Chapter One
Nate
A low whistle sounded in the small space that comprised Applewood’s current town square, a result of the icy wind whipping through small alleyways that existed between buildings.There was no other external noise in the area, only the loud humming inside of Nate’s head as the pressure he’d felt building all morning came to a crescendo.He sighed.It wasn’t even seven o’clock in the morning and he already had the beginnings of a headache.A throbbing skull had become such a regular occurrence that Nate thought little of it, just another inconvenience for him to deal with instead of checking off the most important item on his to-do list.
Crushing his eyelids shut, Nate took a few deep breaths to try and keep a migraine at bay.It would do him no good to be in a foul mood when he was trying to persuade people to help him.Opening his eyes, Nate gazed around, hoping that the small break could offer him a fresh perspective on what he was gazing upon, but he wasn’t that lucky.He’d always been the type of person who felt as though he had to make his own luck, and as he gazed around the town square that looked as pitiful as it always had, it seemed like that was still the case.
The open space that made up the center of Applewood’s downtown area consisted of a large slab of concrete outlined by cobblestone that was covered in vines and dead crabgrass, two benches that were more rot than wood, and not much else.In no way did this area reflect the splendor and beauty of the town it was a part of, and once again Nate found himself pissed off that he seemed to be the only person in Applewood to see that.
A puff of white shot out of his nose and into the cold air of late fall as he huffed angrily, spinning on the heels of his sneakers and running back to his apartment.Running was how Nate worked off his frustration, and with his town revitalization project seeming permanently on ice, he was now in the best shape of his life.It was little consolation when he had yet to fulfill the biggest promise he had campaigned on when he ran for mayor almost two years ago.There had been other assurances he’d made, pledges to keep taxes as low as possible while also increasing tourism to the area to keep local businesses profitable.The problem was that those promises hinged on his ability to drive new people into Applewood, and he needed a new town square to do that.He was sure of it.
Embittered by his lack of progress, Nate turned toward Main Street, shaking his head at the peeling paint and weathered brick exteriors of the bank and hardware store.His eyes naturally crossed the street to where his younger brother Felix’s bar stood, looking as fresh and clean as his eldest brother Aiden’s restaurant had when Nate had passed it earlier that morning.Smiling at the fact that at least his family was on board with his plans to make Applewood look as beautiful as possible, Nate pumped his arms a little more vigorously, his feet fractionally lighter as they pounded the pavement.
The Kemp family was a tight knit group and each member of Nate’s family had always been endlessly supportive of him in his dream of leading the town he grew up in toward greatness.Whether it was driving the two hours to Seattle to cheer him on at academic decathlon competitions or screaming loudly at his baseball games in high school, his family had been there every step of the way if they’d been able.Even Aiden, who left home at eighteen to attend culinary school, would video chat with Nate from time to time for encouragement.It was nice to always have someone there looking out for him, and while the support was still there, his family was also a little busier now than they had been, so it wasn’t quite the same.
Aiden ran a restaurant full-time with his fiancée Nicole, Beckett was working his way up the proverbial ladder at the fire station and was married with a baby on the way, Travis bought a farm next to their family orchard, intending to turn it into a cherry farm for him, his girlfriend, and her daughter, and Felix and Autumn were blissfully happy and working on expanding their respective businesses.Even Nate’s parents had fairly full calendars, and even though he knew he could put in a call to circle the wagons and every member of his family would jump at the chance to do it, he couldn’t ask that of them.Besides, he’d always been determined to accomplish the things he set out to do on his own if he could manage it.He appreciated help, begrudgingly at times, but never sought it out willingly.
Nate liked to think of himself as someone who could do it all himself, and for the most part he had been, but this town project seemed to be the one thing that seemed just out of reach, constantly eluding him no matter how hard he tried.After months and months of speaking with city council members, the downtown business association, and just about anyone else he could think of that had any kind of influence in town, Nate was still mired at square one.What made the situation worse was that he had all the funding necessary to pull it off, he just didn’t have the approvals.
When Nate ran for mayor, it had been an uphill battle.Accusations of inexperience and lack of political acumen followed him around as he campaigned, but eventually he won everyone over.He hadn’t thought he would get the groundswell of local support that he did, but when his lawyer contacted him to let him know that a group of townspeople had donated enough money to cover his keystone project and then some, Nate couldn’t help but be touched by his community’s faith in him.What had happened to that support now that he actually had the job was anyone’s guess.It seemed that the Citizens for a Brighter Applewood were happy to fund his project, but not help get him the approvals necessary to do it.It was endlessly frustrating, and every time Nate looked around the town and saw not what was, but could be, he got more and more irritated about that fact.
Just when Nate thought his mood couldn’t get any worse, he moved up to the sidewalk, only narrowly avoiding the door to Warm Delights Bakery smashing him directly in the face.Spinning out of the way just in time, he didn’t see the small café table until he was toppling over it and landing hard on the cement.His body slammed onto the cold ground, pain shooting through his skin straight down to his bones.
“Fucking hell,” he grumbled.
Nate’s body throbbed from his ass to his elbows, and while he was grateful that he hadn’t landed on his head, the migraine that had been threatening all morning finally made its appearance.Nate closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again this would have all been a miserable dream and that he would be in his warm bed, not out on the frigid concrete with his ass going numb.
As he sat there with his arms on his knees, taking note of the new hole on the left side of his running pants, Nate felt the brush of soft fabric against his forehead, pushing back the hair that had fallen into his eyes before cupping his cheek.“Oh my God, Nathan.Are you all right?”
Nate hadn’t needed to hear her voice to know the woman in front of him was Lottie Adams, he could tell based on the cinnamon apple scent wafting his way.It was the same aroma that had plagued him since he was a teen, driving him crazy in more ways than one.To this day, she was also the only person besides his mother to call him Nathan, and even then Cora Kemp only used his full name when it was a chastisement, something he avoided if at all possible.Lottie said it like it actuallymeantsomething to her, but what exactly that was he didn’t dare speculate.Not anymore.Sighing, Nate opened his eyes and glared at the one woman he never seemed able to shake the presence of.Jerking away from her touch before he became tempted to lean into it, he stood abruptly, needing space from his every dream come true and absolute waking nightmare.
“I’m fine,” he barked.Brushing his hands down his undoubtedly bruised body, Nate winced when he took a step and felt his knee twinge.Ignoring the soft way that Lottie was looking at him, Nate steeled himself against her.Slipping on the mask of hate had become second nature to him, so much so that he almost believed himself when he spoke so harshly to her.“You should be more careful when you’re opening doors, Charlotte.”To everyone else she was Lottie, but Charlotte was just for him, her full name with its beauty and grace being the one thing about her he allowed himself to keep.
For her part, Lottie seemed wholly unaffected by his demeanor, smiling prettily as she stood and gazed over at him.No matter how many times Nate snarled at her, she always came back for more.He would call her a glutton for punishment, but he could say the same thing about himself, making his permanent home in a town where he knew he would never be able to escape her physically or emotionally.
“I suppose I should, but then again I could also tell you to watch where you’re going.”She took a small sip from a paper to-go cup, and Nate definitelydid nottrack the movement of her pink tongue running across her ruby red lips as she licked away a stray drop of her drink.“Though I suppose it is a bit like you to run into things headfirst without thinking about the consequences.”
