Page 78 of The Cottage on Pelican Bay

“We can do that, too.”

“Thank you, Levi.”

He took her hand in his. “For you, anything and anytime, Margie.”

She gazed into the darkness of his eyes and studied the rest of his facial features. Bellamy was right. He was such a handsome man, and he was kind and thoughtful. She’d come to see that over the past weeks as she got to know him.

When he leaned toward her, she leaned in as well, knowing where this would lead. This would be their first kiss and she was ready. When his mouth touched hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him closer.

The contact of their tongues immediately sent a degree of passion stirring within her that she thought she would never feel again. She was wrong. Not only did she feel it, but she was being consumed by it. Instantly, automatically, a ball of need burst to life inside her, triggering a sexual hunger she hadn’t felt in years.

At that moment she was aware of everything about Levi. The way he was holding her in his arms and the rock hardness of his chest. Unable to help it, her hands began caressing the sides of his neck as his mouth continued to claim hers. He was making her nerves dance, her brain race and heart skip. Levi Canady was quite successfully reminding her that she was a woman. A woman who at the age of fifty-five was alive and had a lot of love to give.

When he finally broke off the kiss, he pressed his forehead against hers as they both breathed in deeply, their breaths ragged. She had been introduced to his taste and he had been introduced to hers. When he leaned back and stared into her eyes, she felt her skin tingle.

Finding her voice, she asked, “So what do you think?”

He leaned in to brush his lips over hers, which made her shiver. Then, pulling back, he smiled and said, “I think the two of us will be good together, Margie. I will go as slow as you want us to but just so you know something.”

Swallowing deeply, she asked, “What?”

“I intend to work really hard to become an important part of your life.”

When he leaned in and captured her mouth again, she couldn’t help but believe him.

It was close to nine that night when Saint returned home from spending all day boating on the bayou. Normally, he wouldn’t hang out in the marshy inlet this long, but today he had needed that time alone. To think.

Everything he’d told Mia had been the truth and it was time she’d heard it. Just the nerve that she’d assume that even after over three years of non-contact she could reenter his life like she’d never left still had his insides boiling. But then he had loved her just that much and she’d known it. As far as he was concerned, they had been four wasted years, and she honestly wanted him to believe that she had loved him?

Just to think that he once thought she was everything he would ever want and need in a woman. In a wife. He now knew he’d been wrong. The reason things hadn’t worked out between them was because it hadn’t been meant to. He had deserved better. Just like Zara—her asshole of an ex hadn’t deserved her, either. In the midst of heartache and heartbreak, one stormy night in New Orleans they had found each other, consoled one another and somehow given each other a pathway forward, not knowing that path would lead to one another.

As he began undressing to take a shower, he recalled each and every time he’d told Zara that he would never give his heart to another woman. Had she noticed he’d stopped saying that over the past weeks? Once he had accepted that he had given his heart to her?

No, she probably didn’t have a clue, but she would soon since he’d decided to tell her how he felt. In other words, he intended to ask Zara to make their fake relationship a real one. He was willing to be patient and give her time to see that he was nothing like that asshole who had betrayed her. He was someone she could trust. Someone she could believe in, count on and build a future with.

Nothing between them had to change. When she returned to Boston he wouldn’t be opposed to a long-distance romance if she wasn’t. He’d checked and there were direct flights from New Orleans to Boston daily. He had no problem with the idea of traveling to spend time with her. But first, he needed to know how she felt. From their conversation this morning she might be ready to end things between them.

He refused to walk away from her without giving it his best shot. Looking at his watch he saw it was now close to ten. He could call her but what he had to say needed to be said in person. By the time he showered and put on more clothes it would be close to eleven.

He would wait until tomorrow and pay Zara a visit. He had no idea of what the outcome would be, but what he did know was that he loved her and intended to tell her.

32

Zara rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was barely five in the morning, an hour before sunrise. She looked out the window and saw a thick fog covering the island. She wondered how long it would last. Shaking her head, she figured it would be that kind of day.

In the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. Not surprising, she was a mess with her red swollen eyes and puffy cheeks after spending most of yesterday crying her eyes out. Saint hadn’t called and he hadn’t returned, so she could only assume he had spent the day with Mia.

For all she knew, he might have taken Mia boating instead of her. She hadn’t called or texted him for fear that assumption might have been true. If so, she only had herself to blame.

Washing her face with cold water, she swore she would never cry over a man again. But wasn’t that what she’d vowed after her breakup with Maurice? That was different. Maurice had found his way into the arms of another woman without Zara sending him there. If Saint was with another woman, it was all her fault for not trusting him.

She should have taken him at his word when he’d said he had closed the chapter on Mia years ago. That hadn’t been good enough for Zara. Her heart had been on the line, and she’d had to make sure. Why hadn’t she trusted him and believed that he knew his true feelings?

But then, what if once he saw Mia, all the anger, disappointment and hurt she’d caused evaporated, and he’d been willing to give her another chance? What if Mia, along with her parents and his, had broken down his defenses and...?

Zara shook her head. The one thing she did know was that Saint was his own man who made his own decisions. If he said things were over between him and Mia, then they were over, and she should have believed him. Still, she couldn’t help wondering why he hadn’t contacted her. She released a deep breath thinking it could very well be that he was upset with her for not believing that he knew his own mind. If that was the case, then his anger was warranted.

Not wanting to go back to bed, she decided to make a cup of coffee and go out on the porch, sit in her patio chair and await the sunrise. Hopefully, today would be better than yesterday.

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