“Tell me.” The tenderness in his gaze was her undoing.
“I’m... a little afraid, I guess.” Her voice was a thready whisper.
It was too honest. She dropped her gaze. She didn’t know him well, and he was only talking about a date, after all. He hadn’t asked for her hand in marriage. He was going to think—
He set his hand over hers and waited until she made eye contact. “I know, Maddy. I understand. You’ve been hurt. It’s been a long time since I’ve entertained the idea of a woman in my life. The last time didn’t end well. I know it’s a risk, opening your heart to someone. Even just letting yourself hope again...”
He did understand. Her stomach tightened at the thought of his loss. Of course he’d be scared too. Compared to him, her breakup was nothing. And yet, her heart felt as if it were going to explode in her chest.
“But I feel like there’s something here worth exploring, and I think you feel it too. Will you at least think about it?”
Hadn’t she just been thinking about how trustworthy he’d proven himself to be? He’d been nothing but honest with her—very honest, actually—going back to when he’d told her he’d let her run the Landing without interference.
Her heart implored her to say yes, but her brain flashed a warning signal. She couldn’t pull her eyes from his, and the longer she looked at him, the more those warning signals seemed to fade into the distance.
“Yes,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”
His lips tipped up, barely a smile. “We’ll go at your pace.”
“I said I’dthinkabout it.” She teased him with a smile.
“Well, hurry up and think,” he said, his gaze falling to her lips for a long, drawn-out moment. “’Cause I’m dying to kiss you.”
Before she could even digest the comment, Connor sprang to his feet. He brushed off the sand and held out his hand, wearing an infectious grin. “Now, come on, woman. It’s time to go sailing.”
Chapter 21
Maddy slipped inside the house, closed the door, and leaned against it. Connor had insisted on walking her to the door. The mood had shifted after their conversation at the beach. Though they’d had a leisurely sail back, things were less lighthearted, their serious conversation lingering between them.
I’m dying to kiss you.
Even now his words made her stomach flip. She wanted that too, more than she cared to admit. But was dating Connor the wise thing to do?
She didn’t know. She was tempted. Oh, how she was tempted. She pictured him as he’d been on the sail back, feet planted in a wide stance behind the captain’s wheel, hair fluttering behind him, glistening in the sunlight. It had dried wavy and beautiful, unlike her own, which now hung straight and limp over her shoulders.
A creak sounded nearby, pulling Maddy’s attention to the staircase. Nora descended in a stained T-shirt, carrying two gallons of paint. Her auburn hair was pushed back with a lime-green headband.
Pippy leaped down the stairs one at a time. The dog had taken to Nora since she’d started taking her jogging.
“You’re back.” Nora studied Maddy, then lifted an amused brow. “Someone had a good time.”
Maddy straightened from the door. “Yeah, I did actually. It was fun.”
“Well, I hate to take that flush off your face... but you got an interesting phone call while you were gone.”
“Who was it?”
Nora set the paint cans on the drop cloth. “That idiot you were dating—Nick?”
Maddy’s stomach dropped, the glowy feeling inside extinguishing instantly. She hadn’t heard a peep from Nick since that awful scene at Pirouette. Of course, she’d blocked him from her phone and erased his contact information. How had he even found her? Only Holly knew where she’d gone.
But Holly’s sister worked at Pirouette... worked for Nick now.
“What in the world could he want?” Maddy said.
“I told him you were on a date.” Nora grinned impishly. “I rather enjoyed that.”
When she’d filled her in on their breakup a while back Nora had been outraged. Maddy had wondered if Nora realized she’d done even worse to her own sister.
