Fury burned through her as she pulled her car alongside the Benz, an enormous dust cloud swarming over him. She climbed out and slammed the door. “Are you kidding me? This is the property you want to build your stupid store on?”
Seeming shocked by her rapid appearance, Gage fanned the dust away from his face. “Perrin?”
“Don’t you Perrin me. You put a bid on my land.”
He frowned and glanced at the FOR SALE sign. “This property belongs to the bank.”
“It did, until you swooped in with your big bag of money.” She scoffed. “So much for your spiel about being persuaded. You had no intention of walking away, did you? You saw an opportunity and threw your wallet around, knowing no one in little old Jasper Falls would ever be able to outbid you with your damn twenty-thousand-dollar bonus! Well, guess what, Mr. King.” She angled forward, getting right in his face and poking him hard in the chest. “We. Don’t. Want. You. Here.”
He caught her finger, holding it tight to his warm chest. “You’re angry.”
“No fucking shit I’m angry! This was supposed to be my land!” She yanked her hand out of his grip and marched over to the FOR SALE sign and kicked it.
Her foot went through the paper portion, and she found herself straddling the medal stakes as her leg got stuck in the now empty square hole.
“Careful.” He caught her shoulders, before she lost her balance.
“Oh, get off me.” She yanked her leg free. “The last thing I need is your damn southern charm. Backstabber!”
“Perrin, I had no idea you were interested in this property.”
She staggered back from the battered sign and scowled at him. “Why are you here?”
“I told you—”
“No, why here? Why Jasper Falls? We already have a hardware store and a lumber company and a tile and plumbing supplier and everything a little town needs. Your store is going to put the entire town out of business. Do you think you have a chance of endearing us after that?”
He stepped back, breathing in and keeping any rebuttal to himself. Her molars locked and she blinked hard, commanding herself not to get weepy. She knew how these things worked. A big store moved into a small town, and all the little shops tried to keep up, but eventually they lose, unable to compete with the mass-market pricing of the bigger store. One by one they crumble, and sooner or later someone needs paint, so they go shopping in the enemy’s den.
She growled and marched back to her car.
“Perrin, wait.” He chased after her but she wasn’t stopping.
“Go away.” She jerked open her car door.
“Where should I go?”
“Who cares?” She climbed behind the wheel and slammed the door or tried.
He caught the door in a strong grip. “Wait. You know the area better than me. Have dinner with me. Give me a tour of the town. There’s a lot of unoccupied land in the area. Show me a better option, and I’ll back out of the sale. I still have time.”
She stilled. Damn him. She really didn’t want to spend another minute in his presence, but what if she could find another property for his store? There were lots of places—wait. No, she couldn’t do that because his presence was bad for everyone else.
“What’s the point? No matter where you go you’ll be hurting someone.”
“That can’t be true.” His dark brows pinched tight, as if he was genuinely concerned.
She scoffed. “You can’t own that many stores and be that naive. This is how these things work. A big store comes in, bullies the little guy out, and boom, nothing’s ever the same.”
“That’s not fair. What about the jobs we would create? The programs we offer our communities? Do you know about our scholarships? Or pension incentives? What about healthcare? You have King’s marked as the enemy before even knowing what we’re about.”
Her eyes started to sting, a common problem whenever she felt outnumbered and out of control. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll get what you want, and there’s nothing we can do to stop you.”
“What do you want?” he asked softly, staring into her eyes. “It matters to me.”
She blinked away and stared out at the property. “This was supposed to be ours, for the bar.”
“Okay.” His voice turned soft and cajoling. “So, help me find a better option. Then we both win.”
Her gaze dropped to her lap. If she helped him, was she somehow betraying everyone else? What about Ryan and Finn and Luke and Tristan and Mac, and the guys at the bar, and everyone else who worked at the lumberyard?
His finger caught her chin, startling her. He pulled her gaze to him. “What’s the harm in helping me? A few hours. One tour. One date.”
“I don’t date.”
“But you eat, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, I eat, but—”