AFTER HER FLOWER PETALS

The characters are endearing, engaging and their situations are thought-provoking and funny as heck! –Patrice, Amazon

the perfect romantic comedy (with lots of awesome comedy), with a hilarious characters, the perfect amount of hotness, and the best big family ever!!!! Hilariously amazing, swoonily sweet and just freaking right, After Her Flower Petals is a spectacular story for Megan and Hunter, with many unexpected layers of awesomeness. –Melinda, Goodreads

The situational comedy had me snickering out loud and routing for the much deserved HEA. – Shanna, Amazon

I love Alina Jacobs and her fantastic world full of arrogant, naughty, and funny male characters! And Hunter Svensson is the best! –Antonella, Goodreads

The characters are charming and there is so much chemistry with Meg and Hunter. Grab your copy and see if Hunter can get his plans going in the right direction and win her heart back! – Emily, Amazon

This is a small town second chance romance that will warm your heart. –BP34, Goodreads

I love that this story kept me laughing. It’s zany and kooky, and beyond over-the-top. – Kristen, Amazon

Chapter 1

Meghan

“I cannot believe he brought her here,” I hissed.

“He does have terrible taste in women,” Susie agreed. “Except you, of course.”

“Guests of guests don’t bring guests,” I said, scowling.

Susie reached over and jabbed me in the forehead. “You’re going to be sad when you get wrinkles. Besides, she’s a plus-one,” Susie drawled as the fit, toned young woman clutched at Hunter’s suit sleeve, giggling loudly over the chatter of the crowd.

We were throwing an eightieth birthday party for my great-uncle Barry at the Harrogate city hall. In addition to a large portion of the town, the Svensson brothers were in attendance. They were all tall, blond, and entitled, and Hunter, with his toy girlfriend, was the worst.

“I need a snack.”

“You need a drink,” Susie corrected.

I tried to concentrate on the delicious food my younger sister Hazel was serving: deep-fried squash blossoms, grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches on bread she had baked herself, and cheddar, bacon, and potato soup. Though tasty, it wasn’t enough to make me forget about how smug Hunter looked with his new girlfriend.  

“I thought you were over him anyway,” Susie reminded me as we loaded our plates. “You both agreed to mutually move on.”

“Yeah, but not like that,” I seethed.

Over the past few months, Hunter had paraded svelte, ditzy models and bosomy young actresses through Harrogate.

“He’s doing it on purpose,” I said, angrily eating a lobster puff.

“Yeah, but you totally hate him,” Susie reminded me.

“I do,” I agreed around the food. “I despise him. Look at him. He ruined my life, yet now he’s over there with some Instagram thot, and the best I’m able to date is Chance, who has all those feral rabbits living in his apartment.”

“Are you still going out with him?” Susie asked apprehensively.

“No. His chunky rabbit gave birth in my purse, then I had to fight with her when she tried to eat the babies.”

“Lord have mercy.” Susie snorted, then went over to talk to a fellow police officer while I glared at the side of Hunter’s head.

As if he knew I was watching him, he turned. Gray eyes caught mine, then Hunter swaggered over to me. His date trotting next to him, not taking her eyes off the handsome billionaire, the smile huge and crazy on her face.

“I hope she slashes the tires on your expensive fancy fucking car,” I whispered.

“Now, Meg, voicing such violent thoughts is unbecoming of the deputy mayor of Harrogate.” A smile played around Hunter’s mouth.  

“Oops, did I say that out loud?” I said flatly.

Hunter cocked an eyebrow. “You’re supposed to give my girlfriend a big small-town welcome.”

“Food’s back there—mind the feral cats in the parking lot—and you used to be able to buy sex toys from that lady over there, but one of her products almost killed a gal, and the company was sued into bankruptcy. But the giant vegetable festival is going to be in a few more months if you can hold on. I know Hunter has his charms, but nothing beats a big cucumber.” I stuffed two more lobster bites in my mouth.

Hunter scowled. His date was shocked.

“Fleur, this is Meg,” Hunter said. “She’s trying to block my big residential development. Meg, this is Fleur. She’s a fitness model.”

“I run a Pilates class!” Fleur told me brightly. “Online. You can sign up and pay, or I do a free one every Tuesday. We have a lot of heavier-set people in the class, so you should feel right at home!”

If I didn’t want to eat my cheddar, bacon, and potato soup, I would have drowned her in it.

“I also have a meal plan,” she continued.

Crunch. I noisily ate my grilled cheese.

Fleur made a face. “My meal plan doesn’t include dairy.”

“That’s a bummer,” I said. “I like to add butter to my steak when I cook it. You know, grease up the meat.”

Hunter narrowed his eyes at me.

“My meal plan doesn’t include steak either. It’s all vegan,” Fleur replied brightly.

Hunter’s scowl turned into a grimace. “You’re vegan?”

“Yes, sweetie!” she chirped.

“Yeah that’s not going to work for him. He’s from Wyoming, so he eats meat with every meal. Come to think of it,” I said, taking a spoonful of my soup then slowly sliding the spoon out of my mouth, “so do I.”

“Men can change when they have the influence of a good woman,” Fleur insisted, her grip a little tighter on Hunter’s suit jacket. She tilted her face up at him. “I’m going to make you some fantastic health food, babe. You’re going to be vegan before you know it!”

I smirked as Hunter squirmed.

“Unfortunately,” I told Fleur, “some men can’t change. But enjoy your kale and mushrooms, Hunter.” I chuckled as I turned to go grab a plate of parmesan truffle french fries and a cocktail. I hid behind a column to eat them before the townspeople accosted me.

Eating secretly and dealing with the small-town characters was all that my life consisted of at this point. During the first few years after moving home to Harrogate, I had chafed at being stuck in a small town. But by now I had resigned myself to my existence. In addition to doing my job as deputy mayor, I also did a good portion of Mayor Barry’s work. Between my busy schedule, taking care of my sisters, and fighting the Svenssons as they tried to screw over the town at every turn, was it any surprise that I stress ate?

I peeked around the column. Speak of the gray-eyed devil. My younger sisters Rose and Minnie were flirting with two of the teenage Svensson brothers.

My situation might have been endurable if only Hunter wasn’t here. He made my life a thousand times worse. Years ago, he had broken my heart then hadn’t even had the decency to go back to Manhattan to live out his fancy billionaire lifestyle and leave me to my fried food and small-town politics. Nope. Instead, he moved to Harrogate permanently to care for his dozens of little brothers and to make my life miserable.

“Meg! Yoo-hoo! There you are, Deputy Mayor!” Ida, with her gaggle of fellow senior citizens, hustled up to me. I stuffed another handful of fries in my mouth then downed half my drink.

“I want to propose a new idea for the town,” Ida declared.

I took a deep breath.

“It’s amazing!” Ida chattered on. “Hear me out. I know this gal, Dorothy, great gal. She has a naked yoga franchise—”

“We are not doing naked yoga on city property,” I interjected.

“Now wait a dang minute!” Ida put her hands on her hips. “We have a public health crisis in this city. People are eating too much fatty food. Not to mention the drinking.”

“I have to drink,” I mumbled in my glass.

“Yes, but everything in moderation,” Edith Roberts insisted. “We need an activity to motivate people to be active and moving.”

“Keep Harrogate mobile!” Ida shouted.

“Can’t you do regular yoga?” I asked.

“We do,” Bettina said, “but no one shows up. If we had naked people, then everyone would show up!”

Dear lord. Why was this my life?

“Just think about it,” Ida said.

I gave them a noncommittal statement then grabbed another drink and joined my sister, who was helping Uncle Barry onto the stage. The mayor was wheezing as he climbed up the three short steps. He stood leaning on his cane while I stepped up to the microphone.  

“Thank you all for coming to celebrate Mayor Barry’s eightieth birthday,” I announced. I raised my glass and turned to my great-uncle.

Uncle Barry smiled wanly at me. A large man, he was normally red-faced and loud, if not particularly mobile. Now he looked a bit pale. He took a sip of the drink Hazel handed him.

“Mayor Barry, or Great-Uncle Barry, as my sisters and I know him, took us girls in after our parents passed away.” And never gave us the inheritance, but hey, I’m not bitter… “He has always been here for us and the town. Let’s all raise a glass to toast Harrogate’s esteemed mayor!”

The crowd cheered as Mayor Barry waved.

“I’d like to say a few words,” he said, sounding slightly out of breath as I handed him the microphone.

“Serving my fellow citizens of Harrogate has been my greatest—” He didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he blinked, let out a wheezing breath, and then collapsed on the floor.

Chapter 2

Hunter

I had been trying to figure out how to dump Fleur without her trashing me in the tabloids when Mayor Barry collapsed. The fire and police departments were at the party, and several first responders rushed onto the stage while others ran to their trucks to fetch a stretcher. Meg and her sisters clung to each other while Susie did chest compressions.

I wanted to go to Meg to comfort her, but she was surrounded by people. Besides, with all the chaos as they rolled Barry onto a stretcher to cart him away, the last thing the now concluded party needed was my excessively large family adding our own special blend of bedlam to the mix.

I whistled to my brothers. “Let’s go.”

They ignored me.

I curled back my lips and hissed out a breath.

They all came hustling over. Well, the younger ones did at any rate. While all of us were the products of a polygamist cult-leader father and his many wives, my little half brothers—the cute preschoolers, the obnoxious middle-schoolers, and the teenagers who I refused to allow run wild in town—were all controllable. The adult ones were my full brothers and were barely civilized.  

Remington—Remy for short—was the oldest and sported a bushy beard and scars, physical and psychological, from his time in the Marines. He was one of my favorite brothers, and the fact that he had even attended the party was a bit of a relief for me, because that meant he was starting to move past his war experience.

Yours truly, i.e., the only person keeping the family afloat, came after Remy. Then came Gunnar, who, with his shaggy hair and stoner attitude, was a reality TV producer. The Great Christmas Bake-Off was popular, and now he was busy with various reality TV spin-offs, none of which I was allowing any of our brothers to participate in.

The next oldest were Archer and Mace, the twins. Leif Svensson’s genes were strong, and he also only took blond women as his wives. As a result, my brothers and I all looked eerily similar, but Mace and Archer were identical. Though they were twins, their personalities were polar opposites. Mace was the CEO of PharmaTech and was straitlaced, deliberative, and irritatingly risk averse. Archer was covered in tattoos and slept until two in the afternoon.

The one talking to his auburn-haired girlfriend was Garrett. Classic middle child, he was younger than Mace and Archer and older than Blade and Weston. Chief financial officer of Svensson PharmaTech, he was an asshole, but he was self-sufficient, which usually allowed me to excuse his more annoying behavioral quirks.

Weston and Blade, owners of the ThinkX consulting firm, were Irish twins—only nine months apart. Blade never met a spreadsheet he didn’t love, and Weston was an arrogant jerk who was only slightly tolerable. They had also recently moved their company to Harrogate, which meant I had one more thing to keep from going off the rails.

Then came my youngest full-blooded brother, Parker, who was a know-it-all scientist and CTO of Svensson PharmaTech. He had been cute when he was little, but now I was concerned he might snap one day, and if he didn’t go for us all, he’d at least poison Weston.

“I barely had anything to eat!” Weston complained to me.

“Are you serious?” I snapped at him. “The mayor just collapsed.”

“And everyone is talking about it. Ida said he’s probably just drunk. She said he’s been partaking a lot lately.” Weston mimed guzzling a bottle.

“You have no shame, do you?” Mace asked, incredulous. He turned to me. “I’m staying here; Josie wants to organize a food donation.”

“And I’m going to drive Hazel and her sisters to the hospital,” Archer told me, jingling his keys. He was engaged to Hazel, Meg’s younger sister.

I wished I was going with him. Meg looked so lost as she listened to one of the firefighters. I just wanted to wrap my arms around her.

“I hope you’re only going to be giving them healthy food,” Fleur said to Mace.

Right. She was still here.

Garrett crossed his arms.

“Fleur,” I said brusquely. “I am going to have a car take you back to Manhattan.”

“But I wanted to cook for your brothers. I was going to make grapefruit peel steaks. You’ll see—they taste just like a steak but better!”

Davy, one of the youngest, pretended to vomit while the other children laughed. I forced myself not to make a face.

“We will make other arrangements for supper.”

“But I’ll see you this weekend, right?” she asked, trying to pull me down for a kiss. I didn’t budge.

“No.”

***

“So, is this the sum total of your grand plan?” Garrett asked acerbically as we rode in the revamped school bus back to the Harrogate Estate. Originally built in the Gilded Age by the Harrogate industrial scions of old, it now housed my family—well, parts of my family.

“I do not want to deal with you right now.”

Garrett ignored me. “You’re going to parade increasingly obnoxious and ill-equipped women through here to, what, make Meg jealous?”

I closed my eyes and leaned against the window. “Fuck. Off.”

The kids complained that they were hungry when Remy pulled the bus up in front of the house. No one had made any food because we were going to eat at the party.

“Guess we should have stayed after all,” Garrett said, stepping off the bus. “Hunter makes a bad decision, and we’re all shocked. Shocked, I say! Come.” He motioned to our younger brothers. “I’ll order pizza.”

Fuck my life.

I had never wanted to be here in Harrogate, acting as the surrogate father to the ever-increasing number of half brothers my dad would send our way. The only saving grace of being in Harrogate was Meg. But after years of circling each other, I was still no closer to winning her back.

Archer: Mayor Barry is awake. He’s asking for you.

***

Meg was sitting huddled in a chair when I arrived at the regional hospital. She looked up at me. Her makeup was smeared, and her hair was a mess, but all I wanted to do was cuddle her to my chest.

“Meg,” I said, “I’m so sorry.”

She wiped her eyes.

I handed her the flowers I had picked up at the hospital gift shop on my way in.

“Peonies?” she asked. She sounded tired; there wasn’t the usual bite to her words.

“I know you always like to put your hands on my peonies and sometimes your mouth,” I joked. “Though if you want to switch it up, I can totally touch your flower petals.”

Usually that would at least earn me an eye roll. But Meg just looked at the bouquet.

I reached out and stroked her face. “Don’t worry,” I assured her. “Everything will be all right.”

“Why does he want to see you?” she asked warily.

“You always think the worst of me,” I quipped. 

“Because that’s usually the safest option,” she retorted. But she took the flowers, burying her face in the blush petals.

Mayor Barry was propped up on pillows when I walked into the room.

“Hunter, my boy,” he said weakly. “Can you believe it? They won’t even let me have a snack. Or a drink.”

“Probably for the best,” I told him. “Though I’m sure you’ll be back up at the mayor’s office in no time.”

He motioned me to close the door. We were alone in the room.

“I’m not going back to the mayor’s office,” he said. “I only have a few days left.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not dying,” he said. “I’m moving to Arizona. I have a hot young side piece there. She’s in her fifties.”

I smiled slightly.

“I have to get out of here,” he whispered, motioning me closer. “But I need you to do something for me, though.”

“Anything.”

He sighed. “I always wished you and Meg would have gotten together. She needs a man in her life to take care of her.”

“She seems like she has it under control,” I said. “She’s smart and resourceful.”

“Still,” Barry insisted, “I would feel better if a man handled the finances. Especially since…” He sighed. “Well… you’ll see once the documents are sent to you.”

“What do you mean?” I frowned. “Shouldn’t Meg be in here?”

“No, no, she can’t know. The girls can’t know.”

I nodded, and Barry rested back on his pillows, eyes closed.

Meg was glaring at me when I walked out of Barry’s room.

“What did he want?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I told her.

“Stop lying to me.”

I didn’t want to scare her about the finances since she was already so stressed out. Besides, maybe it was nothing. But still, I had always been suspicious. Meg had told me that Barry was very secretive about money. That was never a good thing. Besides, he was constantly traveling and eating at nice restaurants, and he was always dressed very fashionably in custom suits. I knew that wasn’t cheap.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said soothingly.

“You’re lying to me,” Meg said, trembling. “You’re always lying to me.”

“I’m not,” I lied.

Chapter 3

Meghan

“I don’t understand,” I said to my uncle three days later. “You’re moving where?”

“To Arizona!” he boomed. “My love is there waiting for me. She lives in a spiffy retirement community.”

Numerous members of the townspeople were gathered in the hospital lobby, gawking.

“You have a girlfriend in Arizona?” Ida said, crossing her arms. “What are you going to do there?”

“Play golf?” Barry said with a shrug.

Ida snorted. “Who is going to be the mayor?”

“I now renounce my mayorship, good people of Harrogate,” he said as I helped him sit up on his wheeled bed. “The deputy mayor will step in to fill my role.”

The crowd politely applauded.

“Don’t worry, girls,” Barry said to my sisters and me as the medical transport technicians wheeled him into the ambulance. “I already talked to Hunter. He’s going to be taking over control of the finances.”

***

“Fucking Hunter,” I fumed as I drove back home. I had camped out in the hospital the last few days while Barry recovered enough for transport.

“That’s what he was discussing with Barry. And then he stood there and lied to me.”

I never should have trusted him. Every time I thought that maybe Hunter had turned over a new leaf, maybe he had changed, maybe I had made the worst mistake of my life all those years ago by not accepting his apology, Hunter was there to remind me that no, he was still a slimeball—a good-looking billionaire slimeball but a slimeball nonetheless.

I mentally made a list of all the things I needed to do. I was behind on my own deputy mayor duties, and I’d had to push several meetings. I needed to check in with Uncle Barry’s secretary. He refused to use a digital calendar, and the elderly secretary kept all his meetings written in very fine pencil in a large leather-bound planner. I needed to add his meetings to my calendar.

While being in the hospital with Barry had been stressful, I did have to admit that I was sort of looking forward to finally being the mayor. Things were changing around Harrogate. Not to mention, I was going to finally have the house to myself! Well, myself and my sisters. But as soon as I cleaned out all of Barry’s stuff, we would have tons more room. As I pulled onto my street, I mentally catalogued the most efficient way to pack up Barry’s things to send to Arizona.

“What the fuck!”

The door to the rambling Victorian house had a large piece of plywood nailed over it.

“What the hell?” I tried my key on the padlock, but it didn’t work.

“Is this some sort of prank? Are people after me?”

The wind blew, and a piece of paper nailed to the plywood fluttered in the wind. I read it, my vision blurring.

“Repossession notice. All content within belongs to the Harrogate Community Bank.”

I felt sick. Before I could collapse, I slumped down on the porch.

“Meg. Meg!”

“Hunter.”

I raised my head and glared at him as he jogged up the rickety steps.

“You!” I shrieked at him. “You knew about this. You knew they were going to repossess my house! Oh my god. I’m homeless.” I wanted to sob but I refused to let him see me like that.

Hunter wrapped me in his arms. “I didn’t realize until it was too late,” he told me. “Because you were at the hospital when the eviction was scheduled, the bank assumed ownership of your possessions.”

I started weeping.

“Don’t worry,” he assured me, resting his chin on my head. “As soon as the bank finishes the paperwork, they’ll sell the house at auction. I’ll buy it for you and give it back to you. It’s the cheapest way,” he said, smoothing down my hair. “Until then, you can live with me. I told you I’ll always take care of you.”

“You’re going take care of me?” I pushed him away. “This is your fault.”

“No it’s not!” he said, incredulous. “This disaster is all Mayor Barry’s doing.” Hunter opened his briefcase and took out a sheaf of papers. “Barry drained all of the life insurance and inheritance money your parents left you and your sisters, then he took out three mortgages on this property. He lied, not me. I’m trying to help.”

“No, you’re not. Helping would be telling me the truth at the hospital. But you wanted to play hero,” I said angrily.

“It wouldn’t have done any good,” Hunter replied patronizingly. Gosh, I hated him! “You wouldn’t have been able to stop it.”

“No,” I said slowly, “but I could have gotten my fucking stuff out of the house. I have nothing. I’m in the same clothes I was in at the party this weekend!”

Hunter smirked. “Obviously I’m going to help you rescue your stuff.”

I looked at him suspiciously. “How? The letter clearly states that all contents in the house belong to the bank.”

“Yes,” he said, “but if the bank doesn’t know that an item exists and there is no proof that it exists, they can’t claim that it was taken from the house. If the bank comes and ask you if you took anything out, you just have to play dumb and ask, ‘What item?’ They won’t be able to give a list of anything specific. It’s a loophole. It’s also good for inheritance laws if you and your siblings are fighting over a family heirloom.”

“I can’t believe you. I’m the mayor of Harrogate now!”

“Interim mayor,” Hunter said mildly.

“Whatever. I can’t be breaking the law.”

“I mean, you’re welcome to wear some of my clothes,” he said, “but you’ll have to go commando because my underwear won’t fit you.”

I fumed while Hunter went back to his car and took off his jacket then his shirt.

“Don’t want to get it dirty,” he said with a wink as he picked up the tool kit he had brought. His muscles bulged under the thin white undershirt as he went to one of the boarded-up windows and started using a drill to unscrew the screws

“What are you doing? Stop it!” I said, trying to pull him away. I jerked back as the muscles in his shoulder flexed under my hand.

“I’m getting your clothes. At least your underwear.” Hunter grinned at me. “But maybe not your bra because I did always like it when you just wore my shirt, and I could see your nipples through—Ow!” he complained as I flicked his ear.

“Look, the board’s already off.” He set it aside then opened the window and hopped through.

Against my better judgment, I followed him.

Chapter 4

Hunter

“I’m going to be arrested and lose my law license,” Meg complained as I led the way through her house.

“I’ll bail you out of jail,” I assured her.

While I hadn’t maliciously lied to Meg about the state of her finances—I did only want to protect her—I also had to admit that this situation was working in my favor. Meg had nowhere to go. She had no money. Barry had been increasingly relying on her salary as deputy mayor to keep the household afloat.

Now Meg would have to let me help her. We would move in together and live happily ever after.

I grabbed some of Barry’s clothes to send to his new home in Arizona while Meg packed up hers and her sisters’ things.

“Just let me know if Minnie and Rose need to come back here. I can break in again,” I reminded her as I took the suitcases from her and carried them downstairs.

“They have most of their stuff at Hazel’s,” Meg grumbled. “They hated living here with Barry.”

I set down the bags then jogged up the staircase to grab the next set.

“Thanks,” she said begrudgingly as I shoved the bags out of the window. Then I helped her back out onto the porch.

“I told you,” I said to Meg, taking her in my arms. It feels so right to have her in my arms. “I’m here for you—whatever you need.” I kissed the top of her head. Meg was as good as mine.

I shrugged on my shirt and jacket then started loading up the bags in my car.

“What are you doing?” she protested.

“They all can’t fit in your little car,” I reminded her. “I’ll swing Minnie and Rose’s stuff at Hazel’s restaurant, then I’ll meet you over at my house. I already told my brothers to make a room ready for you.”

“Are you kidding me?” she sputtered. “I’m not moving in with you!”

“Of course you are; where else are you going to go?”

“You can’t just dictate my life, Hunter Svensson!” Meg insisted, waving her arms. “We didn’t even talk about this.”

“You’re homeless,” I scoffed, slipping on my sunglasses. “Are you going to sleep in the car? In your office? You need somewhere to stay.”

“I’m not moving in with you!” she yelled at me.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” I said, slamming the door shut and heading to Main Street.

In the rearview mirror, Meg ran to her car. I smiled at the reflection.

***

My younger brother, Archer, was waiting in front of Hazel’s restaurant, the Grey Dove Bistro, when I pulled up.

“Damn, Hunter,” he said cheerfully as he helped me unload the car. “I can’t believe Meg agreed to move in with you. After all this time, you finally did it!”

“I am not moving in with him,” Meg yelled out of her car window as she parked haphazardly on the street.

“You’re going to get a ticket for illegal parking,” I told her mildly.

“You’re driving me crazy!” She slammed the car door.

“You’re moving in with Hunter?” Hazel, Meg’s sister, asked.

“Absolutely not. Now give me my box of baking supplies back,” she said, rummaging in my car.

“Meg, stop kidding yourself,” I told her, tugging the box back from her. “You have nowhere to stay.”

“I do,” she insisted. “I found a sublease. The current resident is out on business for a month, and I’m renting from her. It was just posted online.” She waved her phone at me.

“You can’t just live in some stranger’s house,” I said.

“It’s an apartment,” Meg said, grabbing the box back from me.

“It’s probably bug infested.”

“It’s a nice building. I’ve been there before. They have a pool. It’s off of Ninth Street.”

Hazel wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t that where that guy with all the dead cacti lived?”

“You dated someone who had a dead cacti collection?”

“He spray-painted them different colors and put little hats on them,” Hazel informed me.

“Why are you dredging the bottom of the lake when you could have me?” I asked Meg.

“Because you’re a liar and a cheat.” She walked back to her car.

I finished unloading the bags then jumped back in my car to follow her. I found her parked in front of a familiar apartment building, struggling to unload all her things. I grinned as I walked up to her.

“Leave me alone. Stop harassing me,” Meg said as she wrestled her stuff through the tall glass doors.

“Oh, I plan on being here quite a bit,” I replied.

“No, you’re not! I’ll report you to the police for trespassing,” Meg threatened.

My smile grew broader. “You can’t trespass on your own property.”

“What?” she sputtered and dropped the mixing bowl she was carrying. I picked it up then took the box from her.

“This building is one of Svensson Investments’ early property developments from before you moved back to Harrogate.”

Meg looked around wildly.

“It’s fate. We’re meant to be together,” I said, sweeping into the building. “But honestly, Meg, how much are you paying for this unit? Wait, let me try and remember the rental rates for this property. Somewhere around fifteen hundred a month?”

“Only a thousand,” she countered as we walked through the lobby.

“So you’d rather pay to live on my property rather than live on it for free.”

“You want me to live in your house.”

“I just want you to let me take care of you,” I told her. “I could buy you any property in Harrogate. Shoot, if you wanted to move back to Manhattan, I could arrange that too.”

She drew herself up. “I am a member of the government of Harrogate, and I will not be bribed by shady investors.”

I muttered a curse.

Meg mashed the elevator button. I ignored her when she yelled at me not to follow her inside the cab.

“How else are you going to bring all your thousands of baking items upstairs?” I countered, looking down at her. Her hair was frizzy with the exertion of the day. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you bake anything.”

“Now that I’m not taking care of Barry, I will start baking,” she said, chin set.

I grinned. Meg scowled at me.

“Are you going to invite me over to taste some of your baked goods or…” I chuckled. “Lick the frosting off of your cupcakes?”

“I’m not letting you anywhere near me.” She huffed as we walked down the short hallway to her apartment.

I stepped inside after she unlocked the door. Svensson Investment had bought this building over a decade ago. It had been abandoned when we had moved to Harrogate, and we had squatted in it, cooking over a propane campfire wrapped in blankets after escaping the polygamist cult.

I shook off the memories.

The window of the tiny studio looked at a brick wall.

“If you moved in with me,” I said casually, “you could have a view of the Harrogate Estate backyard, or I could buy us a very nice condo on Main Street.”

Meg shoved me out of the door.

“I don’t even get a ‘thank you for your help’?”

Meg narrowed her eyes at me. “You only did it because you wanted something.”

Yeah… Meg.

Chapter 5

Meghan

I slumped against the door after Hunter had left. It had taken all my self-control not to take him up on his offer.

He’s just trying to use you. That’s how he is. He acts charming and loving to get what he wants.

But it was a temptation. Hunter had always promised me an easy life.

I nervously checked my banking app on my phone. Maybe I had made too hasty a decision. This apartment was a lot of money. I could have just moved in with Susie.

“I just need to hold on until I officially become the mayor,” I told myself, “then I will be paid four times my current amount, and I will actually hire a deputy mayor that’s more competent than Barry, and I won’t have such a heavy workload.”

As I showered, I continued to give myself a pep talk. “Just be optimistic,” I ordered myself as I put on a skirt, no-nonsense pumps, and a blazer that was my typical deputy mayor outfit. “Barry is healthy, I have somewhere to live for now, and I have free time. In fact, I am baking cupcakes tonight. Maybe…”

My phone was blowing up with emails from people wanting to schedule meetings, residents demanding that I fulfill promises Barry had made, Ida wanting to know why I had rejected her proposal for her friend’s nudist retreat…

“I cannot deal with this on an empty stomach.”

Hazel was at her restaurant making sandwiches behind the counter when I walked in.

“I have your favorite,” she said. “A prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich with pesto aioli, plus mozzarella sticks because I think we all deserve fried cheese in times like these.”

“Is Hunter buying our house back?” Minnie demanded.

“Yeah. I want my room,” Rose complained.

“I thought you hated that house,” I reminded my teenage sisters. “You were never there.”

“That was because of Barry,” Rose said, stealing one of my mozzarella sticks. “Stupid sexist old man.”

“He just got out of the hospital,” I chided.

“Yeah, then ran off with all our money and left us homeless.”

I sighed.

“You should get back together with Hunter so he’ll buy the house back,” Rose insisted.

“You can’t just rely on men for everything,” I told her.

“Hazel has Archer. I bet he’ll buy the house back,” Minnie countered, slouching in her seat.

“I’m not asking Archer to buy that house,” Hazel warned them. “It’s not even in that great of shape. Plus, it has all those teeny-tiny little rooms.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told them. “As soon as I become mayor, we’ll have a lot more money coming in.”

“What if there are other debts we have to pay?”

Hunter still hadn’t been completely straight about the state of Barry’s finances. Surely, I couldn’t be on the hook for what he had spent, right?

“It will be fine. Why don’t you all look for apartments you like in town?” I told my sister, who groaned.

Everything will be fine, I repeated to myself as I ate my sandwich. It will all be fine.

Chapter 6

Hunter

“I can’t believe she wouldn’t let me help her!” I fumed when I returned to the estate house.

I had dropped Mayor Barry’s bags off with his secretary at city hall with instructions to mail it to his new residence. Then I had driven back to Meg’s apartment, wondering if it was a bad idea to go back up. I decided against it. She had rebuffed me earlier, like she had done so many times before ever since that one horrible night five years ago.

When I walked in, my little brothers were playing some sort of suicidal flying squirrel game where they were swinging from the banister of the grand stair in the foyer. I stood there a moment and waited. When my little brothers realized I was there, there were shrieks and blaming.

“Line up,” I ordered as they assembled in front of me by height. “Clearly you all have too much energy.”

Isaac grabbed the three newest additional toddler triplets, Justin, Jacob, and Johnny, and set them at the end of the line then hustled to his spot near the beginning.

“Isaac, switch places with Bruno. You’re taller than him.”

“Yes!” Isaac said, pumping his fist. I stifled a smile. As much as I complained about my little brothers, I would do literally anything for them. They were the reason I had given up my cushy existence in Manhattan to move back to Harrogate. They needed me, just like Meg’s sisters needed her. Really, she and I were meant to be together. Why could she still not accept that?

“It’s almost spring,” I told my brothers. “Why don’t you all go out and talk to Remy about planning a garden ready? People who are digging holes all day don’t have energy to destroy handcrafted woodwork in a historic house.”

Nate, one of the middle school–aged kids, raised his hands.

“What?”

“We could make a flower bed for Meg,” he offered. “Since she’s moving here.”

I gritted my teeth. “Change of plans.”

I needed a drink.

My brothers darted outside while I went up to the clubroom.

The old Harrogate estate house had a large room that the architect had told us was the clubroom. It had a built-in bar and was completely clad in wood. In the middle of the room stood a giant globe that I wouldn’t let the kids touch because it was some sort of priceless antique. The furniture consisted of large leather chairs—a mix of what had been left over in the house when we bought it and pieces the architect said were period appropriate. Usually, we kept the room locked because that was where we stored the liquor.

The light was on when I approached. Inside, several of my brothers were lounging around, drinking.

“So, you all were here, and the kids were downstairs running wild.”

Parker grunted. “We were entertaining Greg.”

My attention snapped to my half brother. We had been born days apart, and he was perpetually a thorn in my side. He lived in Manhattan, ran Svensson Investment, and never helped out with the kids.

“I’m surprised you’re not out with your fake girlfriend,” Greg said snidely, pausing with his glass in his hand. “What’s the latest one’s name? Fern?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Did Meg take you back?” Weston asked. “We have her room ready.”

I blew out a breath. “Not yet.”

Mace snorted.

I glared at him and poured a glass of scotch.

“We could have just had a call about the new residential development,” I told Greg as I sipped my drink. “Or are you here about Dad?”

“No,” Greg said. “I’m here to talk about your mayoral campaign.”

I froze for a moment.

Weston sucked his drink down the wrong pipe and started coughing loudly. Parker banged him on the back.

“I thought Meg was going to be the next mayor?” Mace asked in concern. “She’s the deputy mayor. So that means she moves up to mayor, right?”

“Barry was just elected for a new six-year term,” Greg said smoothly, “and I will not have our development prospects curtailed for the better part of the next decade. We will therefore force an election for the open seat.”

“No,” I told Greg, shaking my head. “If I run for mayor, Meg would literally never forgive me.”

“You have to,” Greg said simply. “Who else is going to do it? One of the teenagers? You’re the only one here who is unemployed.”

“I look after the kids.”

“And they were swinging from the chandelier when I arrived,” Greg said coldly. He stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. “For years I have had to suffer through making concession after worthless concession to the City of Harrogate to push even the smallest development through the approval process. With one of our own running things in this city, we can finally build whatever we want.”

“You can’t destroy the character of the city,” Mace insisted. “That’s part of the marketing for recruiting talent to Svensson PharmaTech.”

“And to ThinkX,” Weston added.

“No skyscrapers,” Garrett added. “Penny would kill me.”

“I’m not going to plop a skyscraper down, but we need better margins on our residential projects. I can’t spend ten percent of the budget on community centers and parks.”

“Parks are good for public heath,” Parker said.

“This city is lousy with parks, and there is a greenbelt, and you can drive a mile outside of town and hit countryside. There is no reason for us having to give kickbacks to the city,” Greg insisted.  

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was still stuck on Meg. All she had wanted was to finally be mayor. She would be devastated.

“Why can’t you have Carl do it?”

“No one knows who Carl is,” Greg said. “Everyone in this town knows you. You’ll be a shoo-in as mayor.”

“No,” I growled at Greg, clenching my fists.

His lip curled back. “Too bad,” he spat. “I’ve already filed the paperwork. It will be announced at the town hall tomorrow that you are running for mayor against Meghan Loring.”