Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,66
you were going back for any other reason, it would be different, but how can I object to you agreeing to something like this? It proves what a huge heart you have.”
Tears stung her eyes. “I was so afraid you wouldn’t see it that way, that you’d think I was being selfish and already going back on my word.”
“Oh, believe me, I wish I could think that,” he admitted. “It would make letting you leave a lot easier if I were furious with you.”
She nudged him in the ribs. “But now you’re maybe just a little eager for me to go and get back?”
He smiled at that. “Now I’m eager to get you inside and make the most of the time we do have.”
“I don’t suppose you’d want to meet me in Aspen in a few days?” she suggested lightly. “I’ll have to check in there and make sure things are progressing on schedule for the ski lodge. We could have some time together away from here.”
He smiled at that. “As appealing as that sounds, there’s B.J. to consider. I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving him with anyone here.”
“Not even Cora Jane? You know she’d love having him to herself, and Samantha will be around.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “Next time, okay? When I’ve had a little more time to plan for a getaway with you. Anticipation’s part of the fun, right?”
“True,” she agreed. “But we’re good?”
“We’re good,” he assured her, then got out of the car.
When he’d opened her door, she stepped out and put her hand on his cheek. “Thank you for being so understanding.”
“Something tells me I’m going to get a lot of practice at that,” he said, a wry note in his voice.
She laughed. “As if you won’t test my patience from time to time.”
“I’ll do my best,” he said. “It ought to keep things interesting.”
She looked deep into his eyes as they stood on the lawn with moonlight streaming through the trees. “I don’t think interesting is ever going to be a problem for us. In fact, we may start to crave dull.”
“Not me,” Boone assured her, his mouth finding hers. When the kiss ended on a sigh, he added, “I’m just starting to realize that this is exactly the sort of excitement that’s been missing from my life.”
She leaned back into him, lifted her lips to his. “Happy to oblige,” she murmured.
And even happier that they’d weathered this first potential tempest. Since it struck at the very core of their past conflict, the resolution tonight seemed to bode well for the long haul.
* * *
Inside Boone noticed that the message light was blinking on the answering machine. Even though most important calls should have come to his cell phone, he couldn’t ignore it, not with B.J. at a friend’s house.
“Em, let me check this,” he said, already reaching for the play button. He gestured toward his wine rack. “Why don’t you open a bottle of wine?”
“Sure,” she said. “Red or white?”
“You choose,” he said distractedly, listening to a couple of annoying calls before a familiar voice came on in the third message.
“Boone,” his former mother-in-law said, an indignant huff in her voice. “I just got off the phone with Caroline Watson. She was at your restaurant tonight and called me to tell me you were there with that woman.”
Boone muttered a curse under his breath. Behind him, he sensed Emily going perfectly still. He was about to shut off the machine, but Emily stepped up and put her hand on his.
“You might as well listen to all of it,” she said quietly.
“I don’t need to,” he said, cutting off the message. “Jodie’s just in one of her impossible moods. You certainly don’t need to hear what she has to say. I should have known when we stopped to say hello to Caroline that she’d be on the phone to Jodie before we hit the parking lot. There’s not a lot I do that doesn’t make its way to Jodie. Some people seem to enjoy feeding the animosity she feels toward me. I’m used to it.”
“But this is a first for me,” Emily said quietly. “I’ve never thought of myself as the other woman.”
“Because you’re not,” Boone said, thoroughly frustrated. “And Jodie has no right to make you feel that way. It’s not even about you. It’s about me. She never thought I was good enough for Jenny. She hated that we got married and made no pretense about her belief that I’d wind up