Last Name - Dr. Rebecca Sharp Page 0,52

about the drink.

“Oh, don’t be.” He patted my hand. “I’m sure it’s still amusing to her.” He glanced up toward the ceiling for a split-second.

“Jack.”

I shivered. James’ calm voice slid down my spine like a warm blanket, soothing me.

“Oh, James! There you are!” The older man beamed and then looked back to me. “Have you met this lovely lady—”

“I absolutely have.”

I sucked in a breath, feeling James’ arm slide around my waist and pull me to his side.

“She’s with me.”

It was maybe the fifteenth time I’d heard him say that today. Not only was it not getting old, but the raw, firm pride I heard in the words intensified.

For something that had been a secret for weeks, admitting to it in the open, revealing just how much we cared for each other was the hottest kind of non-physical foreplay.

“She’s with…” Jack’s eyes bugged wide for a moment before an even bigger smile claimed real estate up his cheeks. “She’s with you. Oh, James, that’s wonderful.”

I looked up at James for the first time, feeling his fingers tighten possessively on my waist.

“Yeah, she is.”

Heat spiraled straight to my core. “I… I spilled some wine on his shirt,” I confessed, desperately trying to avoid melting into a puddle at his feet.

“Then you must be feeling right at home,” James replied with a knowing smile.

Jack chuckled and explained, “I’ve known James for a long time.”

“Jack has sat on the board for Arden Corp since before my time,” James broke in and added, and I noted how his gaze dropped down just for a moment.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” I murmured. “Officially.”

“You have no idea how lovely it is to meet you, Miss Carrie. I’ve been waiting for this moment for James for quite some time.”

My brow scrunched, but just as I was about to ask what he meant, Lars appeared and threw his arm around James’ shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said as he did just that. “Mom’s wondering if we could grab some more chairs from the other room. Apparently, no one wants to sit in the fancy-schmancy dining room, who knew?” He rolled his eyes as he said it, having previously claimed that all the guests would congregate in the kitchen, though Kathleen was sure some would want to sit and eat at a proper table.

James chuckled. “Yeah.” He looked back to Jack and me. “Behave, you two.”

As soon as he was out of sight, Jack asked, “You haven’t known each other for that long, have you?”

My cheeks flushed. “No… we met by mistake.”

I steeled myself for a reproach, but it never came. “I thought so,” he mused. “Good.”

“Good?” I squeaked.

He nodded, bemused. “Let me tell you a story. In nineteen-twenty-eight, Alexander Fleming forgot to wash a dirty petri dish, a mistake that brought us penicillin. In nineteen-fifty-six, Wilson Greatbatch grabbed the wrong part out of an equipment box, and stumbled upon electrical stimulation that could save lives, mistakenly inventing the pacemaker.” He grinned.

“Even coffee… legend has it the properties of coffee beans were discovered in Africa when a man accidentally let his goats eat from a coffee plant, realizing the berries made the animals so energetic they didn’t want to sleep at night. He tried eating the beans, even tried brewing them like tea in a pot of water… but they didn’t taste good.” His hands moved as he told the story, almost as enraptured as I was. “The story has it that, in frustration, he tossed the remaining beans into the fire to dispose of them—an aromatic mistake that caused him to realize the beans should be roasted first.”

“Really?” I chirped. My head swiveled as the point of his story sunk in.

He reached up with a quiet laugh and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Sometimes, mistakes are the only way we find something truly miraculous.”

My heart stumbled.

“I’m going to grab another drink,” he declared, saving me from having to find a response. “We’ll see where this one ends up.” And, with a wink, he was gone.

My gaze followed him until it couldn’t, and then roamed the crowd, hoping to find either James or Suz. But when neither came into sight, I decided maybe some fresh air would be good after all.

Setting my glass down on the counter by the door, I slipped outside into the brisk air. Even though the firepit was lit, no one was out here yet, though I had no doubt the party would move to the patio before long.

Drifting to the fire, I let it