Applewood, 5

If all you need is love, can former rivals build a future together?

Nate has always had one goal in life, become Mayor of Applewood. Now that he’s in charge, he’s got his heart set on revitalizing the town square. Unfortunately for him, the one person who can help Nate reach his goal is also the one he can’t stand to be around, but not for the reason most people think. Charlotte is a distraction he can’t afford if he wants to live up to his own lofty expectations.

Lottie is all about helping her small town, so when a former rival comes knocking and asks for her assistance, she agrees. She and the mayor still bicker, but their banter is something she lives for, and with each heated glance Nathan sends her way, the harder Lottie finds herself falling. Will he feel the same about her when she confesses a big secret?

Can Nate and Lottie let go of what has been and embrace what could be, or will all they’ve kept from one another be enough to drive them apart for good?

Excerpt:

When Nate ran for mayor, it had been an uphill battle. Accusations of inexperience and lack of political acumen followed him around as he campaigned, but eventually he won everyone over. He hadn’t thought he would get the groundswell of local support that he did, but when his lawyer contacted him to let him know that a group of townspeople had donated enough money to cover his keystone project and then some, Nate couldn’t help but be touched by his community’s faith in him. What had happened to that support now that he actually had the job was anyone’s guess. It seemed that the Citizens for a Brighter Applewood were happy to fund his project, but not help get him the approvals necessary to do it. It was endlessly frustrating, and every time Nate looked around the town and saw not what was, but could be, he got more and more irritated about that fact.

Just when Nate thought his mood couldn’t get any worse, he moved up to the sidewalk, only narrowly avoiding the door to Warm Delights Bakery smashing him directly in the face. Spinning out of the way just in time, he didn’t see the small café table until he was toppling over it and landing hard on the cement. His body slammed onto the cold ground, pain shooting through his skin straight down to his bones.

“Fucking hell,” he grumbled.

Nate’s body throbbed from his ass to his elbows, and while he was grateful that he hadn’t landed on his head, the migraine that had been threatening all morning finally made its appearance. Nate closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again this would have all been a miserable dream and that he would be in his warm bed, not out on the frigid concrete with his ass going numb.

As he sat there with his arms on his knees, taking note of the new hole on the left side of his running pants, Nate felt the brush of soft fabric against his forehead, pushing back the hair that had fallen into his eyes before cupping his cheek. “Oh my God, Nathan. Are you all right?”

Nate hadn’t needed to hear her voice to know the woman in front of him was Lottie Adams, he could tell based on the cinnamon apple scent wafting his way. It was the same aroma that had plagued him since he was a teen, driving him crazy in more ways than one. To this day, she was also the only person besides his mother to call him Nathan, and even then Cora Kemp only used his full name when it was a chastisement, something he avoided if at all possible. Lottie said it like it actually meant something to her, but what exactly that was he didn’t dare speculate. Not anymore. Sighing, Nate opened his eyes and glared at the one woman he never seemed able to shake the presence of. Jerking away from her touch before he became tempted to lean into it, he stood abruptly, needing space from his every dream come true and absolute waking nightmare.

“I’m fine,” he barked. Brushing his hands down his undoubtedly bruised body, Nate winced when he took a step and felt his knee twinge. Ignoring the soft way that Lottie was looking at him, Nate steeled himself against her. Slipping on the mask of hate had become second nature to him, so much so that he almost believed himself when he spoke so harshly to her. “You should be more careful when you’re opening doors, Charlotte.” To everyone else she was Lottie, but Charlotte was just for him, her full name with its beauty and grace being the one thing about her he allowed himself to keep.

For her part, Lottie seemed wholly unaffected by his demeanor, smiling prettily as she stood and gazed over at him. No matter how many times Nate snarled at her, she always came back for more. He would call her a glutton for punishment, but he could say the same thing about himself, making his permanent home in a town where he knew he would never be able to escape her physically or emotionally.

“I suppose I should, but then again I could also tell you to watch where you’re going.” She took a small sip from a paper to-go cup, and Nate definitely did not track the movement of her pink tongue running across her ruby red lips as she licked away a stray drop of her drink. “Though I suppose it is a bit like you to run into things headfirst without thinking about the consequences.”

Nate balked at her assessment of him. If anything, he was too thoughtful, too measured in everything he did. There wasn’t a reckless bone in his body and everyone knew it, including her. With the exception of the night they’d spent together, Nate hadn’t done a single thing out of character in his life and he wasn’t about to start now by letting her accusation go unchallenged. “I don’t know what you think you’re talking about, but I don’t like the implication.”

Lottie just kept smiling, stepping closer to him so that their chests were nearly touching. It was something she had always done since that night, get close enough to almost touch but never going that last inch or two that would finally put him out of his misery and end him completely. “I’m talking about committing to the idea of christening the new town square next year when you haven’t even broken ground on construction yet.”

Nate fumed while Lottie sipped her coffee, hating that she seemed to know about everything that went on in the town before anyone else did, namely him, the man in charge of the place. As infuriating as it was, he also knew exactly why she did. Everyone in Applewood loved her and longed to unburden themselves in her presence. It was what made her even more dangerous to him than she already was. Every second she spent in front of her brought him closer to admitting how he really felt, abandoning his desire to make his hometown a better place, disappointing everyone else that ever mattered to him and devoting himself to loving her as completely as he could.

Instead of sitting with the uncomfortable truth that he was a coward when it came to his feelings, Nate focused on digging into another one. “How the hell did you come upon that information?”

Lottie smiled brightly and whipped out her phone. “I have my ways, you know that,” she winked. God, her beauty was maddening and she was sexy as hell to boot. It was a lethal combination that Nate had spent the better part of a decade trying to ignore while never quite accomplishing that feat. “So is this you confirming my source?”

She started to type speedily with one hand, something he had yet to master despite always being on his phone for work. Watching Lottie do something he struggled with reminded him a little too much of high school and the rivalry they’d had going back then. They’d also come together beautifully once before, but as he would never allow that to happen again, Nate had to settle for having her be a nonstop source of irritation instead. They were destined to lock horns constantly. The thought of never ridding himself of her, of the helpless way she made him feel enraged him even more. He cursed life’s cruelty and his own inadequacies.

“No, it is not,” he ground out. Nate stalked closer to her until she was pressed back against the outer wall of the bakery, ignoring the way her breath hitching at the move had his cock coming to life. His attraction to Lottie and subsequent knowledge that he could never give into it again was his cross to bear, made all that more difficult by her persistent presence in his life. “Stop using your friendship with my administrator as fodder for your gossip sheet.”

Nate knew that the words would get her ire up, and yes, he’d done it on purpose so that they were on equal footing. Lottie having the audacity to be cool and calm while he was a flustered mess grated on his last nerve. Yet at the sight of the vein on her forehead popping, he felt a scrap of relief. Nate could be an asshole. He knew it, she knew it, but it was a necessary evil to maintain the distance between them.

“You would know that it’s not a gossip sheet if you ever bothered to read it, and I wouldn’t have to go to anyone else for information if you would just talk to me.” The anger in her voice melted away as she blinked up at him, her hickory brown eyes softening as they searched his. Nate felt the tip of her glove touch his finger, and he closed his eyes as she ran it along the edge of his hand. “Why won’t you ever talk to me, Nathan?”

The reminder of how things had been and likely would always be between them tipped Nate over the edge. Every moment spent near her without holding her was like a thousand tiny needles to the heart, but it was better than the alternative. He could live with disappointing himself, but not an entire town that believed in him, even if that belief was currently on shaky ground.

“You know why. Just stop badgering the people in my office.” Before Lottie could comment, Nate brushed past her, ignoring the look of hurt that had been in her eyes as he did. No matter how many times he’d seen it over the years, the sadness on Lottie’s face wasn’t something Nate ever got used to, but that never seemed to stop him from putting it there.