Page 98 of Booked for Summer

Maybe he’d find his bravery before she left.

‘Don’t disrespect the teapot,’ she admonished. ‘It’s perfect.’

And so was the day, he thought later as they sat on the beach together, remnants of their picnic shoved back into the cooler. They’d been for a swim, Jade had her bikini on. His hangover from Friday’s Bachelor party had finally subsided. All was well with the world.

‘What are you looking for?’ he asked mildly as she started to pull everything out of the beach bag she’d brought with her. Towel, hat, sunscreen, some lightweight see-through thing he thought might be a sarong, bag of… ‘Gummy bears?’

‘Of course. Can’t have a day trip without sweets… Ah, there they are.’ With a triumphant yelp, she dug two books out of the bag and pushed one over at him. ‘This is yours.’

He glanced at the front cover. ‘I told you, I don’t read.’

‘But you also asked me to recommend a book to you.’

‘That was when I was trying to win you over.’ He looked down at the book again, and then at her face, the eyes that held a touch of disappointment. ‘Sorry, that was rude.’

‘It’s okay. Books aren’t for everyone.’

She reached to take the book away, but he held on, aware that if he was to have any chance of winning her over permanently, he needed to open up. ‘I’ve always resented books. Grandma used to disappear into one for hours, and then she’d emerge, misty eyed, telling me about the lives of the people she was reading about, often involving travel, usually a romance.’ He felt the familiar tightening of his throat as he tried to push past the memory. ‘I grew to hate the reminder that I was cramping her style, stopping her from living the life she could have had if she hadn’t had to bring me up.’

Compassion swamped her eyes. ‘You know she adores you, don’t you? That if you were to ask her to choose between travelling the world or being with you, she’d choose you every time.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Oh, my God, you ninny.Definitely. I’ve seen the pair of you together, remember.’

He suspected she was right so he let it go and focused back on the book. ‘Why this one?’

‘It’s a thriller, which I figured was probably your genre as you like to work things out, but it’s set in the world of finance.’ She smirked. ‘I know how interested you are in money.’

He studied the back cover, wasn’t sure if it would be his thing or not, but that wasn’t the point. ‘You bothered to choose me a book.’Thatwas the point. ‘The least I can do is read it.’

And that was how they spent the next couple of hours, reading together, her lying on her back, using his chest as a pillow. They stayed until the sun set, filling the sky with a pallet of oranges, pinks and reds. There was nothing quite like a Nantucket sunset, as it was a 360 view.

‘Today has been epic,’ Jade told him as they headed back later that evening.

He held her gaze. ‘It’s not over yet.’

She laughed. ‘I say yay to that, but before you turn my brain to mush again with your dirty sex talk, I wanted to thank you for sharing your new home with me. It was… I was…’ She huffed. ‘Okay, I’m going to sound cheesy, and maybe too much, but it was an honour to be let inside, to see that glimpse of you.’

Shewas honoured? ‘I wanted to show it to you. Wanted to see you in it.’ He took her hand and raised it to his mouth, dropping a kiss on her knuckles. ‘Your opinion of it mattered to me.Youmatter.’ It was as far as he could go, at least for now.

His bravery was rewarded when her eyes shone, the blue deepening as she tightened her hand around his. And just when he thought the day couldn’t get any better, she whispered. ‘You matter to me, too.’

ChapterThirty-Four

Jade didn’t think anything would be able to beat the sight of Jeremy and Leroy exchanging vows on the beach– correction: on the decking, on the beach– surrounded by flamingos and a wedding party who’d all been instructed to wear something pink.

As if it had been ordered to, the sun had set at the perfect time, creating a beautiful rose-pink hue to the sky and a deliciously romantic light for the photographs.

‘It clashes with your hair,’ Leroy had murmured dryly to an ecstatic Jeremy, who’d waxed lyrical about how he’d always planned for the pink theme so it would match the sunset. The besotted expression on Leroy’s face had told their guests he wouldn’t have his new husband any other way.

But then there had been Liam’s best-man speech. As expected, it had been short and to the point, ending with him saying Jeremy and Leroy weren’t just employees, they were friends.

‘But I’m your best friend,’ Jeremy had asserted, giving Liam a big wink.

To the surprise of everyone, Jeremy included, Liam hadn’t just smiled, he’d nodded. ‘You’re my best friend.’ Then he’d added, ‘But remind me of this tomorrow, and I’ll deny it.’

Now the night was in full swing and the heart-melting moments kept coming. Jeremy’s expression when he saw the flamingo fairy lights strewn up across the bar. Jeremy and Leroy doing their first dance together. The whole happy vibe as all their friends and family joined in.

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