Free Hideaway Cove (A Windfall Island Novel) by Anna Sullivan Page B

retreat entirely. So he claimed her mouth. He framed her face, nipping her bottom lip before he sank in. She stiffened, but just when he was sure she’d push him away, she sighed, softened, opened her mouth to let her tongue tangle with his. And gave. He’d known she would; she was so generous, so caring. She had a heart as big as the world, and though she tried to guard it, her heart was wide open. So he told himself as he slipped his hands into the glory of her hair. He’d just have to guard it for her, be careful not to offer more than he wanted, or let her give more than was good for her. Still, he took the kiss deeper, tasted the sweetness of her, swallowed the sexy little moan she made and felt his control begin to crumble. He wanted more, needed her like his next breath.
    “Jessi,” he said, nuzzling her neck, slipping his hands down the sexy outer curves of her breasts as the fire inside him burned through the leash he’d put on his desire. “Let me,” he began.
    But when she nudged him back, he stopped pushing.
    “Benji,” she said, and the fact that she had to clear her throat first, that she looked at him with dazed eyes, went a long way to making up for her presence of mind. “We have to be careful.”
    He covered her hand, pressed it to his chest. “Tell me you mean what I think you mean.”
    “Hold…” She stood and, although she’d eaten nothing, took her plate and glass into the kitchen.
    Hold followed her, waited while she set her things down, and watched as her eyes filled with uncertainty and sorrow. Both ripped at him.
    “My mother,” she began, “my mother was my hero. I know most people would say that about their father, but I was barely three when he died.”
    “So even though you never knew your own daddy, you still missed him,” he interpreted. He kept his distance, although he wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her.
    “I missed the idea of him. And thank you for getting it.” Her gaze lifted to his, skipped away again. “But my mom—I miss her every day. There wasn’t anything we didn’t share—except when I…with Lance. I couldn’t tell her, maybe because I knew she’d be disappointed. She always told me to follow my heart, but looking back I realize it wasn’t my heart I was following. I knew it, even back then, on some level.”
    “Do you think she’d disapprove of me?” Hold asked, and breathed a sigh of relief when she shook her head.
    “I’m sorry if I gave you that idea, Hold. I think my mother would love you.” She smiled. “Just like every other woman on this island.”
    “Gossip again?” he said, although he had to stop his hands from fisting. “I’m getting a little tired of defending myself against a bunch of exaggerations and stories turned upside down to make it seem like I was the instigator when—”
    “I get it, Hold. I’ve lived here all my life. You don’t have to tell me how stories get twisted.”
    “But?”
    She spread her hands. “Why me?”
    He laughed softly. “Why not you, Jessica? Except for that bone-deep stubborn streak.”
    “I don’t know. You’re…” She made a two-handed gesture that took him in from head to toe. “And I’m…me. Single mother, jeans and t-shirts, small-town.”
    “You know what I see? A beautiful, incredible woman, who works too hard managing a business, taking care of everyone else, and believing she doesn’t deserve anything in return. You really need to cut yourself a break.”
    “People keep telling me that,” she murmured.
    “And let’s not downplay the way you fill out those jeans.” But he knew what she wanted to hear. Or at least he thought he did. “The minute I set eyes on you, Jess—”
    “Don’t.” She whirled away from him, arms crossed, moving around the kitchen with all the energy of a small tornado.
    Too bad it was such a small room—too bad for her. Hold put himself in her path, shifting when she tried to go around him, herding her back until he could box