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“Everything is here!” she bellows. “My family’s history is here! Their ghosts, my soul. I am not letting you tear it down.”
“Come, let’s converse,” I say. “No one is here to harm the inn. It lives to see another day. But you and I have to come to an understanding.”
“You just want me to listen to why you think you are right,” she dismisses.
“Do you not believe you’re right?” I ask, sinking down so that we are at the same level.
It’s a mistake on my part – to remain so close. I could lean forward at this moment and kiss her under different circumstances. Now, I am the one undoing myself. I straighten up.
Rory’s crew is gone. It literally is just Brynne, me, and the camera crew.
“Guys. Go. Now.” I bark. “I thought I just asked you to take off.”
“No stay,” she says.
“I should just call the cops,” I rasp.
“And say what?” she asks coldly. “That I cuffed myself to this chain.”
“Sonofabitch,”I mutter.She’s outfoxed me again.
I look at her. She’s smirking. I instantly relive the conversation with Rory about rigging the Calypso with security cameras until destruction day. I told him what I had just said to Brynne.
“There’s nothing here,” I argued.
“There are surfers,” he countered.
It was true. Dove Point is one of the best surfing spots around. It’s likely why the little village built up here. Just because the small businesses and homeowners were leaving didn’t mean the waves were.
So, it turns out I was wrong. We needed security cameras. I could review the footage and find out who helped this little vixen chain herself up.
“I guess I am going to have to take my chances,” I say gravely. “You can explain to the cops why I would chain you to a building I own that I also had scheduled to tear down. For the record, I own all the land as far as the eye can see.”
“I’m a squatter,” she glibly responds. “I’ve lived here for more than five years. I have squatter’s rights.”
I swoop down so that we are but a breath apart. I regard Brynne darkly.
“Oh no,” I say in a steely steady tone. “Only if you’ve been here that long since I’ve owned the property. What you’re doing, committing, is unlawful residence otherwise. Do you want me to call the cops and have yet another team of men get a load of you in your birthday suit?
She pouts.
“They can remove you first, and you can sue me later, but I’ll steamroll this house and move on,” I say. “The window to negotiate is closing. I'll listen if you have something to show me other than your goddess-like form. Can you prove your uncle had dementia when he agreed to the deal?”
She averts her eyes to the ground.
“I thought so,” I reply, kind of disappointed that she was bluffing.
I have the tiniest stirrings of feelings for my golden, gorgeous opponent, and that’s dangerous in my line of business.
Chapter 2
Brynne
Iam thrilled that Jack ordered the construction crew away. Pretty soon, though, it will be just the two of us here, and I am not so comfortable with that.
He had his arms around me, and I was naked.
Jack Houston is the typical SoCal-er. He is coifed and polished but tries to dress in understated threads that cost more than I earn in a month. I could match the look with pieces from a thrift store. Faux humility or something. But damn, does he smell good.
