Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove #8)(68)

“Bobby and I are friends.”

“You’ve been friends for a long time?”

“Yes.”

The silence stretched between them. “You don’t want me to know anything else, is that it?”

He shifted uneasily. “Maybe now,” he said, leaning forward to set his mug on the coaster.

She frowned, not understanding. “Maybe now what?”

He smiled that sweet boyish smile of his and took her tea out of her hands. “It’s time to kiss again.” He moved closer and pressed his lips to hers.

Christie nearly gasped at the explosive desire that erupted inside her. “James,” she whispered. “Oh, James.” She locked her arms around his neck and kissed him back. But he wouldn’t allow her to deepen the contact. He maintained his gentle pressure until she thought she’d melt at his feet if he didn’t hurry up and kiss her properly.

Then his hands were in her newly short hair. He angled his mouth over hers and showed her that there was no need to hurry, after all. He was hers and she was his.

When he released her, Christie collapsed against the back of the sofa. Her eyes were still shut and she couldn’t catch her breath for what seemed like minutes.

“Wow,” she sighed.

“That was nice,” he agreed. He, too, was breathing hard.

She leaned foreward and touched her forehead to his. “James, there are things you don’t know about me,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” She wanted to tell him the truth so there’d be no surprises later on. “I’ve been married before…. It wasn’t a good marriage.” She gave him some of the details, just enough so he’d understand that her husband hadn’t been her first lover nor had he been her last.

James listened quietly, then held and kissed her again. Occasionally he’d ask a question. When tears fell from her eyes, he kissed them away. Once she’d finished her confession, she buried her head in his shoulder.

James cradled her with comforting hands. “Thank you,” he whispered.

She couldn’t figure out why he’d say that and looked up. His eyes met hers. “Telling me all this couldn’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t.”

“I’m important to you?”

She nodded. “Important enough that I want you to know the truth.”

He kissed her temple. “The truth is a precious gift.”

He continued to hold her. Then, reluctant to leave, he murmured against her hair, “I have to get back to the house.” When he came to his feet, he seemed a bit unsteady. “Thank you, Christie,” he said a second time.

She gestured weakly, not knowing what to say. A plea to see him again was on the tip of her tongue. She swallowed the question unasked. He would call her. She saw it in his eyes. She was important to him, too, otherwise he wouldn’t have come. She’d poured out her heart to him, and he’d accepted what she had to say without censure. He knew everything about her now; she’d held nothing back. She hated that he had to go.

After one last kiss, James saw himself out, which was a good thing. Her legs didn’t seem to work properly. He’d been gone for at least five minutes before she found the strength to stand.

She’d never done anything so bold as to lay out her sins for a man to examine. In a strange way she felt better. Telling James everything had unexpectedly freed her. At first she was afraid she’d chase him away, but nothing could be further from the truth. His touch had been gentle, his words kind and encouraging. He hadn’t said he loved her, but he did. She knew it. She felt it. And Christie knew something else.

She loved him, too.

Twenty-Four

“Mom, I know you’re disappointed,” Linnette said into her cell phone. She was just as disappointed, but she couldn’t possibly return to Cedar Cove for Christmas. Not if she was going to accomplish everything that needed to be done for the Buffalo Valley medical clinic to open on schedule.

Linnette cast an apologetic glance at Pete Mason. He’d invited her to lunch and they sat in the Three of a Kind restaurant and bar, where Linnette had, until recently, worked as a waitress. They’d just been served their meal and Linnette had taken a couple of bites of her sandwich when her cell phone rang. She wished she hadn’t answered it, but too late now.

“You told us over Thanksgiving you’d make it home for Christmas,” her mother protested.

“I know I did, and I’m sorry.” She already felt guilty, and hearing the frustration in her mother’s voice wasn’t helping.

Silence followed Linnette’s announcement. Repressing a sigh, she wondered what else she could say to comfort Corrie—and herself. She missed her family and her friends in Cedar Cove. She’d like nothing better than to spend the holidays at her parents’ home. But she was deeply involved with the medical clinic, which would be opening—she hoped—by February. Not only that, she didn’t have the extra money to make such a trip. Airfares at this time of year were simply out of reach.

“Mack will be with you. And Gloria will, too. Right?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Her mother didn’t hide her distress. “They’re both the most recent hires, so I’m afraid they’ll end up working. It won’t be Christmas without my children.”