Haunted: A Love Letters Novel by Kristen Blakely

Author:Kristen Blakely [Blakely, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-27T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The night wind had a crisp bite, but Holly did not feel cold as she walked beside James. The dogs trotted on either side of them. Even Mojo seemed to behave, although Holly knew enough to attribute it to exhaustion rather than obedience. She and James had worn the dogs out with a long game of fetch in the park before heading to dinner at El Jalapeno. They had enjoyed relaxed conversation over a meal of burritos and enchiladas, before sharing a sopaipilla dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with honey.

As she chatted with James, Holly did not worry about stepping on ancient personal landmines as with Peter. Unsettled anxiety, such as she felt over how Brandon, a sophisticated man of the world, perceived a small-town girl like her, did not pluck at her. Her relationship with James was simple, as it had always been. The underlying current of his attraction to her did not and could not upset that perfect equilibrium of their relationship.

Should it have?

The thought nagged at her as they strolled toward her house. Wasn’t love supposed to be heralded by choirs of angels or shivers of desire? Perhaps what she felt for James was merely friendship, not love. If so, perhaps she should tell him—no—something in her shrank instinctively. It wasn’t just premature; it was ridiculous to overstep the situation. For all she knew, their professional situation might never change and their relationship might never progress beyond friendship.

More importantly, she couldn’t bring herself to quench the subdued hope in his eyes.

“Are you going to be all right?” James asked as they turned the corner and her house came into view.

She did not understand the reason for his question until she followed his gaze to her front porch. Peter sat outside on the wooden rocking chair, a scowl on his face.

Anxiety flicked through her, but irritation was stronger. Somehow, James’s presence had stiffened her spine. “I’ll be fine. You have a good night. I’ll bring Mojo over early tomorrow.”

He nodded, but did not walk away.

Peter stood up. He shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked his heel against the wooden floorboards. “Hey,” he said gruffly. A half smile tugged up at the corner of his lips.

Holly glanced over her shoulder and nodded at James. Only then did he depart with Lucy at his heels.

“Hey,” Holly echoed. She reached into her bag for her keys but did not open the door.

“Aren’t you gonna invite me in?”

“I don’t know, Peter. It seems to me you’re making lots of assumptions about us.”

His grin melted into a frown. “Assumptions about us? When was inviting someone into your house something more than basic courtesy here in Havre de Grace?”

“When I haven’t decided what I want.”

“Damn it, woman. When did you become high maintenance? It’s like walking on eggshells around you—never knowing what’s going to set you off. Less than four hours ago, you were talking about being a family.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Like hell it wasn’t.” Peter grabbed her arm. “We would have had sex on your couch if Debra hadn’t called at that damn moment.

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