I purse my lips, hoping my next words don’t get me in trouble.
“What you said earlier about not having a degree… I hope you don’t think that just because you didn’t go to college, you’re not capable of making this place successful. You’re obviously a force to be reckoned with, and I’ve hired enough people in my life to know thatthatis not something that can be taught.”
She blinks, then rolls her eyes. “I’m not catching it,” she says, taking another long sip of her wine.
“Catching it?”
She levels me with her gaze. “That bullshit you’re slinging.”
I open my mouth to continue, but she cuts me off before I have the chance to say anything.
“So your grandmother is the reason you’re here?”
I debate pressing her, but something tells me she’s not open to hearing it.
So instead, I go into the months-long saga that started with a fight with the town council over road work that never finishes and never progresses. Reed’s silent manipulations and pointed looks that, over the span of weeks, guided me to the open land next to the sunflower farm. His suggestions that “partnerships” are always welcome in this town.
It didn’t take me long to figure out Reed was asking for something, but itdidtake me a while to figure outwhatexactly that something was.
Once I fit the puzzle pieces together, the path forward was clear as day.
While buying up that property is quite a feat for most farmers in Sunflower Hill, it’s nothing for a guy who already owns a development company. A little extra paperwork and one more budget meeting to get the project rolling.
When I’m done explaining how the hell I ended up on her couch, Eve lets out a long breath. “Phew, Reed really got you good, huh?”
“Reed indeed got me good,” I say, finally admitting it to myself. I shake my head, considering my next statement carefully. I purse my lips before I speak. “My grandmother knew yours, back in the day.”
Eve’s eyebrows jump up. “She did?”
I nod. “Said you’re the spitting image of her.”
“Oh, do I know her?”
I shake my head. “No, she just saw a picture of you and knew in a second that Olivia was your grandmother.”
“She saw a picture of me?”
I swallow, resting my glass on the table because that wine must be going straight to my head. I clear my throat. “Yeah.”
“When you were creeping on my Instagram?”
“I like to know what I’m up against.”
“Convenient excuse.”
“Why else would I be looking at your Instagram?”
She presses her lips together, her eyes on mine as she takes a sip.
And it isveryclear to me that there is something more going on here.
Since the first day I saw her, when she was nothing but fire and brimstone in the town council meeting and I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t fuck with her sunflower farm. From the moment she held her hand out to me and we crossed the stream together. That half second when she was falling in and my heart jumped into my throat.
From the very beginning, all I wanted was a good working relationship with her to eliminate any issues with the community I’ll be building next door.
But now, I think I might just wanther.
9
