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“What? You haven’t? All these summers here and you’ve never jumped?”
“I’m a tad frightened of heights.”
“You are?” I laughed, despite the serious glint in his eyes. “Take my hand. We’ll jump together.”
He smiled as he took my offered hand. “I suppose I have to conquer this fear at some point.”
Holding hands, we walked to the edge of the rocky cliff and waited as two little boys jumped into the deep green water. “You ready?” I asked him.
He’d gone pale. “Maybe not.”
I tugged on his hand. “Do you know how many times I’ve jumped in from here?”
“Hundreds?”
“Probably. Anyway, nothing’s ever happened to me. Look at me. Still intact.”
His gaze slid over my body. The sun burned hot above us but not hotter than I. “Yes, quite perfectly intact, I must say.”
To hide my confusion I took him over to the edge of the cliff. “All you have to do is jump outward, as if you wanted to land in the very middle.”
“Jump outward? What happens if you’re too close to the edge?”
I laughed. “You won’t be. Hold my hand and I’ll count us off.”
“Fine, yes, sure. I can do this.”
“One, two, three.” On three, we jumped, hands clasped until we hit the cold water. I lost him as I sank and then swam to the surface. At around the same time, his head popped out of the water. He shook his head like a golden retriever and grinned.
“Isn’t it fun?” I asked, swimming closer.
“It was fun.” Water dripped down the side of his face as he bobbed slightly in the waves from the jumpers right after us.
I swam up to him, wishing I could feel his wet skin against mine. He was beautiful, this man. His full mouth turned upward into a boyish grin.
“Thanks, Addie. I’ve been wanting to do that every summer since I first came here.”
“You’re welcome. You were very brave.”
“Not really, but I did it.” James took off then for the shore. I followed him. When we reached the sandy beach, we plopped down side by side.
He looked over at me, his head cocked to the right. “Only you could look this pretty after jumping off a cliff.”
I breathed in his words as if they were enough to save my inevitable broken heart. For now, he was mine and mine alone. “I’m glad you think I’m pretty.”
“Addie Barnes, every man in this town thinks that.”
“Even you?”
“Especially me.” He reached over and touched a knuckle to my cheek. “The purest kind of beauty—that’s what you have. The kind that comes from the inside out.”
I ducked my chin, shy but thrilled by his words.
“Don’t you let whoever this man is make you feel anything less than that,” James said. “Even when I’m not here, you must remember. You’ll simply close your eyes and recall how I’m looking at you right now.”
I lifted my gaze to his, fighting the conflicting notions of fleeing and allowing myself to be encompassed by him. I chose the latter, giving in to this glorious feeling of being fully seen. “What does that mean? How are you looking at me?”
He peered down at me as if searching the very depths of my soul, a way no other person had ever done, other than my parents and sisters. “With admiration. With humility that I get to be a little part of your life this summer, or at all, for that matter. Men like me don’t have the chance to spend time with women like you.”
