ROMANCE: Life Shocks Romances: Contemporary Romance Box Set (Life Shocks Romances Collection Book 2)

by Jade Kerrion

  Holly was certain it was not what he had intended to say. “I’ll let Noelle know. Will you take Mojo tonight?”

  “Yeah, I will.” He managed a faint smile. “It’s probably nothing. Peter’s angry and hurt; it’s understandable.”

  “It’s not his first breakup, and it won’t be his last. At least I know he’s not after me for my money.”

  James cast her a confused glance.

  “He made his move before I found out about my aunt’s inheritance.”

  He nodded. “That’s something, at least.” He pushed open the door of Bomboy’s and braced it with his body for her to enter. “Chocolate or ice cream?”

  “Both!” Holly grinned.

  His eyebrows shot up but his grin matched hers. “Living dangerously?”

  “And large,” she added. “My budget hasn’t permitted indulgences for so long. In fact, for several years, the only chocolate and ice cream I’ve had has come from…” Her voice trailed off, and she stared up at his face with wonder.

  Has come from you.

  And he had done so with subtle grace, dropping by her home several times a month, presumably to chat. He had, incidentally, just finished shopping and seemed happy to share the boxes of chocolates or cartons of ice cream he had ostensibly purchased for himself. He would open them at her house and have a small serving before leaving the rest of the decadent desserts with her to finish.

  How had she not noticed those convenient coincidences before?

  James got what he wanted, apparently, but with supreme subtlety, not giving any offense along the way.

  “James?”

  “Hmm?” His attention was fixed on the vast array of flavors on display. His mind was obviously elsewhere, likely deciding between the incongruously named flavors of Duck, Duck, Goose and Salty Dawg.

  She stared at his profile, finally recognizing the kindness and good humor she had always taken for granted as the bedrock of his personality.

  “I’ll have a scoop of the Raspberry Truffle in a cup, please,” he told the server, before glancing at Holly. “What will you have?”

  “Just my usual favorites,” she said casually. Her pulse skittered as she waited for him to walk into the trap, or soar over it.

  “A Mississippi Mud Pie and Fudge Ripple on a waffle cone for the lady, please.”

  As always, the perfect call, she noted. How much did James really know about her?

  Their hands brushed as they walked along the boardwalk, enjoying their ice cream. Lucy trotted sedately beside James while Mojo alternated between racing ahead and lingering back.

  How often had she walked with James?

  Every day for about two years.

  How often had she seen him beyond those walks?

  Every day for about two years—ever since he became the principal of the local elementary school.

  How often had she seen him beyond those walks and her day job?

  At least once a weekend for the past two years—their seemingly random encounters and the way he would stop by with a quick question about school and then leave without the chocolate or ice cream he had arrived with.

  In his own way, he’s been dating me. I never noticed. Holly suddenly flushed.

  He glanced at her. “You all right?”

  She nodded. “Just thinking about tomorrow.”

  His jaw tensed, but his tone was unchanged. “I bet you’re looking forward to it.”

  “I…think I am.”

  A blue Ford Mustang drove past slowly. Holly stiffened, and James did too.

  He snorted. “At least your trip to New York will get you away from him, and give him time to come to his senses.”

  Holly shuddered. “Will you come back with me and hang out while I pack?”

  “Sure.” He searched her face. “I don’t think there’s really anything to be worried about, but it never hurts to play it safe.”

  When they returned to her house, he remained downstairs in the living room with Mojo and Lucy while she dashed upstairs to pack. Anxiety rushed her along, stealing the joy out of the moments she might have spent deciding between one dress and another.

  What the heck was wrong with Peter? How could he think that his stalker-like actions were anything less than creepy?

  Holly zipped up her duffle bag, grabbed her coat, and hurried down the stairs. She paused by the doorway of her living room, and a smile inched across her lips. James sat on the couch, browsing a magazine. Lucy lay at his feet, and Mojo draped over the couch. Her dog blinked at her, and his heavy white tail thumped in a lazy, waving motion. He was apparently not inclined to move, his muzzle resting on James’s lap, looking for all the world as if he belonged to James.

  And perhaps he did.

  Ownership of the heart, Holly knew, had little to do with licenses and legalese.

  James looked up at her. “All done?”

  She nodded.

  “Come on, then. I’ll walk you over to Noelle’s and then take the dogs home.”

  “I have steaks thawing. I’d taken them out for my dinner with Peter. I was going to toss them back into the freezer, but we have time. Perhaps you’d like to stay for dinner?”

  His eyes searched her face, and an ironic half-smile passed over his lips. “Sure, why not. Want me to grill them?”

  “Can you?”

  “Sure. And if you have potatoes and other vegetables, I can take care of them too.”

  She pursed her lips at him. “What does that leave me to do?”

  “A salad to start, and fruits for dessert?”

  “You don’t think I’m any good in the kitchen, do you?”

  “If you want to learn, now’s as good a time as any. Grilling is hard to screw up.”

  “Don’t count on it,” Holly muttered, “but I’m game to try, if you are.”

  Laughing, he went to her back patio to fire up the grill and returned shortly with a bemused smile on his face. “I’ll need a bunch of paper towels.”

  “What for?”

  “Clean off the cobwebs. When was the last time the grill was used?”

  She thought hard. “Two years, I think. Independence Day weekend, so closer to two and a half years.”

  He shook his head as he grabbed a roll of paper towels and the small shaker of garlic salt. “Can you bring out the steaks in five minutes?”

  Holly chuckled. He’s definitely not after me for my cooking skills. Dutifully, she trotted out five minutes later with the steaks.

  James glanced up at her. “You’ve got a great charcoal grill here. You should use it more often.”

  “Does it come with instructions?” she asked, watching from a safe distance as he soaked the charcoal with lighter fluid and lit it with a spark from the lighter. Flames roared up, a merry heat that lured her closer to warm her hands. “Do we put it on now?”

  “Not unless you want burned steak. We wait until the edges of the charcoal turn from black to white.” With a pair of tongs, he knocked over the little pyramid of charcoal, spreading the heat, and then set the grating on top. “Here, hand me the steak.”

  “Do we put it on now?”

  “After we season it.” He liberally rubbed garlic salt onto both sides of the steaks. “All right, are you ready?”

  “Now?”

  “That’s right. Come on.” He handed her the tongs and stood behind her. “Carefully, now. Don’t drop it on the grass.”

  Holly giggled. “I’m not totally incompetent.” The heat from his body warmed her back, and his right hand was steady on hers as they lifted the steaks onto the grill.

  “Two minutes each side to sear,” he said.

  “You have a watch?”

  He tugged his smartphone from his pocket and glanced at the time. He did not step back and Holly did not feel inclined to step away either. There was something simple and comforting about standing close to each other, their right hands clasped.

  At the two-minute mark, they flipped the steaks together. Holly said nothing; she did n
ot want to shatter the quiet intimacy of the moment.

  With James guiding her hand, she flipped the steaks over again and then he lowered the lid over the grill. She thought he might have cast a quick glance at his phone to check the time, but at that moment, she was too relaxed, too languid to care. “This is a great way to spend the afternoon. Why didn’t we do this sooner?”

  She could feel as well as hear the chuckle in the movement of his chest. “I think I overestimated my attachment to my job.”

  Holly turned her head to look up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I think a relationship with you might have been well worth a frantic scramble to find a new job, but it’s probably too late for that now.”

  “Is it?”

  “You’re going to New York tomorrow.”

  “It’s just for a visit.”

  “I’m not sure Havre de Grace can compete with New York City.”

  “It would depend entirely on what I’m looking for, wouldn’t it?”

  He wrapped his left arm around her waist. “And what are you looking for?”

  Her heart pounded, and the blood rushing through her brain left her lightheaded. She turned to face him. Their eyes met—his questioning, hers challenging. She thought she detected a hint of worry in the set of his eyebrows, but he lowered his lips to hers. She closed her eyes, and her world zeroed in on him.

  He tasted of rich, dark chocolate—a terribly dangerous flavor for a self-confessed chocoholic—touched with a hint of a sweetness. His lips were firm, and the kiss started out as scarcely more than the exchange of breath deepened as she raked her fingers through his short hair and held him close. His kiss, tinted with urgency and anchored by constancy, reflected their unspoken relationship. What she had not expected, however, was how it made her nerves tingle with need.

  For James?

  She pulled away, breaking the kiss. Her chest heaved with her quickened breathing. Holly stared at James; the words tangled in her mind and never made it past her lips.

  He gazed at her as if trying to gauge her reaction. When she did not move, he reached past her, raised the cover of the grill, and flipped the steaks before lowering the cover once more.

  “Did…did the steaks burn?” Holly asked, her voice shaky.

  “No.” His terse response told her that he was waiting for her reaction. She knew him well; he would step forward or step back depending on what she wanted and what she did.

  Her heartbeat raced. For a moment, Brandon’s face flickered at the edges of her mind, but he did not seem as real as the man, as the friend who stood in front of her, the friend who had stood beside her for years.

  She wet her lips, as much a nervous gesture as one of anticipation. “I figure that if the steaks aren’t burned, we’re not trying hard enough.”

  James’s gaze hardened, and then a slow smile spread across his face. “I don’t burn food.”

  Holly gave him a wicked look. “We’ll see about that.”

  ~*~

  “It has a nice, charcoal-y taste,” Holly remarked a half hour later as she demurely sliced through her steak.

  James, seated across the cozy kitchen table from her, gave her a rueful look as he scrapped the burned bits off his steak.

  “Good thing I like my meat well done.” With some effort, Holly suppressed a smile. An overcooked meal was a small price to pay for finding out that James’s kiss could get a slow-burning fire going in the pit of her stomach. If she had been younger—eight years younger, specifically—she might have craved a searing, all-consuming passion, the kind that consumed all in its path and then extinguished, having consumed all its own fuel.

  Eight years older and wiser, she was more than content with the slow and steady burn, the kind that generated fuel even as it consumed it, guaranteeing its existence long into the future.

  The future.

  Holly pressed her lips together. “What’s going to happen now?”

  James inhaled deeply. “Are you going to New York City tomorrow?”

  “I…I think I must.”

  “Okay,” he said and let the topic drop entirely.

  “Aren’t you going to talk me out of it?”

  “I’ve told you how I feel about you, and I’m sure you can extrapolate how I feel about you going to New York. But I can’t make your decisions for you, and if I were in your position, I would want to understand all my options before making any decision.”

  “Nothing is ever certain.”

  “Of course not, but you can swing the odds by understanding the options and then giving the option you pick everything you’ve got.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “When you’re in New York? Take the dogs for long walks. I have a couple of house projects to handle before the new year.”

  “No, I meant us.”

  He lowered his gaze. “I’ll see if any of the positions I applied for pan out, just in case there’s an us.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “I’ll look for a position outside the school district. It’d mean a longer commute, but it’s workable.”

  “Why won’t you say what I know you must have surely thought of? You know that with the money I inherited, I could quit my job.” Holly’s jaw tensed. Peter had certainly thought of it. He had even made plans on what to do with her money.

  James shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve earned the right to ask that. Let’s not have any illusions about what we are right now. We’re good friends who are considering becoming more, but as you say, there are no guarantees in life and it’s a big step for either one of us to quit a job for the sake of a potential relationship.”

  And yet you are willing to do it. Holly toyed with the food on her plate. Didn’t it suggest a relationship that had gone beyond its first few tentative steps, a relationship accelerated by a deep friendship? “Why are you so noncommittal about us?” she asked.

  “Because as long as you report to me at school, there is no us. Don’t you see, Holly? If we try to date and word gets out, one—or both—of us will have to leave our jobs. Until you’re sure this is what you want, I can’t commit. We’d have to go into this together.”

  She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I think…I still want to go to New York tomorrow.”

  He inclined his head, indicating that he had heard her. “Would you like me to drop you off at the airport?”

  “No, it’s a long way to BWI. I’ll just drive my car over to Noelle’s tonight, and then leave from her place for the airport tomorrow morning.” She set her fork down. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize,” James said with a faint, tired smile. “I don’t want to be the guy you settled for because you didn’t know better.”

  “You won’t be. Peter already holds that title from eight years ago. I don’t think I realized how much I grew up until he came back and I realized that he hadn’t grown up.”

  He chuckled, but the sound was quietly ironic. “Change is difficult for most people, even for me.”

  “I’ve known you for five years. I didn’t think you’d changed all that much.”

  “My marriage to Elena was falling apart even before we moved to Havre de Grace, but I’d hoped that being in a small town would allow us to close out the distractions of a larger city and focus on each other.”

  “I’m guessing it didn’t work.”

  “No, because fundamentally, neither Elena nor I had changed. We didn’t want the same things. We married each other with our eyes half closed, probably each believing that we could swing the other around to our point of view.” He shook his head. “It didn’t work, and I learned that there are some things all the passion in the world can’t make up for.” With effort, he managed a faint smile. “I’d like to avoid the same mistake the second time around.”

  Holly swallowed hard through the lump in her throat. Would she be making a mistake by going to New York or by staying?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Holly did n
ot expect traffic on the way to the airport; there were few cars on the road early in the morning. Even so, she had left for the airport with lots of time to spare. She had undertaken the journey often. Visiting her aunt had been a monthly ritual, made convenient by the commuter flights and trains between BWI and JFK airports.

  Her wheeled bag had casual and dressy clothes, matching accessories, and complementary eye shadow colors. After a long internal debate fueled by unhelpful comments from Noelle, Holly had decided to wear a kimono-styled blouse over a pair of black slacks. She left her hair loose, and it swung around her shoulders as she walked through the airport to her gate.

  A frown furrowed her brow as she took her seat on the plane and looked out of the window at the baggage handlers loading bags onto the plane. Why couldn’t she shake the feeling that she had left something behind? She ran through a mental checklist. Clothes for every occasion, makeup, sexy lingerie—she flushed—just in case. In her handbag, she had wallet, keys, her electronic tablet.

  No, she wasn’t missing anything. Besides, as long as she had a credit card, she would be all right. Nerves. It was just nerves, she told herself sagely. It would her first weekend away with a man in a long time, and Brandon was sexy enough to set any woman’s libido on fire.

  Something that James could do as easily and smoothly with a kiss.

  She chewed on the edge of her fingernail, her mind lingering on her last glimpse of James the previous night. He had helped carry her bag to her car and then walked around to the driver’s side to close her door for her. She lowered the window and smiled up at him. “Thank you for taking care of Mojo.”

  “No problem.” A faint smile curved his lips. “You have a good time.”

  She bit down on her lower lip. The heat of a guilty flush crept up her cheeks.

  “No, really,” James said. “I mean it; have a good time. If you come back and tell me you’ve chosen me, I’ll know I won fair and square.”

  In spite of herself, she laughed. “All right. I’ll humor your sense of fair play.”

  She had looked in the rearview mirror when she had driven away and left him standing in front of her driveway with Lucy and Mojo. Tears stung her eyes and she could hardly breathe through the pressure in her chest. It scarcely mattered that logic told her she and James were not in a relationship.