“The grass was proof enough that the materials we’re using—which she said are somehow not allowed—are destroying the ley lines.”
The lambicorn presses its head to my leg and I pull away. Let someone else take care of it. I’m done.
Done.
“And then what happened?” Isaac asks.
“She marched to city hall with pictures she took, like it was a crime scene, and insisted the whole town will suffer if construction doesn’t remain shut down until I change the building materials. It wasn’t enough that she’d already revoked the permit. She added the pictures on top to strengthen her case.”
What a nightmare.
This is the first signature project my brother and I have taken on without our mother’s money underneath us—and my entire future hinges on it being successful.
When I worked with the Maddox Group, there was always a cushion. Failure was never a possibility. And when we began building the Summit,failure wasn’t even a flicker in my mind because of support from the community and my cousin Rhett coming on board. But now ... it feels like I’ve been tossed into the ocean with a life raft just out of reach. Oh, and I’m surrounded by sharks.
Sharks that all look like Coco Higginbotham.
With silky, dark hair and big doe eyes.
Shut it down, Stone. She is the enemy.
If I have to tell Pane and my cousin we’ve got to start over because of some ley lines? Good grief. Not only will we be behind schedule, but we’ll also be over budget.
Well, I could always go back to working with Sylvia.
Hell no.
Not after what she did.
“What are you doing about the building?” Isaac asks.
“I put a call in to my attorney. Hopefully, we’ll have this cleared up by tomorrow. It needs to be fixed tomorrow because my cousin is set to arrive soon, and if he sees us stalled, Rhett will have my ass. So will Pane. Hell, I’ll have my own ass.”
“Can your lambicorn have milk?” Clarice shouts from the bar.
“Goat’s milk,” I shout back. “Do you have any?”
“There’s some in the fridge,” Isaac tells her. When the three of us throw him questioning looks, he shrugs. “What? I got some today in case you showed up for poker tonight.”
Ron pats the baby sheep, which still sits at my feet. Damn thing hasn’t left my side all day.
So Ron, Isaac, and McCauley are actually Pane’s friends, but I inherited them when I began work on the project.
It’s been good to have friends in this town.
“Have you fed the lambi yet?” Ron asks, stroking its thick coat. “It looks hungry.”
“No, I haven’t fed it,” I snap. “I’ve been busy trying to save the resort from a small woman who thinks she runs this town.”
“Who, Coco?” Isaac laughs. “She’s just trying to do what she thinks is right.”
“Well, she’s a real pain.”
Even if she was adorable at first, with the whole pencil-in-her-hair thing and the joke about a cat poster in my trailer, those thoughts are now gone. I’ve erased from my body all semblance of anything that remotely hints at fledgling affection for her.
But Coco’s still under my skin and she’s not even here. I’m wound up. My chest is in knots, and feelings pulse through me in a manner I don’t like.
I deal with it the only way I know how—by biting back.
