Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
T he boat ride back to Nantucket was mainly silent, and Jade knew that was down to her. She was the chatty one, but her mind was such a whirlwind of emotion, she was afraid if she opened her mouth, she’d say something stupid. I think I’m falling for you . Yep, something like that.
And it was all his fault for taking her to see his grandma. The sight of this hard, uncompromising man getting choked up when he’d told her they were a team… God, even now she felt her eyes blur with tears.
He held her hand to help her off the boat, expression full of concern. ‘You’re quiet.’
‘Thought you might appreciate some silence, after enduring me and your grandma chattering all evening.’
‘I enjoyed watching you together. She loved you,’ he added. ‘But then I knew she would.’
‘The feeling was mutual. She’s one amazing woman.’
‘She is.’ He peered down at her. ‘So you’re not annoyed I didn’t take you to a restaurant?’
‘Annoyed? Of course not.’ Scared shitless more like.
He halted, turning to face her. ‘Then what’s the matter?’
‘Nothing.’ She swallowed. ‘Well, except for the fact that taking me to see her wasn’t fair.’
His browns scrunched together. ‘What do you mean?’
‘It was like you brought out the big guns.’
‘You’re calling my grandma a big gun?’
‘I don’t think you could get any bigger.’ She worried at her bottom lip. ‘Flipping heck, Liam, it was like watching Simba and Mufusa, Nemo and Marlin… damn, I can’t think of any grandson/grandmother comparisons but you get my drift.’
‘Honestly?’ The tension that had crept into his expression eased away, replaced with bemusement. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
She let out a huff of frustration. ‘I loved watching you with her, all right? It made me see a whole other side of you that I actually wish I hadn’t because I don’t know how I’m supposed to stop falling for you now, which is going to make things incredibly awkward for the next seven weeks.’
His throat moved as he swallowed. ‘Seven weeks?’
‘Yes. I counted it the other day.’
He inhaled a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his eyes locked with hers. ‘It doesn’t feel nearly long enough.’ As her heart thumped wildly in her chest, his hand slid slowly up her neck to cup her cheek. ‘You think I’m not freaking out about this? You aren’t the only one in danger of losing themselves.’
She didn’t know which was going to explode first, her brain or her heart. Both were racing like the clappers, pumping endorphins and adrenalin into her overheated blood. ‘Honestly, I don’t know whether to jump you, or run inside and lock the door.’
He let out a harsh exhale. ‘Ditto.’ His thumb smoothed across her cheek, eyes darkening to charcoal. ‘But I’ve never run from anything.’
Her heart thumped louder. ‘So we’re doing the jumping thing?’
He groaned. ‘If you want to jump me, you’ll get no complaints.’ He brushed his mouth against hers, sending a zing of awareness through her. ‘But you could also invite me in for a drink and we’ll see where this goes.’
‘We’ve been here before, so we both know exactly where it’s going if you come inside with me.’ But she took his hand and they walked together to the bookstore, her fingers trembling as she unlocked the door and waved him inside. Resisting Liam Haven was impossible. God knows she’d tried, A-plus for effort, but it seemed so pointless when she only had seven weeks left here. Sod sensible. She’d come here for an adventure, to find herself, and he was part of that. It was time to stop being scared and take the leap, because even though the landing would hurt, the journey would be extraordinary.
Her legs felt like jelly as his long fingers curled around hers and he led her towards the stairs. ‘This is crazy,’ she mumbled as she climbed ahead of him.
‘What is?’
‘My heart’s racing.’
When he reached the top of the stairs, he drew her jacket off her shoulders and laid it carefully over the back of her chair. ‘Are you nervous about having a drink with me?’
‘Yeah, you’re not here for a drink. At least I hope not.’ She rested a hand on her belly, trying to quiet the butterflies. Not nerves, she realised. Excitement. ‘This reminds me of that first time, when you invited me back to the yacht for a cocktail, and then you said if I really wanted one, I’d be disappointed.’
He smiled, hands sliding up her arms until they reached her shoulders where he slid them under the straps of her dress. ‘I remember.’ She gasped as he bent to kiss her neck. ‘Were you disappointed?’
‘You know I wasn’t.’
‘We were strangers that night.’ He dropped another soft kiss on her neck, only this time he didn’t stop, instead continuing across her collarbone, moving the material aside. ‘Now I’m kissing a woman I care about. A woman who knows me more than anyone else ever has.’
It was a reminder that he didn’t allow people close, and for a good reason. As his grandma had confirmed tonight, he’d spent most of his life being shunned, both the boy and the man. He too had fears to push aside, pain that was hard to forget.
‘I know you, but you also know me.’ Needing a distraction from the emotions he pulled from her, she smiled and reached for the buttons of his shirt. ‘So you should know you need to get naked because I’m a big admirer of the body you keep hidden under your clothes.’
His breathing quickened as his smouldering gaze met hers. ‘It’s yours to do what you want with.’
* * *
At his words, a gleam entered Jade’s beautiful blue eyes. But then she ducked her head and focused on undoing his shirt, mumbling a curse as her fingers snagged on the buttons. It made him smile, which quickly turned into a hiss as her knuckles brushed against the sensitive hairs of his happy trail.
‘Maybe I should take over,’ he muttered, erection hard and pulsing against his zip, begging to be released.
‘Nope, I’ve always wanted a sex toy.’ Her tongue came out to wet her lips as she undid the button of his trousers and pushed them down over his hips, struggling to work them over his swollen dick.
‘Is that all I am?’ He wanted to be offended, but the thought of her playing with him, only made him harder.
Her tongue peeked out, wetting her bottom lip. ‘You don’t like the idea of being used for sex?’
‘I like the idea of you using me for sex.’ It was a reminder that, though it had always felt more than sex for him, he’d not always let her know that. And neither had her past boyfriends. Her hand curled around him, giving him a squeeze, rocking him right back to the here and now. ‘I want you naked, too.’ He grabbed at her dress and lifted it over her head before deftly undoing her bra, inhaling sharply as her breasts spilt into his hands. ‘Fuck, I can’t get enough of touching these.’ He bent to kiss them, sucking at the nipples, adding a little nip that caused her to cry out his name.
But then she pushed him away. ‘On the bed.’
He wasn’t used to being ordered about, but one look at her flushed, beautifully animated face, and he was helpless to do anything but lay down on the mattress, hands behind his head.
Waiting.
And sweet mother of God, he was not disappointed. She followed him onto it, crawling towards him like a goddess, blonde hair sliding over her shoulders and down across her breasts which hung like beautiful ripe globes, begging for his touch. But when he reached for them, she batted his hand away.
‘You’re the toy, remember. I’m the one playing.’ She gazed down at him, a teasing smile on her face. ‘And from where I’m sitting, you’ve got an awful lot I want to play with.’
He was suddenly terrified he wouldn’t be able to last through this. ‘You’re killing me, here. I need to touch you, feel you pulse around my fingers.’
‘Later.’ Her hands slid up his chest, resting on his pecs. ‘I want to make you feel good.’
Christ. ‘Trust me, having you near me and naked makes me feel fucking incredible.’
She smiled, gave his nipples a little rub, which sent a zap of arousal through him. ‘I want to do more. I want to make you feel cared for, appreciated.’
Emotion jumped into his throat and he almost couldn’t breathe for the pressure on his chest. ‘You don’t need to do that.’
‘I want to do it. Far too many people have been mean to you. It’s time to redress the balance.’ She slid down and squeezed her breasts around him, sending his hips punching off the bed, as if an electric bolt had gone through him. ‘Oh, wow, you like that huh?’
‘If it involves your naked tits anywhere near my body,’ he replied roughly, ‘you can be certain I’ll like it.’
‘Good to know.’ She licked her lips, squeezed again. ‘Now let’s find out what else you like.’
She did exactly that, stroking him, fondling him, worshipping him until he finally grasped her hips and seated her over him. Seven weeks, he thought as he rocked into her. It wasn’t nearly long enough. As the pleasure coiled inside him, tightening his balls, squeezing his chest, he wondered what time would be long enough. Six months, a year?
She threw back her head, her core convulsing around him, and moments before she drew his own orgasm out of him, he tried to imagine a time when he would ever have enough of her.
And couldn’t.
* * *
He woke to an annoying, jangling sound, followed by a groan from the warm, curvy woman he’d wrapped himself around like a blanket.
‘Frigging heck Lauren, it’s only seven.’
‘Oops. I keep forgetting the time difference.’
Bleary eyed, he lifted himself up on his elbows, only to see Jade staring into her mobile phone. And a very shocked, less vibrant version of Jade, staring back at him.
‘Oh, my God, is that a man in your bed, Jade Taylor? Who is it?’
Jade glanced at him over her shoulder, her hair a riot of blonde waves, lips swollen from having spent the best part of the night locked with his. ‘Liam, meet my sister, Lauren.’
He gave a self-conscious nod before flopping back down on the bed, figuring there were worse places to hide than behind Jade’s naked body.
‘You didn’t tell me he was so hot,’ Lauren whispered, either unaware or uncaring that he was still in earshot. ‘Now I can understand why you shagged him on day one.’
He didn’t like the tone. He considered moving so they could have some privacy, and so he didn’t say something Jade might not be happy with, but he didn’t want to give Lauren an eyeful of his junk.
‘How are things with Ned?’ Jade asked, clearly used to Lauren’s eloquent descriptions.
Liam heard Lauren sigh. ‘We’ve seen each other a few times but it’s difficult. You’ll understand when you get yourself a career. There’s a certain professional responsibility.’
He sat bolt upright and glared at Lauren through the screen. ‘You don’t count managing a bookstore a career?’
There was a beat of silence. Long enough for him to realise he’d just done what he’d told himself he wouldn’t and interfered in Jade’s business.
‘Well three months of a job is hardly a career,’ Lauren retorted finally. ‘And aren’t you the guy who tried to stop her doing even that?’
Point to Lauren. ‘It is a career if she wants to continue managing it.’
Instantly, the atmosphere in the room changed from easy Sunday morning to… what the hell had he just said ? Slowly Jade turned to look at him. ‘What do you mean?’
He was winging this, and he never winged. He thought long and hard before making decisions. ‘You’ve shown me how the bookstore can benefit the resort. It can stay, and you can run it. If you want.’
‘You’re keeping it on?’
If it keeps you here. He couldn’t say it. What if he showed his hand, only to be crushed, to have her reject him? Could he really risk going down that path again? And what about his dream, the one he’d been working towards his whole life? If he didn’t knock the shop down, didn’t build the cottages he’d planned, who the fuck was he turning into? The man who’d built Haven resorts was driven, determined. He didn’t let anything get in his way. He’d created that man, knew him inside out.
The man Jade wanted him to be? The one who forgot about revenge, who worked with the community who hated him… he didn’t know who that man was. And though he hadn’t lied to her about wanting to find a different version of himself, he wasn’t sure he could be him . ‘It’s something to think about.’ Desperate to get away, he nodded towards the screen. ‘Lauren, nice to meet you. I’ll leave you guys to your chat.’ He kissed Jade on the shoulder. ‘See you later. And if you don’t want your sister to get an eyeful of what you were playing with last night, I suggest you angle the phone.’