Page 39 of The Most Eligible Bachelor

The front office was empty, though. I walked in and called out my arrival.

Martha came out from the back room, all smiles and smelling like she had just stepped out of a bakery. She wrapped me in her arms, her hug almost suffocating me as she pressed me to her.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you!” Martha cried out.

“I missed you, too, Martha,” I laughed. She let me go and I tried to rub life back into my arms. “If that’s how you greet me after a couple of days, what’s going to happen if we don’t see each other for a week?”

Martha waved me away and strolled to the coffee pot, switching it on while she cut two pieces of pie for the both of us.

“Have you seen the car outside?” she asked, balancing the pies on plates and handing me mine. She winked. “Turns out we had a real billionaire in our motel.”

“Chance Ridder.”

“You knew?” Martha said, eyebrows raised.

“I recently found out,” I admitted. “He’s been keeping a low profile.”

“Not so much when it comes to women in the flower industry,” Martha gave me a knowing smile.

“Oh, come on,” I sighed. “I was just showing him around.”

“Whatever you say, honey,” Martha said. “Are you sure you didn’t show him just a little bit more?”

“Martha!”

Martha laughed and held my face in both her hands. “Sweetheart, I’d be thrilled for you,” she said. “He’s a handsome man, and have I mentioned that he’s a billionaire?”

“Didn’t take you for a gold digger, Martha,” I laughed. “Besides, there’s nothing there, trust me. He’s nowhere near my radar.”

“Well, he’s definitely on Earl’s radar,” she replied, walking back to the coffee machine.

“You heard, huh?”

“The whole town’s heard,” Martha said. “That car came with a driver, you know. The man’s over at the Sheriff’s station paying your billionaire’s bail.”

“What?” I asked, my eyes wide.

Martha frowned. “The bar fight,” she explained. “Wait, what did you think I was talking about?”

I didn’t reply. I just jumped to my feet and raced out.

The sheriff’s station was surprisingly empty when I walked in, but the people I wanted to meet the least were all there.

They all looked up when they heard me enter. The Sheriff gave me a bothersome smile, almost as if he was trying to apologize for being a useless piece of shit when it came to anything regarding Earl. Right next to him was Big Ben Greene, all dressed up and looking like he had come to attend a big business meeting. There was a man I didn’t recognize whom I assumed was the driver of the limo.

And, of course, Chance.

“Ashlyn, just the lady we wanted to see,” Ben said formally, his smile wide and warm despite the coldness of his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you that we could resolve this with Ashlyn’s help?”

I frowned and cocked my head to one side, trying to understand what he meant, but quickly ignoring it when Chance walked up to me and held both my arms, pulling me to a side.

“Are you okay?” I asked, momentarily forgetting how much I wanted to slap him.

“I’m fine,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I don’t think Earl’s doing too well, though.”

“What happened?”

“Ran into him at the bar,” Chance explained, glancing at the Sheriff and Ben as he spoke. Ben had his eyes on me, though, watching my reaction to Chance. “Let’s just say he’s going to think twice before taking on any more tourists.”

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