Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1 (24 page)

She wanted to run. Heat raced through her veins and her heart sped up. But she couldn’t leave—she had no car. She drew in a long breath. She also couldn’t run because she’d told Josh she would help him with the business, and now she had to follow through on that.

She heard the water stop running upstairs, and straightening her shoulders, she climbed the steps back up to the bedroom. She walked in just as Josh emerged from the bathroom naked, water droplets clinging to his tanned shoulders, running over big rounded muscles. He rubbed a towel over his hair. Her insides squeezed hard.

He didn’t even hesitate to walk toward her, and she blinked when he took the cup of coffee from her hands. “Thanks,” he said, flashing a twinkling look at her as he lifted it to his mouth.

Her heart softened. “Hey!” she said, scowling. “That’s mine!”

“And here I thought you were looking after me and bringing me coffee.” He grinned.

She tried to harden her heart again, but holy cheese and crackers, it was hard in the face of his naked beauty and easy teasing.

“Get dressed,” she said, turning away. “We need to get to work.”

“Me get dressed?” he said. “How about you? You’re not exactly dressed for the office.”

She’d slipped on one of his T-shirts. “True,” she said. “Damn. I’m going to have to wear the same clothes.” She’d just worn jeans and a tank top yesterday, but today if she wore her sweater over it, maybe it wouldn’t be so noticeable.

“Do you want to go home first?” he asked. “We can swing by there on the way.”

She paused with her hands on the hem of the T-shirt. “Really?”

“Of course.” He sauntered up to her, and the sexy scent of his shower gel enveloped her. “Whatever you want, Dev.” He bent his head and kissed her. She closed her eyes against the overwhelming wave of affection and gratitude that swept over her. She broke away from the kiss.

He stepped back, eyeing her, and she once again gave him her back as she dressed.

Her dad had already left for the marina. Josh waited in the small kitchen while she hurried into the bedroom to change. She didn’t have a lot of wardrobe to choose from, and certainly not anything she’d ever worn to the office in Boston, but the landscaping company was a totally different environment. When she emerged dressed in her striped cotton skirt and pink tank top, he gave her a sexy up-and-down look of appreciation.

Her heart missed a beat, but she ignored the look.

“Very pretty,” he said, moving closer.

She sidestepped him. “I need more coffee. Can we stop somewhere and pick one up?”

After a short pause, he said, “Sure. We’ll stop at Starbucks.”

“There’s a Starbucks in the harbor?”

“Yeah, apparently for a couple of years now.”

She cast him a quick glance and caught the puzzlement in his eyes before they left the house.

With grande coffees in hand, they made most of the drive out to Brewster Landscaping in silence.

“What are you up to today?” she asked, looking out the side window at the shrub-lined estuary they were passing.

“I’m not sure. I’ll see what needs to be done, but if things are under control I might head home and start scraping paint off the outside of the house.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Someone’s gotta do it. I should also give Jackson a call and see what’s up with him.”

He was such a hard worker. Another thing she’d loved about him.

Devon was deep into spreadsheets and numbers when a voice spoke from the open door of the office.

“How’s it going?”

She looked up to see Karla, to whom Josh had introduced her yesterday. “Good, thanks,” she said with a smile, leaning back in her chair.

“Would you like to join us for lunch? Liz and I are going over to Sloppy Joe’s.”

Surprise kept her from answering immediately, but then warmth washed over her. “That would be nice,” she said slowly. “I didn’t even realize it was lunch time.”

“It’s almost one,” Karla said, “But Liz and I like to take a late lunch.”

Devon grabbed her purse and rose from the chair. She followed the other two women out to the parking lot, and they climbed into Liz’s Dodge Caravan for the short drive. At the restaurant, they elected to sit outside on the small patio where picnic tables had been arranged.

“Lucky for the breeze today,” Liz commented, unwrapping her sandwich. “So it’s not too hot here.”

Mounds of white clouds floated in the blue sky, occasionally blocking out the sun. Devon slid her sunglasses on as the sun emerged, and picked up her own sandwich.

Karla and Liz talked about Karla’s son’s baseball game the evening before and how Liz was annoyed at her husband because he’d just spent seven hundred dollars on a rare Pez dispenser to add to his collection, and Devon relaxed until they turned their attention to her.

“You’re from the harbor, aren’t you?” Liz asked.

“Yes. I left to go to college, about ten years ago.”

She estimated Liz and Karla were in their thirties, enough years older than her that she wouldn’t know them from school, but not old enough to be her father’s age.

“Where do you live now?”

“Boston.”

“Just here on vacation?” She read the curiosity in Karla’s eyes.

“Sort of. I came back for Josh and Allie’s wedding.”

“Oooooh. We heard about that. Poor Josh.”

“What kind of woman would ditch
Josh
at the altar?” Liz said, shaking her head.

“I think it’s kind of romantic,” Karla said. “Being carried out like that by the love of her life.”

Love of her life? Gavin? Huh. Devon wasn’t so sure about that, but whatever.

“Romantic for her.” Liz snorted. “Not so much for Josh. He’s such a great guy. He doesn’t deserve that.”

“How do you know Josh?” Karla asked conversationally.

Devon looked down at her food. “Allie Ralston and I were best friends growing up. I met Josh through her. Their families are close.”

“Oh yes, they are.” The women exchanged glances.

Devon shifted on the wooden bench of the picnic table and searched for some other topic. “How old are your kids?” she asked the two women. That worked well since they apparently loved talking about their kids, and the remainder of the lunch was spent discussing them and various community activities both women and their families were involved in. Devon found herself interested in knowing what was happening in Promise Harbor, laughing at their sense of humor and the comments they made about some of the people who lived there.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know Marbell Jacobs isn’t the mayor anymore,” she said with a laugh.

“She turned ninety in April,” Karla said. “I guess it was getting a bit much for her.”

“I think she could still do it,” Liz said. “She’s still sharp as a clam shell.”

“Connie Stone is a very popular mayor, though,” Karla said.

When they were back at the office, Devon said, “Thanks for inviting me along. That was fun.”

And she meant it.

Bill brought her some forms to fill out so they could pay her, including one for her to track her hours. “Josh told me you might not want to sign these,” he said. “But he said to make sure you did.”

Devon wasn’t going to give Bill a hard time about it, so she just took the forms with a smile and set them aside to fill out later. Then she dived back into the books of the business.

This was such a different environment to work in than Englun and Seabrook on the twenty-fifth floor of the Liberty Building in downtown Boston, with its fierce competition, high-stakes deals and intense pressure. She and Bill got talking about the books. Bill was a nice guy, but she could see there were some gaps in how things were being handled.

Josh showed up at four o’clock, apparently having showered and changed, his hair damp, dressed in jeans and a navy T-shirt that hugged his broad chest. “You had enough here yet?” he asked her as he leaned on the desk.

She stretched back in her chair. “I suppose. My boss is a tyrant, though.”

He grinned. “Bill’s being a tyrant?” He glanced at the other desk, where Bill sat. Bill laughed.

“I meant you. I guess I’m done for today.”

“She’s smart,” Bill told him. “Really smart. She helped me with a bunch of stuff today.”

Josh studied her and heat washed over her. She lifted one shoulder and dropped her eyes.

“I know she’s smart,” he said. “Thanks, Dev.”

Bill rose from his desk and, with a salute, left them alone in the small office.

“I contacted a couple of factoring companies and got things started,” Dev said.

“Great.” Josh blew out a breath and tipped his head back. “You have no idea what a relief it is to have some of this taken off my shoulders. Seriously—thank you.”

“But you have such nice broad shoulders,” she murmured, eyeing them appreciatively as she stood. “Those are superhero shoulders.”

A smile tugged his lips, but he shook his head. “I told you, I’m no superhero. Come on. I want to take you out for dinner.”

She froze. “Out for dinner?”

“Yeah. Where would you like to go? Barney’s Chowder House? Or somewhere nicer? Maybe the Waterfront?”

“We can’t go out for dinner.”

His eyebrows pulled together above his nose. “Why not?”

“Someone might see us.”

His forehead furrowed even more. “So?”

“You know how people talk in this town.”

“Again…so?”

Her stomach tightened. “Josh, look. I’m leaving soon. Let’s not get things all stirred up for nothing. You’ll be staying, and you’re the one that will have to deal with it all.”

He stared at her.

“What?” She touched her hair.

“You’re leaving soon.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Well…yes.” Devon swallowed. “You knew that. I said I’d come back for a while and help you get things sorted out with the cash flow and get the factoring set up, but I told you, I…I can’t stay here.” Her throat constricted a little. She watched him watching her, his eyes serious and intent.

“Why not, Dev?”

She blinked. And blinked again. Her skin went cold. Her palms grew clammy. “Because I live in Boston.”

He tipped his head to one side. “These last few days…” He paused. His throat worked as he swallowed. “I don’t want you to leave, Devon.”

Her stomach cramped up even more. It was like déjà vu, except this time she was the one leaving. And wasn’t that better?

Not really. It sucked.

She pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling. “I have to leave. I have to go back to Boston and find a job.”

“I’ll give you a job here,” he said slowly. He moved closer, and she resisted the urge to step back. Not because she didn’t want him to touch her or get closer…but because she did, so, so much. “These last few days…last week on the island…it’s been amazing being with you again, Dev.” He reached out to stroke her hair back from her face, and her body tensed. “Hasn’t it? For you too?”

Her throat so tight she could barely breathe, she nodded and tried for a light smile. “Of course. It was fun.”

“It was more than fun.” A crease appeared again between his eyebrows. “You know it was. Dev…what we had together. I still care about you.”

“You were going to marry someone else,” she whispered.

He glanced around. Bill hadn’t come back and they were still alone, but… “Do we have to have this conversation here?”

Probably not the best place to do this. She gave a tight shake of her head.

“Come on.” He held her arm lightly and led the way out of the office, back through the greenhouse and out the front doors into the parking lot. His Honda CR-V was parked on the far side and they walked across the lot, gravel crunching beneath their feet. Dev tried to relax her throat and her constricted lungs and breathe. Her heart tapped out an uneven rhythm in her chest.

He shouldn’t be saying things like that. He shouldn’t be. She shouldn’t have gotten involved with him again. She shouldn’t have gone with him to the island, despite her desperate desire to find William Mudge.

When they were seated in his vehicle, he turned his head and looked at her. “Where to?”

She had no idea. She didn’t want to go back to his place, because even the few hours she’d spent there had her getting all attached to it, imagining things that she couldn’t have. She didn’t want to go to a restaurant and make a scene, or start people talking about them. That left… “Let’s go to my dad’s place,” she said with a sigh.

“Will he be home?”

“Not yet.”

Josh nodded, reversed the truck and exited the parking lot with a small burst of gravel beneath his tires as he trod on the gas. She fidgeted with the strap of her purse. He wasn’t happy and she didn’t blame him. Her insides twisted into knots.

She watched his fingers grip the wheel, glanced surreptitiously at his tense chin and the grim line of his mouth. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again and looked down at her hands clasped around her purse strap. Damn.