Page 27 of Billionaire's Coastal Haven

Chapter 8

Landon

“Twenty cabins. Not ten.” Zoe bangs through the Reeves estate front door.

I look up from my phone and smirk. She’s in her signature floral dress and cowboy boots, but today her hair is down and wild. It flows in waves over her shoulders, the sunlight highlighting light brown strands at the crown of her head. The soft appearance does nothing to mitigate the fire in her eyes or the flush in her cheeks. “Nice to see you too, Mayor. How can I help you?”

“Ryan says you’re only building ten cabins, and they won’t be built until next year. Why?”

That same unwelcome churning hits my stomach as the man’s name tumbles out of her mouth.Ryan?“Who’s Ryan?”

Why does he matter to her?

“Why aren’t you building the cabins like we agreed?” She swats a folder on top of the blueprints spread across the folding table in the entryway.

“Why does Ryan think he can stick his nose in my business when I don’t even know who he is?”

She scrunches her nose. “You know Ryan, and don’t change the subject.”

“You’re the one who won’t answer my question. Who is Ryan?”

She huffs. “He owns The Bright Spot.”

“The guy who doesn’t know the difference between sugar-free and regular peppermint syrup?”

“Oh, he knows the difference. He never carries anything sugar free. Aspartame will kill you.”

“Then why didn’t he tell me that instead of lying about my coffee?”

“What kind of man orders a sugar-free peppermint mocha with macadamia nut milk?”

“What’s wrong with a peppermint mochas?”

“It won’t put hair on your chest.”

“You like men with hairy chests?” I smirk. Didn’t expect Zoe would like the hairy woodsman type, but I guess every woman has her fantasy. I definitely don’t fit that description, so we’re safe.

Flush creeps across her collarbones, up to the tips of her ears. “That’s not what I said.”

Not going to let her live this down. It’s too fun to mess with her when she’s worked up. “You think about my chest often?”

She taps her finger on each building on the site plan, counting as she goes. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” Her glare shifts to me. “Ten cabins. We agreed on fifteen in the first phase. Where are the other five cabins, Landon?”

I lean against the table and cross one ankle over the other. “No, we need to go back to the chest conversation. Is it just my chest you fantasize about, or do you also think about the rest of me?” I flex my pecs.

Her eyes drop to my chest, then zip back to my face like I didn’t catch her checking me out. “I do not…I wouldn’t…that’s unprofessional.”

“You started this line of questioning.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You just wanted to insult my coffee order? How is that professional, Mayor Winslow?”

“That’s not what I meant either.”

I lift my hands like I’m weighing scales. “Either you’re insulting me or fantasizing about me. Which is it?”

“Cabins. There should be twenty cabins on this property by the end of the summer. That’s what we’re talking about.”