Christmas in Angel Harbor - Jeannie Moon Page 0,21

her closet, she pulled out a flowing, wine-colored sweater dress and her chunky-heeled black boots. This dress was her go-to and fit almost any occasion. She never thought it would be a first-date-with-Danny dress, though. With a scooped neck and a sweeping skirt, it shaped her in all the right places, and camouflaged the ones she’d rather not have on display. It was a favorite for a reason.

There was no way to know if it was right for the evening, but it was too late to worry about that particular detail. After adding her jewelry, she straightened the neckline and glanced at herself in the mirror. Not too bad. The whir of a motor cut through the gentle quiet of the house just as she zipped on her boots. Headlights flashed into her bedroom window, then quickly vanished, signaling that a car had pulled into the driveway. Looking at the clock she saw it was seven. He was right on time.

This was just dinner. Just dinner, she told herself.

If that was true, what was the little buzz flitting around in her belly? They had a history, but it was so far in the past, Jane could hardly consider it relevant. After he’d broken her heart, Jane jumped headlong into her schooling, doing her best to put any memory of the man she had wanted more than anything out of her head. The way he’d just dropped out of her life crushed her, shook her faith. And while Jane was quiet and inexperienced in matters of the heart, she was not a fool. Pining over someone who didn’t want her was out of the question.

Instead, she threw herself into her work, taking internships and research jobs wherever she could. Her passport got a good workout, taking her to dig sites, ruins, and museums all over the world. She built an amazing network of colleagues and friends and was considered a rising talent in the archeological community. Jane thrived, forcing herself to forget her heartbreak, burying it like the relics she studied.

When her dad died, it all fell apart, and Jane had been reassembling the pieces ever since.

Back in high school, she was the only one who knew Danny’s dreams were as big as his stories. Now, he’d brought her into his confidence once again as he tried to reinvent himself.

Danny was a thoughtful man, who obviously felt things deeply. Sure, at times it was necessary to hold on to the cool kid facade from his youth, but when she watched him in interviews, or on the red carpet at one of his movie premieres, she saw through the practiced charm. All she could see was the boy who toiled in the back of a bookstore to build worlds. They were bound by an old friendship, and by the shared history of a small town that held one of them back, while the other shot forward.

Her doorbell chimed, rousing Chloe from her spot in the corner of the living room. Her pooch scrambled excitedly on the dark wood floors, crashing into a side table, and nearly knocking over a small glass table lamp that had been in the family since their first days in the United States. Normally, the big fuzzball was quiet, very content to hang with her people. But Chloe lived for visitors—all visitors. She and the UPS man had a little love affair going on. If her dog was ever in the yard during a delivery, he made a point to go over to the fence and love her up. It was the same at the store, where she had a particular fondness for their mail carrier, Elton. The wagging tail and happy bark weren’t going to scare off any intruder. Given the opportunity, the dog would invite a burglar in for tea.

“Chill out. We’ve discussed this. You’re too easy.” Chloe sat, but the whoosh-whoosh of her tail continued excitedly. The dog was incorrigible. After smiling into the hallway mirror for a final check of her teeth for lipstick smudges, Jane opened the front door.

Damn.

It should have been a crime for a man to look this good. She doubted he even made an effort. At the store, when he was wearing a hoodie and jeans, his good looks were casual, boyish almost. Now? The man was gorgeous. He filled the space on her front porch, tall and rugged-looking, in a leather jacket, slacks, and a soft-looking crew neck sweater. There was nothing out of the ordinary, not really. There