When he looked at Cassie, her heart pounded.
“It looks as though I’m going to meet your friends. You’d better come with me in case I need back-up.”
Cassie followed him into the kitchen. For better or worse, Noah Devlin was getting under her skin, and she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
After Cassie’sfriends went home, Noah sat on her veranda, listening to the music playing on her sound system. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun.
Megan, Sam, and Brooke had kept him amused with stories about Sapphire Bay. None of them had been born here but, for different reasons, they’d made Montana their home.
“Here you go.” Cassie handed him a cup of coffee. “Would you like another slice of cake?”
Noah shook his head. “If I have any more, I’ll have to run twice as far tomorrow. The cake was delicious.”
“Megan’s a great baker. I still can’t believe it was Brooke’s candy store you visited.”
“It’s a small world. I’ll make sure my procurement team calls her next week. A lot of people would enjoy her candy.”
Cassie sat in the chair beside him. “Does your brain ever switch off?”
He leaned back and stared up at the sky. “No.”
Cassie groaned. “You’re a workaholic.”
Noah smiled. “Probably. But my grandfather used to work twice as many hours and he never called himself a workaholic.”
“What did your grandma think of him not being at home?”
“I never asked, but I think Jack and I helped fill the void. Granddad worked even longer hours after Mom and Dad died. It was almost as if he used his company as an excuse not to have to deal with his feelings. Grandma was the opposite. She was always there for us. She used to tell Jack and me lots of stories about our parents.”
“How old were you when your Mom and Dad died?”
Noah closed his eyes and let the peacefulness of the evening wash through him. “I was eleven and Jack was nine. Mom and Dad were on their way to a charity fundraiser when a drunk driver hit their car. Grandma and Granddad were looking after us.”
He didn’t remember much about that night or the days that followed. All he knew was that he’d missed his parents so much that he had a permanent stomach ache for years. He was always worried that something would happen to Jack or his grandparents and they’d never come home.
“Your grandparents must be proud of what you’ve done.”
Noah’s frown deepened. “Grandma was proud of us regardless of what we did. Granddad is different.” He looked at Cassie, wanting her to understand the man who had raised his grandsons. “Granddad’s parents were Irish immigrants. He always felt as though he needed to prove something. Jack and I had to be the best at what we did. Coming second wasn’t an option.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
“I suppose it was, but at the time I thought it was the way everyone acted. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I didn’t have to be the best at everything. What about you? Why did you become a jeweler?”
Cassie looked as though she was choosing her words carefully. “My dad was a jeweler and Mom was a painter. When I was little, I had my own desk in their studio. I would sit for hours, drawing the most amazing necklaces in the world. When Dad made his jewelry, he explained everything he was doing. I must have been the only five-year-old who’d used a soldering pick.”
Noah could imagine Cassie sitting in her parents’ studio. She would have been absorbing their creativity like a dry sponge floating in a bowl of water.
“Is your dad still a jeweler?”
Cassie nodded. “He’s a wonderful man, but he’s also a perfectionist. He won’t stop tweaking his designs until he has everything exactly how he wants them.”
“He sounds like someone I know.”
“Don’t tell anyone this, but you might be right.”
Her smile made Noah’s heart pound. With her long, dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders, she could have been a woodland nymph, sent back to earth by the ancient Greeks to protect the trees and the lake.
“So, tell me Ms. Perfectionist, what is a talented, beautiful woman like yourself doing in Sapphire Bay?”
