Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
J ade was surprised to find Henry sauntering into the shop on Thursday lunchtime. She’d not actually seen him since that first SOB meeting. She’d included him on the group chats and occasionally he’d added a thumbs up to whatever had been suggested, but he’d always excused himself from the subsequent meetings. She’d kind of hoped he’d fade away.
‘Hi. Looking for some reading inspiration?’
‘Oh, no, I’ve not come for a book.’
He scanned the shop, and Jade didn’t know what it was about the man that instantly put her on edge. Like he was carefully making a note of what he saw and putting it into some sort of algorithm, judging her. Books not straight, empty mug… his gaze settled on her… hair too blonde, top too tight.
She shook the thought away. It hardly mattered what he thought of her. ‘Then how else can I help you?’
‘Thought I’d pop by and find out how the campaign against Haven is going.’
‘You mean the campaign to save the bookstore.’
Henry smiled, showing a row of perfect white teeth to match the perfectly styled fair hair. ‘Come on, we both know it’s more than that, at least for the rest of us.’ He chuckled. ‘You’ll be heading home in a couple of months, but we’ve got to live here. If we don’t stop the man, pretty soon we won’t have an island to live on. He’ll have bought it all up.’
‘Sorry, Henry, but I’m only interested in keeping the bookstore open.’ Liam might have agreed he would keep it open for the rest of her contract, but she couldn’t bear the thought of it being demolished. It was too quaint, too important to book lovers living on the island and visiting. Plus, if he’d stop being so damn stubborn, she could see it helping to mend relationships between the resort and the island community.
‘Looks like I’ll need to set up another group then.’
She blinked. ‘Another group?’
‘A group to prevent Haven from desecrating any more of Nantucket with his awful resort.’
‘Doesn’t your dad own a resort on the island, too?’
Henry gave her the sort of look she’d had before from people who believed she was too blonde, too pretty to grasp what they were saying. ‘I hope you’re not comparing the timeless elegance of the historic Chase Hotel and Resort Group, with Haven’s soulless, modern imitation?’
‘I guess it depends what you’re looking for. One person’s elegant historic is someone else’s dated. One person’s soulless modern , someone else’s perfect luxury holiday.’ Thankfully the door opened and another customer walked in. ‘Excuse me.’ She turned to smile at the new customer, uncaring that she’d left Henry with a scowl on his face. She no longer needed his help, in fact she’d never needed it. All Henry Chase wanted to do was take down his dad’s main rival.
Customers continued to keep her busy for the rest of the afternoon, but the pang of disappointment she felt when they turned out not to be tall, dark and grumpy-looking with mesmerising silver-specked grey eyes, became more and more acute.
I’m trying to offer you a version of me I thought I’d buried. I won’t blame you if you think he’s not worth your while. Others have thought the same.
His words had played round in her head all night. Maybe it was for the best that he wasn’t going to show because she didn’t have any defence against the man when he opened up to her like that.
The door swung open and her heart ricocheted off her ribs when she saw who it was. She had to press a hand to her chest to stop the damn thing flying across the room towards him.
He gave her a cautious smile. ‘Is now a good time?’
‘For what?’ Oh God, it sounded like she was contemplating dragging him upstairs for a quickie.
He gave her a quizzical look. ‘Is there more than one option on the table?’
‘I… er, just meant I assume you’re here to ask how yesterday went?’
He nodded, those beautiful eyes never leaving her face. ‘Jeremy informs me you were a hit with the guests.’
‘Wow, that’s good to know. The team will be delighted.’
‘The team.’ His shoulders twitched. ‘ You were the hit, Jade.’
‘Oh.’ He was hard to resist even when he was being an arse, impossible to resist when he decided to seduce her. This serious, intense yet secretly very kind man? He was one she could easily fall in love with.
‘It can’t come as a surprise.’ He took a few steps towards her, his thumb caressing her cheek in a light touch that turned her insides to mush. ‘The guests loved you. Everyone loves you.’ His hand shifted to tuck a curl of hair behind her ear. ‘You have a natural way with people, a wit, a charisma, a smile we try to encourage, hoping it will be pointed in our direction.’
Butterflies flapped crazily in her belly as the liquid silver-grey eyes pulled her dangerously under their influence. ‘Thank you.’
He nodded and took a step back. ‘Would you recommend a book for me?’
It took her a moment to gather herself. ‘I thought you only read contracts.’
His eyes darkened. ‘If I recall, you once promised to find me a book, but then we got… distracted.’
Unhelpful images of how she’d distracted him flew through her mind. He’d been naked, hugely aroused and throbbing in her hand…
She didn’t know whether to scream with disappointment or cheer with relief when the door opened. And Adam walked in.
‘Am I interrupting anything?’ Adam’s gaze bounced between the pair of them, a slow smirk crossing his face. ‘Looks like I am.’ He turned to Liam. ‘I thought you said she was just an employee ?’
Ouch.
Liam exhaled sharply, and a flash of frustration crossed his face. Clearly whatever he’d said to Adam wasn’t necessarily the truth, but she’d had so many mixed messages already from him, it was impossible to know where she stood. Really, the only healthy way forward was to spend the next two months untangling herself from him. Not getting herself in deeper.
But then she looked at him again, at the fresh lines of tension on his handsome face, and her heart didn’t see the man. It saw the lost, shunned young boy.
* * *
Liam shoved his hands into his pockets before he did something he’d regret, like grab Adam’s shirt and shove him against the wall. Not that he’d regret the action, but he would regret embarrassing Jade. ‘What do you want?’
Adam chuckled. ‘Not content with continuing to meddle in the tourist industry, you’re now working in book sales?’
Liam’s hands twitched, forming into fists.
Jade turned and gave Adam a polite smile. ‘How can I help, Adam?’
‘I came to apologise for not being at the meeting the other day. I hear you’re doing book surgeries now.’ A broad smile crossed his face. Cocky and smug were the adjectives Liam would have used to describe it. Someone who liked the son of a bitch might say ‘charming’. ‘What do I have to do to make an appointment?’
‘No appointment needed.’ At Jade’s reply, Adam’s smile grew, and Liam’s fists clenched tighter. This was excruciating. ‘You just need to stand in line at the next pop-up clinic.’
Adam’s smile froze. ‘I see. When is that?’
‘I’ll be outside the visitor centre in the historic district on Saturday from one p.m.’
He nodded curtly. A man who’d momentarily stood eight-foot tall before being expertly cut down to size. ‘I might see you there, then.’
The door banged shut behind him.
A charged silence settled between them. Liam knew he needed to get out and regroup. Let his emotions settle. He was prepared to beg for another chance, but to put himself through that when she had no intention of granting him one? Humiliation wasn’t new to him, but could he knowingly put himself through it again? ‘I’ll see you on Saturday.’
‘Sorry?’
‘For the book recommendation,’ he clarified. ‘Outside the visitor centre, one o’clock.’
‘Oh.’ She bit into her lip, a faint red to her cheeks. ‘You don’t need to come to the clinic for that. I only said it to Adam because he was being a twat.’
A low laugh escaped him, but jealousy still twisted inside him. ‘He likes you.’
‘I think he likes winding you up, more.’
Their eyes met and the weight of the moment felt heavy on his shoulders. Somehow, without his knowing it, he’d handed her the power to hurt him. He could, and had, also hurt her.
Neither was remotely acceptable.
He should forget her, forget this humming attraction for a woman working against him, causing him to delay his dream so she could fulfil hers.
‘You told Adam I was just an employee to you.’ Jade’s voice cut through his swirling thoughts. ‘I’m not saying that’s wrong, but my head is spinning with all this I like you Jade, the sex was just what I needed. I want another chance with you. You’re just an employee .’ She slid her hands onto her hips. ‘Be straight with me. Which should I believe?’
Why did she have to look so magnificent, boldly staring him down? ‘Come out with me on the boat on Sunday. Let me show you.’ Humiliation and pain be damned, he’d never backed down, only ever stepped forward. ‘You show me books. I’ll show you whales.’
Her quiet blue gaze held his. ‘Is this just a ruse to push me overboard so you can get on with knocking down the bookstore?’
‘I can bulldoze it any time I want.’ He exhaled, matched her calm stare with one of his own. ‘It’s a ruse to spend time with you. To show you that the first and third statements are what you should believe. The second I apologised for, the last I said to Adam because I didn’t want him knowing how infatuated I am.’
She sucked in a breath and automatically his eyes were drawn to her luscious breasts. Fuck, he wanted to bury himself in them again so much, he ached.
‘What about sex?’
Guiltily he looked back up at her face. ‘You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen, and my body remembers every second of how much it enjoyed being tangled with yours. Of course I want to sleep with you again. But if we spend the next two months only as friends, I can handle that. What I can’t handle is knowing you’re around the corner and not being able to talk to you.’
Her expression softened, the blue of her eyes deepening. ‘That’s because I’m such awesome company.’
This was why he’d allowed her to distract him. She made him smile, made the self-imposed burden he carried around with him– the need to prove he was successful in the most visible way by making Haven Resort the biggest and best on the island– feel less heavy. ‘Sunday morning. I’ll knock on your door at ten a.m.?’
‘Pretty sure I can make it down to the yacht with no mishaps.’ He stared back at her. ‘Oh, crap, you’re remembering my unplanned swim.’
‘I’ll knock on your door,’ he repeated. ‘Bring a sweater, it can get chilly out on the ocean.’
‘Aye, aye captain.’ She gave him a wonky salute, which made him want to bundle her into his arms and spend the next hour kissing her.
Just as he was debating whether kissing was allowed in the new friendship he was trying to navigate, another customer walked in.
The lady looked him up and down. ‘You’re Liam Haven.’
His heart sunk. That question was rarely the start to anything good. ‘I am.’
‘We used to moor our boat on this wharf and enjoy shopping along the waterfront. Now we can’t moor it here and even if we could, this is the only shop left to enjoy.’ Her gaze darted to Jade. ‘Is it right that he’s going to knock it down, too?’
Jade slid him a glance. ‘Unless we can persuade him otherwise.’
The woman sniffed. ‘Well, I hope he’ll listen to reason. All this focus on tourists. Why doesn’t anyone want to build places for those of us who live and work here?’ She sighed. ‘Sorry, I didn’t come in to rant. I actually came to see if you have a copy of a book I was recommended by a friend who’d been to your book clinic…’
Jade gave him an apologetic glance before focusing back on the customer and Liam slunk out of the door.
Haven Resort needs Nantucket as much as Nantucket needs you.
Was Jade right? Was his crazy obsession– yeah, now he was quoting Jeremy– to get the island to respect him, actually doing the opposite? By expanding the resort, making it more and more an exclusive enclave for the rich, was he turning into someone no better than the assholes he’d spent half a lifetime hating?