CHAPTER 16
Jimmy
My shoulders tensed as nerves built up in me the closer I got to the boarding house. I’d been damn near unable to concentrate on anything other than seeing Bella all day. I spaced out during the safety speech, which I must’ve given thousands of times before, on both my charters today. My mind went totally blank and all I could think about was how beautiful Bella’d looked, half-naked and sprawled out beneath me in the back of my truck.
After work, when I got home to shower and change, Sherlock had to remind me to feed him by picking up his bowl and throwing it at my feet. In all the years I’d had him, feeding him had never slipped my mind. I still wasn’t convinced that I was in love, or falling as Billy put it, but something had definitely messed with my ability to function.
I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since I dropped her off the night before. Hell, if I were being honest with myself, I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the minute I first saw her standing on the dock. Every minute that I spent with her just pulled me deeper under the spell that she’d put on me.
A little voice in the back of my head was telling me to put on the brakes. I was self-aware enough to know that she was way out of my league. She ran in the same circles as Cheyenne, who had been raised very differently than I had. I was guessin’ that I was just a fling for her, a detour on the wild side before she ended up marrying some hedge fund manager and having a white picket fence and a golden retriever named Buddy.
I didn’t want that to happen, but I knew that I’d be naïve to think it was anything more than that. No matter how much I wanted it to be. The smart thing to do would be to cut bait and get out of this thing—whatever it was—before I sunk any deeper.
Too bad I wasn’t exactly known for doing the smart thing.
My plan, instead, was to make the most out of every second I was lucky enough to spend with Bella. I didn’t want to waste a millisecond worrying about what was going to happen. I wanted to enjoy the now.
And now I was about to see Bella.
When I pulled up in front of the boarding house and saw Mrs. B sitting in her rocker on the front porch, I turned my music down. She had a pet peeve about people blasting ‘the devil’s music’ when they drove down the busy street that her house sat on. Normally, I’d leave it up and then charm her into forgiving me just to have a little fun and try and get her to lighten up. But now was not the time to get on her bad side. Bella was in town visiting her and I didn’t want to risk her casting me in a bad light. Or at least a worse light than she already could have.
“James.” Mrs. B nodded as I came up the stairs, a bouquet of flowers in hand.
“How are you this evenin’, Mrs. B?”
“I’m doin’ just fine. I hear you’re takin’ my girl to the festival tonight.”
“Yes, ma’am.” When I’d asked Bella if I could see her again tonight, she’d asked if we could go to the Firefly Festival. It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind, but I’d do anything and go anywhere to spend time with her.
“She’s a good one.” Her words were complimentary, but her tone was nothing short of a warning.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’ve always liked you, James. You’ve always been respectful.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She picked up the rolled-up newspaper that she always seemed to have on hand for what she described as unruly pets and people and swatted the palm of her hand with it. “Don’t make me use this.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I couldn’t help but grin, thinkin’ about her swattin’ me with the paper.
“I’m serious, James Lee Comfort, Jr.” Mrs. B used my full name as she pointed the rolled-up paper in my face. “That girl has been through enough and has enough on her plate, she doesn’t need to add any rotten eggs to it.”
Rotten eggs. Was she calling me a rotten egg?
And what did Bella have on her plate? I hated that I didn’t know everything about that woman. We’d scratched the surface of upbringings, and obviously she’d shared intimate details with me. But I still had so many questions. I figured asking Mrs. B one of them couldn’t hurt.
“What does she have on her plate?”
The question had just left my mouth when the door creaked open and Bella appeared. Her hair was down and there were soft waves in it. She was wearing a white tank top, cutoff jean shorts, and cowboy boots. She was any Southern boy’s fantasy come to life. Or at least she was this Southern boy’s fantasy come to life.
My mouth instantly watered.
“Wow…you look…” I wanted to say smokin’ hot, but I didn’t want to see the business end of that rolled-up newspaper. “Beautiful.”
“Thanks.” She smiled and looked down at her feet and lifted her right leg up slightly. “The boots are new.”
“You really do, honey,” Mrs. B agreed. “Just beautiful.”