Thirty

Mick lifted his arms over his head, stretching out the kinks. He’d been on his laptop for several hours now, looking for a place to live. He had townhouses all over the United States, but he wanted to make his home here in Maple Springs… with Nicole by his side. He knew her attitude lately stemmed from her grandfather’s will, and the stress that she’d been under, but Mick hoped she would forgive him for inadvertently swaying James’ mind about the company.

He had no doubt Nicole would be able to take on the challenge he’d issued this morning and run with it. Nicole was a smart woman, and she needed a little shaking up to get her to start thinking on the right track. It was going to be very hard for him to sit and do nothing for the next seven days. Wherever he saw a need, his instinctive reaction was to try and help.

Yawning, he stood from the hotel’s small kitchen table and moved to the even smaller refrigerator to grab a cold bottled water. After unscrewing the lid, he gulped down