Page 6 of Stars Shine In Your Eyes

Josie’s voice stopped his silent reminiscing. “The weather is beautiful here. I thought England was supposed to be rainy and dreary.”

“It’s a little white lie all Londoners agree upon in order to keep too many people from flooding into town,” he said with a smile that he hoped didn’t look as false as it felt. “Sure, there are days where it will be pissing down rain, but we get plenty of blue skies too. Particularly in the morning.”

As he dealt with her bags, he actively tried to be less cranky and more friendly. He’d all but bitten off her head at the airport. It wasn’t her fault that his business was having issues, or that he’d fallen out of like with his girlfriend, or even that he and Josie had undealt-with past history.

He grabbed both of her suitcases before she could stop him and walked down the narrow path to his houseboat. “What are you helping Mari with?” He vaguely recalled Mari had said something about Josie being a book consultant, but he wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I’m here to help Mari set up a reading retreat.”

Her unexpected reply stopped him in his tracks. “A reading retreat? What’s that?”

She must not have seen him stop, because she plowed straight into both him and the suitcases. Letting go of her luggage, he spun around to catch her before she tumbled back, inadvertently bringing her face close to his, her chest pressed against his.

He shouldn’t have noticed how good she felt, but it was impossible not to.

We’re a perfect fit.

As he belatedly became aware of the instinctive thought, he abruptly let her go.

“I must be more tired than I thought,” she said. “Sorry for barreling into you like that.”

“It was my fault.” He gestured for her to walk ahead of him. “My houseboat is at the end of this lane. Make a right along the towpath, and it’s the fourth houseboat, white with black trim.”

As she walked in front of him, his eyes strayed to her hips. Jesus, what was wrong with him? He was acting like a teenager again, almost as though being with her had somehow tapped into the seventeen-year old who couldn’t keep it in his pants.

It wasn’t like he went without. He wouldn’t use the word player to describe himself, although he suspected his sister Alice might. She disapproved of his behavior, even though he rarely had one-night stands, choosing instead to sleep with women he had dated for a while. Well, a week or two, at least.

Then again, Alice seemed to have this notion of true love. A notion that Mari and Owen had only solidified. Stars in her eyes. That’s what his little sister had. He hoped she got everything she wanted in life, and he was always ready to help her out if she needed it.

Realizing Mari hadn’t answered his question, he asked again, “Tell me what a reading retreat is.”

“It’s a vacation where all you have to do is read.” Though he couldn’t see her face as she walked in front of him, he could hear the pleasure in her voice. “If you want to read all day, perfect. If you want to read part of the day and do something else for part of it, that’s great too. But books are the center of the retreat. I don’t allow phones or laptops during retreat hours, which can be difficult for some people at first, but then they get used to being able to concentrate on the books and their own feelings. It’s magical.”

He couldn’t imagine being unplugged for as long as an hour, never mind a full day. As he moved beside her on the towpath, he finally saw her smile. She really was beautiful, especially when a smile was lighting up her whole face… because she was talking about books.

“It’s a tremendously nourishing experience,” she continued. “Though I occasionally work one on one with a client, the bulk of my work is running retreats and helping businesses, mostly hotels, set up rooms, both inside and out, with wonderful reading nooks all over. I help them stock their in-house libraries. And I also work directly with their guests as a bibliotherapist to help create lists of books that they’ll love.”

“I’ve never heard that word before. Bibliotherapist.”

“I didn’t invent it,” she said, as though he might be trying to give her credit for coming up with the entire idea. “There are trained therapists who work one on one with clients with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and so on, and part of the therapy is reading fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to help them work through their issues. But when I stumbled on the concept of reading retreats and went to one that made a huge difference in my life and how happy I felt, that was when I realized I wanted to switch careers from freelance editor to bibliotherapist. The one that I went to a few years ago was in Vancouver, not far from Coeur d’Alene. In any case, that’s probably more than you want to know. It’s just that once I get started talking about books, I find it hard to stop.”

She gave him another smile, one that made his heart beat a little bit faster. “It’s a really interesting concept, Josie.” He could see how reading retreats would be a great add-on at hotels around the world, in addition to the spa and adventure packages that already existed. He filed that away in the back of his mind to mention to his cousin Brandon, who owned the SLVN international hotels.

“Is this it?” She stopped in front of his houseboat, and he nodded. “Oh, it’s lovely,” she said. “And the name—River Star… Did you come up with that?”

“Whenever I’m here, I always find myself up on the roof deck gazing at the stars,” he explained. “The name just seemed to fit.”

“It’s the perfect name,” she enthused. “I can’t wait to see the stars from the roof deck!”

She was clearly delighted by his houseboat. So different from the last woman he’d brought here, whose lip had curled as she said, “We’re not actually staying on this old boat, are we?”

“I can’t believe I get to stay on a houseboat for two weeks!” Josie gave a little clap, obviously thrilled with it, but then turned to ask, “Are you sure you’re not going to need it? I feel bad putting you out of your home, even if it’s one you only use sporadically.”

He shook his head. “I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d need it for the next two weeks. You’re more than welcome to stay, Josie. For as long as you’d like, in case your trip here ends up being longer.” Still wanting to make up for being a jerk at the airport, he added, “And I apologize for being short with you when I picked you up. It’s been a bit of a day, with a deal potentially going sideways.”

“I was wondering if that’s what might have happened. Even before I knew you were there to pick me up, when I saw you, that was one of the scenarios that popped into my head.”

“Scenarios?”

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