Page 17 of Jason
He looked back at her as if she wasn’t speaking English.“It’s a summerhouse.I’m the only one here this week.”
Well that made no sense to Mallory’s very lower middle-class self.She could not fathom a summerhouse this big and this empty, and she had to pause to look around her to absorb the idea.If she had a summerhouse with large picture windows that framed a view of the ocean from every room that she could see, she’d be right here.She looked at the boxed beam ceilings, and hand-scraped hardwood floors.At the two-sided fireplace made of river rock.The furnishings were just as grand—chairs and sofas made of leather and brocade, and thick wool rugs to cover sections of the floor.And the kitchen!It looked like a set from an old Nora Ephron movie, with high-end appliances and marble countertops.“I can’t stay here, Jason.”
He seemed confused.“Why not?”
She didn’t know how to explain that a girl from a very small house and a very big family should not be in a fancy house like this.Thiswas beyond her reach, and she instinctively recoiled from reaching.Maybe because she’d grown up at or near the poverty level.
But it was more than that, if she was being honest.Jason wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the busy little bees that maintained her libido were working overtime and had kicked it up a notch.
He frowned.“You’ve got that look on your face.”
“What look?”
“You know, that look you get.”
“Are you referring to the look I get that is my face?”she asked irritably as she tried to figure out what look he was talking about.
“Look, Mallory, is this about…” He hesitated, pressed his lips together a moment, as if he was trying to think of what to say.“You don’t have to…” He hesitated again, and Mallory wondered if he was talking about that night in his office.Oh God.She could feel the color creeping up her neck and into her face.Please don’t say it.“Look, if you want to stay in town, we’ll drive in later and get you a room.”
Interestingly, uber-confident Jason looked strangely embarrassed, which was a look on him she’d never seen.Oh God—had she embarrassed him that night?That’s what she got for trying to play vixen.She generally tried not to think about that night at all, because she’d been so mortified by it, but it was damn difficult to forget when he was standing here and now without his shirt.“Thanks,” she muttered, and looked at her feet.“It’s not that I don’t appreciate…I mean, I think it’s probably not…”Shut up.Shut up shut up shut up.She was getting weirder and weirder and she didn’t like it.She suddenly looked up.“You know what?I could really use a bathroom.Do you have a bathroom I could use?”
He stared at her for a long moment, almost as if he was debating something, and she could feel his gaze penetrating hers, could feel it sliding merrily down into her groin.But then he nodded toward a door in the hall.“It’s right in there,” he said.Then he pointed at a door the other way.“I’ll be in there.Kitchen is on the other side of the dining room.”He deposited her suitcase in the hall and disappeared into the dining room.
Mallory slipped into the powder room, leaned over the sink, and splashed water on her face.When she glanced up, she recoiled.Her short hair was going in all directions.She had dark circles under her eyes from a lack of sleep.And her pulse was pounding in her neck because Inez was right—she was a cake around very handsome, sexy men.“For the love of Pete,” she muttered.She was definitely going to need him to put on a shirt and get a room in town if she was going to survive this unexpected trip to Maine.She was only human.
And she was still pissed, too, she realized.Maybe as pissed as she was this morning.Was it only this morning?She paused to think about that.It seemed so long ago now.But on top of waking her up, making her fly to Maine, he’d answered the door looking ridiculously and mouthwateringly hot and inviting her to stay in this ridiculously fancysummerhouse.
Yep.She was mad all over again.
Chapter Five
He clearly made her uncomfortable.Jason hadn’t realized before today how uncomfortable he made her.In all the weirdness that followed that night in the office, he thought she’d just sort of blithely put it behind her, but obviously, she had not.
He walked down the hall to the gym and rooted around in a closet until he found a shirt in a basket.He put it to his nose.Not too bad.He slipped it on over his head and looked down.It was an old Harvard T-shirt he figured had belonged to his brother Phillip.In this house, anything left behind was fair game.
He returned to the kitchen and took down a bottle of whisky, pouring a finger of it for himself.Mallory looked really tired, and he felt pretty guilty about that.His thoughts could be so scattered sometimes, especially when he was busy.After his parents had died, and Jason hadn’t been able to absorb his grief, Aunt Claire had suggested maybe he had ADHD.He didn’t have ADHD—he’d had a full-blown case of missing his parents and a desire to drown his feelings about their sudden loss.
But he was very disorganized.He’d had girlfriends through the years who, when he forgot to call, would accuse him of being unfeeling and inconsiderate.He forgot to call not because he was intentionally unfeeling, but because he walked around with a jumble of ideas in his head, and the more interesting thoughts crowded out the more mundane.Some people could deal with all those thoughts at once, but he was not one of them.
Mallory understood that about him.She walked around behind him, picking up the forgotten cell phone, or finding his lost keys.Her super organizational skills were a perfect match for his inability to organize even a sock drawer.And there was that curious mix of prosecutor and sex kitten all wrapped up one.From the moment she’d walked into his office, he had felt a twinge deep and low.He remembered that day.She was wearing a dress, and she looked fantastic, and she had legs that stretched into next week.But she was all prim and proper, holding onto that binder for dear life.She had said all the right things…but she’d said them to his mouth, and he had wondered if she hadn’t felt that twinge, too.
He knew there were times he took advantage of her efficiency, but he really didn’t mean to.Like today, making her fly out here at the last minute.And she’d arrived bedraggled and miffed, and then she’d been intimidated by the size of this house.If there was one thing he got about Mallory, it was that she liked to know what to expect.And she had not expected this house.
Jason tended to forget how the Blackthorne life looked to outsiders.This house, in particular, was large, and he could understand why someone might think it was a tony inn in Maine on the waterfront.It reeked of old money and a past grandeur that few experienced.
But to a Blackthorne, this house was also a family treasure, built to house generations.It was home, it was summer, and in a family that had come to include seven boys, there had been many times it hadn’t seemed quite big enough.
He looked around the kitchen.Aunt Claire had had the kitchen renovated several years ago, and it looked like something out ofArchitectural Digestwith its marble countertops, white cabinetry, and gleaming stainless appliances.There was an office and even a library in the house, neither of which had a view of the ocean, so Jason had set up a makeshift office at the kitchen table.From there, he had a spectacular view of the Atlantic and the sailboats that bobbed by every day.
In the mornings, he often worked on the flagstone patio and made his calls as the sun slowly climbed to a noon sky.There was one thing he could say for King Harbor, and that was that it was peaceful here.Quiet.Nothing but the sound of the sea churning into land below the house to distract him.After several years in Los Angeles, it was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle.
He’d thoroughly enjoyed his time here until Darien pulled his shit.
And then he discovered Mallory was apparently afraid to be alone with him.That unsettling comparison to Darien made him nauseous.
He heard the door of the hall bathroom close.A moment later, Mallory found her way to the kitchen.She’d combed her hair and washed her face.She smiled sheepishly, drew a breath and said, “Starting over.This house is amazing, Jason.”
“Thanks.We like it.”
