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“You have a passion for this place, a way of seeing things that no one else does. And it comes so easy to you.” He let out a soft chuckle. “You would rather do things the hard way even if it means you struggle more just so you can ensure the heart of this place shines brighter. That’s admirable, Sarah.”
Her eyes widened. He was actually telling her that her refusal to join him was something he admired. How did that make any sense? And yet, here she was nearly thinking the same thing. He might have been trying to hide it, but he had a passion for the harbor as well. He simply wanted to go about saving it in a different way than she did. She swallowed hard but couldn’t look away. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?” Boy, he was making it hard to turn him down.
“Because you’re doing something I don’t agree with.”
“That’s purely business,” he whispered, moving closer. “This? Between you and me? It would be… something else.”
Personal? Pleasurable? Her stomach knotted and her heart practically beat from her chest. Everything in her head told her to stay away, to keep him at arm’s length.
But her heart wasn’t willing to lose this battle.
Sarah shut her eyes, letting the nearby Christmas music distract her momentarily. James was so close. In fact, she had a feeling that if she opened her eyes, he’d be hovering right there, ready to steal a kiss. All he needed was her to sign off on it.
His words echoed in her mind. Would it really be so bad? People from different backgrounds managed to make it work all the time. That description didn’t even describe them accurately.They were both grounded here, to Hollyberry Harbor. That should be enough on which to build a foundation.
She opened her eyes with a flutter. “Okay,” she whispered. “As long as you promise one thing.”
“Anything,” he murmured so close to her lips that she shivered.
“Promise me you will keep your little business project separate from whatever this is. I don’t want your advice when it comes to my bakery, and I don’t need to know how you’re changing everything.”
His grin deepened. “Deal.” Without warning, he closed the distance between them, stealing her lips for his own pleasure. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself against him, letting the world around them fade away along with any misgivings her head wanted to throw at her.
In this moment, she chose magic.
EIGHT
One week had gone by since the tree lighting event and James still couldn’t believe just how well everything was going with Sarah. He saw her nearly every single day at her bakery and then when she got off work. They wandered the street during festival hours, pleased with how busy it continued to be.
The folks in town really seemed to enjoy the taste of their history mingled with a few of the things that made the festival different.
Sarah was opening up to him more, sharing stories from her childhood and telling him what she loved about the bakery. She was really rather good at the sweets she concocted, and it made him wonder if his idea for a café was really necessary. From a business perspective, the harbor could use somewhere to purchase a drink, but they could also bring in a to-go shack that served the same stuff.
His mind whirled with solutions to that particular problem. One thing was for certain, he wanted Sarah to have everything she needed to continue doing what she loved. If that meant staying out of her business decisions, he’d do it.
They continued to connect over their love of their town and often found that they shared similar memories from Christmasfestivals in time’s past. This evening, he planned on taking her to a quaint Christmas shop that was in the next town over. He just had to slog through his meetings first.
James settled into a seat at the head of a long rectangular table as his advisors and other board members entered the office. Every so often, James would glance at the time. If he could get out of here early enough, he might have time to take Sarah to dinner as well.
He grew more antsy as the men chatted with one another and pulled out their documents to give him updates on the progress of the Lake Harbor project.
“All right, folks. Let’s make this one quick. This is just an update. There shouldn’t be too much to go over if we can stay on task.” He gave a meaningful look to the board member who liked to take tangents when it was his turn to speak, to which the man chuckled.
James turned to his financial expert. “Where are we on the budget and the latest projections for profitability.”
“As we all know, the last time we ran the numbers was in the beginning of November. That was before we acquired two more businesses on Lake Harbor. We’re still within an appropriate range for our budget, and we’re expected to be profitable by the end of the first quarter.”
Murmurs of contentment filled the room.
“The business that was struggling to make ends meet—” His financial expert paused, and James glanced at him once more. “It turns out all we might have to do is wait her out.”
He sat straighter in his seat. “What do you mean? I thought the last time we went over what the bank provided, she was still capable of turning things around with some minor changes.”
“You’re correct, sir. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much improvement in November. I checked with the bank last weekend and found out that she hasn’t made any payments forDecember yet, either. If you want my opinion, it appeared to me that the bank is getting tired. They’re more interested in dropping her as a client and short-selling the property.”
While the others in the room were pleased with this announcement, James only felt sick. She hadn’t told him any of this. Granted, they didn’t discuss business. That was the promise. Apparently, that meant she wasn’t going to tell him anything about her struggles.
