It was a gift I didn’t know how to unwrap without smiling like an idiot.
Sunlight poured in through the windows of my open downstairs floor, warm and lazy on a weekend morning. Tanner was in my kitchen, making coffee like he belonged there, unbothered by anything, while Rhea sat cross-legged on the couch in one of my oversized sweaters, scrolling on her phone with a concentrated look on her face.
It felt domestic in a way that made my chest ache.
Almost as if it were too perfect.
Which was probably why Rhea cleared her throat and interrupted it. “We need to talk.”
There it was.
Tanner leaned against the chair, holding a cup of coffee in his hand, and I forced my eyes to stray away from his delicious muscles to his serious face. “We found out who’s behind the purchases around town.”
My stomach tightened, and any dirty thoughts I’d been having about my two lovers disappeared with a poof. “The developers?”
Rhea shook her head, “Not exactly.”
She held her phone out across the coffee table, and I took it. On the screen was a shell company name I’d seen before. Twice, to be exact, once on a zoning notice at a village board meeting, I attended when I first bought the property for Honey & Hearth. And then once again in a legal disclaimer in the newspaper I didn’t like the feel of.
“They’re not local,” Tanner said. “They’re not even regional. It’s a corporate umbrella. They buy under different names, like Bakewell, then move fast and keep everything just legal enough to avoid scrutiny.”
“And once they own enough,” Rhea added, leaning forward on her elbows, “they rezone. They jack up rents to impossibleheights. Bankrupt small businesses. Run locals out of their generational homes. And turn places like Honey & Hearth intoconcept locations.”
I felt sick to my stomach as the words sank into my head. “They’re trying to turn Cedar Bluff into a brand.”
“Exactly,” Tanner said. “And some folks are already desperate enough to buy the pitch. They’re promising things like jobs, tourism, even using terms likerevitalizationas if it’s a good thing.”
Rhea met my eyes as I snuggled deeper into Tanner’s worn t-shirt from yesterday that I was wearing as she went on, “But they don’t know who they’re dealing with.”
“So, we tell them,” I said immediately. “We tell everyone, right?” Glancing up at Tanner, I searched his eyes for confirmation. “That will work, right? Everyone will see what we learned and realize it’s not good. Right?”
A knock sounded at the door behind Tanner, and before any of us could react, it swung open.
“Goldie, darling! I smelled coffee, and I have juicy, dirty tea to spill!”
Jasper, my over-the-top best friend, froze mid-stride through my foyer.
Tanner had flipped around to face the door, operating on instinct to face a threat, instead of worrying about the fact that the intruder wasn’t a threat at all.
Or at least Jasper wouldn’t have been, if Tanner hadn’t still been very naked. Which neither Rhea nor I minded one bit until my gay best friend walked in to see his impressive package.
There was a long, deadly second of silence before Jasper’s eyes lit up like Christmas morning as he stared at Tanner’s dick.
“Oh,” he drawled with a grin, “Oh, wow. Good morning, Officer, I didn’t know they let you carry a weapon off duty.”
Tanner coughed, scrambling for the blanket behind me on the loveseat as he dropped it twice before getting it wrapped around his waist. “Jesus Christ?—”
“Don’t cover up on my account,” Jasper continued, waving a hand. “I’m an artist. This is a gift for so many reasons.”
Rhea lost it, full-on laughter escaping her with her head tipped back. I clapped a hand over my mouth as I tried to hold back my own giggles. “Jasper! You can’t just walk in!”
“You gave me a key!” My best friend finally looked away from Tanner’s six-pack and looked over at me. “And frankly, I have no regrets.”
Tanner groaned, covering his face with his hand, turning red over every inch. “I’m going to need therapy.”
Jasper circled him slowly, as if he were appraising him like a piece of merchandise at an antique market. “You know, I imagined many things happening here last night after your little ménage à trois date. But I didn’t expect a sexy naked morning after,” He looked up at Tanner’s serious face as he rounded his front again. “Not from you, Mr. Law and Order.”
“Stop,” Tanner groaned again.