“Do you like living in the city?” she asked.

  “I’ve never really thought about it.” Baxter’s shrug lifted Lauren’s hand with it. “I mean, not in the last few years anyway. I’ve been so focused on work. This might surprise you, but it’s not easy being the boss’s kid.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding right?”

  “See, that’s the problem. Everyone thinks that my position was handed to me on a silver platter, and I suppose that part is right, but it means that I have to prove myself to everyone. I have to work twice as hard as Thomas and Barry. I come in earlier than them, I leave later.”

  “It’s a good thing you don’t have a family,” Lauren said. His woe is me rich boy sob story wasn’t landing with her.

  “Oh, god. I can’t even imagine.”

  Lauren’s pace slowed slightly as she found herself lost for words. The man had no idea what it was like to struggle. They walked a few paces in silence. “Lauren, did I say something wrong?” he asked.

  “It’s just, I mean, I kind of understand where you’re coming from, but I also see it from the perspective of everyone in your company. You got the job without having to prove yourself.”

  “Hold on there, I graduated top of my class.”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” Baxter confirmed.

  “Ok, fine. But imagine all of those workers that have families, that can’t stay late. All those people who have to find daycare so that they can go to work to pay for their daycare.”

  “I could say the same thing to you, Lauren,” Baxter said. He squeezed her hand with his arm.

  Lauren took a deep breath. She had backed herself into a corner. “What about all those people who have to pay for their student loans then? Look, Baxter. I’m not discounting your struggle, but it might help your cause if you try to look at yourself from the other side.”

  Baxter stopped and turned to face Lauren. “Why are you picking a fight with me?” he asked.

  “I’m not.” Lauren put her hands on her hips.

  “You had a full-ride scholarship. Barry told me. And you don’t have a family, so other than the fact that my dad’s name is on the letterhead, I don’t see how you and I are so different.”

  “Wow,” Lauren said. “That’s your problem, Baxter. You have no idea.”

  “What? You and your sister are both super successful. And look, your sister has a kid, so isn’t that a little like the pot calling the kettle black?”

  “Let’s keep walking.” Lauren took a few steps and Baxter followed suit. Was it a lie if she didn’t correct him?

  “Do you still play the guitar?” She needed to get the subject as far away from Charlotte and Tabitha as possible.

  “No,” Baxter said. “I just don’t have the time anymore.”

  “That’s sad. You were really good.” Lauren remembered admiring his strong forearms as he strummed his guitar for her. They continued walking in silence, the snow quickly filling in their footprints. They walked past the Sugar Peaks Café and the store where Baxter had bought her the sweater. They turned onto Acorn Street, the branches from the snow-laden trees hung heavily over the street, blocking most of the light from the streetlamps. Baxter rested his hand on her back, in a respectful, not proprietary touch.

  “You’re probably right,” Baxter said.

  “About what?” Lauren asked. She shivered and he slid his hand across her back, pressing his fingers into her side and squeezed her into him.

  “I’m a spoiled brat.”

  She smiled. “You are.”

  They stopped in front of the gray bungalow with the forest green trim. “This is my house.”

  “It’s cute.”

  “That means small in real estate lingo, doesn’t it?” she said.

  “Most of the time.” He squeezed her again. “But not now.”

  There were three steps that led from the sidewalk to Lauren’s front walkway and she stepped up onto the first one and turned. “Thank you for the walk home.” She held out her hand and waited for him to shake it. He didn’t.

  “I was thinking…”

  Lauren lowered her hand.

  “Maybe you could show me around town. Help me to understand what it’s like to live here. Help me to understand the common folk,” he grinned.

  She swatted his arm. “Come on.”

  “No, I’m serious. Make me see why I need to make the changes to the development. Lauren, if I can prove to the board that the changes make sense, they will listen to me.”

  “Really?” Lauren raised her eyebrows.

  “You wouldn’t be using me to get intel on how to dupe us commoners?”

  “You’d have to trust me.”

  The mountain of papers sitting on her desk weighed heavily on Lauren’s mind. She inhaled, thinking about Baxter’s proposition. “Okay.”

  “Really?”

  Lauren had quickly weighed the cost-benefit analysis of doing the paperwork versus potentially changing Baxter’s mind, and realized that all of their problems could be solved if she could just make him see how the Caldwell Creek project was going to impact the town.

  “Really,” she said. “Don’t make me regret this.” she crossed her arms.

  “You won’t.”

  With Lauren on the step, they were exactly eye to eye. She offered her hand and he stared at her mitten; puffs of his breath filled the space between them. Instead of shaking her hand, Baxter gripped her arms and pulled her toward him, kissing her hard. Then just as quickly, he pulled back, his hands still holding her arms tightly. “Business starts Monday.” He winked and then walked away.

  Lauren stood frozen as she watched Baxter walk away.

  “Don’t do it,” she whispered to herself. She turned and walked to the top of the steps, opening and closing her hands into fists at her side. “Shit.” She muttered to herself and let herself turn back. Baxter was almost at the end of her street.

  “Baxter,” she shouted.

  He kept walking. She jumped down the stairs. “Brock,” she screamed. This time he heard her and turned. She couldn’t stop herself; her legs weren’t listening to her brain and she started walking towards him. Her heart started to race as he did the same, then she broke out into a run and flew into his arms.

  Twenty

  Baxter swore his fingertips were about to fall off but walking Lauren home had been worth it. That woman had more firecracker in her than she knew, and she was the first woman who had ever called him out on his shit. It had caught him off guard, but she was right. He needed more people like her in his life.

  He wondered if she was struggling as hard as he was. His cock was recovering from the kiss and throbbed as he walked down the snowy street. The horndog in him wanted to scrap Caldwell Creek project altogether if it meant he could take Lauren to bed with him but knew that thinking with his cock was a bad idea. The snow was getting deeper by the second as he made his way to Main Street. At least he would get to spend one more day with Lauren before they went to battle against each other. The tension of their business predicament was always bubbling near the surface, and he hoped that they could keep it at bay. He was supposed to hate her, but he couldn’t.

  A real gentleman would’ve walked her to the door, but he didn’t trust himself with her. He should’ve shaken her hand, but he couldn’t stop himself. There was a part of him that needed her, something on a primal level drew his body to hers. Of course, he wanted to fuck her, but there was more to it than that.

  The wind had started to pick up, driving the snow hard against his face. He almost didn’t hear her yell out his name. He turned and when he saw her running towards him, he didn’t stop to think, he ran to her and held out his arms as she flew against his body. Her lips were cold, but her mouth was warm. His erection pressed against his pants as Lauren’s lips grew hungrier against his. He pulled her tightly to him, the down in her puffy coat compacting between their bodies. He didn’t know how long they stood in the darkness of the street. He just knew that he didn’t feel cold, the heat from their desire had overtaken the elements. When she finally pulled back, she had an inch-deep layer of snow on her hat. Her eyes searched his and he had his answer, she was struggling with their attraction just as hard as he was. She held onto his arm and drew her chest back from his so she could look him in the eye, but it wasn’t lost on him, or his cock, that her hips remained pressed against his. He knew that she’d be able to feel his raging hard-on even through the layers of their winter clothes, but he didn’t care. The contact between them had brought him so close to the edge, and he was so turned on that he could’ve blown his load in his pants right now if she would’ve ground against him any harder.

  “Lauren,” he whispered. He brushed the snow off her hat and when she smiled at him, he felt his heart swell along with other parts of him.

  “Shhh.” She stopped him with her mouth. She let her lips linger on his and then kissed his jawbone, before resting her cheek against his.

  Lights flashed and the snowflakes around them reflected in the headlights of an oncoming car. Lauren tucked her head into Baxter’s neck, and he turned to protectively shelter their faces away from view. They couldn’t get caught like this. As the taillights disappeared around the corner Lauren emerged from his protection.

  “Just one night,” she whispered. He didn’t know if it was a question.

  “Just one night.” He took a deep breath and willed his cock to calm the fuck down. He took Lauren’s hand and started to walk to her house. The faster they got there, the less likely they were to talk each other out of it. And at that moment, there was nothing more in the world that he wanted, than Lauren Bunkman.

  “Wait.” She stopped and tried to pull him back.

  He knew it.

  “Not my house,” she said.

  The woman was killing him. “I can’t take you back to the corporate house.” He tugged at her hand. “I’ll leave before morning, no one will see me.”

  “No.” This time she practically shouted.

  “Lauren?”

  “This was a mistake,” she said.

  He wasn’t letting her go again. “What about a hotel?”

  “People talk. It’s too risky.” She leaned her head on his chest. “I’m so sorry.”

  Baxter had no idea why she was so against the idea of her house.

  “Your house. It’s literally, right there.”

  “I know, I know, but we can’t.” Her eyes started to well up with tears.

  “Hey, don’t cry. Remember what I said about that?” He brushed away the wetness under her eyes with his thumb. She held onto his wrist and her face fell heavy into his palm.

  “Good night, Baxter,” she whispered. She pulled his hand away from her face and stood on her toes to kiss him. He felt her lips quiver as they lingered on his. She squeezed his arm and then walked to her house. He stood in the howling wind and watched as her porch light flicked off. She hadn’t turned back once.

  Twenty-One

  Without Tabitha, the house was eerily silent. Lauren rubbed her bleary eyes and tried to make out the time on her watch. It was seven a.m., barely daylight. Sleep had only come to her about an hour earlier. She had spent the night tossing and turning, wondering if she would regret walking away from Baxter again. She reluctantly pulled back the covers and quickly got dressed in her sweatpants and college sweatshirt. She pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and after brushing her teeth and making a pot of coffee she sat down at her desk. Tabitha would be home soon, so she had to take advantage of any free time she had.

  She checked her cell phone to make sure that there weren’t any messages from Tabitha, she had only just started feeling comfortable sleeping at her friend’s houses. As much as she wanted to repeat the best night of her life with Baxter, there was no way she would’ve been able to explain the pink bedroom covered with posters. She hadn’t technically lied to Baxter, but she hadn’t been truthful either. She was already in too deep to try and backpedal her way out of this mess. The best way to dig herself out was going to be to win, defeat Caldwell, and hope that Baxter left down never to be seen again.

  She took a sip of her coffee and started to work. Two hours later, she hadn’t touched her coffee, but she had made major headway with the paperwork. She would’ve kept going but was interrupted by a knock on the door. She swallowed hard. Tabitha didn’t knock. She just burst into the house. Lauren set down her pen and pulled back the lace curtain on the door.

  “Charlotte.” She opened the door and her sister stepped inside, knocking the snow off her boots before unlacing them. “Come on in,” Lauren muttered as she followed Charlotte into the living room.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

  “I’m fine thanks. How are you?” Lauren walked past her sister and headed into the kitchen to put the kettle on to boil. “Would you like some tea?” she asked.

  “I want to know what happened last night,” Charlotte shouted. “And yes, chamomile.”

  Lauren popped the teabags into the mugs and leaned on the kitchen counter. “I don’t really want to talk about it. There’s actually nothing to talk about.”

  “He knows that you know,” Charlotte said.

  “I know.”

  “So, he found you then.” Charlotte’s voice was quiet, her eyes warm as she watched Lauren pour the water into the mugs and carefully set them down on the coffee table. Charlotte patted the cushion beside her, and Lauren took a seat.

  “He did.”

  “Okay, I knew that,” Charlotte smiled.

  “What? How?”

  “I also know that you two chatted for hours at the G-Spot and then disappeared into a snowstorm.”

  “You filled that monstrosity up with gas this morning, didn’t you?” Lauren said. She blew on her steaming tea. She had been trying to get her uber-rich sister to give up her gas-guzzling SUV and get an electric car for years.

  “You know it,” Charlotte smiled. “Muriel asked me if you and the handsome man were an ‘item.’ Charlotte used air quotes.

  “Do you think that she’ll say anything to anyone else?” Lauren had hoped that Muriel wouldn’t start spreading any gossip.

  “Lauren, half the town saw you looking all moony-eyed at Baxter Caldwell. It doesn’t matter if Muriel says anything or not, which I doubt she will. She whispered it to me when Logan was buying a breakfast sandwich.”

  “Nothing happened.” Lauren rubbed the handle of her mug, thinking back to the wee hours of the morning when she had walked away from Baxter.

  “Define nothing,” Charlotte smirked.

  “Okay, so we kissed a little bit. That’s it.” Lauren wasn’t used to getting the third degree from her sister.

  “That’s it?” Charlotte raised her eyebrows as if she didn’t believe her.

  “What was I going to do?” Lauren pointed to the door of Tabitha’s bedroom. “Bring him in here? How would I explain all the drawings on the fridge, the pink bedroom…?”

  “You didn’t tell him about her?”

  “No.” Lauren looked into her mug. “But I’ve made a decision about that. I’m going to tell him. I am.” She said it as much to herself as to her sister.

  “That’s good,” Charlotte smiled. “He deserves to know.”

  “I’m going to tell him when the development stuff is over. We’ve decided to put whatever is going on between us on hold until after the council meeting.”

  “You don’t think you’ve already crossed the line into a conflict of interest?”

  Lauren knew that Charlotte was right. “I’m considering it to be more of a gray area.”

  “Dark gray?”

  Lauren narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was giving up all the hard work she had done over the past year. She couldn’t trust anyone to know the ins and outs of this file like she did. The future of the town was at stake, and she potentially fucked it up by kissing the devil in charge of the wrecking ball.

  “We danced and drank horrible coffee together. That’s all anyone saw. It’s not a gray area at all if no one knows about that kiss.” She took a sip of her tea while maintaining eye contact with Charlotte.

  “You know I won’t tell anyone.” Charlotte set down her mug. “Come on Lauren, I can’t believe you actually had to say that.”

  “Sorry.” Lauren relaxed into the sofa. “I know that you would never say anything, but in this case, this means so much to me.”

  “And Baxter, what does he mean to you?”

  “I don’t even know him,” Lauren said. “I can’t throw away everything for a guy, especially a guy like him.”

  “I don’t know, he seems like a pretty good guy to me.” Charlotte nudged her sister with her elbow. “I’ve never seen you look at anyone like that before. Ever.”

  Charlotte was right, Lauren had never felt the way she did when she was in Baxter’s arms. “He’s not a bad guy,” she sighed. “His company is terrible though.”

  Lauren could practically see the steam coming out of Charlotte’s head, “Wait. You two have put this on hold until one of you wins. And then what? Did you talk about that?”

  “Not really. Kind of. I don’t know, Char.” Lauren was avoiding the questions but racked her brain to remember where they had left that conversation. “He wins, the town blames me, and I never get another job here again. I win, he has no reason to stay here.”

  Charlotte’s brow was furrowed and then she leaned back and crossed her arms tightly. “Classic Lauren.”

  “What?”

  “That’s what you’re banking on. That one of you will have to leave and you won’t have to tell him at all.”

  Busted.

  “That’s not true,” she lied.

  Lauren’s meditation music filled the air between the sisters as they stared each other down. Lauren knew she was lying, and so did Charlotte. That’s the problem with being close to your sister, she thought, that woman knew her next move before she did.

  The door flew open and Tabitha burst into the house. She tossed her backpack on the chair and kicked her boots haphazardly against the wall. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Auntie C.”