Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,31
off, keep her from chipping away at his defenses, instead he’d ensured that she’d try harder than ever to recapture what they’d once had or at least to get his attention. Either way, he was probably doomed.
“Do not start getting ideas,” he warned her, his gaze narrowed.
“What sort of ideas?” she inquired innocently.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he accused. “Games, challenges, the whole routine. We’re over, Em. We have been for a long time. It’s best to leave it that way.”
“Boone Dorsett, are you suggesting that I might try to work my feminine wiles on you just to prove a point?” she asked, laying on a sugary accent she’d otherwise trained out of her voice.
He barely resisted the desire to laugh at her exaggerated Southern persona. He didn’t want to encourage her, not when the game spelled danger. “Maybe not to prove a point,” he admitted. “But to get your way? Absolutely.”
She, however, did laugh, obviously not concerned with the seriousness of the stakes. Though he’d alluded to the uneasy relationship he had with Jenny’s parents, she couldn’t possibly understand the threat they constantly held over his head to fight for custody of B.J.
“You know me so well,” she teased. “I guess we’ll just have to see how this plays out. Have you had your inoculations?”
“Inoculations?”
She batted her eyes in a very un-Emily way. “Against feminine wiles?”
“Sweetheart, trust me, I’ve definitely built up an immunity,” he declared, wishing he were half as certain of that as he tried to sound. He regarded her with frustration. “Emily, why do you want to stir this particular pot, anyway? Wasn’t breaking my heart once enough for you?”
She blinked at that, looking vaguely nonplussed for the first time since they’d headed down this particular path. “I’m not going to break your heart again, Boone,” she promised with quiet sincerity.
“If you try to start something you don’t intend to be around to finish, what do you think will happen?” he asked, unconvinced.
She studied him, her expression suddenly thoughtful. “Okay, I hear you,” she said eventually.
“Seriously? We can go back to the original plan? No craziness while you’re here?”
“Seriously,” she insisted. “No craziness.”
Boone held her gaze, trying to determine if she’d taken his warning to heart or if she was just lulling him into a false sense of complacency. Unfortunately, despite what she thought, he couldn’t read her quite the way he once had. Or maybe he just didn’t trust his own instincts where she was concerned. After all, he’d once believed that their love was strong enough to survive anything.
Either way, he had a hunch this thing he’d inadvertently stirred up between them was far from over. And once again, if he dared to let his guard down, he’d wind up the loser, this time in ways more devastating than she could possibly imagine.
* * *
The day after her disquieting conversation with Boone, Emily walked inside Castle’s, her eyes taking a couple of minutes to adjust to the dim interior. The sight that greeted her when she finally got a good look across the room was every woman’s dream of a blue-collar god.
A white T-shirt stretched across a broad chest and was tucked into faded, form-fitting jeans. Sun-streaked brown hair, just a little too long, skimmed over a tanned forehead. Wide, work-roughened hands caressed the wood of the cashier’s counter the way a woman dreamed of a man’s hands on her body.
“Holy saints in heaven! Who is that?” she muttered to no one in particular, though she was well aware that Boone was within earshot. Though she’d intended him to hear every word, they were nonetheless heartfelt.
Boone appeared at her side, his expression amused. “That’s Wade Johnson. I told you I intended to get him in here today. He does the best custom cabinet work in the region.”
“I’ll bet that’s not the only thing he excels at doing,” she murmured, watching his hands stroke that wood.
Boone slanted a look at her. “I’m suddenly very leery of introducing you. You sound a little intense.”
“You probably should be jealous,” she suggested. “That man could make a woman forget her own name, much less any other man in her life.”
“I’m so pleased you’re impressed,” he said wryly. “That is exactly why I had him come around.”
Just then Gabi came in, stood next to them for a moment as her eyes adjusted from the sun, then followed the direction of Emily’s rapt gaze.
“Do you see what I see?” Emily asked, not taking her gaze off of Wade.