Chapter 2
2
ZACK
I didn’t own a suit. That was okay. All the city council members knew me. And any minute now, others would show up and fill the empty rows of chairs behind me.
I glanced over to my right. Seated alone, an aisle separating the two of us, was the gorgeous woman with dark auburn-colored hair. Ashlynn McKellar, her name was. I remembered her wandering around town as a teen not that long ago. She couldn’t be older than twenty-two or twenty-three now.
I breathed a sigh of relief that I might be able to focus on the matter at hand. I didn’t have to look at those curves head-on. Yesterday, my eyes kept drifting to her chest and those breasts that threatened to pop out of that tight, button-down silky white shirt. Today she wore a jacket that hid her curves from view a little better.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Kirk said from his spot at the center of the long table.
The mayor was surrounded by old-timers who should have been against overdevelopment too. I could only guess they’d been financially motivated to push the spa through.
I shifted in my seat as the board launched into a bunch of business not related to me. It was impossible to keep my mind from drifting to the beauty on my right.
Damn, she was beautiful. Most beautiful sight I’d seen in a while. Maybe ever. I had to keep my mind on business here.
“Mr. Gray.”
The voice of Michelle Morgan broke into my thoughts. She was the council member who seemed to hate us mountain dwellers most. There was no mistaking the distaste in her voice.
“Yes.” I stood, ready to present my case.
“Do you have something to say?” Michelle asked. “In light of the mayor’s comments?”
Oh fuck. See, this was why I couldn’t let Ashlynn McKellar distract me.
“Could you repeat the last part?” I asked.
I was painfully aware of how alone I was over here. Yes, I’d gotten an attorney online to draw up a cease and desist letter, but no way could I have convinced one to show up way out here in the middle of nowhere.
I was counting on my neighbors to come out in force and make a big statement. So much for that. Not a single one was here.
“Miss McKellar here retained the services of an attorney who reviewed your paperwork,” Joan Towle, another board member with a dislike for reclusive dudes with muscles, said. “Your cease and desist order isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
Michelle jumped in then. “So, unless you have something new to present, Ms. McKellar’s project approval stands.”
“I do.” I reached down, retrieving the sheet of paper from the seat next to me. I then glanced over at Ashlynn before heading up to the table where the council members sat.
My mind was reeling. The attorney had given me a crap document? If so, I wanted a refund. But what I had to do now was save face in front of Ashlynn. As much as I told myself I didn’t give a damn what the woman thought, I was all too aware of her eyes on me, and I was even more aware that I wanted to impress her.
“I used predictive analytics to map out what the traffic will do to our roads,” I said, handing the document to the mayor. I felt like he was the only one even willing to hear me out. “A spa the size of what she’s proposing would increase traffic on the mountain roads exponentially, especially with the groups she’s hoping to attract. Businesses, weddings… The place sleeps at least thirty, and that’s if everyone has a private room.”
“It’s a retreat center, not a spa,” Michelle said.
She now stared at me through narrowed eyes. I got it. She and Joan probably thought I was a Neanderthal. They didn’t know I had a full-time job working remotely in logistics for a large shipping company. I’d also studied data analytics and had the software to run these numbers. But it still took brains to know how to interpret them.
“We’re aware of the impact on traffic,” Joan said. “But we’re also aware of the business it will bring to the various establishments in town.”
Kirk handed the page over to the guy next to him and shifted his gaze back to me. “My job as mayor is to balance maintaining our community with making sure it grows.”
“If it doesn’t grow, it dies.”
That voice from behind me pulled me out of the conversation. Frowning, I turned to find Ashlynn standing, arms crossed over her chest. She took several steps toward me as she continued.
“I grew up in a suburb about an hour from here,” she said. “The town was small but growing, but kids moved away after they graduated and soon… Well, I saw what happened when there was no growth. Things started looking not so bright and shiny anymore. The younger generations moved to the next town over. This town has a charm that you don’t find in other touristy areas.”
“And that’s exactly what we want to keep,” I said. I’d turned fully around by then and was squaring off against her. “We start bringing in big hotels and spas?—”
“Retreat centers,” she interrupted.
“Hotels and retreat centers,” I corrected. “And next thing you know, the main strip is lined with putt-putt golf and cheap T-shirt shops.”
“So you let the town stagnate and next thing you know, it’s lined with cash advance places and car washes? Because that’s what’s happened in my hometown.”
She took another couple of steps closer to me and I was hit with a surge of adrenaline like nothing I’d ever experienced. I wanted this woman. Was it misplaced anger? Maybe. I’d read somewhere that the opposite of love wasn’t hate—it was indifference. So I was guessing anger and lust could go by the same rules.
I could have that jacket and silky blouse off of her in seconds. Then I’d unfasten her pants and have my fingers inside her just seconds after our mouths met. She’d arch her back, pushing those generous tits against my chest in a way that told me she wanted more…more…more.
The slam of a gavel behind us jerked me out of the fantasy I was having. I spun around like I’d been busted actually acting out that fantasy.
“All those in favor of putting the development project on hold, say aye,” the mayor called out.
Silence. Not a single “aye.”
“All those opposed, say nay.”
“Nay. Nay. Nay.”
One after another, the word came out. All the way down the line. I could only stare in disbelief. Not a single person wanted to put the development on hold. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but I thought my legal paperwork would at least give me a fighting chance.
“Now, on to the next piece of business,” Michelle said.
That made it final. Discussion over. I couldn’t fight this battle alone. I needed some townspeople on my side, and apparently none had felt the need to show up today.
“Thank you both for coming out,” Kirk said. The apologetic look on his face irked me almost as much as all the “nays.” He might pretend he was unbiased, but I knew better. He was the one who’d done the whole photo op at the site yesterday. He liked having new businesses in town.
When I turned, I saw Ashlynn at the door to the room. She’d pushed it open and was breezing through it.
I rushed to catch up with her. I had no idea what I’d say when I got to her. All I knew was I couldn’t let her out of my sight until I grasped what was happening between us.