Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Hopefully, everything else would be much more clear tomorrow.
* * *
That kiss had felt so right. Malcolm was certain it would have led to more—much, much more—if his phone hadn’t rung. Work, of course. How he wished he’d turned it off, but he couldn’t have known that one minute he and Josie would be talking about paint colors, and the next they’d be in each other’s arms, kissing passionately.
He wanted her. Wanted her so badly he had a feeling a cold shower was in his near future. But would that have been the right move? She wasn’t the kind of girl you messed around with. Josie deserved far more than a few hot nights in his bed. And he wasn’t up for more.
At least he never had been before…
His grandmother’s words echoed in his head, suggesting Josie was the woman he’d been waiting for. But he wasn’t certain that was true, and the last thing he wanted was to mess Josie’s emotions about. Again.
So if he wasn’t going to do that, he needed to keep his hands and his mouth off her for the next two weeks. He already knew the self-control it would take was going to come close to breaking even his strong resolve. Especially when they were working and living in such close quarters.
All the while as he cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for bed, he could sense her presence just a few feet away. He couldn’t stop envisioning her in his bed, wondering if she was wearing pajamas or if she had slipped in wearing nothing at all tonight because the houseboat was so warm from the fire in the woodstove.
Each thought made him want her more, made his need ratchet up higher and higher. Already, it was taking every ounce of self-control to leave her be. To get into his small guest bed. To sleep so that he’d be fresh for tomorrow, when they’d meet with his sisters and get to work helping Mari prepare the space for the reading retreat.
But even after a cold shower, every time he tried to sleep, he could taste Josie again, feel her again.
He wanted her again. More than he could ever remember wanting anyone before.
CHAPTER NINE
Josie was up before Malcolm, the time change still not settled within her system. She was glad for the time alone to sit with a cup of coffee and try to calm herself. She needed to remember why she was here. Not to get tangled up with a handsome Brit, but to set up a reading retreat for Mari. A special place where people from all over the world could come to enjoy some time with wonderful books. She could hear Malcolm moving around in the guest room, when there was a knock on the houseboat door. She opened it to find two women who had to be his sisters standing on the deck.
“Hi, you must be Fiona and Alice,” she said with a smile. “I’m Josie. Come on inside.”
“It’s wonderful to meet you at last,” Fiona said. She was absolutely beautiful and dressed in casual clothes that looked as though they cost a fortune. Her jewelry was what Josie thought of as understated but expensive, and her watch looked very similar to one that Princess Diana had worn. “Mari’s been talking about you a lot. She’s so excited about her first reading retreat.”
As they stepped inside, Alice sniffed the air. “Mmm, coffee. Don’t suppose you’ve got any to spare?” Alice might look a bit like Fiona, but her style was completely different. It was obvious she worked with her hands, and if Josie hadn’t known she was a gardener, she’d have guessed. Her hands were free of jewelry, and she had a pair of gardening gloves stuffed in her pocket.
“Of course.” As Josie poured coffee for them and refilled her own mug while she was at it, Alice presented her with a bag of still-warm croissants.
“I stopped by the Elderflower Café on the way here. I can never resist their fresh croissants.”
Josie suddenly realized she was ravenous. “There’s butter and jam in the fridge,” she said, going to get them and putting them on the table. It was funny how comfortable she already felt with Malcolm’s sisters, and they hadn’t even really spoken with one another yet. It just felt so natural to get settled around the table with them, munch on the croissants, and drink coffee. Well, she and Alice were munching on the croissants, at any rate. Fiona said she wasn’t hungry and just sipped coffee.
“It’s so fantastic to meet you,” Alice said, clearly a bundle of energy. Even dressed in a long-sleeved Kew Gardens T-shirt and baggy jeans and work boots, she was beautiful. “When Mari told us that she was going to turn the cottages into a reading retreat, I thought that sounded like the coolest thing.”