Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,68
of that closet at the back of his mind, begging to be opened.
Louisa turned heads. She didn’t even realize it, but with her deep-red hair and that killer blue dress, everything about her stood out. She wasn’t skinny or waifish—she curved in all the right places—and standing back against the wall watching her try to make a return on her most recent impulsive purchase, Cody didn’t know whether to be offended or amused.
He cleared his throat and she spun around, a hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression on her face.
“Unhappy with your purchase already?” He could have some fun with this. He shouldn’t, but he could.
She stammered for a few seconds before he raised a hand to let her off the hook.
“I know you can’t afford it,” he said.
Her shoulders sank in a deep exhale. “I really can’t.”
He watched her fidget, clearly uncomfortable. “So what were you thinking?”
A sheepish look came across her face. “I was just trying to drive up the bid.”
He only stared.
She looked away, refusing to explain further.
“I’ll split it with you,” he offered.
“No,” she said. “This was my mistake. I’ll figure it out.”
“A mistake, huh?” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her. “Ouch.”
She met his eyes for only the briefest moment. She stepped out of her heels and picked them up, tucking them under her arm. “We both know that you and I trying to sail together is a giant mistake.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Lou,” he said. “We made a pretty good team once upon a time.”
Now he had her attention. But he wasn’t sure he wanted it. What was he doing? He was flirting, that’s what. And he should stop. He was walking a tightrope, and he knew one wrong move and he’d fall—hard.
“That was a long time ago,” she said.
He watched her tuck a long strand of hair behind her ear, eyes lingering on her pink cheeks, her full lips.
The tightrope underneath him wobbled.
He hadn’t returned to Nantucket thinking he’d reconnect with Louisa. He didn’t even know she lived on the island. While there were a lot of old feelings that had been stirred like soup in a pot, the thing that struck him most was that what drew him to her most were things he didn’t know about her back then.
She was smart and fearless, yes, but she had such a kindness about her—it was rare to find someone who was so genuine in their concern for other people. Most people really only cared about themselves.
She was different. She would never intentionally hurt him, right?
Yet she had hurt him. And that mistake had unraveled so much of his life. He wasn’t sure how to reconcile the Louisa who’d broken his heart with the woman standing in front of him.
She scoffed quietly. “You can’t do this.”
Whoa. What had he done?
“I can’t do this.” She stormed past him as if she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“Do what?” He followed her. “Louisa?”
She spun around and looked at him, and for a split second he thought maybe there were tears in her eyes.
“You can’t tell me I’m only being nice to try and ease my guilty conscience and push me away like you did just to pull me straight back in by flirting with me.” She looked up at the ceiling, blinking quickly. Same thing she’d always done to keep from crying.
He thought she looked equal parts beautiful and adorable when she did.
What was wrong with him? He shouldn’t be thinking about her like this. She was at most a friend, nothing more. She could never be anything more.
“I’m sorry,” he said. And he meant it. She was right—it was unfair of him.
Never mind that he liked being around her, liked the way he felt when he was with her. He wanted to know all of her three million quirks, and he wanted to hear her say his name over and over.
Get a hold of yourself, Boggs. You could leave here with McKenzie. Wouldn’t that be easier? Less messy?
“I tried to clear the air with you and you pushed me away,” she said, a little angrier now. “You were right.”
“I was?”
“Yes. Distance is good. Because this—” she waved her hands back and forth in the space between them—“is no good for anyone.”
A man dressed in a suit, with pants that almost reached his ankles, strode over. If it weren’t for the fact that he stopped next to Louisa (and the fact that he wasn’t wearing socks with his loafers), Cody might not have noticed him.