Page 29 of Stolen Kisses

“Chase, why are you here?”

He lowered the stick, planting it in the soil. I did the same with mine.

"I talked to Josh today."

"Oh my God. Did anything happen to him or Blair?"

"No, no. Everything's fine."

"Okay." I felt really confused.

“I asked him what kind of trouble you're in.”

I jerked my head back. "Why?"

"Because you mentioned it a couple of times, and I couldn't get it out of my head. You sounded mortified." He pinned me with his gaze. "Josh told me that the inn is in financial troubles."

I didn't say anything.Where is he going with this?

"I've thought about a few things that could help," he continued. "I figured we could talk about it over s'mores.”

"Chase," I murmured, "I'm not sure what to say." For some reason, I didn't feel at all ashamed about my troubles. I glanced back at the inn. "You came here to give me advice? Why?"

"Because I like you, Hannah, and I hate the idea of you losing the inn."

I was touched. I didn't expect this grumpy man I thought was an asshole at first to be so thoughtful.

“And I can’t turn off my business brain,” he went on. “But first, can you tell me the state of things and what your plans are?”

I nodded. “The best part is that there are no debts. It’s fully paid off. I was going to invest my nest egg in renovations, but then there was an incident where workers came to inspect the roof and it collapsed. Their medical care wiped out my savings.”

Chase frowned. “Insurance should cover accidents.”

“I know. But the thing is, my gran hadn’t paid the insurance for a while. In the last months of her life, she was confused about a lot of things but wouldn’t let me help her, even though I really tried. I should’ve checked everything thoroughly after she passed, but I couldn’t focus.”

“Hannah, that’s more than understandable.”

I shrugged. “And it didn’t help that my ex-husband wasn’t a fan of the inn. Thought I should just sell it. I was so overwhelmed right after she passed away that I couldn’t keep up with work and the inn. A year ago, I left my job, determined to give the inn my best. Then the insurance disaster ate my savings, and Gary and I separated.”

I heard Chase grit his teeth. Actuallyheardit.

“What?”

“Yeah. He said something like I kept making bad decisions, and he didn’t want me to drag him down too. He served me divorce papers three weeks later. I think he’d been planning to do it anyway. We’d been married for two years.”

Just remembering that fight made my skin crawl and my heart shatter all over again.

“Let me get this straight. You were mourning your grandmother, and the asshole blamed you for bad decisions? How about helping out?”

I waved it off, shrugging. “Let’s not talk about him anymore. I only mentioned him because... honestly, I don’t even know why. Anyway, enough babbling. In a nutshell, I don’t have money for renovations. I asked the bank for a loan, but the interest is so high that I’d rather save up for a year.”

He nodded. “A loan was one of the solutions I thought about. Would you consider taking on an investor?”

“Perhaps. But finding one isn’t easy. The market for investors interested in small inns is... tiny. Plus, I like to call the shots.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. But a silent investor would solve your problem.”

I laughed. “Damn. A silent investor who's interested in a small inn? I feel like that pool is getting smaller and smaller.”

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