Free Preserving Love: A Contemporary Romance Series (Nick & Lexi Book 2) by Kay Brody

how close we’d gotten or what I thought I knew, to hear the word was startling.  
    “Are you surprised?”
    “No, yes, I don’t know.”
    “That’s not really the reply I was hoping for.”
    “I don’t know what to say.”
    “The truth,” he answered.  
    “I think I love you,” I began. “But then you destroyed my life. Or helped in some way even if you didn’t mean to. And I think maybe I hate you. “
    “Well, I guess that’s honest,” he pulled away and walked towards the booth in the back corner. I could tell I’d wounded his pride. I just wasn’t sure I had it in me to fix it. But at that moment, he wanted to help me get my life back and as I made my way to where he sat, I knew I had to trust him and hope it worked.  

    *****

Chapter 13
    Evan
    “That’s a big crowd buddy,” Brad smirked beside me. “Sure you can handle it?”
    I looked over at him, irritated that he’d question my ability to handle anything. From what I’d seen Brad did nothing but run his mouth and walk around the office like he owned the place. I couldn’t recall ever seeing him actually work.  
    “I’ve got it,” I smiled at him, knowing that he was hoping I would fail.  
    “I saw your girl out there,” he added as an afterthought. “Surprised she showed up considering all the shit she’s dealing with.”
    “She’s stronger than you think,” I snapped, irritated he was going to bring that up.  
    “I guess,” he seemed disinterested at that point. “Guess we got lucky with her pissing off that group she’s in huh?”
    “I wouldn’t call it luck Brad,” I turned to him. “Luck is people backing you because they believe in you. This was more of a trash talk the other side thing that made us look better.”
    “It worked didn’t it?” He snickered beside me. “I knew it would.”
    “We haven’t been approved yet,” I reminded the egotistical asshole. “Don’t count on anything at this point.”
    With that I heard the introduction of my name and prepared to walk out on the makeshift stage that had been set up. The idea for having a community meeting seemed to have been a good one, given the turn out. People were packing into the area in front of the stage just waiting to hear what I had to say about the resort that was being proposed.  
    Which made me a little more than nervous. My last speech to the community hadn’t gone well. People had hated me. More than hated me. I wasn’t looking forward to stepping onto the stage and having the same reaction. Yet when I looked across the parking lot and saw Lexi standing amid the people that had been boycotting her business, I found the strength to do just that.  
    Stepping forward I took the microphone in my hand.  
    “Hi,” I spoke to a crowd that was quieting somewhat. “I am Evan Monroe.”
    No one clapped. No one boo’ed me off stage. No one made any noise really. I wasn’t positive how to take that.  
    “Many of you know of me from my work on the retail development center that wasn’t approved for Biltmore Village,” I began to speak. “Others only know of me through recent newspaper articles about the proposed resort here in downtown Asheville. I’ve been billed a ‘northerner’, ‘yankee’ and other names to tell you that I’m not from here and still trying to change your city. What I’d like to do today, is introduce you to who I am outside of that description. Then I’d like to tell you a little about what it is I am trying to do.”
    I heard a few murmurs from the crowd as they waited to hear what else I had to say. Taking a deep breath, I smiled at Lexi and continued.  

    *****

    Lexi
    I kept having to remind myself to breathe. I was worried about how this community meeting would go. I knew at that point that the community wasn’t fond of me. The newspaper had helped to ensure that with daily articles updating the city on the boycott of my shop and the problems between me and the Preservation Society.  
    Speaking of the