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Jack laughed. “They’re things you don’t want her to call you. So don’t be one, yeah?”
Right. Sure. He’d get right onto that.
Suddenly, she appeared in the doorway, looking flustered and unsure. “Jameson! I forgot to ask you if you want a drink.”
“I’ve got one here, sweetheart. Thank you, though. Now, do you need a hand in there?” He ignored Ian and Jack as they shook their heads at him.
Surely it didn’t hurt to offer to help?
“No. Why? Does it seem like I need help? Don’t you trust me?”
Oh fuck.
He’d done it again.
“Of course not! I was just being polite. My mother would skin me alive if I didn’t offer to help.”
His mother would be horrified at his offer to do something as menial as cooking. A St. Bedes didn’t do manual labor. It was beneath them.
Even when their finances were down the toilet, that’s what other people were for.
“Okay, then. Well, I’m fine. What’s that?” There was curiosity on her face as she pointed at the sunscreen.
“Um, it’s sunscreen.”
“Oh.” She wrinkled her nose.
Fuck. Why did he find that so adorable?
He shouldn’t. He needed to stay strong against the allure of Maggie. She was crazy, messy, and she said exactly what came to mind. She was the opposite of any woman he’d ever dated.
And yet . . . she kept playing on his mind all day and night.
“Don’t dismiss it until he tells you about it,” Ian told her.
“It’s for me?”
“Ah, yeah,” he said, feeling uncharacteristically shy. This wasn’t him. He was always confident. That was the way his parents had raised him. To be able to handle any situation with poise.
Of course, they were awful, selfish people who cared about nothing but their reputations and their bank balances.
“It has a strawberry scent and is lighter, so it doesn’t feel so thick and heavy on your skin.”
“Really? I love strawberries.” She reached out to touch the bottle, then drew her hand back. “I can touch it?”
There was a strange note in her voice. She sounded almost young . . . and that shouldn’t intrigue him.
Not anymore.
“Sure. It’s yours.”
“A gift?” She hugged the bottle to her chest, smearing it in gunk. But that wasn’t what made him frown. She sounded like she never received gifts.
“All yours, sweetheart.”
He was aware of Ian and Jack studying her.
“Thank you so much!” She went to hug him and he stiffened. She drew back with a rueful grin. “Oops, don’t want gunk all over your nice clothes.”
