My momentum falters when I reach for the doorknob. Dramatic entrance abandoned, I knock—mainly because I haven’t actually planned out what I’m going to say to him and I need the extra thirty seconds to prepare.
But he opens the door immediately, ruining everything.
“No,” I blurt in lieu of a greeting.
He was stepping out, but at my command, he rocks back. “No? Should I go back inside?”
I’m going to hyperventilate. “If you could close the door, count to thirty, and then come back out, that would be great.”
He doesn’t even hesitate before saying a simple “Okay,” then softly closing the door in my face just as I’ve requested, giving me a handful of time to come up with a way to tell him:Hello sir, I love you.
Last time I laid my heart on the line I was practically laughed at. Even though I know James is nothing like Caden, a sliver of fear gapes open. What if he’s gotten to know me more over the last month and doesn’t like me as much? What if that’s really why he hasn’t tried to have sex with me? I still don’t even know why he and Jeanine broke up! Is there a chance he’s harboring feelings for her still?
Shit, this was a bad idea.
I should have thought this through longer.
Far too soon, he opens the door. I’m not ready, and I’m preparing to tell him this when he comes out, stopping in front of me. He raises his hand and his finger brushes the bottom of my ear.
“Are these new?” He’s referring to my earrings. Which, yes, are new. They’re silly little whisks, handmade from clay and ordered from a small shop online.
They were a little present to myself. A “Good job, Maddie, you’re kicking ass” gift.
“You look really cute in them.” An adoring grin underlines his words.
Somewhere between him immediately noticing my earrings and calling me cute in them, all of my protests melt away.
“James . . .” I adjust on my feet. “I have something to tell you. A big something. But I don’t know how to say it or if I even should. I only know that if I keep it inside any longer I will explode like a confetti cannon.” I’m somehow both breathless and nearly shouting.
Which is probably why James suddenly presses his finger to my lips. For a second, I think he just wants me to shut up because he can read my mind and knows this is a terrible idea and wants to save me from myself.
But then he leans in, angling his face like he’s going to kiss me, mouth hovering just in front of mine and whispers, “I want to hearwhatever it is, more than you know. But not right now, because my family is sitting right inside that door, most likely listening to everything you’re saying, and I’m guessing you don’t want an audience for it.”
My eyes widen and his finger slides away. “Impeccable timing, Madison,” I say, taking a step away from him. “God, I’m sorry! I’ll leave you to—”
He catches my wrist. “Where are you going?”
I blink. “Back to the cottage.”
“Yeah, but why? You don’t want to stay?” It’s the hope I hear in his voice that has my heart clenching.
“Do . . . you want me to stay?”
His grin is all innocent dimples. We are just two kids on the playground. “I’m guessing you didn’t see my text?”
I look over my shoulder to my truck, like I can magically see all the way to my cottage and inside to my phone, which I accidentally left on my kitchen table. “No. I haven’t had my phone on me all night. What did it say?”
“That Tommy surprised me and brought my parents in for the soft opening—and that you should come up to the house and hang out.”
“Oh.”
I have to let that invitation digest. It’s a lot to comprehend. Layers and layers of past hurt and insecurities crumble off of me.
I rock a little closer to James’s chest and tap it right in the center of his hunter-green cotton T-shirt—just to make sure he’s still real. “Are you sure you want me to crash your family time?”
He catches my hands, clasps them together, and tugs me in close to him by my wrists, resting them against his chest, forcing my chin up as I try to look him in the eyes. “I hear what you’re not saying . . . and Madison Walker, I need you to know . . . you’re someone I would always want to bring home to meet my mom.”His thumb glides against my skin. “Come inside. I really want you here.”
And then the door behind James is flying open and Ruth steps out. “Is that Maddie I hear? Girl, get in here!” And by “in here” she means her arms.
