Page 60 of Deadly Waves

“I know I’m going to enjoy it. I … .” She didn’t get a chance to finish because Grady moved fast and wrestled her to the floor. He was obviously ready to enact his plan. “Grady!”

“HAVE YOU found anything?”

James wore nothing but his boxer shorts as he got comfortable on the floor next to Mandy. She was dressed in a new pair of shark panties – James was saving the “Jawesome” ones as a special treat for later – and a bralette that barely covered anything.

“I’m still looking,” Mandy replied. “There’s a lot to wade through.”

“Uh-huh.” James ran his hands over the bralette and cupped her breasts. “Is this new? I like it.”

“That’s because it doesn’t cover anything.”

“No, it covers the important stuff,” James countered. “That’s the entire reason I forced you to at least pretend to get dressed. I can’t see the important stuff and focus on work at the same time. I definitely love this thing, though. You look smoking hot in it.”

Mandy’s grin was impish as she locked gazes with him. “You think I look smoking hot in everything.”

“I do indeed,” James confirmed. “You’re beautiful, my baby. That was the first thing I thought when you walked into my office two and a half years ago. I said ‘that is a beautiful woman.’ Then I realized who you were and the beauty only intensified.”

“That’s a bit schmaltzy.”

“That’s how I roll.”

Mandy’s sea-blue eyes flashed. “I told Heidi about running into you that day,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. They rarely talked about Heidi and her death. James wasn’t averse to the subject, but he was desperate to keep depressing thoughts from muddling her mind. “She asked about my crush when I was a kid and she was the first one to suggest I might be able to make you fall in love with me.”

“Make me?” James didn’t like the way Mandy phrased that. “No one can make another person love them. It just happens.”

“I know that,” Mandy said. “That kind of came out wrong. It was more that she was all sparkly and excited. She was convinced we were destined to be together that first day.”

“And what about you?” James asked. “What did you think that first day?”

“I thought you were weird.”

James snorted. “How so?”

“I thought you didn’t like me because you acted so odd in my bedroom,” Mandy explained. “You really worked overtime to keep distance between us and I thought it was because I made you uncomfortable.”

“No, it was because I couldn’t get the picture of you naked and on top of me out of my head when we were so close to the bed.”

“I know. You told me after the fact.”

“I remember.” James gripped her hand. “Heidi was a good friend. She was always my biggest champion.”

“She thought you walked on water,” Mandy admitted. “She thought I was the luckiest person in the world to snag you. She was right.

“Even when I kept trying to temper my enthusiasm by reminding myself that you probably wouldn’t stay once you found whoever was stalking me, she refused to listen,” she continued. “She didn’t feed my insecurity. She bolstered my ego. That’s the mark of a true friend.”

“Well, I guess I can’t blame you for believing that I was going to run after I snuck out on you that first night,” James said, annoyed he had to bring up the one thing that embarrassed him more than any other. “I acted like an ass that night. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t bring up Heidi to rehash that,” Mandy said. “I know you’re sorry. We don’t ever have to talk about that again. I understand why you did it. You were afraid.”

“I was afraid,” James agreed. “I felt so … connected … to you that I thought it was going to overwhelm me. Back then, I thought that was a bad thing. Now I know it was the best thing ever.”

“I always thought that I would see Heidi once I left the courthouse,” Mandy said, licking her lips. “I had these stupid fantasies about going to lunch every few weeks. I thought she would keep me updated on all of the gossip.

“I expected long years of hearing about her life with Clint,” she continued. “She didn’t even get one wedding anniversary. Heck, she didn’t get a wedding.”

“Baby … .” James wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He knew this was his moment to eradicate the final obstacle that stood between them and reclaiming their old life, but he didn’t want to give Heidi short shrift in death. He often worried he did exactly that in life because he never bothered to pay much attention to her.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Mandy said, her eyes filling with tears. “You’re going to tell me that Heidi’s death isn’t my fault.”