Page 1 of Billionaire's Coastal Haven

Chapter 1

Zoe

Have you ever run into a bear in the wild?

Your hiking boots crunch over the rocks under your feet as you descend the mountain peak. Birds flit and chirp through the trees. The bright blue sky overhead kisses your cheeks, and a gentle breeze cools your skin. The calming scent of pine tickles the back of your nose as you inhale a deep, cleansing breath. It’s a perfect day.

You inhale another breath, but this time, instead of pine filling your lungs, it’s something musky and pungent. Hints of rotten fruit, fish, and mud. Your nose wrinkles and you cover your mouth.

And then you see the bear.

Eight hundred pounds of ominous, dark fur.

The hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Your stomach cramps. Breathing? What’s that?

You’re supposed to finish your peaceful nature walk and head back to town to put the finishing touches on a bake sale.

But the bear.

The never-ending list of the things you need to do today flashes through your brain as he lazily munches berries at the edge of the trail and separates you from your car…and every item on your monstrous to do list.

Your brain tells your feet to run.Turn around and get out of there you stupid, stupid woman.

But they don’t move.

Instead, your legs cross and lower you to the ground, choosing to watch and wait. Hope for the best. Because you can’t outrun—or outmaneuver—the bear.

Just like you can’t abandon your dad.

“You can do this. It’s like every other day for the last two months.” I nod at my reflection in Siren’s Shelf Books’ front window, and my brown hair swings over my shoulders with my forced confidence. “You may not have the title, but you’re mayor in your heart, and that’s good enough.”

My internal voice snorts.Keep telling yourself that, Baby Girl.

But if I don’t believe I can be Dad’s proxy mayor, no one else will believe it either.

That’s my bear.

Dad isn’talittle sick.He doesn’t needjusta month or two to recover from his trip to the hospital.

He had a massive heart attack. He can’t climb a flight of stairs. He doesn’t have the endurance, energy, or strength to do anything except slowly haul himself to the dining room table, where I lay out the paperwork that needs his signatures and brief him on what’s going on in Rainwater Bay.

The mayor doesn’t get to be sick.

Not if he wants to keep his job.

We know the bear is there. The town council will force him into retirement if we can’t keep up.

But my dad has been mayor my entire life.

He doesn’t know who he is if he isn’t mayor.

I don’t know who he is either.

I can’t watch him wither away if they take his purpose from him.

When he’s ready, he’ll step down and nominate me as his replacement.

But he says I’m not ready. I’m only twenty-six. I don’t have enough “life experience” to embrace his mantle even though I’ve been training since I was ten years old.