“We were going to meet for breakfast,” Hannah said. “I took a quick call while I was waiting, that’s all.”
Which was, of course, when her damn phone began to vibrate again, having a seizure on the table.
James raised a brow.
Harry gave a cough and laughed into his hand.
Hannah stared at the two men in her life as the epiphany hit her in the face. She’d been on both of them about their lifestyle choices, and yet here she was right before Christmas, living at the whim of her phone. “Pot, meet kettle,” she muttered beneath her breath.
“What was that, Smalls?”
Before she could answer, Sally called out from the bridge with a question. Her dad got up to have that conversation, and Hannah tucked her phone away.
“What if you miss something?” James said.
That was the crux of it. She was missing something—life. And it wasn’t like she could do anything more for today’s hearing. “Work can wait a bit,” she said.
For the first time since she’d been in James’s arms the night before, he met her gaze, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head to give her a small but utterly genuine smile that warmed her from toes to roots. He leaned in and put his mouth to her ear. “That’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I thought telling you about my crush on you was pretty sexy.”
“You’re right. Scratch that. Everything you say is sexy.”
“Welp.” Harry came back to the table but didn’t sit. “I’m off. I got stuff to do.”
“Wait,” Hannah said. “Can we talk later?”
“What were we just doing?”
Hannah grimaced. “I’ve got more to talk about.”
Harry sighed. “I’m not retiring, Smalls. Period. Now, it’s almost Christmas. We pick up our families in San Juan tomorrow. Fun only for the rest of the trip, you hear me?”
“Come on,” she said slowly. “How realistic is that?”
“I suppose about as realistic as your being here as my gift,” he said. “See you two later. Enjoy your breakfast.” He looked at Hannah. “Or at least try.” And with that, he headed off to the galley.
Hannah looked at James.
He shrugged. “Maybe he suspects the truth, in which case another few hours in denial before you crush him won’t hurt. Besides, have you not seen the way Sally looks at him?”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t look at her that way.”
James nudged a chair back from the table with a foot and sat. “Given the news you’re here to deliver, maybe you can help him start to look at her that way.”
“He needs to sell the boat.”
He gave her a get-real look. “This boat is his life. What would he do without it?”
Hannah leaned forward. “Listen, you might not have heard, but he’s had a couple of health scares. Him being out here, far from medical care, drinking at night like he is . . . My biggest fear is that something will happen when he’s out here alone.”
“Have you asked him what his biggest fear is? Because I’d bet it’s being landlocked with nothing to do. He loves the water, Hannah. Lives for it.”
She sagged back and sighed. “I know. He loves it above all else.” Including me . . . “I just don’t want to lose him.”
“I understand that,” he said. “Maybe more than anyone, but living for the sake of living isn’t going to cut it, not for a guy like him.”
Their gazes met, his hooded from her now. “James, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“You blew me off this morning.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you’d notice whether I was here or not.”
She was dumbstruck. “What are you talking about?”
“Last night I barely had the condom off before you had your phone in hand. Let’s just say I got the message.”
“I just needed to get something done before I could go to sleep, is all.”
He shook his head. “I waited at least thirty minutes before I headed out. You didn’t even notice I was gone.”
“I’m so sorry.” She drew in a breath, embarrassed. “I did hear you go. I promised myself I’d go after you the minute I finished an email, but I fell asleep. You could’ve said something when you left.”
“Let’s just say you were focused, and not on me.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding, because if she was being honest, she’d heard this sort of thing before from . . . well, just about every guy she’d ever dated. “I’m single-minded. I can work on that.”
He gave her an unreadable look. “Your job’s important to you, Hannah, and it should be. I love how passionate you are. But last night . . . it felt special to me.” He paused and made sure he had her attention. “Really special. Then I realized I was in it alone.”
She felt the air leave her lungs in a whoosh, and she stood, moving around the table to him. Stepping into the vee of his legs, she dropped to her knees to wrap her arms around his middle and hug him to her. “I’m so sorry, James. I never meant to make you feel that way. You weren’t alone. You . . .” She shook her head and tilted it up to him. “You rocked my world. Left me on a shaky axis. I still feel it even now. Do you?”
His eyes remained serious, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. “To tell you the truth, with you in that position . . . same.”
She snorted and he pulled her up and into his lap, cuddling her into him. “I’ve always been the one to pursue you sexually,” he said into her hair. “Then last night I was enough of a hypocrite to be annoyed when I thought you saw me as nothing else. I didn’t like how that felt between us.”
“It wasn’t that. It was never that.” She cupped his face. “I like your brain and your smile as much as I like your favorite body part.”
That got a laugh out of him. “Same. I like your brain and your smile as much as I like all your body parts.” He kissed her softly. “I get that you’re here because you’re worried about losing your dad. I know the feeling.”
She knew he did. He’d lost a piece of himself when he’d lost Jason. She couldn’t imagine the pain of that. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him,” she admitted.
“But see, he’s right here in front of you. We all are.” He cupped her face. “Can you say the same? Are you a hundred percent here with us?”
She looked into his eyes and saw only acceptance, affection, and concern for her. “I think we both know I need to work on that,” she said softly. “Actually, I need to work on several things. But the good news is, once I set my mind to something, I don’t give up until I’ve got it right.”
He smiled. “Sounds promising.”
She flashed a mischievous grin. “Some things take practice, though. Lots of it.”
“Good thing I’m really good at practicing . . .”
Chapter Eleven
JAMES DIDN’T often let himself think of the future. After all, he knew better than most that not everyone got one. But being with Hannah again, he couldn’t help but think of the one he’d once upon a time hoped to have with her.