“How very candid of you,” he said. “Then let me be candid, also. If I come up now, we’re going to have a very enjoyable evening and at some point, I am going to want to kiss you. A lot. I think we’ve already established that I can’t seem to keep away from you, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way. It would be unnecessarily coy at this point for either of us to deny that we find the other attractive. However, whether we like it or not, it does complicate things. I need to make sure that the decision I make about Saltwater Nook is what’s best for my aunt. And you need to think about whether you would still want to be friends if my final decision for the Nook didn’t go in your favor. As much as I wish it were different, now isn’t the time for us.”

Annie felt almost positive that she would want to be more than friends regardless of what happened. But she wasn’t going to blurt that out to him like some silly schoolgirl. Though she would love to throw caution to the wind, she appreciated the care with which John was thinking through the implications. Unfortunately, his thoughtfulness made her want to tear all his clothes off and have sex with him right here in the garden.

“I understand,” said Annie. “I don’t completely like it. But I appreciate it.”

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t like it either. I can’t stop thinking about you, and it’s driving me crazy. It seems like all you’ve done is drive me crazy one way or the other since you arrived!”

“Ditto,” said Annie, smiling.

He leaned down and brushed her cheek with a kiss.

“I’ll see you,” he said, and he left.

Annie watched him go until the night swallowed him. Then she wandered back through the fairy-lit garden and closed the door on the dark. She stood in the hallway surrounded by the craggy faces of fishermen past looking out of the photographs on the wall. She was falling for John; she could feel it happening and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was more than how time seemed to pass slower when she was waiting for him to arrive, more than how each day was electric with the anticipation that he might show up unexpectedly, or how her heart leaped each time his name flashed up on her phone. It was a feeling inside her bones, like he was pulling her to him and she didn’t want to resist.

Wasn’t it just bloody typical that the man she wanted to leave her alone was persistence personified, while the one she wanted to ravish her was keeping her at arm’s length?

Chapter 73