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“A little? You tried to incite a riot against me.”

But he doesn’t look too upset. He has a smirk on those very kissable lips.

“Sorry about that,” I say sheepishly.

“Just give me a heads up next time you call up the town to chase me out,” he says, grinning. “I’ll bring donuts.”

I laugh. “I think the town likes you more than me at this point.”

“Nah,” he says, looking up at a tree with beautiful red leaves. “You’re one of them. You’re family. I’m just the unfamiliar outsider.”

We walk in a comfortable silence for a while, stopping to admire a hawk that’s perched on a tree with no leaves. When Jasper gets impatient, we keep going.

“You promise you’re not going to ruin the town?” I say out of nowhere.

He stops and turns to me, his eyes serious and gorgeous and completely hypnotic.

“Ivy,” he says, his eyes softening as he looks at me. “You have nothing to fear. We’re on the same page here. No one is trying to take over your town.”

“I know what your family did in Huntington.”

That gets him. He turns away, his neck flushing.

“Yeah,” he whispers as he steps back. “Now it makes sense. Why you don’t want me here.”

“Your family doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to preserving towns.”

“No,” he says, running his hand through his hair. “We don’t.”

Jasper whimpers in frustration that we’re not moving, so Dane kneels down and pets him. It soothes the dog instantly.

“My father wasn’t a very benevolent man,” he says as he pets the dog. “He took from everyone his whole life. He’d take your last dollar if he could talk you out of it, and for many people, he did. He took the town I grew up in and ruined it in his endless pursuit of money. I’m not going to lie to you, Ivy. He killed the soul of Huntington. I walk around it now and don’t even recognize it. The amazing town I grew up in with the warm shops where everyone knew your name is gone. It’s all corporate chains full of owners who don’t even live there. They charge for damn parking on Main Street. It’s horrible.”

I swallow my tongue and give him a chance to explain. I don’t know why, but I’m starting to believe him.

“I know how hard it is for families these days. Everything is so expensive. And prices keep going up.”

He looks up at me and a heavy warmth spreads through my core. My whole body is leaning toward him.

“I want to give back,” he continues. “I want to help. In any way I can. We redid the menu at Jack’s. We dropped the price for all the food. By a lot.”

“You did?”

He nods. “And we’re bringing back happy hour. Two beers for five bucks. And it’s from the local brewery, so we’re helping out there too.”

“That’s cool,” I say, swallowing hard.

“I want to be a force for good in this town,” he says as he pets the dog. “I want to make amends for my father’s selfish actions. And if I own businesses, I can have more sway in the town. So if they try to follow Huntington and charge for parking or something ridiculous like that, I can step in and help put a stop to it.”

I take a deep breath as I watch him.

Leave it to me to get all worked up and get him all wrong. To let my temper and impulsiveness blind my vision. It’s an Ivy specialty.

And it’s something I have to work on.

“Well,” I say as I take a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re here, Dane.”

He smiles gratefully at me.