Forever Love on Fireweed Island (Island County Book 4) by Karice Bolton Read Free Book Online

chest.
    “I’ve decided I don’t want any until later.”
    “Oh, okay.” He glanced over toward the lavender booth and waved. Jake was dressed in a pair of low-slung cargo shorts and a black t-shirt. A red and blue plaid, unbuttoned shirt clung to his shoulders like he’d burst out of it with one simple movement. There was no doubt he took good care of himself out on his twenty acres doing goodness knows what.
    “Burn feeling any better?” he asked, and my eyes flashed up to his. A grin threatened to take over from the sparkle in his eye once he realized I’d been checking him out.
    “Yep. Burn is totally good. I think today is my last day of having to wear sundresses.”
    “Well, you look beautiful in it.” The heat in his gaze nearly shredded my senses to bits.
    Even though the temperature was probably only in the seventies, my entire body turned into a molten mess. I wasn’t prepared for witty interaction, let alone flirtatious compliments from a man who looked this good. I’d been married for six years, and prior to that, I was in college studying hard all the way through until I came out the other side with my Masters of Library Science. Flirting wasn’t in my arsenal of daily living.
    I glanced down at my dress and back up at him. “Thanks. My ex-husband bought it for me, and I’m not particularly fond of it or him.”
    I cringed, unable to believe those words left my mouth. The poor guy tried to compliment me after saving my life only days before, and that was what I’d managed to tell him?
    “Duly noted.” He didn’t take his gaze away, his smile unguarded as he studied me.
    In an attempt to redeem myself, I pushed my shoulders back and looked him straight in the eye, which did nothing but give my stomach a reason to believe it got swooped into the middle of a tornado. I wasn’t sure if it was the beautiful color of his eyes or how he used them to look at me that shifted my entire world off-kilter.
    “Thank you again for the whole rescue thing.”
    “My pleasure. I didn’t expect it to make the front page, but I guess it is a small town with a low crime rate.”
    “They wanted to infuse everyone’s weekend with some humor, I suppose.”
    “How so?” His brow arched, and he took a step toward me, catching me off-guard.
    “I didn’t realize I wasn’t as high off the ground as it felt.”
    “The camera distorted things,” he assured me, his smile completely disarming.
    “It would be quite the distortion.”
    “It was,” his voice was low as he reached for my arm reassuringly and squeezed it softly.
    Jake seemed nothing like the recluse the island folks had been making him out to be.
    “You two know one another?” Hildie didn’t even wait for a response. “I should have known that’s why I liked you.” She came up behind us. “Any friend of my son’s is a friend of mine.”
    “Oh, I don’t actually—” I began, but Jake cut me off.
    “She’s the woman I told you about who was stuck in the tree.”
    I pressed my lips together as the wind in my sails blew right out to sea and my shoulders sank into the bay.
    “Oh, yes, dear. That’s why she looked familiar.” She nodded and smiled. “Well, she’s lovely.”
    “She is indeed. I’m trying to convince her that the camera can distort images greatly, depending on the kind of lens used.”
    “So very true.” Hildie nodded and waved at one of the other vendors. “Well, she is lovely.”
    “Thank you,” I said, wondering if those two remembered I was here.
    I caught Jake looking at me in a sideways glance, and he hid a smile as Hildie slid two more bars of soap into my purse.
    “On the farm,” she whispered and patted my arm.
    It wasn’t more than a second or two before Hildie was off to talk to the nursery that specialized in roses, and I was left standing next to her son. I wanted this to be one of those moments where I casually asked if I could take him out for a cup of coffee as a thank you, but instead, my heart