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“I slept with him a few times, yeah,” she answered. “Honestly, Jack was well worth the wait.”
Jade sighed, batting her lashes like she was swooning. “Wonderful. Parker really loves that guy, and Parker doesn’t love many people.”
“I don’t know about that. He seems to love you and people in town just fine.”
She waved her off. “You know what I mean. He isn’t exactly the most social person in the world, but he likes the men he fishes with a lot, and Jack is in that crew. Apparently, Jack is a sweetheart. I’ll know more about what he says about you later on tonight.”
Nora laughed, but she shook her head. “I already know what Jack is going to say about me. He will be all mushy and gooey for me just like I am for him.”
“Not gonna lie, Nora. This happiness looks really good on you. This is all I ever wanted for you. And to think that you actually got with your lifelong crush. That’s goals.”
“I know,” she beamed. “We have a lot in common. Way more than I thought.” Nora could’ve shared Jack’s author secret with Jade and sworn her friend to secrecy, but Nora liked the idea of having a part of Jack that was just hers.
Books weretheirthing, and that was just fine with her. She didn’t need to share every little detail of her life with Jade.
“All you need to know is that I am ridiculously happy.”
“Good,” Jade said. “That’s very good. Now that I have seen you and you’ve given me a sign of life, I can go back to the bank. I’ve got to make sure that everything is okay there before I head back home to help Parker with the scavenger hunt prep.”
“Any chance you can give me a few tips on how to win tonight?”
Jade laughed and wiggled her finger at her. “No, no. No cheating.”
“Is it really cheating if you keep sending Jack and me alone in the most secluded parts of town?”
Her friend snorted and blushed … though not as deeply as Nora did. “I know that it was really obvious and maybe even heavy-handed to put you and Jack together, but Mrs. Francis agreed it was time we put you two together. And besides, look at how happy you are. Do you think the scavenger hunt might have helped that happiness at least a tiny bit?”
Nora grinned. “Probably a little bit, yeah.”
The two women hugged to say their goodbyes.
“Just so you know, Nora, I am insanely proud of the person you are. I know you have had a hard time because of your family, but you never changed who you are to please them, and now look at you. You’re with the man your heart desires. All because you stayed true to you.”
Nora blinked back tears as she waved to Jade, watching her disappear out the door. She returned to her ice cream and novel, so engrossed in the details of Jack’s life before he got to Half Moon Key that she didn’t notice the new customer waiting to be served in her ice cream parlor.
“Hi, there,” the woman said with a smile that was too wide and too big to be sincere. “You must be Nora. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Nora tried not to narrow her eyes as she searched the woman’s features. The stranger was vaguely familiar, but the edge of danger that hovered around her long blonde hair and eerily pale blue eyes threw Nora off.
It wasn’t until it was much too late that Nora realized where she had seen that shade of blue before … in Jack’s eyes.
NINETEEN
JACK
The water’s surface wasn’t as calm as Jack would’ve liked. The fish would bite, but it would take a bit more work and patience. Though he usually enjoyed fishing and shooting the shit with the guys, today was different.
He missed Nora already.
It was insane. How could he miss a woman who had spent the last three days in his bed? Yet, he did long for her. Jack couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms again, to kiss her, to lay her on their bed, and make sweet love to her.
And then there was that fucking box from Sage.
He didn’t want to be the kind of man who let bad things happen to the woman he cared for, but he also couldn’t tell her that Sage might pop up.
Not without telling her the rest of it.
Jack trusted Nora. He was keeping his lion and another big part of his past a secret from her, but not because he didn’t trust her. It was to keep her safe.
