Unexpectedly You Read Free Page B

to where her fingers were still singed on his forearm. He didn’t even bother to mask his impatience. “News flash, Mrs. Madsen no longer owns this property.”
    Emma’s eyes darkened into a mesmerizing aqua green, like the color of the Gulf Coast he’d fished many times with his brother. “But it was a stipulation to the sale. Nothing was supposed to change.”
    He shook his head. “What’s with you anyway? What do you have against change?”
    “I don’t have anything against change. I have everything against people like you.”
    Her words were like salt to his open wound. Coming from a blue-collar logging town, he’d heard those same words repeatedly like a sick, recurring chorus every time he’d tried to dig his way out of the sludge. “People like me? And what do you have against people like me?”
    “I have everything against vultures like you who wait around and snap up property from sick people, old people, people who are struggling every day so the banks don’t foreclose on their properties. And for what? So you can build expensive playhouses for the rich that ruin the authenticity of our quiet community.”
    “And by ruin, do you mean building quality homes for people to purchase, thereby driving up the value of existing homes? You’re right. I’m an asshole.” He jerked his arm free of her hold and gave her one last disgusted look before heading off toward his men.
    What did she have against capitalism anyway? It wasn’t his fault the economy had tanked. According to Emma LeFleur, buying foreclosed properties was a crime against humanity.
    Goddamn. He’d worked twelve-hour days, six days a week in construction the last four years to save up enough capital to invest in distressed properties. He’d put in every dime he owned and borrowed what he could from his brother to get Coastal Development off the ground. And now, the company was at the juncture where it could either soar from an infusion of cash, or tank if he couldn’t close on this project in time as he’d promised.
    Her voice stopped him midstride. “You’re so full of crap. You know very well the homes you build are out of range for the average family who live in Bella Del Mar. You’re not interested in helping us. You’re not going to stop until you’ve displaced all of us and made room for your snooty clients. I won’t let that happen.”
    His back stiffened and he did a one-eighty, ripping off his sunglasses in one angry swipe as he marched back toward her. His temple throbbed and he wanted to throttle her slender neck. Instead, he leaned in to within inches of her face.
    “You are a real head case, you know that? You think I don’t know that you’ve got the entire town ramped up against me? From the building official you’ve got wrapped around your little finger to the waitress at the diner who can’t take an order if her life depended on it.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Oh, no?” he asked sarcastically. “It’s not because of you I have a glove compartment filled with bogus parking tickets and city fines? Or how about when I order fries on the side, I get cottage cheese. Or I order a rare burger that’ll come out charred to a crisp. I’ll give you that it took me a couple of times before I realized what the hell was going on. I get it. I’m on to your little game.” He pointed a finger at her to drive home his words. “This time, you’ve crossed the line.”
    She recoiled from the force of his rage.
    Encouraged that he was getting to her, he inched even closer. “What the hell do you have against people making a decent living? Not everyone wants to dwell in the past like you.” He looked at the ground for a couple of seconds before his gaze returned to her face. “You got dealt a fucked-up hand and I am sorry for that. If you recall, I offered you a way out, and you threw it right back at me. You know what your problem is? You’re too stubborn to realize when you need