Page 77 of Booked for Summer

‘Of course she didn’t. She’s got far too much self-respect to allow the man who insulted her to just pick up where he left off without an element of crawling.’

‘That’s what it’s going to take? She wants me on my knees, begging?’ He’d only come close to doing that once, at the end of that first term when he’d been woken in the middle of the night by a bucket of cold water for the fifth night in a row. Instead, he’d guzzled caffeine drinks and forced himself to stay awake. Gradually his body had got used to having less sleep.

‘Well, probably not literally, though you on your knees does make rather an intriguing picture?—’

‘What, then?’ Liam interrupted before he did something humiliating, like blush.

Jeremy laughed, eyes glittering with humour. ‘I never thought I’d see the day that Liam Haven was all twisted up over a woman.’

‘I should have learnt my damn lesson,’ he muttered, then made the mistake of looking up at Jeremy.

‘Sabrina Ellis?’

‘Gossip machine still going strong as I see.’ Even the name had Liam’s stomach rolling. ‘Bad enough I’m talking to you about Jade. I’m not, under any circumstances, discussing past relationships with you.’

‘Message received. Too soon.’ Jeremy smirked. ‘I’ll make a note to ask you again in a few months, when the benefits of having me as a friend, confident and wise counsel will be more obvious.’ He waved away Liam’s attempt to interrupt his ridiculous monologue. ‘With regard to Jade, she’s been treated appallingly by men, and that now includes you, so if you still want to date her, you need to give her time. Show her you’re serious, and treat her like the amazing woman she is. Not the one she sometimes thinks she is.’

Liam pieced the words together with what he knew about Jade. ‘You’re good at this.’

‘You sound surprised. I’m a gay ginger man. I’ve been ridiculed, ignored, called every name under the sun. Instead of cowering away, I chose to talk to my detractors to try and understand how they thought. Engage with them.’ He smirked. ‘That’s why I’m the confident, together, beautifully presented man you see before you now. So, when do we begin Operation Double BJ?’

Liam groaned. ‘I don’t want to know.’

‘Oh, but you do.’ Jeremy grinned. ‘Bring Back Jade.’

‘Christ.’ Abruptly, Liam rose to his feet. ‘I’ve got it from here. And if you ever use that acronym again, Iwillfire you.’

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Jade was surprised to find Henry sauntering into the shop on Thursday lunchtime. She’d not actually seen him since that first SOB meeting. She’d included him on the group chats and occasionally he’d added a thumbs up to whatever had been suggested, but he’d always excused himself from the subsequent meetings. She’d kind of hoped he’d fade away.

‘Hi. Looking for some reading inspiration?’

‘Oh, no, I’ve not come for a book.’

He scanned the shop, and Jade didn’t know what it was about the man that instantly put her on edge. Like he was carefully making a note of what he saw and putting it into some sort of algorithm,judgingher. Books not straight, empty mug… his gaze settled on her… hair too blonde, top too tight.

She shook the thought away. It hardly mattered what he thought of her. ‘Then how else can I help you?’

‘Thought I’d pop by and find out how the campaign against Haven is going.’

‘You mean the campaign to save the bookstore.’

Henry smiled, showing a row of perfect white teeth to match the perfectly styled fair hair. ‘Come on, we both know it’s more than that, at least for the rest of us.’ He chuckled. ‘You’ll be heading home in a couple of months, but we’ve got to live here. If we don’t stop the man, pretty soon we won’t have an island to live on. He’ll have bought it all up.’

‘Sorry, Henry, but I’m only interested in keeping the bookstore open.’ Liam might have agreed he would keep it open for the rest of her contract, but she couldn’t bear the thought of it being demolished. It was too quaint, too important to book lovers living on the island and visiting. Plus, if he’d stop being so damn stubborn, she could see it helping to mend relationships between the resort and the island community.

‘Looks like I’ll need to set up another group then.’

She blinked. ‘Another group?’

‘A group to prevent Haven from desecrating any more of Nantucket with his awful resort.’

‘Doesn’t your dad own a resort on the island, too?’

Henry gave her the sort of look she’d had before from people who believed she was too blonde, too pretty to grasp what they were saying. ‘I hope you’re not comparing the timeless elegance of the historic Chase Hotel and Resort Group, with Haven’s soulless, modern imitation?’

‘I guess it depends what you’re looking for. One person’selegant historicis someone else’s dated. One person’ssoulless modern, someone else’s perfect luxury holiday.’ Thankfully the door opened and another customer walked in. ‘Excuse me.’ She turned to smile at the new customer, uncaring that she’d left Henry with a scowl on his face. She no longer needed his help, in fact she’d never needed it. All Henry Chase wanted to do was take down his dad’s main rival.

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