Nolan shrugged, though there was no denying his overly confident expression. “We’re having dinner Friday night, so I’d say the answer to that is an unequivocal yes.”
Fisher’s Grocery—owned by Ella’s father, who’d passed the store’s responsibilities to his daughter after his stroke—finally came into view. Kyle pulled his truck into the small parking lot. The auction didn’t start for another ten minutes, but there was a group of about a dozen townsfolk already gathered in front of the old building next to the family market. The rumble of his engine drew everyone’s attention as he parked, then killed the engine. When he got out of the vehicle with Nolan and people started recognizing him as he approached, he heard the low chatter of gossip already starting.
He’d been prepared for the shock and speculation. Nobody but Nolan knew he planned to bid on the building. Not even his own mother was aware of his intentions, because Kyle knew she would have tried to talk him out of what he saw as an investment, as well as the ability to give his hardworking mom the dream she’d always talked about that had been beyond her reach.
That was going to change after today.
As Kyle and Nolan stood in the back of the small crowd and off to the side, Kyle said a polite hello to Tom Elliott, who owned the barbershop on the corner, his well-groomed gray brows pulled together in a perplexed frown. The old man returned the greeting with a low, “Good to see you, son,” though it was evident by Tom’s confused expression that he was trying to figure out why Kyle was there when he hadn’t attended a town function in ten years.
Kyle nodded his head cordially at Jeanette Jones, a teller at the savings and loan, and smiled amicably at the others who were casting surreptitious glances his way as they waited for the public sale to begin. The only one he didn’t see in attendance was Ella, but considering Fisher’s Grocery was attached to the property for sale, she still had a few minutes left before she needed to arrive. She probably believed she had no competition for the building, therefore there was no reason to show up early to size up her opposition. As for Kyle, as an experienced contractor and someone who purchased a whole lot of foreclosed properties and businesses, he’d done his due diligence and knew exactly what he was up against. Just one other interested party named Ella Fisher.
The thought of seeing her again after so long filled him with a sense of anticipation, and he exhaled a deep breath to try and dispel the jittery sensation in his stomach.
Nolan pushed his hands into the front pockets of his pants as he stared up at the fifteen-thousand-square-foot building in front of them. “I can’t believe that this place is finally going to be developed into something other than the eyesore it’s been for as long as I’ve been alive.”
Kyle silently agreed. Piedmont, the former owner, had been a hoarder and a hermit and a miser who’d died leaving his only offspring with the small fortune he’d amassed. Now his son, Louis, was in the process of finally liquidating all his father’s assets, just to rid himself of the possessions he had no interest in keeping. This building in particular was old and run-down and in need of serious repair after decades of neglect, but Kyle could easily see the potential for what the structure could develop into with a full renovation.
Dan Briggs, the auctioneer in charge of today’s sale, arrived and took his place in front of the small crowd. Less than a minute later, Kyle caught sight of Ella walking out of the connecting market, a bright, self-assured smile on her face and a sassy pep to her step, as if this piece of property was already hers and this auction was just a formality. His gut clenched at what he was about to do to her, but he couldn’t let himself be deterred by an emotion such as guilt.
Without looking at who was gathered to watch the sale, she walked up to Dan and spoke to him for a few moments, even laughing at something he said, though Kyle couldn’t hear their conversation. But he did have a clear view of Ella, and he took advantage of the opportunity to really study her without her guard being up, as he knew it would be as soon as he topped her first bid.
It had been years since the last time he’d seen her. In high school, she’d been a pretty girl, with a lithe body that had tempted him to indulge in all sorts of sin. She’d had a sweet innocence about her that had effortlessly drawn him in. She was still slender with graceful long legs, but her curves were more pronounced and womanly. Her fitted jeans emphasized the alluring dip of her waist along with the tight shape of her spectacular ass. She was wearing a light blue T-shirt with Fisher’s Grocery printed across her chest, and it didn’t escape Kyle’s notice that the breasts that had once been small swells of flesh were now firm and full and would overflow in his big hands in the best possible way.
Her delicate features had matured, but she still possessed that natural beauty that didn’t require any cosmetics or enhancements. Judging by the loose braid hanging halfway down her back, she’d let her once-shoulder-length style grow quite a few inches, and he found himself wondering how those chestnut strands would look completely unconfined, and if her hair was still as soft and silky as he remembered.
Something in his belly tightened, and he recognized it as attraction and desire, even after all this time. If Ella were anyone else, or a woman he’d seen at a bar in the city, he would have already been working his way toward her to introduce himself and to see if the chemistry was reciprocated. And from there, he’d buy her a drink, they’d talk a bit, and he’d get a feel for if she was up for a mutual night of pleasure.
Kyle killed that line of thinking. As much as Ella still tempted him, he was pretty certain that she’d knee him in the balls before she’d ever date him again. Especially after she learned he was going to be her new business neighbor.
“It’s time to get things started,” Dan announced.
Ella took a few steps back to give the man some space to deliver the standard spiel that preceded most real estate auctions. She was so confident that she was the only one interested in the building that she didn’t even glance over her shoulder to search the gathering of people behind her.
Dan cleared his throat. “Okay, first let’s get all the nitty-gritty details of the auction out of the way. The owner has requested that this be a cash-only sale, and no loans will be accepted. Twenty percent of the winning bid must be paid immediately upon purchase, and the balance must be satisfied in full within twenty-four hours of the sale, or the property is forfeited and another auction will take place. There are no liens on the property, and the building will be sold in an ‘as is’ condition. Are there any questions before we begin?”
Since all the information for the auction and property had been posted online, Kyle had already done his research on the terms and conditions of the sale and purchase of the property. Here, in a small town where a run-down building wasn’t something that normal investors flocked to, the rules were a bit more lax. Still, he’d arrived with a lot of cash in his pocket for the down payment, a notarized statement from the bank certifying the available funds in his personal savings account, and the ability to wire transfer said funds to the seller within a twenty-four-hour period.
When no one spoke up with any inquiries, Dan gave a satisfied nod and began soliciting bids for the property. “Who would like to offer the minimum opening bid of one hundred thousand dollars?” he asked, his gaze on Ella as she immediately raised her hand.
“I will,” she said, her energy and enthusiasm nearly tangible as she bounced on the toes of her tennis shoes.
Kyle almost smiled at how adorable she looked, and for a moment even enjoyed the tantalizing jiggle of her breasts as she fidgeted, then quickly remembered that he was about to burst her bubble of excitement and compete with her for the building . . . until he won.
“Is anyone willing to top that bid with an offer of one hundred and twenty-five thousand?” the auctioneer asked, his gaze casually scanning the faces in front of him, as if out of obligation.
Everyone remained quiet, and just as Dan opened his mouth to award Ella the sale, Kyle cut him off. “I’ll take that bid,”
he said, his tone deep, firm, and assertive.
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, and Ella frowned in confusion as her head jerked in his direction, her eyes searching for the source of the voice that had just thrown her for a loop she hadn’t seen coming. A heartbeat later, her lustrous green gaze landed on him, and he watched as her entire body stiffened, her lips parted in shock, and her initial bewilderment transitioned into stunned disbelief.
He inclined his head to acknowledge her, keeping his expression neutral, knowing she was trying to figure out what he was doing there after all this time and why he was competing for the building she wanted. Anger flickered in her eyes, and Kyle was pretty sure if they didn’t have an audience, she would have confronted him. Instead, she turned back to Dan and lifted her chin with a conviction he found incredibly sexy.
“One hundred and fifty thousand,” she said, upping her bid without the auctioneer even asking.
Kyle crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the whispers going on around him. “One hundred and seventy-five thousand.”
Again, Ella glanced at him, this time incredulously, and he kept his poker face in place. This was where it would get interesting. He had no idea how much cash Ella had secured for the auction, but he doubted that it was anywhere near what he had available within twenty-four hours. How high could she go before she conceded defeat?
She glared at him, her complexion turning pink with frustration. “Two hundred thousand dollars,” she announced in a tight voice, glaring at him.
“Two hundred twenty-five thousand,” he responded without hesitating. It was more than the building was worth in its present condition considering the improvements it needed, but this purchase wasn’t about the money for him, and he had to remind himself of that as he watched Ella’s devastated expression declare him as the winner even before the auctioneer did.
God, he felt like the biggest asshole on the planet. By giving one woman her dream, he’d just crushed it for another.
“We have an offer of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars,” Dan said, looking away from Ella as if he already knew her maximum budget had just been exceeded. “Is anyone willing to top that bid?”
After a few seconds of absolute silence, Ella shook her head. Then, as if she couldn’t bear to see the building being awarded to Kyle, she turned around and headed toward the market and disappeared inside. He thought about going after Ella to explain his reasons for wanting the property—not that he’d expect that to soothe her anger and upset—but a couple of the women standing nearby broke away to follow Ella to help ease the blow she’d just been delivered. And Kyle knew he’d be less than welcome anywhere near her.
“Going once . . . going twice . . . sold to the gentleman in the black shirt standing in the back row!” the auctioneer finally said, forcing Kyle to draw his gaze away from the grocery store, where Ella had escaped to.
Fuck, he thought as he scrubbed a hand along the short-cropped beard covering his jaw.
He should have been elated to have what he’d wanted for years, to be able to give his mother something just for herself, but he felt like shit instead.
Well, what had he expected? He’d known going in he was going to crush Ella’s hopes and dreams. And he didn’t feel at all good about himself now that he had.
Chapter Two
Unable to sleep, Ella stared wide-eyed at the ceiling of her bedroom, watching the shadows on the walls shift from the gray of night to the first light of dawn as the morning sun started to rise on a brand-new day. A day she’d imagined would be much different and more exciting than the one she was about to face now that her plans for the adjoining building to her father’s market had come crashing down around her in the form of Kyle Coleman . . . the first guy she’d ever loved and had never truly gotten over, despite the way things had ended between them.
She was still in a state of disbelief at seeing him after so many years, not to mention feeling like a fool for thinking that no one else wanted the old, decrepit building. She’d actually thought her bid was just a technicality to ensure that the property was hers. Absolutely nothing had prepared her for losing the one thing she’d had her sights set on for the past five years so she could finally expand Fisher’s Grocery into something more. And she certainly hadn’t been braced to see the gorgeous man who still had the ability to make her feel breathless and weak-kneed when she should have gotten over him a long time ago.
She released a loud growl of frustration as she punched the pillow next to her, grateful that her father slept on the opposite side of the house so she didn’t wake him up with all her tossing and turning and cursing during the course of the night. She’d already been bombarded with angry questions from her only parent that she hadn’t been able to answer as soon as she’d gotten home last night after closing the market. What did Kyle want with the building? Had he purchased the place out of spite so Ella couldn’t claim it? Why after all these years would he want anything that tied him to Woodmont when he lived his life in Chicago?
Ella honestly didn’t know, but she wondered all those things, too. She’d heard that he’d become one of those guys who bought old houses and buildings and renovated them to resell, but anyone who lived in Woodmont knew there weren’t any big profits to be had in redeveloping commercial property here. Not like there was in the city, where real estate was at a premium. The town was small, the residents set in their ways, and what else did they need that other businesses didn’t already provide?
Everything about Kyle’s interest in Piedmont’s building was a mystery, and her emotions were still running the gamut from the elation she was so sure she’d feel to the depths of confusion and anger she’d plummeted to. The shock of everything was starting to wear off and and reality was beginning to sink in, but there was no denying that she was now overwhelmed with resentment . . . and ashamed to admit that she was too damn aware of all the changes in Kyle, who’d grown from the cute, boyish teenager she’d been so smitten with despite her father’s warning to stay away from him, to the impressive man he was now with a presence that was commanding and confident.
A decade later, and Kyle was utterly drop-dead gorgeous, his features more masculine and mature and handsome. She even begrudgingly admitted that the neatly trimmed beard on his face added to his rugged appeal, and for a moment she pondered what it might feel like against her fingertips . . . or skimming along her thighs. Course and bristly or soft and ticklish?
Shifting restlessly beneath the sheets, she groaned and closed her eyes, unable to stop herself from conjuring the image of him standing there yesterday in his tight black T-shirt stretching across his broad shoulders and wide chest, with his tanned arms folded in front of him, biceps flexing and bad-boy tattoos on display, and looking so freaking hot. Everything about him intrigued her, and just thinking about him now elicited a tingling warmth of awareness to course through her veins.
And yeah, the fact that Kyle Coleman still had that kind of sensual effect on any part of her body pissed Ella off even more than she already was.
Her alarm went off right on time at five a.m., and she reached over to her nightstand to shut it off instead of hitting the snooze button a few times like she normally did. This morning, she wanted to be out the door before her father woke up to avoid another interrogation about Kyle when she had no answers that would satisfy her dad. The last thing she needed was him getting worked up again and raising his blood pressure or worse. He already blamed one Coleman brother for the stroke he’d had that had left him with permanent nerve damage that had also affected his fine motor skills, and she didn’t need Kyle’s actions yesterday to be the cause of something equally tragic. Even if inadvertently.
She forced herself up and into the shower and was out of the house within a half hour, secure in the knowledge that Betsy, the woman who helped take care of her father and the house during the day, would be there in an hour to start breakfast for her dad, even before he had a chance to wake up.
&nb
sp; Ella made it to the market before the first scheduled delivery of the morning arrived at six a.m., and for the next hour, her mind was occupied with signing for the steady stream of daily perishables the store had on a standing order. By seven, Fisher’s Grocery’s longtime manager, William, showed up, as well as half a dozen other employees who were scheduled to work their shifts for the day. With William now in charge, she headed into the office at the back of the store and closed herself inside. She had some difficult phone calls to make, to people she’d made promises to . . . when she’d been so certain the adjoining building would belong to her.
One by one, she made her way through the list of local artisans she’d discussed consignment arrangements with for their various products, to let them know that the expansion would not be happening and she had no room in the actual market to carry their merchandise. Their disappointment was as keen as her own. By the time she was done with the painful calls, she was frustrated all over again that Kyle had stolen something that would have been hers and hers alone.
Not her family’s. Not her father’s. Hers.
Beyond miffed, she made an unhappy sound and tossed her pencil onto her desktop just as Claire, her best friend and bookkeeper for Fisher’s Grocery, walked into the office wearing a white eyelet blouse, pink capris, and a pair of flats, her blonde hair perfectly styled in a silky chin-length bob that looked fabulous on her. As always, she looked fresh and pretty compared to Ella’s normal jeans-and-T-shirt attire that usually ended up dirty from manual labor by the end of the day.
Her friend raised a brow at Ella’s sullen expression as she hung her purse from a hook on the wall, then settled into a chair in front of the desk. She crossed one long leg over the other, and just like any good friend would do, she didn’t sugarcoat her next comment.
“Sorry to have to tell you this, but you look like hell.”
“I feel like hell,” Ella said as she pressed the tips of her fingers against her temple, where a nagging headache had been pestering her all morning. “I barely slept last night, and on top of that, I feel like an ass for making promises to so many businesses that I had to turn around and break.”
The Book Boyfriend Series Box Set Page 35
