Mistletoe in Paradise (Wildstone #5.5) - Jill Shalvis Page 0,23
at Hannah. “Or at least try.” And with that, he headed off to the galley.
Hannah looked at James.
He shrugged. “Maybe he suspects the truth, in which case another few hours in denial before you crush him won’t hurt. Besides, have you not seen the way Sally looks at him?”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t look at her that way.”
James nudged a chair back from the table with a foot and sat. “Given the news you’re here to deliver, maybe you can help him start to look at her that way.”
“He needs to sell the boat.”
He gave her a get-real look. “This boat is his life. What would he do without it?”
Hannah leaned forward. “Listen, you might not have heard, but he’s had a couple of health scares. Him being out here, far from medical care, drinking at night like he is . . . My biggest fear is that something will happen when he’s out here alone.”
“Have you asked him what his biggest fear is? Because I’d bet it’s being landlocked with nothing to do. He loves the water, Hannah. Lives for it.”
She sagged back and sighed. “I know. He loves it above all else.” Including me . . . “I just don’t want to lose him.”
“I understand that,” he said. “Maybe more than anyone, but living for the sake of living isn’t going to cut it, not for a guy like him.”
Their gazes met, his hooded from her now. “James, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“You blew me off this morning.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you’d notice whether I was here or not.”
She was dumbstruck. “What are you talking about?”
“Last night I barely had the condom off before you had your phone in hand. Let’s just say I got the message.”
“I just needed to get something done before I could go to sleep, is all.”
He shook his head. “I waited at least thirty minutes before I headed out. You didn’t even notice I was gone.”
“I’m so sorry.” She drew in a breath, embarrassed. “I did hear you go. I promised myself I’d go after you the minute I finished an email, but I fell asleep. You could’ve said something when you left.”
“Let’s just say you were focused, and not on me.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding, because if she was being honest, she’d heard this sort of thing before from . . . well, just about every guy she’d ever dated. “I’m single-minded. I can work on that.”
He gave her an unreadable look. “Your job’s important to you, Hannah, and it should be. I love how passionate you are. But last night . . . it felt special to me.” He paused and made sure he had her attention. “Really special. Then I realized I was in it alone.”
She felt the air leave her lungs in a whoosh, and she stood, moving around the table to him. Stepping into the vee of his legs, she dropped to her knees to wrap her arms around his middle and hug him to her. “I’m so sorry, James. I never meant to make you feel that way. You weren’t alone. You . . .” She shook her head and tilted it up to him. “You rocked my world. Left me on a shaky axis. I still feel it even now. Do you?”
His eyes remained serious, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. “To tell you the truth, with you in that position . . . same.”
She snorted and he pulled her up and into his lap, cuddling her into him. “I’ve always been the one to pursue you sexually,” he said into her hair. “Then last night I was enough of a hypocrite to be annoyed when I thought you saw me as nothing else. I didn’t like how that felt between us.”
“It wasn’t that. It was never that.” She cupped his face. “I like your brain and your smile as much as I like your favorite body part.”
That got a laugh out of him. “Same. I like your brain and your smile as much as I like all your body parts.” He kissed her softly. “I get that you’re here because you’re worried about losing your dad. I know the feeling.”
She knew he did. He’d lost a piece of himself when he’d lost Jason. She couldn’t imagine the pain of that. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him,” she admitted.
“But see, he’s right here in front of you. We all are.” He cupped her face. “Can you say the