Page 66 of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store
‘I’m going to stop you right there.’ Kira held up a hand and Noah was impressed with her bravery. But he also worried about how the town would react. His nerves swirled in his gut thinking about his own little presentation and how it would hold up under town scrutiny. The old shacks were technically owned by the town so if he couldn’t get the council on board, the whole idea was a non-starter.
‘I’m not reopening the tree farm,’ Kira said, voice firm. ‘That’s not why I bought the land.’
A hushed disappointment rolled through the room but no one spoke.
‘I’d love to discuss it further, uh, privately if you prefer,’ Pete pushed on.
‘There’s nothing to discuss.’
‘It’s just that you might change your mind. You see, I had a dream that...’
Kira shook her head, ignoring Pete’s bizarre dream-claims, a feat Noah found impressive. ‘I won’t be changing my mind. And I need to go. If that’s all?’
The mayor looked crestfallen, Noah really felt bad for the guy. ‘Of course. Sorry for the confusion.’
Kira gave a curt nod and made her way back down the center aisle, not bothering to glance at anyone else on her way out.
‘Yikes,’ Hazel whispered. She leaned over Noah’s lap toward Logan. ‘Maybe you should talk to her, grumpy farmer to grumpy farmer.’
Noah stifled his laughter in his arm, pretending he was catching a cough the way his nieces taught him.
‘Ha. Ha,’ Logan said.
‘Good one,’ Noah leaned down and whispered in her ear. He caught a whiff of whatever it was she put in her curls; it smelled the same as her pillow. He resisted the urge to breathe in. Not here. Not now, when he was already half hard just thinking about being back in her bed.
He shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. He should be thinking about what he was going to say about his short-term rental idea. Things had gone terribly with this Kira but the town was eager for that business. Maybe they’d be open to his, too.
But the mayor had moved on to the next item, something about a change in trash pick-up days, and the PTA was up next on the agenda to discuss bus schedules for the fall; and Hazel was leaning against him in a very distracting way.
When had she started tracing the designs on his arm with a single distracting finger? And why when he glanced down at her was she looking at him with that look in her eyes?
No. He had to focus. This meeting was the perfect opportunity to present his plan. He’d even looked up pricing comps and spoken with a realtor in the area that specialized in vacation properties. He’d done his homework!
‘Hey,’ Hazel murmured, sending goosebumps skittering along his skin. ‘Want to get out of here?’
Hell, yes, he wanted to get out of here. But for once in his damn life he was trying to be responsible. Hazel would want a responsible guy, wouldn’t she? One with more to his name than an old boat?
‘What would the townsfolk say?’ he whispered, trying to joke his way out of the situation.
‘Who cares?’
She cared. He knew that. But for some reason, she didn’t seem to mind the rumors that were circulating about them. That had to mean something good in his favor, right?
‘Don’t you want to stay for the rest? We might miss something important.’
Her head rose sharply at that, a furrow between her brows. ‘You don’t want to ... I mean, I thought we could…’
God, she looked so sweet when she blushed like that.
His foot tapped nervously against the old floorboards. He could just tell her, explain that he needed to stay for the open forum part at the end so he could bring up his new idea, but he found his throat closing up at the thought. Who was he kidding? If he couldn’t even explain his idea to one person, how was he going to present it to a room full of people? Maybe he didn’t even want to. Isn’t this what he left behind in the first place? He had a good life right now, a fun one, filled with beautiful women and few responsibilities.
Why mess with that?
‘I just thought we could do something more interesting than listen to town business,’ she went on, quietly, ‘I know somewhere no one will find us.’
Her voice was so tempting, her breath warm on his face.Thiswas what Hazel wanted him for. This was all she’d asked for. Not a relationship. She’d been upfront about the whole thing: two months of reckless fun. He was the one blowing things out of proportion. He was the one who convinced himself she could want him for more.
But Noah knew where his strengths lay. And they sure as hell weren’t with business and certainly not with serious relationships. He could stay here and get laughed out of town by the terrifying residents of Dream Harbor, or he could go make out with this sexy woman. It was an easy decision, really.
