Love Arranged (Lakefront Billionaires, #3)(47)

“You promise?” She sounds surprised, hopeful, and scared all at once.

I nod. “If I become mayor—”

“When,” she corrects.

I catch myself smiling. “When I become mayor, there’s no way I’d ever let something like that go through.”

She exhales loudly, and the tension in her shoulders bleeds out. “Thank you.” She reaches for my bicep and gives it a squeeze. “You have no idea how badly I needed to hear that.”

I miss her touch as soon as she pulls back.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this from the start?”

She chews on her bottom lip.

“What?” I ask when she doesn’t answer me.

“I didn’t trust you. I still don’t, but if this is going to work, we need to start learning to.”

“Right,” I reply, my throat constricted.

She peers over at me, and I can tell by the look on her face that I won’t like her next question. “Why are you running for mayor?”

The cabin of the car closes in around me. “I care about the town.”

“Okay, sure. I assumed as much with all the small businesses you help, but can’t you do that without going up against Ludlow?”

“I can do a lot more for everyone if I’m in charge.” I hope my answer pacifies her.

She shrugs. “Maybe. It just seems like you’re putting in a lot of effort for a town you just moved to.”

Panic grips me, but I breathe through my nose until I’m no longer at risk of revealing my motives.

Before our first meeting at Last Call, I trusted Lily with a few stories about my life, like when my uncle broke my nose, but I can’t tell her about my parents or the Ludlows. I won’t, even if the idea of sharing the burden with someone else is tempting.

Someone, or Lily?

Instead of exploring the thought, I deflect. “I think I can do a better job than Trevor, so why not run against him? And now that I know about his Lavender Lane plan, we can use that to our advantage. Once people find out about their plan for the Historic District, they’ll have no choice but to switch sides.”

She latches onto my arm, her fingernails digging into my skin hard enough to leave a temporary mark. “No. You can’t tell people about it without affecting my mom and anyone else who signed the NDA.”

Shit. I comb through all the information she shared. “You mentioned something before about architect plans?”

“Yeah. What about them?”

“Do you remember who drew them up?”

She taps her chin. “I don’t remember the name exactly. It was something like Morris and Holmes?”

“I’ll look into it.”

She pulls in a deep lungful of air. “Please don’t make me regret trusting you with this. The last thing my mom needs with her heart condition is a stressful legal battle.”

“Okay.”

Her relief is palpable. “Thank you.”

It’s quiet in the car for the duration of the drive to Lily’s house, and I’m relieved when I pull into her driveway. There is something about the silence that feels oppressive, and I have a strange urge to fill it with sound.

Particularly the sound of Lily’s voice.

When I first met her, I knew she could ruin everything I’ve worked toward up until this point. She had this way of quieting my obsessive thoughts—of making me forget that I hate kissing or that I rarely like to drink because I don’t like losing even the slightest bit of control over myself. She had me thinking, at least for a few seconds, about a future that wasn’t only about me.

A future that seemed promising, right up until I remembered that I wouldn’t only be worrying about myself but about her too—something that didn’t end well with my parents.

I already have enough to worry about when it comes to myself, so becoming obsessed with Lily is the last thing I need.

Even if she’s everything I want.





CHAPTER NINETEEN


Lily


Over the next week, Lorenzo and I increase our public outings. I pop into his campaign headquarters for a very public lunch, we hang out together at Last Call, and I join him at the Park Promenade one afternoon—and by join, I mean sat on a bench and gawked at Lorenzo while he used the park’s outdoor fitness equipment.

Shirtless, I might add.

And dripping.

By the time he was halfway through his workout, he had formed a fan club of nannies and dog walkers, which was slightly annoying. The only way I got rid of them was by throwing my arms around Lorenzo’s half-naked, glistening body and staking my claim.

Word spreads all over town about our relationship. I’m not the only one everyone is talking about because it turns out Rafa is dating Ellie, who gave her two weeks’ notice because she likes her boss as more than a friend.

I’ve been meaning to talk to Rafa about it, so when he asks me to help him take his new family of kittens to the vet, I agree to tag along. I’m the second-biggest animal lover in the family, so there’s nothing I’d love more.

Rafa didn’t outright admit he adopted them because of Ellie, but I connected the dots when he retold the adoption story during our drive into town. He even smiles at one point when talking about her, and I’m overwhelmed by his happiness.