He beamed.“Iama local.I probably know more people on this goofy little rock than you do at this point.”He leaned toward her and bobbed his brows.“And they all love me.”
Rolling her eyes, Gabrielle gave him a playful shove in the shoulder.“It’s the abs.You flash the abs and people forget their own names.”
Danica reached beneath the table and took my hand again, giving it a squeeze.“What do you think of the plan?”
Hope filled my chest, and I nodded.“I like it.Not too invasive.Not too bothersome for the animals, but still involving the community.It could work.”
Gabrielle clapped her hands once and stood up from the table.“All right then, let’s clear the dinner dishes, have some pecan pie for dessert, and get down to business.We have to-do lists to make.”Her eyes glittered with excitement.“I love a good to-do list.”
“You’re very strange,” Naomi murmured to Gabrielle, gathering my plate from in front of me.“Efficient, but strange.”
Danica and I stayed at the table for another moment.I angled my body and head toward her, she mirrored me.“You doing okay?”she asked.
“Your family is … wonderful,” I said, getting a little choked up.
She smiled.“They are.They’re a lot sometimes, but they’re amazing.The whole island is, really.”
“I am beginning to see that.Maybe I was a fool for staying so hidden for so long.”
“Time to come out of your shell, little snail,” she joked.
I cupped her jaw and brought her lips to mine for a chaste kiss.“Thank you,bella.I needed this.”
I needed you.
But I didn’t say the last part.Not yet.Even though I felt it in every cell of my body.Danica St.Claire was the oxygen I needed when I didn’t even know I was drowning.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Danica
Afteroveranhourof more brainstorming, and Gabrielle handing out to-do lists to everyone, Tom took his leave of us and headed home.
“Tomorrow,bella.Come with me to the bakery to meet with the Sewing Sisters.”
“Sewing Circle,” I said, my arms around his neck as he pressed me against his truck when I walked him to his vehicle to say goodbye.
“Si, Sewing Circle.You can introduce me to Katurah Katz.I am very interested in knowing what she knows of Erin’s family.”
“I’m sure she—and the others—will know plenty.”
He kissed me again, tightening his grip on my waist.I moaned a little when he slid his tongue into my mouth and tilted his head to deepen the kiss.I’d never been kissed like that before, and the lightheadedness I got from it was addictive.Time both stood still and went at warp speed as we got lost in each other, making out like teenagers.
“All right, you two,” came the deep, amused rumble of Jagger as gravel crunched under his shoes behind us.“Either climb in the back of the cab, or keep your hands where I can see them.There are impressionable children inside.”
Tom peeled away from me and chuckled awkwardly.“Buona notte,bella.”Then, he gave me one more kiss and stepped back so I could move away from the driver’s side door of his truck and he could get in.
“You didn’t have to stop,” Jagger said, opening the door of his truck.“Just be aware that youmighthave an audience.”He pointed to Gabrielle’s living room window where, sure enough, several little heads hung over the back of the couch spying on us.One of those heads belonged to my daughter, and she was wearing the biggest smile.
I smacked my palm against my forehead.“Shit.”
“Gotta be better at hiding your canoodling than that, ya noobs.”Jagger laughed as he swung his lumberjack of a frame behind the steering wheel.“See you two later.”
We gave him a wave, and he reversed out of the wide driveway, giving a honk on his horn as he turned onto the road.
I met Tom’s gaze in the dark, his chiseled features illuminated by the porch light to the left.“Thank you for coming to dinner.I know it wasn’t easy at first.”
“Having you by my side made it easier,bella.Graziefor your patience.”
