Page 62 of Booked for Summer

‘After the tenth person thanked me for putting on an event I had no clue about, and would have vetoed if you had asked me. Yeah.’ She didn’t say anything, just kept that small smile on her face. ‘Why?’ he asked eventually when it was clear she wasn’t going to volunteer the information herself.

‘Why hold the event? I wanted you to see how valuable the bookstore could be?—’

‘Why say Haven Resorts sponsored it?’ he interrupted.

She gave him a side glance. ‘To show you that you don’t have to remain on the outside. You can become part of the community.’

‘Bybuyingtheir affections?’

She let out a sound of exasperation. ‘By funding projects that can help both Haven Resorts and people who live on the island. Forget the past and those who did you wrong. There are so many good people living here, if you’d just give them a chance to get to know you. And you all have one thing in common, you love the island. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have built a business here.’

‘Did you forget about the boy who wanted revenge?’

Another noise of suppressed frustration. ‘Fine, you stayed here to stick two fingers up at certain individuals. But the fact remains, Haven Resorts needs Nantucket as much as Nantucket needs you. Why not work together to make it a better place for locals and tourists?’

He tried to focus on her words, and not on how gorgeous she looked, all fired up. ‘And I suppose one of the projects I should be funding is the bookstore?’

‘That would be for you to decide, obviously.’

‘But you’re determined to make it difficult for me to close it.’

‘If by difficult you mean getting you to realise that you’re wrong to get rid of it then, yes, that’s my aim.’

How was he supposed to keep a level head when all this whisky was sloshing around in his bloodstream and she was staring at him with a smile full of mischief, and eyes that sparkled with defiance. ‘Didn’t I give you one more week? By my reckoning, that ends today.’

Her smile dimmed and she looked away from him. ‘That’s one interpretation.’

‘Give me another.’ Fuck, how much whisky had he drunk? And for how long was he going to convince himself it was the alcohol influencing him, and nother. Her determination not to give in. Her diabolically sneaky methods of getting him to change his mind.

She halted and turned to face him. The breeze ruffled her blonde hair and a stray strand whipped across her face. Before he had a chance to stop himself, he’d taken hold of it, letting the silky lock slip across his fingers before he tucked it behind her ear. His heart pounded, his blood heated and his eyes wouldn’t shift from her mouth.

He wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to take his next breath.

She swallowed as his thumb came in to contact with the soft skin of her jaw. ‘Let me manage the shop until the end of my contract and then, if you’re still not convinced it’s an asset to Haven Resorts, you can close it down.’ She gave him a dry smile. ‘But wait till I’m on the plane, or you might find me chained to the door.’

A wave of acute sadness rolled through him at the thought of her leaving. There were good reasons why he kept people at a distance. Reasons he needed to remind himself of before he started making a big fucking mistake with Jade. ‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Good. But think about it fast because I have lots of other ideas for things I want to do. If you’ll give me the chance.’

He studied her, his chest shifting in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time and didn’t want to feel now. ‘You know you’ve already done what you set out to do.’ She wrinkled her brow and he had to clench his fists to stop his hands from reaching up to smooth the lines. ‘You’re living away from home, standing on your own two feet.’

‘True, but the success of the book evening?—’

‘The one I sponsored?’

‘Yes.’ She gave him a shy smile. ‘It’s made me greedy. I want more of that. I want to go home knowing I’ve achieved something.’

He had something to prove, too, and his own demons to bury. Yet deferring the work for the next few months seemed a small sacrifice for a woman he’d wronged but was still talking to him, trying to help him. ‘Fine. I won’t close the bookstore until the end of your contract.’

A smile split her face and she bounced on her toes. ‘Oh God, I’m so excited right now, I could kiss you.’

‘You won’t find me stopping you.’

‘Oh no.’ She wagged her finger at him, and all he could think was how right she was to keep away but how disappointed, too. ‘Kissing you is dangerous.’

‘It doesn’t have to be.’

‘You seriously think we could get that close and not, you know, want more?’

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