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Scarlett rolls her eyes, and I let out a long exhale when they both walk out.
This is going to be a long initiation.
CHAPTERSEVEN
BOILING WATER
SCARLETT
If I thought it was hard to get Jamison out of my mind before, that was nothing compared to seeing him right here in my space…and don’t get me started on being in his positivity cloud.
Granddad was a force to be reckoned with. He was a kind man, but he was also firm and old-school. I was the sunshine to his rain, the glass half-full to histhe glass doesn’t even have water unless we wring the water into the glass in the first place.
Being around Jamison, I feel like the Grinch…or worse, like I’m channeling Granddad after working so hard to snap him out of his grump most of the time. I’m just so angry. Angry that the lodge isn’t mine. Angry that it’s Jamison’s. Angry at Jamison foreverything.
Seriously, if I were to meet him today and he tried to give me five orgasms, I’d find a way to be angry at him about that too. In fact, I’m already angry at him about that.
Because how can it be that the one guy able to please me in bed to that extreme is the one guy I have to pass the reins to in three months? There is nothing fair about this.
Growing up, Grinny never let us say life isn’t fair becauseduh, no kidding, it’s not, her words not mine and she’d be whispering the sassiness but still mean it, and in the big picture, she’s right. And there are so many more worse things in life than what I’m going through, I do realize that, but…since Granddad is not here and I can’t take it out on the person responsible, I can still take it out on the guy who’s taken what I wanted most right out from under me.
And why does he have to be so charming? He nearly made me cry in that meeting this morning. I can’t believe his Gran met Grinny—and neither could she. I’m gonna dropkick whichever brother called to tell her about it because she’s shown up now, eyes dancing.
She hugs me and pats my arm. “Come on, angel, won’t you introduce me to this fella? You’re not gonna believe it, but I remember his grandmother!”
“How is that possible? We get so many people through here,” I tell her.
I’m groaning on the inside, wanting to lock my feet in place, but instead I’m leading her toward Granddad’s office.
“You sure you want to go in here?” I ask before we knock.
The door isn’t closed, but when Grinny nods, I knock anyway.
“Come in,” Jamison calls. He looks surprised when I walk in and then his face splits into a wide smile when he sees who’s with me. “You must be Grinny—I’m sorry, I mean Mrs. Landmark!”
“I am,” she says, laughing and delighted. “And don’t you dare call me Mrs. Landmark! I couldn’t believe it when my grandson told me about your Gran. And I was just telling Scarlett here that I remember her! Beautiful, tall lady with the prettiest accent. North Carolina or South Carolina, if I remember right.”
“North Carolina,” he says, shaking his head as he grasps her hand in his. “I can’t believe you remember.”
“She was so lovely, talking about her grandsons and the cute things you said. We talked about my name, which is what made me first remember, but I’ve always remembered her because well…” She glances at me and I’m suddenly afraid of what she’s going to say next when she winks. “I’ll let it stay between two grandmothers, but let’s just say, we covered quite a bit of territory in a short amount of time. Do you remember meeting her?” she asks me then.
Caught off guard, I quit fidgeting. “Me? I met her too?”
“Yes, you were about thirteen, and she saw you behind the front desk and said you were as pretty as a picture, and after one conversation with you, she could tell that even at your age, you were smarter than all the girls her grandsons had ever gone out with…combined.” Grinny laughs and Jamison does too.
My face heats at the comment and with the realization.
Jamison says, “That sounds just like her,” just as I’m saying, “Idoremember her.”
Jamison stops laughing and stares at me, the tension between us crackling like a live wire. “Really?”
The sun shining through the windows highlights the darker green in his eyes gradually turning into lighter shades until a ring of gold surrounds his pupils.
Absolutely captivati—ridiculous—absolutelyridiculousthat I’m getting lost in his eyes.
I clear my throat and turn to Grinny, who’s covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes all lit up like fireworks. I narrow my eyes at her and she laughs outright, clearly amused by something. When I’ve been over at her house over the past two weeks, she’s grumbled more than I have about Granddad’s will, wondering who’s coming in here to take over, and how life will never be the same in Landmark. One conversation with Jamison and she’s putty in his hands…and she’s Team Scarlett all the way!
He’s clearly highly manipulative and sketchy to have such an effect on the Landmark women.
