Page 17 of Rival Hearts

“Sign on the door. I couldn’t find anyone, and I knew you’d need help with Pete away.”

Moments like these drove home how lucky I was to have my family. Each of them always pulled more than their own weight in a crisis. Tyler unwrapped the lollipop from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. There were two stages to the lollipop—out of the pocket was somewhat stressed, but in the mouth was worse. I wasn’t going to like what I saw in a few minutes.

We hurried to the parking lot behind the main street pharmacy. Would this incident turn out to be another plus for Grady? The break in the water main wasn’t a freak accident. The council had known there was a problem since May. Investing in the water infrastructure of the town was on the budget for next term if I got reelected, but I hadn’t thought to put it in my campaign. If Grady was cunning enough, he could sweep in and steal this right off my platform.

Of course, he’d also have to understand paying for those infrastructure changes meant an increase in taxes—not exactly a selling point in any election and definitely not in a town where their property tax was already higher than the state average. Would Grady know any of that?

“You’re too quiet,” Tyler said as they slowed at the final corner before turning onto Elizabeth Street.

“Trying to figure out how to spin this. It’s unfortunate Grady is there.”

“No kidding. And soaking wet to boot.”

Down the street, emergency vehicles and the water company’s repair vans littered the road. A ton of people stood around with expressions ranging from annoyed to outright angry. I searched the crowd for Grady or Kelvin. Did he stay? A good politician would, but that description didn’t fit Grady.

“I don’t see him.”

“When I left, he was ordering sandbags to see if he could protect the old train station from the majority of the flooding.”

“Thank God it’s empty at the moment.” The old redbrick train station had housed a few things over the years like a restaurant, storage facility, and train museum. But none of those seemed to stick for more than a few years. Now, it was up for sale again. The Rolston family would be grateful for Grady’s quick thinking.

As soon as the car was parked, I hopped out and followed fast on Tyler’s heels. In no time at all, the water sloshed around my boots, and walking became a challenge. The water pushed against my legs, resisting any progress toward the train station. This was definitely worse than the last break. Up ahead, a crowd of people had formed a human chain, passing sandbags out of the bed of a utility truck.

When we got close enough and the crowd parted, my heart thumped painfully, the beat swirling up into my throat. There, at the end of the line, stacking bags at an astonishing speed, was a soaking wet Grady. His round neck white T-shirt clung to him and was the best example of a wet T-shirt contest I had ever seen. The muscles outlined against the shirt made my mouth go dry. As far as I knew, Grady didn’t work out. Of course, Trent never had either. When I’d teased him about his ripped body, he’d laughed and said he’d at least gotten lucky with his physical genes. The brothers weren’t built the same—even if they were both physically gifted. Grady was tall, lean, his muscles defined in the same way a runner’s would be. Trent was built more like a wrestler—or a street fighter—God knew he’d done that more than once.

“Maggie,” Tyler prompted, and I dragged my gaze away from Grady’s fluid, flexing movements.

When I met Tyler’s eyes, I felt like I was emerging from a daze. Out of my peripheral vision, Grady’s continual movements enticed me, and only half of me could focus on Tyler.

“You going to help, Mayor Maggie?” Grady’s voice boomed across the crowd, an obvious edge to his tone. “Or are you too good to get wet with me?”

My focus shifted to Grady immediately, but he wasn’t looking at me as he continued to pile bags. Getting wet with him wasn’t the problem.

Or maybe it was? My body liquefied at the memory.

“Got a spot for you right here at the end.” He tipped his head to a widening space between him and Kelvin as the bags were passed along the chain.

I sloshed through the crowd. The childish urge to stomp my feet was met with the thick water. I’d gone from admiring his muscles and thinking about the past to silently fuming. The implication I wouldn’t do whatever it took to help people in my town brought the liquid feeling in me to a boil. What the hell would Grady Castillo know about me or my town anyway?

Our shoulders brushed as I took my place, and I tried to ignore the fire the touch ignited across my skin. I didn’t want to feel anything for him, certainly not attraction. When I received the first bag from Kelvin and flopped it into Grady’s hands, his brown eyes met mine. We were locked together for the briefest moment, and a spark struck. His gaze slipped down to my lips before going back to my eyes. A memory lit, one I’d worked so hard to keep far, far down in my consciousness. Sometimes, I convinced myself the memory wasn’t there at all.

Then Kelvin bumped my shoulder to pass me the next bag, and my focus shifted. As I took the bag and rotated my shoulders to give it to Grady, I avoided looking at him. His breath in my ear and across the side of my face was labored as he accepted the bag. My stomach dipped into my toes, and I closed my eyes to recenter. His breathing, hot against my ear, called me back to another time, another moment. So long ago, and yet right herebeside him, the memory was visceral, so alive my body tingled. Why was my body betraying me like this?

As we worked side-by-side in silence, my thoughts were locked on repeat.I’m in trouble. I’m in so much trouble.

Chapter Eight

Grady

Each time I grazed Maggie’s hands or her shoulder nudged mine, I cursed my stupid mouth for encouraging her to wade in next to me. When I’d caught sight of her in her preppy cardigan, skirt, and knee-high rubber boots, I hadn’t been able to resist goading her into getting wet beside me. She’d looked too perfect, too made up, and I’d been too frustrated the water main had burst half an hour after I’d closed the deal to purchase the train station. Just my luck.Let’s buy a run-down, ill-used building and then get massive water damage. What a great fucking idea!

Maggie stood poised to pass me another bag. Off in the distance, the water company stemmed the flood rushing out of the ground.

“You tiring out? Need to lift some weights instead of walking your beasts around town?”

I chuckled and accepted the sandbag from her. I heaved it a little higher than needed before placing it. Her gaze followed the flex of my biceps, and I realized she wasn’t immune to at leastsome of my charms. “You don’t need to worry about my stamina. I could go for days.”

Maggie took another bag from Kelvin and rotated toward me. “A marathon man, are you? Sounds boring.”

---