“You can’t tell me this feels right. It hasn’t. Not since day one when Holton Group first showed up and started touting all the benefits of this mega-center. I just thought that niggle in the back of my head was because of what those house flippers did to us, but it was more than that. It’s not a good fit for the town. You heard what Luna said. What we’d be looking at in a few years’ time. A totally different Starlight Cove. Is all of that worth it just so the resort succeeds?”
I glanced back at the growing crowd, at the beautiful, lush property we stood on, and shook my head. “Not to mention, did you know this particular piece of land has, like, forty different species of mammals and birds, too many plants to count, and removes over fifty tons of carbon dioxide each year?”
Beck’s brows flew up. “Did you memorize all that for this speech?”
“Luna told me.” Jesus, just the sound of her name on my lips had my chest aching. I needed to find her. Needed to get to her and tell her I fucked up. Beg her for forgiveness and promise I’d never ask her to be something she wasn’t again, if only she’d give me another chance.
I ran a hand through my hair and glanced to each of my siblings in turn. “I know this goes against the plan, and it isn’t what we were hoping for, but we can find another way. One that doesn’t force us to choose between the town and the resort.” I reached up and rubbed a hand over my heart, trying to ease the ache to no avail. “One that doesn’t force me to choose between my family and the woman I never saw coming. One that doesn’t feel like I’ve ripped a goddamn hole in my chest. I know you don’t agree with Luna, but she’s right.” I dropped my arm and held my hands out, palms up. “Even if she weren’t, I’d choose her. I have to choose her. She’s it for me.”
My siblings were quiet for long moments, their expressions giving nothing away except that all five of them were staring at me like I’d grown a third head.
Finally breaking the silence, Levi said, “Holy shit, I’ve never heard him say that much at once in my whole life.”
“It’s Luna,” Beck answered with a nod. “She makes him chatty.”
“She makes him something, all right.” Ford clapped a hand on my shoulder and winked. “Getting laid regularly suits you.”
“All right, that’s enough of that.” Addison crossed her arms and fixed each of us with a glare. “I could go my whole life without knowing any detail at all about my brothers’ sex lives and be perfectly content. Thrilled, even. So, let’s work on that, huh?”
Ford opened his mouth, probably to torment our baby sister, but Aiden slapped a hand on his chest, holding him back.
He met my eyes, his head cocked to the side as he studied me. “You love her.”
Even though he didn’t ask it like a question, I still answered anyway. “More than anything.”
I held my breath as they regarded me, knowing I’d done the right thing and hoping they’d see it that way. Hoping I didn’thaveto choose between them. I didn’t want to, but I would. It’d be the single most selfish thing I’d ever done in my life, but I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Finally, Ford cracked a smile. “Well then, it’s a good thing we all agree with what she said, or this could’ve been really awkward.”
My breath left me in a whoosh, relief rushing over me, though it was short-lived because I hadn’t done the hard part yet. I still had to find Luna and get on my knees for her. My family may’ve been tough nuts to crack, but I hadn’t walked away from them without hearing them out. Hadn’t asked them to be someone they weren’t simply because it fit the narrative.
“Told you that whole opposites attract thing was real,” Beck said, looking smug as hell. “You walking over and saying sorry isn’t much of a grand gesture, but maybe someone caught what you said on video.”
“You’re a dick, you know that?” And what the hell did he want me to do anyway? Serenade her while the entire town watched? I didn’t have time for that. I needed to do this now, which meant I could only hope that ripping open my chest and showing her my heart would be enough.
Because I needed to find Luna immediately and because I didn’t have time for his shit, I threw Beck under the bus. “Why don’t you tell everyone else about the romance you’re reading this week?”
I slipped away to Ford’s, “Like…a dirty one? ’Cause I’d be into that,” and didn’t look back as I pushed my way through the crowd of people, searching for the only person I needed to see. The only person who could ease this ache in my chest, if only I could prove to her I loved her, just as she was. Not as some diluted version of herself, but as the colorful, vivacious, bright-as-the-sun pain in my ass I couldn’t get enough of.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
LUNA
While my daddiscussed details with Harper and my mom gushed about my homemade creams with a number of the ladies she’d commandeered, I stared at the papers Harper had handed to me, my mouth still hanging open in shock. I’d read the words half a dozen times just to make sure I’d understood them correctly. But yep. No misunderstanding them.
Endangered Species Act.
These papers were this piece of land’s golden ticket. Its get out of jail free card. In Harper’s research for the maybe-article, she’d stumbled across an environmental impact study that showed not one buttwoendangered species living on this land, which meant it was officially protected. No matter what, Holton Group would never be able to move forward with the build here, and I was hoping, after my speech, the town would push back on any future development possibilities.
The irony of it all was that if that stack of papers had been brought to light earlier, I never would’ve had to chain myself to that tree, Brady never would’ve had to take me to the station—twice…for this particular infraction—we never would’ve struck a deal, and he and I never would’ve…
Well, we never would’ve been.
My throat went tight at the thought, the heavy ache of tears stinging my eyes. I hated how we’d left things. Hated even more that I didn’t know where he was, where we stood, and that he, apparently, thought I’d had something to do with my parents’ arrival and this whole impromptu protest. As if I’d sabotage the resort in that way.
I didn’t know what hurt worse—that I’d become less when he’d asked me to, or that I’d done it for a man who believed I’d betray his trust.
Before I could do anything ridiculous like break down sobbing right there in front of half the town, Mabel strolled up, gripped my elbow, and turned me to face her.
