Seduce Me Sweetly (Heron's Landing Book 1) (27 page)

That wedding had also been the place Grace had thrown caution to the wind and had asked Jaime, her crush of five years, to kiss her.

She winced thinking about it, standing in the open waiting room at River’s Bend. After telling Kerry, the front desk woman and Adam’s assistant, that she was here, Grace waited for her brother to come see her, as she also needed to talk to him about attending family dinner that evening. She could go back to his office to see if he were in, but Adam’s fiancée Joy McGuire tended to lurk there, and Grace had no intention of barging in on them doing…things. Just recently engaged, the two of them had a tendency to exhibit more PDA than any sister wanted to see.

So Grace waited. She stared out one of the windows, which was currently screen-less, as the screen was probably being replaced. Since it was late in the year, a host of bugs didn’t fly through and create a nice mosquito haven indoors. Grace inhaled the fresh air, trying not to dwell on who else was here at River’s Bend right this second—like Jaime.

Jaime Martínez: River’s Bend executive chef and the most beautifully striking man in the history of the universe. Well, at least to Grace. When she’d been eighteen years old, newly arrived Jaime had let her share his umbrella when a summer storm had suddenly moved in, walking with her to her house. It was only after they’d arrived that she’d realized he’d gotten soaking wet while she’d stayed dry under his umbrella. But he’d just grinned and had said goodbye on her front porch, his dark hair plastered to his head as he had gone back out into the storm.

She’d loved him ever since.

For five years, she’d loved him from afar. Until the wedding, when she’d ruined all of it by asking him to kiss her. She hadn’t expected that he’d kiss her like he’d waited ages to do it. But then he’d pushed her away and told her they couldn’t do this, and Grace had avoided Jaime ever since.

“Grace.”

She froze. She was turned away from the source of the voice, and she wondered—rather wildly—if she could act like she hadn’t heard. But then she heard the person step toward her, and she knew the reckoning had come.

Turning, she looked at Jaime for the first time in a week, and her heart almost burst from her chest. He wore his usual jeans and t-shirt with an apron tied around his waist, although unlike his sous chefs, few stains marred the bright white. His hair had grown overlong, and the ends curled slightly. His eyes, dark and usually full of mischief, were now looking at her with an expression of discomfort that filled her with guilt.

“Your brother wanted me to tell you he was out giving a tour but will be here soon. Or you can give me whatever it is you brought for him.” Jaime sounded normal, except for when he’d said “your brother.” His voice had grated on the phrase, like it was painful to pronounce.

Grace stepped backward. She couldn’t speak; her throat closed. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Jaime stepped toward her, and she stepped back. She didn’t even realize she was doing it.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice quiet.

She almost laughed.
No, my heart’s broken and I’m an idiot, but what’s new?
She wanted to tell him that seeing him made her want to crawl into a hole and die. She wanted to apologize. She wanted him to kiss her again.

She stepped back. Then back again. And then she realized too late that her heel had hit the wall, and she was pitching backwards, falling through the open window into some shrubbery below.

But she didn’t fall into the shrubbery. Jaime moved with more speed than she thought possible, and then his arm was around her waist, keeping her from tumbling headlong out the window.

He hadn’t let her go yet—that was the first thing she noticed. The second thing she noticed was how warm his arm was around her waist. And the third thing was that he gazed at her with such naked longing that her skin prickled.

Her voice finally returned. She whispered, “I’ve wanted to tell you. I just, I’m…”
      

His gaze roved over her face. She could feel his fist clenching against her back. He opened his mouth to speak—

“Jaime,” Adam asked as he approached them, “why exactly are you holding my sister out a window?”