Free Love Everlasting (Isle of Hope series Book 2) by Julie Lessman Page B

drink too much, but it’s not a common occurrence, Shannon, and I promise it won’t happen again, at least not with you. So please don’t let one stupid misstep on my part ruin the really great friendship we could have.”
    Arms clutched to her waist, she stared at the ground instead of his face, wishing there was some way she could just end this whole conservation with a smile instead of a scowl. All at once her gaze sharpened on his expensive brogues, polished to a gleam as he stood in a pile of manure. Chewing on the edge of a smile, she lifted her eyes to his, unable to thwart the shy grin that grew on her face. “Uh … not one stupid misstep, Sam,” she said, gaze darting to his shoes and back. A giggle bullied its way past her lips. “Two.”

 
    Chapter Nine
     
    How the devil did this happen?
    The question blistered Ben Carmichael’s brain as he sat in the shadows of his front porch at the inane hour of eleven-thirty on a Wednesday night, an O’Doul’s in his hand and a scowl on his face. The same question that had badgered him for the last 48 hours.
    When he saw Tess for the first time in eight months.
    When he’d lost his violent temper for the first time in eight years.
    And when he got into a fistfight for the first time ever.
    Taking another belt of his non-beer, he winced, jaw still sore from the clip his ex-brother-in-law had landed at the marina.
    Right after Ben had called him a questionable name and blackened his eye.
    And right before Tess tore out of the marina office, madder than a hive of hornets.
    Upending the can, he crushed it while the last dregs slid down his throat, groaning when he realized he’d just used the sore fist that had busted Cam’s chops.
    Even so, his lips curved in a satisfied smile.
    Never liked him from the get-go.
    Guilt instantly wormed its way past his gloat. Real mature, Carmichael. Now the woman you love thinks you’re a street punk with a short fuse instead of her knight in shining armor, home to rescue her from her grief. Thoughts of Cam’s arm around Tess’s bare shoulders, of the sparkle in her eyes as their laughter filtered into Marv’s office, suddenly flashed, and Ben’s anger reignited all over again.
    “I’ve never loved anyone like I love you, Tess,” he’d told her the night she’d put their relationship on hold over eight months ago, “and I will wait forever, if that’s what it takes.”
    He grunted, the sound harsh in a night filled with the heavy groan of a bull frog, obviously as unhappy as he. “Yeah, well looks like I was the only one …”
    Dropping his head on the back of the chair, he closed his eyes, his newfound faith suddenly niggling at the back of his mind. You didn’t even give her a chance to explain. Just popped your cork like she wasn’t the most important person in your world other than Lacey. Self-condemnation sandpapered his conscience.
    Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
    The mangled can dropped from his fingers as shame curdled in his gut along with the warm beer.
    Nope, he just went off half-cocked, spewing jealousy and bitterness like a sewer gone awry.
    Let all bitterness and wrath and anger … be put away from you, along with all malice.
    “Okay, okay, I blew it,” Ben snapped, “and I’ll fix it, I promise. As soon as I can talk to Tess.” He stared into the dark, his dock lights winking at him in the distance. “ If I can talk to Tess,” he muttered, painfully aware she’d been avoiding him since the incident. Not coming home till late that night with Bozo, then gone all day today and again tonight. She was obviously still ticked because she hadn’t answered or returned his calls, texts, or emails, and with Jack and Lacey out of town, he couldn’t bug them to help him out.
    No, he’d have to wait her out till he could catch her alone to apologize and grovel if need be. After all, he’d made his bed and