Chapter 3

The next morning, Jack got two coffees to go from the Blushing Bay Café and pulled into the parking lot of Sawyer Seafood Company at five minutes to eight. Grace’s car was already parked in the lot. She sat inside, head back against the headrest, eyes closed. He took her in for a moment. Not much had changed since their teenage years. She still had long thick brown locks with golden strands weaving through. She still had smooth, touchable olive skin. His gaze lowered. Some things had definitely changed, though. Grace had filled out. She had curves now that she hadn’t had when she’d lived with his family.

Grace’s eyes opened and Jack’s gaze snapped up. He opened his truck door and headed over.

Grace pushed her car door open, too. “Good morning.”

Jack held out a cup of coffee to her as a sort of peace offering—not that he or his family had anything to apologize for. It was Tammy Donner who’d sold off his mother’s possessions one by one, ending with the Beatrice, the Sawyer family boat named after his late mother.

Grace took the coffee anyway. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“If you have to listen to me talk for the next hour or so, I figure you’ll need your caffeine.”

She smiled at him. She still had a beautiful smile, too, he decided. “All right, let’s go in and get you oriented.” He led the way up a short row of steps into the building. His dad and brothers were out on the water this morning, which was good. He still hadn’t gotten to talk to them about hiring Grace. They’d no doubt have their reservations, but he’d offered Grace the job and she’d accepted. The Sawyer family had made a good business out of keeping their word and Jack didn’t intend to go back on his offer to Grace.

“This’ll be your desk,” he said, crossing the room and getting straight to business. “Computer, printer, phone. All the basics are at your disposal. Aunt Mira was old-fashioned. I can guarantee that nothing has changed since the summer you worked here as a teenager, although things probably need to. I’ve been voting for a fax machine for years. Mira insisted on still sending out hard copies of the receipts by snail mail.”

“I love Aunt Mira.” Grace’s gaze jumped up. “I mean, I love your aunt Mira.”

Guilt punctured Jack’s chest. He’d never considered all the things that Grace had lost in the divorce. Like having an aunt Mira who talked too much and made homemade fudge year-round.

Jack pulled a chair up to the desk and gestured for Grace to sit down. Once she was seated, he pulled out a calendar and a list of buyers that Grace would need to closely acquaint herself with. “The biggest thing is to make sure the seafood deliveries are scheduled and on time. Restaurants can’t stay open if they don’t have the food. And if they don’t stay open, neither do we.”

Grace leaned over the list. “That’s a lot of clients. You guys have really expanded since—” She stopped herself. “Anyway, I need to make sure that the deliveries make it to the restaurants. Got it.”

“Yeah. And as part of our business, we call the restaurant owners about once a month to make sure they’re satisfied. We check to see if they need to increase, hopefully not decrease, their deliveries.”

“I can do that.” Grace sat stiffly in the chair beside him. He was making her nervous. She definitely had the same effect on him. He remembered when they’d shared the same space effortlessly. A time when they’d sat on the back porch of his family home, talking and laughing like the best of friends. He didn’t expect to get that relationship back with Grace, but if they were going to work together, they couldn’t be anxious all the time.

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll help the company reach new heights,” he said.

This made Grace laugh again, which was exactly what he was going for. He watched her for a second. She was so beautiful when she laughed, the way her chin tipped toward her chest making her hair cascade around her face. She stopped his breath for a moment, held it hostage in his chest.

She noticed he was staring and her smile fell along with her gaze. He remembered they’d done this dance when they were teens, too. Stealing glances when the other wasn’t watching. Repressing the undeniable attraction between them. That appeal was still there, strong as it ever was. Well, they’d just have to accept that it was here to stay and move past it.

“So I’ll stick around for a little bit this morning and show you what needs to be done. Noah usually gets in first. He leaves a lot earlier in the mornings. He’ll assess his catch, the quality and how much he has, take it to get cleaned up at the fish house, and then we’ll schedule the morning deliveries to the local restaurants.”

“Who delivers?” Grace asked.

“We have a few guys with regular routes. The business is a well-oiled machine at this point. We catch, deliver, get paid, and do it all over again the next day.”

Jack hoped to God that he got a chance to talk to Noah before he walked in and found Grace seated behind Aunt Mira’s desk. Noah was the youngest brother and he had less of a hold on his emotions. Sam, his older brother, controlled emotions so well one had to wonder if the man actually had any feelings. If you asked Abby, his ex, she’d probably say he didn’t.

“So what do you want me to do now?” Grace asked.

Jack slid the last month’s orders in front of her. “Look over these. You’ll get an idea of who our customers are and what typically goes out.” His cellphone rang in his pocket. Pulling it out, he noted a friend at the police department’s number. He was probably checking in on the situation with Tristan. Jack was excited to tell him that Tristan would be working to rebuild the kayak launch with him this afternoon. Gesturing outside, he said, “I need to take this. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Grace nodded. “Okay. I’m fine.”

She might be fine, he thought as he headed outside and answered his phone, but he, on the other hand, might not be. Not if he continued to spend time in a confined room with her. He’d forgotten how deeply Grace affected him, nearly hypnotized him.

Grace stood up from her new desk and stretched her arms high above her head. Needing a break, she crossed the room to look out on the water, where many of the Sawyer Seafood Company’s boats rocked gently on the current. Suddenly she felt like spinning around, arms outstretched like a child attempting to hug life. This was an ideal job for her. Or it would be if it wasn’t with the family that hated her mother, and her by association.

“Can I help you?” a deep voice asked behind her as she looked through the window. It wasn’t Jack’s. Her heart skipped a nervous beat, but she forced herself to turn and face whichever brother it was.

“Sam.” It was the oldest Sawyer brother and Abby’s ex. He was tall, broad shouldered, and tanned from his hours in the sun. His honey-toned hair was tousled, and Grace remembered he had a habit of running his fingers through it when he was stressed, which was pretty much all the time.

She watched as recognition of who she was crossed his features. It was obvious he had no idea that Jack had hired her. Crap.

“What are you doing here?” Sam asked, rooted where he stood—as if sharing breathing space with her might corrupt him.

Grace’s heart rode up in her throat. Sam was a good guy. He’d been a great brother, coming to her rescue several times when she’d been bullied at school. “I’m, um…” Her hands fidgeted nervously in front of her. “I…”

Her world began to spin. She liked to think she was tough, but that was mostly with the people she didn’t care about. She cared about the Sawyers, even though she’d spent years wishing she didn’t.

“I’m, um, leaving.” She grabbed her purse off the desk and crossed the room toward the door—her strong fight-or-flight instinct taking hold. “Coming here was a mistake. Sorry.”

The front door opened and Jack blocked the exit. He looked between her and Sam, his features pinching. “So I see you’ve met our new office manager,” he said to Sam, shutting the door behind him so neither one of them could leave.

Sam offered a hard stare in Jack’s direction. “Outside. Now,” he ground out. Then he turned without so much as looking at her and exited out the same door that Jack had just closed.

“I’ll be right back,” Jack said, stepping closer to her. “Don’t worry. This will be fine. Stay here.”

Which she took to mean “don’t run away.” But that was exactly what she wanted to do, even though she had no other job options at the moment. This was it for her. If it was just herself she needed to take care of, she’d bolt. But her mother was depending on her, too. Grace needed this job. Not only that, she wanted it. It had good pay, good hours, and…Jack.

Grace swallowed, reminding herself that he was off-limits to her—the same as he’d always been, but for very different reasons now.

She sat and waited, hearing the muffled argument between the brothers outside. Her body warmed at the knowledge that Jack was fighting for her. Not that she should take it personally. He needed an office manager and she was it. This was just a job, for both of them.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Sam folded his arms in front of him.

Jack shrugged. “Hiring someone for the desk job. Remember? We discussed this yesterday.”

“We didn’t discuss hiring Grace Donner.”

“Why not Grace Donner? She’s never done anything to hurt this family. It was her mother that sold our mom’s stuff, not her.”

Sam was staring a hole through Jack’s forehead. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, then shook his head. “She’s a Donner. We despise the Donners.”

“But we used to love them,” Jack pointed out.

Sam shoved his hands onto his hips. “You can’t be serious right now.”

“Look, Grace is good with business. Don’t you remember how she helped out when she lived with us?”

“When she was fifteen years old? Do you even know anything about her anymore? Did you know she’s been working as a bartender at Dewy’s for the last year?”

Jack nodded. “I did. She’s not there anymore, and why does that even matter? Dewy’s slime, but she isn’t. She’s the same person we called sister once.” Only tougher. Life hadn’t been easy for her, he guessed. He wanted to help.

“Yeah? Well, did you also know that Dewy fired her for stealing?”

Jack swallowed as a sickening feeling settled over his stomach. “Who told you that?”

“There’s talk. I listened. Not gonna say I was surprised. Tammy was a thief. Why wouldn’t her daughter be, too?”

“What did Grace steal?” Jack asked, trying his best to give Grace the benefit of the doubt.

“Money from the register.” Sam’s expression softened. “Sorry, man. You always were one to want to rescue people. Some people can’t be rescued, though.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s hearsay.” Even though he knew Grace’s mother was sick and suspected they were struggling. She’d asked for her first paycheck upfront, which told him she was desperate for money. But did that mean she was a thief?

“She’s hot and you’ve always had a thing for her, bro,” Sam said. “That’s why you hired her. You were thinking with your—”

“Stop right there,” Jack said, hardening every muscle he had. “I hired Grace because she’s perfect for the job. I trust her.”

Sam stared at him, his expression unreadable. “She can stay, but one screw-up and she’s out. Zero tolerance.”

“All right. Well, here’s my side of that deal,” Jack said, raising his voice and matching his brother’s attitude. “You treat her like you would any other employee here. Her past stays in the past—because we all know everyone has one.” Jack knew exactly which buttons of his brother’s to push. Sam had a past, too. One that had cost him his marriage to Abby.

Sam ran a quick hand through his hair, then nodded. “Fine.”

“Great.” Jack folded his arms over his chest. “So, now you’re going to walk inside, smile, and welcome our new office manager to the company.” When they were young, there was no way Jack would have spoken to his older brother in this manner. He was just as big as Sam these days, though. A quarter inch taller if they were measuring.

Sam hesitated, then stalked back to the main building.

Grace was sitting at her desk when they walked in—where she belonged—doing her best not to look broken. Jack saw through her act, though.

Crossing the room, Sam held out his hand with what might be considered a sincere smile. “Starting over. Welcome to the Sawyer Seafood Company.”

Grace’s gaze flicked toward Jack. Her chest lifted as she inhaled and slipped her hand into Sam’s. “Thank you.”

Okay. One down, two left to break the news to.

Jack was pretty sure Noah and his dad’s reactions would be the same as Sam’s, if not worse. He’d handle it, though. He’d meant it when he’d said Grace was perfect for the job, although Sam had also been a little right. When he’d offered Grace the position, he had been thinking with his smaller brain, too—the brain that he’d gotten good at ignoring until Grace Donner had stepped back on the scene.

“See there. This is a great arrangement.” Jack stepped forward and slapped a hand across Sam’s back.

His brother arched in pain. “Easy, Jack-o. Sunburn.”

Jack grinned and winked at Grace, whose posture had relaxed. “Brotherly advice. Sunblock. Use it.”

Sam growled. “I’m going back out,” he said. “Don’t take any crap from him,” he told Grace.

She shook her head, looking appreciative that he’d pulled her in to their banter. “I won’t.”

Jack was grateful, too. He wanted this to work, even though he was bothered now about what Sam had told him. Had Grace been taking money from Dewy’s?

“You didn’t tell your family yet.” Grace turned toward him after Sam had gone.

Jack shrugged. “They told me to hire someone for the job and I did. You. They’ll warm up to the idea. I want this to work.”

Grace’s shoulders settled from their high position. “Me, too.” Her gaze flicked to the desk. “Okay. What’s next?”

Two hours later, Jack had gone over most of Grace’s job duties. “So, uh, it’s lunchtime. What do you think about heading over to The Landing for a bite to eat?”

The family’s restaurant sat on pilings over the water. Abby, who was the owner-chef, was a renowned chef who’d been in magazines like Our State and Good Housekeeping for her specialty dishes.

Grace’s smile fell away at the invitation. “Oh, um…”

“I’m paying,” Jack added. “Call it part of the job orientation. Our first delivery always goes to Abby’s kitchen. In order to promote our product, you have to sample it, right?”

Grace’s lips curved. “Don’t you ever tire of eating seafood?”

“Oh yeah. That’s why there’s burgers on the menu now. Abby nearly killed me when I suggested that one, but she eventually gave in.”

Grace smiled. “Lunch sounds good. I haven’t had fresh seafood in ages, so I’m in. Let’s do it.”

Jack’s groin jumped to attention at Grace’s words.

Color flooded Grace’s cheeks.

And there they were, back in that attract-and-resist game they’d started when they were kids.

“I thought you already knew what you wanted to order,” Grace said.

Jack was seated across from her at a small table that sat right above the water. He had his menu open. “Well, Abby likes to add new items every now and then. Just checking to make sure I’m not missing out on anything.”

“It’s a shame that she and Sam still aren’t talking,” Grace said.

“Yeah. I wish those two would just kiss and make up.” Jack lifted his gaze over his menu and met hers, the word kiss still on his lips.

Grace swallowed, thickly. “This is so surreal. You and I had barely looked at or uttered a word to each other in years, and now we’re sitting here having lunch together. All business, of course.”

“Of course.” Jack closed his menu and pushed it to the center of the table. “I’m going with the burger and fries.”

“Hey, guys,” Abby said, walking up behind them.

Jack turned back. “Hey, Abs. I feel special having you leave the kitchen just for me.”

Abby shook her head. “I love-hate to bust your bubble, but I left the kitchen for Grace.” She looked at Grace. “How’d the morning treat you? Did you drink a glass of water before bed to avoid the headache like I suggested?”

Grace’s eyes widened. Being outed for getting tipsy the night before her first day on the job wasn’t ideal.

Jack raised a brow in her direction and Abby swatted him on the shoulder. “Don’t judge. You, Noah, and the other brother-that-shall-not-be-named go out for drinks all the time. In fact, the other brother was there last night.”

Jack grinned. “And you two sat down and finally had a heart-to-heart, right?”

Abby rolled her eyes. “I didn’t drink that much.” Abby pulled an order pad and pen from the pocket of her apron. “So, I guess you want a burger and fries—traitor,” she teased under her breath. “And Grace, what’ll you have? Might as well pick the most expensive thing on the menu if Jack’s paying. I hear he’s loaded.” She winked.

Grace laughed again. God, she’d forgotten how much fun her ex-family had been. She’d missed them more than she’d realized. “What’s the catch of the day?”

“Flounder poached in coconut, ginger, and basil.”

Grace’s mouth watered. She closed her menu and handed it to Abby. “Sounds delicious. That’s what I’ll have.”

“Great. Coming right up.” Abby ran a hand through Jack’s hair, messing it up. She looked up at Grace and winked. “All right you two. Play nice.”

Grace watched Abby head back to the kitchen. “She seems happy.”

Jack shrugged. “It’s an act if you ask me. Can’t love someone the way she and Sam loved one another and be okay staying apart.”

Grace’s gaze snagged on his. He was talking about Abby and Sam. Not her and him. They’d never been in love, just in powerful teenage lust.

She swallowed thickly, willing herself to look away, but those blue eyes of his were like magnets pulling her in, like polar opposites attracting each other. Finally, she blinked and turned her gaze to the crowded dining room around them. “This place gets packed, doesn’t it?”

“Yep. People love Abby’s cooking.” He snatched a hush puppy out of the basket that Abby had placed on their table.

Grace grabbed one, too. “Thanks for hiring me, by the way.”

“Thanks for saying yes. Now I’m free to do something else.”

“And what would that be?” she asked.

Grace watched the blue of Jack’s eyes seem to darken as they crossed into the territory of what he would do with his life now that his best friend was gone. She’d known Chris in high school, too. She might’ve had a crush on Chris if not for Jack. Chris had been tall, athletic. He was the kind of kid who had always been in a good mood. The kind of guy who made everyone feel like they mattered during a time in life when people were divided into two groups: popular and unpopular. Grace had been in the latter group until she’d joined the Sawyer family, gotten new clothes, and a last name that the town respected. Then suddenly she’d found acceptance—short-lived as it was.

The corner of Jack’s mouth quirked. “We never told anyone, but Chris and I were planning on retiring from fishing this year. We had this dream of starting up a construction business building piers and docks. We were always into that kind of thing. The hours just blur when you’re building.”

“You’ve always been good with your hands.” She felt her cheeks flush before she’d even finished her sentence. She had no idea how good he was with those hands of his—although she’d fantasized a time or two.

“Not sure that building would pay the bills, but…”

“Well, in the words of Abby, you’re loaded, so who cares?” Grace winked at him when he looked up. She was trying to soften the mood that Chris’s memory had suddenly cast. It seemed to work, because now instead of sadness in his eyes, she saw a familiar heat. Working for the Sawyer family was going to be so much trouble, namely because of the man sitting across from her.