to be epic, even if it kills me. Which, at this rate, it just might.

So yes, I organized an art show for our people to showcase their talents and help ease their minds off the issue about the potential buyout. And hopefully it will engage more people to protest the buyout.

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