I Love How You Love Me(The Sullivans)(33)

“The boat you’re making for them is your way of saying thank you, isn’t it?” But even as she said it, she knew it was more than that. “And it’s also your way of sharing with them what has brought you endless joy.”

“Yes,” was his simple answer, one that made her heart feel even softer toward him—even more open with him. No other man had ever disarmed her so easily…or heated her up so quickly.

“Can you put it into words, that joy?”

“Everyone from Tennyson to Jacques Cousteau to Jimmy Buffett has said it already, better than I ever will.”

“I’d like to hear it in your words, Dylan.” Didn’t he realize what a poet he was when he spoke about the sea? About his family? “Please.”

He took her hands, stroked his fingers over them before he began to speak. “The sea is full of so much wonder and magic that I’ve never seen anyone leave one of my boats without falling under its spell. Even people who have been afraid before, or who are certain they will never find their sea legs. All I really want to do—all I really want to give to people—is that fearlessness, that respect, that love that I’ve always felt.” He lifted her hands to his chest so that she could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart. “Right here.”

The phone rang, jolting her out of the spell his words were weaving around her. But he made absolutely no move to answer it, didn’t even seem to notice it.

“You’re going to ignore that, aren’t you? Doesn’t it ever bother you, wondering who it is?”

“I’ve always found that the people I want to hear from know where to look for me. Just like you did.”

The phone stopped ringing for a few seconds, then immediately started again. “You’re not even going to check the caller ID?”

“What’s caller ID?”

She knew he was kidding—he must be kidding, right? Fortunately, when the phone started ringing a third time, he said, “If you want to answer it, be my guest.”

Of course she did, so she picked up the handset on the old phone, complete with spiral cord, that hung from the wall by the desk. “Hello.”

“Hello, it’s Shawna.” The woman on the other end of the line managed to infuse a ridiculous amount of sexiness into the three words. “It would be so nice if you could let Dylan know I want to talk to him.”

Grace figured out from less than a dozen words that this woman had been in Dylan’s bed. And that knowledge made her feel so jealous and irritated that despite knowing Dylan hated speaking on the phone unless he absolutely had to, she said, “No problem, Shawna. Hold on and I’ll pass him the phone.”

She held out the receiver to him, trying to read whether or not he was pleased by the obvious booty call, but he had his poker face on. And it was a damned good one, too.

“Hi, Shawna.” He listened to what she had to say before replying, “That’s nice of you to think of me for the game tonight.” Dylan paused and looked straight at Grace, his expression shifting from easy to intense in the blink of an eye. “But I’m seeing someone. Someone important. So I’m going to have to pass. Have fun at the game.”

I’m seeing someone? she thought as he put down the phone. “You didn’t have to turn down the tickets.” Someone important? “You could have gone with her.”

“Didn’t you just hear me say that I’m taken?”

For all the warnings she’d given herself about taking things too seriously with Dylan, she couldn’t stop a warm glow from washing over her. “I thought we agreed to take things slow.”

“We are.” He reached for her, drew her against him the way she’d been secretly longing for throughout their interview. “Slow and exclusive.”

But as thrilled as she was to hear Dylan say that he wanted only her, she had to try to make sense of something that didn’t make any sense. “How are you not with someone already?” She gestured to the phone. “Clearly, there are women lining up around the block for some time with you. And with the way you look, the way you kiss—” She made herself stop before she rambled on any longer about how amazing a catch he was. “I just don’t understand it.”

“I have all the same questions about you, Grace. The way you look. The way you kiss. The way I can’t stop smiling whenever you’re near. How are you still single?”

Was he nuts? The reason was obvious. “I’m a single mother of a ten-month-old.” Not to mention the fact that she hadn’t let anyone close enough to even try getting through the wall she’d put up around her heart after it had been smashed by her ex and his family.

“A great ten-month-old.”

Dylan’s affection for her son was yet another thing that set him a world apart from other men. “That’s another thing I can’t figure out.”

“What’s that?”

“How you are so willing to open up your life to a woman with baggage.”

“Anyone who would actually call Mason baggage, anyone who can’t see that he’s the greatest gift in the world, doesn’t deserve you.” He brushed back a lock of her hair, making her shiver despite the heat. “Did you get what you needed for today’s interview?”

With the way he was looking at her, she could only just manage to say, “Yes. We’ve covered a lot of ground today.”