The Bliss Cove Boxed Set (Books 1-3)

by Nina Lindsey

  “Well, it…uh, it might have been something like that.” She clicked her fingers at Fang, trying to stop the inevitable flush from heating her face. “Not that I can remember exactly. Not that I care.”

  She didn’t dare look at him, but his amusement was tangible. Her lips twitched. A warning sign flashed in her head. She’d been forced to sever whatever connection they’d made that night, but nothing—not even his tiger rumble or her visceral memory of his kiss—would change her mind about selling Meow and Then.

  She was no longer the girl who didn’t know how to stand her ground. To fight back.

  A lock clicked into place inside her. No matter what Hunter said or did to try and convince her to sign the contract, she would refuse. And she wasn’t the one who needed a majority. All she needed was enough votes to prevent him from reaching his goal. She could still win. God knew she’d try her hardest.

  Hunter eased closer to Fang. As much as Aria enjoyed his rumble, there was no way it would have an impact on the old defensive cat.

  If it did, she’d have to give up her Cat Lady card.

  Hunter stepped closer. Fang suddenly hissed and lunged, sinking his claws into the man’s leg before flying across the enclosure.

  Told you.

  Aria swallowed the snarky comment and instead asked, “Are you all right? That’s the first time I’ve seen him attack someone.”

  “Yeah.” He glanced at the scratch marring the side of his leg. “Even Porkchop was easier to catch.”

  “Two of the applications today were for Porkchop.” Aria walked toward Fang again. “No one has ever asked about adopting Fang, and I’ve had him for a while. He needs a special home situation too because of his socialization issues. If you go stand on the other side, I’ll put the crate in front of him. He might go in on his own.”

  Hunter moved to stand beside the plastic fencing near Fang. Aria opened the crate door and set it near the cat. Fang’s whiskers twitched. He blinked.

  “Get in there, man,” Hunter urged. “I’m sure when you get home, Aria will feed you.”

  The sound of him speaking her name stirred her with warmth. The way he wrapped his deep voice around Aria was the aural equivalent of how it had felt when he’d folded her into his arms.

  “Close it!” He darted toward her.

  Aria jerked out of her reverie just in time to see Fang’s tail disappear into the crate. She hurried to close and latch the door.

  “Nice work. You and I should start a cat-capturing service.” He flashed her a quick smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

  God. He was sexy with a glower. He was devastating with a smile. She didn’t dare imagine what effect he’d have on her if he actually laughed.

  Picking up Fang’s crate, he started for the van. Aria rolled up the plastic fencing and followed him. They got everything stored in the back, and he closed the doors.

  “Do you want a ride to your car?” Aria pulled her keys from her pocket.

  “No need. I walked from the inn.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “That’s clear across town.”

  “Yeah. Good exercise.”

  “Get in.” Against her better judgement, she indicated the passenger side door. “I’ll give you a ride back, but I need to drop the cats off at home first. Most of them hate being in the car, and they won’t tolerate a ride to and from the inn.”

  “You don’t need to give me a ride.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll walk.”

  Aria let out her breath in an exasperated sigh. “Look, I appreciate your help with the cats, but I don’t want to owe you anything.”

  Darkness flashed over his expression. “I didn’t help you because I expected payment. But if I did, I’d want a lot more than a ride in your old van.”

  She looked up sharply, caught by the hard note in his voice. He closed the distance between them, his broad shoulders blocking the view of the park. Sunset light glowed on his hair. Awareness skated down her spine.

  She lowered her gaze to his mouth, remembering with exquisite clarity how beautifully his lips had pressed against hers. How something inside her had come to life again.

  Smothering the memory, she turned away. With their opposing positions, there was no way on earth she and Hunter would ever find middle ground. They were Batman and the Joker, Sylvester and Tweety, Frodo and Gollum.

  It was just too damned bad that she was still so powerfully attracted to him. It was even worse to think that if he hadn’t been her arch-nemesis—if he’d just been cat-rescuing Glowering Stranger—she would have liked him. A lot.

  Maybe deep down inside, she still did.

  “Look.” He dragged a hand through his hair, the lines of his body tensing as if he were fighting an internal battle. “I’ll stop pushing you to sign the contract.”

  “What dirty negotiation tactic is this?” Suspicion lanced through her. “A sucker punch? A Game of Thrones twist? You pretend like you’re walking away before you turn around and hit me with a battle-ax?”

  “I don’t play dirty.” His jaw tightened. “Do I want and need your signature? Yes. Have you made it crystal clear that nothing I say can convince you to sell? Yes. Am I going to cut my losses and leave? No.”

  “What are you going to do then?”

  “Let the contracts speak for themselves and be available to answer any questions, both before and during the Mariposa Business Association meeting.” He reached past her to open the driver’s side door. His bare arm brushed against hers, sending a jolt of heat straight into her blood.

  Aria flinched. Their eyes collided with a sudden crackle of electricity.

  “You…” She paused, rubbing her hand over the spot on her arm that he’d touched. Focus. “According to council guidelines, any association member is allowed to request a topic for debate at the meeting.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “A debate?”

  “Yes.” She folded her arms and gave a short nod. “I challenge you to a debate about Oceanview Plaza before the vote. We can put all the issues and controversies on the table. You state your case. I’ll state mine. No moderator and no preassigned questions. Just you, me, and the crowd at the Hotel Casa Grande.”

  “Why the Hotel Casa Grande?”

  “We hold the association meetings in the lobby.”

  “The meetings aren’t at the city hall?”

  “The Mariposa Business Association meetings are on Mariposa Street. I’ll ask Nico to put our debate on the agenda. But until then, we agree that any fighting about the contract or Oceanview is off-limits.” She arched an eyebrow and slid her gaze over his T-shirt. “You in?”

  He studied her. She could almost see the assessments and considerations snapping together in his mind.

  “I’m in.” A husky note edged his voice.

  “Truce?” She extended her hand.

  He hesitated for a second, then closed his fingers around hers, almost engulfing her hand in his big grip. Her nerves jumped to full alert at the scrape of his warm palm against hers. She tightened her hold as they shook hands firmly.

  Then a moment passed, as if they were each waiting to see who would pull away first. She loosened her fingers slightly and their hands slid apart. His fingertips brushed her palm. The light touch sent heat clear up her arm.

  Her pulse accelerated. She’d never known a handshake could be so sexy.

  “I’ll take that ride, if you’re still offering,” he said. “As an olive branch.”

  Aria nodded. As she started toward the driver’s side door, the tightness in her shoulders eased. Though she would stand her ground and fight if she needed to, she disliked actually sparring with Hunter. Or with anyone.

  Her arguments with her sister Callie had always left her prickly and raw, and any conflict with Steve had been downright frightening. That was why she’d turned to animals after she’d come back to Bliss Cove. They never made her feel bad.

  She pulled herself into the driver’s seat as Hunter got in beside her. Sexy stuff
aside, she liked the idea of them returning to a degree of cooperation. She’d enjoyed their unexpected teamwork the night of Porkchop’s escape far more than she’d even been willing to admit.

  While she was under no illusions that they could ever work together again, maybe they could coexist with some degree of accord. Though that wouldn’t resolve their situation, it might make it easier to deal with.

  She hoped.

  Chapter 12

  As Aria coaxed the old engine to life, she tried to think of a topic of conversation that might keep her and Hunter on peaceful grounds. She shifted into gear and started out of Wildwood Park.

  “How’s everything at the Outside Inn?” she asked.

  “Sugary and chatty.”

  She smiled. “Mrs. Higgins is very social. Her husband Hank used to be that way too, so together they were a force to be reckoned with. They just loved running the inn and having guests over. They also used to host a big town Christmas party every year.”

  “I’m guessing hot chocolate was involved.”

  “A hot chocolate fountain, in fact.” She shot him an amused look, only to find him watching her with an intent gaze. The last time he’d looked at her like that had been the night of Porkchop’s rescue.

  Warmth swirled through her. “So…you’re from New York?”

  “No. I just live in Manhattan.” A sudden tension radiated from him, and he looked out the side window. “I was born and raised near Chicago.”

  “Does your family still live there?”

  “No.”

  “Where do they live?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A strange pressure constricted her heart. “You don’t know where your family lives?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “But…” How was that possible?

  Even when she’d distanced herself from her mother and sisters after her father’s death, she’d always known exactly where they were. She’d sent them her contact information in Denver. And knowing her family was in Bliss Cove—that home was still a possibility, a destination, a refuge—had been one of the few things that kept Aria’s faint hope alive during months of fear and despair.

  “How can you not know?” she asked.

  “It’s not important.” Hunter’s broad shoulders moved in a shrug. “I left Chicago years ago anyway.”

  Aria stopped at a red light, suppressing the urge to ask more. Did he have any family at all? It was none of her business, even though the idea of him being alone in the world elicited a pang of sorrow.

  “How long have you lived in Manhattan?” Pressing the accelerator, she turned toward Dandelion Street.

  “Ten years. I moved to the East Coast for college.”

  “My sister Callie went to Harvard too.”

  “How do you know I went to Harvard?”

  Heat flushed her cheeks, though she had nothing to lose by telling him the truth.

  “I looked you up. You’re pretty fancy with all your accomplishments and awards.” She shot him a glance. “Not to mention your status as one of New York’s Most Eligible Bachelors Under Thirty-Five.”

  He gave a self-deprecating chuckle and shook his head. “The firm likes that kind of thing. Good publicity.”

  “They must also like all the photos of you out on the town with various beautiful women.”

  He slanted her a glance. “You sound jealous.”

  “I have nothing to be jealous of.” Aria shifted, her chest tightening with discomfort. “I wanted to find out more about you so I’d know what I was up against.”

  “Good strategy. I looked you up too.”

  Her heart jumped. “What did you find out?”

  “Not much aside from the café website. You don’t have any social media accounts, from what I could tell.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “I prefer to keep my private life private.”

  “So do I.”

  “Destiny told me you moved back to Bliss Cove six months ago,” Hunter said. “Was that when you decided to open the café?”

  Aria flexed her hands on the wheel. Though she was a bit wary of his motivations for probing into her life, it might be easier to learn more about him—and refine her strategy—if he knew about her.

  “I’d had the idea for a while.” She turned the van toward Mariposa. “I spent a few years working at the Rescue House while helping my mother at Sugar Joy. Doing both of those things made me think of opening a cat café, but I didn’t get around to actually doing it until last year.”

  She didn’t want to imagine what he’d think of her scattered job history, her constant stops-and-starts, and then losing herself in a bad relationship before she’d even figured out who she was or what she wanted to be.

  Despite his vagueness about his family, she suspected Hunter was the kind of man who’d always had a direct, clear path to follow. Who knew what he wanted and how to get it. He hadn’t reached the pinnacle of the Imperial executive team without driven ambition.

  Well, good for him. Some people built multi-billion-dollar complexes. Other people took care of stray cats and hosted Saturday game nights. Who could say one was more important than the other? The world needed both. A lot of people would probably rather have hot cocoa and Monopoly than Rolex watches and expensive cars.

  She certainly would. And she would much rather have her family than all of Hunter’s wealth and success.

  She pulled up behind the café and turned off the engine. “If you want to wait here, I’ll get the cats squared away.”

  “I’ll help.”

  She unlocked the backdoor while he grabbed two crates from the van and hauled the meowing cats into the lounge. Within a few minutes, they had all the crates inside.

  He helped her unlatch the doors and release the cats. Aria started filling the food and water bowls.

  Hunter picked up a copy of The Bliss Cove Gazette lying on one of the tables. “Is your friend Brooke a reporter for the paper?”

  “Yes, her grandfather owns it.” She scratched Libby’s ears as the cat twined around her legs. “How did you know?”

  “I read the article.” He tapped the headline about Mariposa and Imperial. “It’s good.”

  “You don’t mind an article about Imperial’s takeover attempt?”

  “Why would I?” He shrugged. “It’s the truth. The article was relatively unbiased, except for the somewhat lengthy list of potential problems.”

  “Also the truth.”

  He studied her over the top of the paper, his expression giving nothing away. “The Imperial proposal addresses environmental impacts and green initiatives. We don’t intend to wreck everything and leave town. The company will have a presence here, and as such, we want what’s best for the town. I get that it’s easy to think of me as the bad guy wanting to bulldoze everything and build skyscrapers, but that’s not the case.”

  Aria filled another bowl, ignoring a prickle of guilt. “Hunter, even if you were building a bunch of yurts on the land, it wouldn’t matter. You’d still want to destroy every building on Mariposa Street with no consideration for the fact that they all mean something.”

  She waved a hand to encompass the café. “This building was once owned by a woman named Christine Sterling, whom I’m actually related to on my father’s side. She was a writer and a journalist who covered stories about suffrage and immigration. After her husband died, she started a rooming house here to support her three children. Until the Hotel Casa Grande was built, this was the only hotel on Mariposa Street.”

  “Aria, I know this neighborhood has a rich and complex history.” Hunter began helping her fill the cats’ water bowls. “But Bliss Cove hasn’t deemed any of these buildings worthy of being saved. Towns and cities are living, evolving entities that need to change. I’m in favor of preserving historic buildings if they’re important, but not just because they’re old.”

  “That’s exactly why I’ve started the Mariposa Restoration Fund,” Aria said. “The district ca
n be so many things, but it needs money and people who care about saving it. I’m just sorry it took a threat from Imperial for us to realize that.”

  She turned away from him and let out a breath. “I thought our truce meant we’re not supposed to fight about this.”

  “We’re not fighting.” He set a bowl in front of Fang, who was crouched by the window. “We’re talking.”

  She huffed out a laugh. It was kind of amazing to think two people could disagree about something and talk instead of fight.

  She put the cat food in the cupboard. Yes, it was too damned bad that Hunter was who he was, but it was also for the better. Better for her anyway.

  She’d made a vow to focus on herself and her business, with just a couple of casual dates intended to prevent her from being a total hermit.

  But if circumstances were different and she and Hunter were both free to pursue their attraction, she doubted a casual date or two would be enough. With him, she’d want more. Too much more.

  “So, we should probably get going.” She glanced at the wall clock. “Does Mrs. Higgins have a curfew?”

  “Not that I know of.” Jumbo twined around Hunter’s legs. He squinted at the I’m Taken sign around the cat’s neck. “Did someone adopt him?”

  “No.” Aria went to the sink to wash her hands. “Jumbo’s not available for adoption. He’s mine.”

  “How’d you pick one cat out of all the others?”

  “I didn’t. He picked me.”

  She half-expected him to scoff. Instead, he lifted an eyebrow in inquiry.

  “He’d been left behind when a family moved away, and he ended up at the Rescue House shelter.” She dried her hands on a dishtowel. “Some cats and dogs get adopted right away, but others have a harder time finding a home. If it takes a while, the animals end up in the Lonely Hearts Club, which means that their adoption fee is reduced. That’s what happened with Jumbo.”

  Hunter eyed the cat. “Why wasn’t he adopted?”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes it’s obvious, like with Fang, but we couldn’t figure out why no one wanted Jumbo. He was only two years old at the time, he’s good-tempered, and he’s obviously handsome. I guess he just didn’t make a connection with anyone.”