CHAPTER FIVE #2
The disquieting and unfairly familiar sensation of shame spidered across Adam’s skin. He’d thought… No. He didn’t think that at all. They were little more than acquaintances who happened to both enjoy the same holiday. Ships on the other side of the harbor, really.
Raj leaned in close to the grinning golden retriever and began to speak with him. Adam did his best to not care, but once he heard the word “mayor,” his attention was snared.
“Yes. We’ll be hosting a movie in the ballroom. It was quite…generous.”
Adam hardly believed Raj could deliver on any of the promises he’d made, least of all bringing an honest celebrity to this town. But that was his mess to deal with.
“Cool,” Logan said with a thumbs up. “So, where’s the mayor? I should make my introductions and all…”
Adam dragged his toe across the cement so hard that sparks shot out. He turned to watch every minute detail as Raj happened to lay his hand across Logan’s strapping shoulders. Then the man pointed toward the only door. “Oh, that way. Got it. Nice to meet you…?”
“Adam Stein. You’d do well to remember that name.”
“Right. Okay. Adam. You two have fun or whatever.” With that, Logan bounded up the cement stairs and flung open both doors.
The man wearing the mask of naivety gave an almost apologetic grin for his partner. How could I be so stupid to think…? Adam clenched his hand tighter inside his pocket, doing his best to let that imaginary water roll off his back. He should have known.
He did know.
“So…” Adam dropped his palm onto the statue and began to circle it. “You came to Anoka for no reason whatsoever.”
Raj watched him make a half-loop. Adam only had to look from the sides of his eyes to see it now. Guilt. Regret. Secrets. He’s hiding something, and Adam knew what.
“That’s quite the convenient answer, don’t you think?” Adam froze in place, then crossed his arms.
The outsider blinked and shook his head. “Excuse me?”
“No. Because I know what you’re doing. You, Mr. Fancy Movie Man—”
“Fancy?” Raj snorted as if he could play this off.
“Move into a small town acting the bit part of humble entrepreneur while you scheme to buy up everything you can and destroy its rich history.”
A rage snort shot from Raj’s nostrils. “Are you serious? Of course, I’m not. I—”
“Bought the Rushford hotel.”
“It was condemned!” Raj shouted, his dark eyes flaring like a flint struck in the night. “I’m restoring Anoka history. Trying to.”
“So you tell the council now. Play the part for a year, be so humble and magnanimous that they have to shower you with praise, give you anything you want. Come five years, every quaint shop is abandoned because you built a Walmart where the hotel used to stand.”
“You’re insane,” Raj didn’t refute his accusation. “And I think you’re jealous.”
Adam laughed. “Jealous?” Just because you have gobs of cash to throw around and a California boy toy? Ha. As if. “I’m not jealous.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Am not.”
“Are too!”
Their petty grade school arguing drove both men closer. Adam didn’t realize how close until he nearly brushed his chest against Raj’s. A rattling wind cut around them, drawing him to the muscles hidden under Raj’s hoodie. Back off now, tiny boy, before you turn into twink paste.
Swallowing, Adam chased after his calm, customer voice. “I’m watching you.”
“Well, I’m watching you,” Raj said.
“I will protect this town with my life.” Even as the words slipped past Adam’s mouth, he frowned. That threat was a lot more serious than he’d meant.
Raj seemed to take it as badly as he had.
A gravelly breath rattled in his nose, and he bit his lip.
The flush in his cheeks and fire in his eyes would usually set off something other than alarm bells in Adam, but he kept wondering if California types carried bear mace.
Or at least a bejeweled flail. When Raj started to curl his fingers into fists, Adam tried to diplomatically slide away without giving up any of his high ground.
Shaking from his wide shoulders down, Raj asked, “Did it ever enter your thoughts that I’m here to help? That I want to make this place better?”
Better for whom? For his rich investors looking to buy up cheap real estate and force out the locals? For those men in suits who sit around moving numbers from one column to another and have houses worth more than the GDP of a small country? For him?
“You’re not going to win, Mr. Choudhary.”
“Win what?” he cried out, flabbergasted, before his eyes narrowed. “This is about that King thing, isn’t it? You think I’m going for the crown?”
Adam jerked at how dismissively he spoke of an Anoka tradition. This outsider cared nothing for this town and its culture. “I do now,” he said.
Raj sneered and kept shaking his head. “No, you know what, you should be scared. Because I’m going to win over the council, my hotel will dazzle people from the whole county, my haunt will be the talk of Anoka, and your streak as the King of Halloween will end, Mr. Stein.”
Blood boiling, Adam wanted to leap over and wring Raj’s neck. No one was taking this from him. Not the mayor, not Marianne, and certainly not some upstart outsider here to sell out the town. The crown was and should always be his!
Both men panted hard, about to come to blows at Stitches’ feet. Adam, in a red haze, took a step closer, and Raj met him. He tipped his head up, not caring about the half-foot height difference. Raising his finger, he prepared to poke Raj in the chest.
“That guy is a hoot and a half… Um, did I miss something?”
Raj’s goofy partner stood on the steps. He kept thumbing through a stack of papers while watching the two of them. Both Adam and Raj stared at the man, then each other, before realizing how that must have looked.
Fuck. Trying to shake off his nervous and alien urge to hit something, Adam wandered off. He turned his back on Raj as Logan jogged down the stairs to join him. Closing his eyes, he probably imagined the greeting kiss from a couple celebrating the end of his town.
“How did it go?” Raj asked softly.
“Good. We’re all set. Did you know we’re hosting a movie night in the ballroom?”
“Ah, yes…”
“So we should probably put a floor in,” Logan said with such honesty that it made Adam bark out a laugh. That poser was screwed, and he knew it.
Adam risked a glance over his shoulder only to find Raj staring right at him. Both men turned red and looked the other way.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I am beat.” Logan gave a huge yawn and stretched. “You coming?”
Don’t think about them in bed. Don’t think about him in cute pajamas. Don’t picture him exploding in Logan’s mouth.
Damn it.
“Yes,” Raj said, nearly causing Adam to groan. He followed after Logan but gave one last look back at Adam’s blistering face. “Mr. Stein.”
“Mr. Choudhary,” Adam answered. As he watched the two of them trail off to their luxurious California king bed, he muttered to himself, “This means war.”