Page 15 of Billionaire's Coastal Haven

My smile widens as I watch Emberly, our local police deputy, wrap her knuckles. She won’t don boxing gloves. There’s no heavy bag for her to pummel, just the criminals in her imagination to take the brunt while she perfects her form, but she preps as if a seven-foot-tall, three-hundred-pound bad guy needs punishing.

She’s a badass. Even at five feet nothing, she’s the woman I want with me in a dark alley. Her butt-hugging teal yoga pants and matching tank top reveal the tattoos that tell the story of her life. She bounces on her toes and shakes out her arms, throwing a few practice punches to warm up.

Her energy is decisive and driven. It’s the same energy rolling through my system. Energy I’ve taught myself to avoid.

But this feeling is a high like no other. Main character energy, right? That’s the only way to get Landon to do what I want him to.

I just need to figure out how Emberly maintains that energy without exhausting herself. And how to make myself not feel like an overly aggressive fraud.

I can practically hear my dad scolding me for being bossy—bitchy?—for not negotiating with Landon, not charming him with smiles and cucumber sandwiches. But I know that billionaire won’t negotiate. Ordering him around is the only way to get what the town needs.

I toss my bag into a cubby, and Kelsey jumps to her feet. “There you are. I thought maybe your dad gave you another project and you had to ditch us.”

Physically—and in temperament—Kelsey is Emberly’s antithesis. In a baggie Backstreet Boys concert T-shirt that falls off her shoulder and basketball shorts that she may have stolen from her neighbor, she looks like she played the tomboy little sister in an early-2000s family sitcom.

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and give her a tight hug. “Nope. I’ve been solving town problems.”

“I heard you went to Pine Ridge today.” Emberly lifts her eyebrow. “What’s that about? Weren’t you just there yesterday?”

“You know about Landon Prince.” I run my fingers through my hair and pull it into a high ponytail. “I was making him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” I fill them in on the details of our new partnership with Collin and Archer.

“Did your dad put you up to that?” Kelsey asks.

“It was my idea.”

Emberly and Kelsey share a skeptical look. Emberly braces her hands on my arms. “You ordered him to build the resort?”

“I didn’t specifically tell him about the resort. I told him to hire Collin and Archer. The rest will be easier with the brothers beside me.”

“He’s all anyone is talking about,” Kelsey says. “People are worried.”

“About what?” The town council made their decision so fast, we didn’t have time to poll the community. They should get a say in something that has the potential to affect Rainwater Bay so drastically. As Dad’s eyes and ears, I need to understand the community’s concerns and manage the project accordingly.

Kelsey plucks at the hem of her shirt. “It will be nice to have new job opportunities, but is a big resort really the best way to do it? Does anyone want to clean up after drunk tourists and cranky kids who would rather be at Disneyland? I don’t.”

I scrunch my nose. “Still no interviews?”

“This isn’t about me. But no. Nothing.” She fakes a smile. “I hate that being Abby’s nanny is the only way I can pay my bills.”

Emberly snorts.

Kelsey elbows her in the ribs. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything about Sebastian.” Emberly makes kissing noises.

“I know what you were thinking. It’s all anyone ever thinks when they see me with Abby, but you know me better than that. Give me a little credit. Besides, we’re talking about Zoe. Do you think Landon will do what you tell him to?”

“I want to know where you got the guts to waltz into his hotel room and tell him he was going to do things your way. I’ve never seen you order people around.”

“It was the only way.” I shrug and shove down the nervous butterflies in my stomach.

“Maybe, but that’s a move I see Lucky making, not you.”

“I can be assertive.”

“Since when? Last month, when Lucky parked in your dad’s parking spot, you called me to convince her to move her car.”

“Lucky’s different.”