Someone like Izzy, who was all light and sweetness and pure joy, deserved a man who wouldn’t be like a live grenade in her life, waiting to explode at a moment’s notice. No one needed that, especially Izzy, who’d already had her life explode once before when her father left their family. She didn’t need to be living with a ticking time bomb who could blow at any second.

  And yes, he’d had therapy about this issue. Lots of it. He’d talked it to death for years, but the anger remained just the same.

  He was still standing in the kitchen when he heard the shower turn off. Shaking his head, he released a deep breath and went to find his laptop to log into work. That’s what made sense to him, and he’d buried himself in work from the start of his ordeal, first working for one of his uncles in the family real estate business and later branching out into his own company. He’d grown his business into a multimillion-dollar enterprise fueled by rage.

  Izzy didn’t see that when she looked at him. No, she saw only the successful businessman, the doting father, the devoted brother, uncle and friend. She didn’t see the rage that fed the entire operation, like a nuclear power plant that lived deep inside him. No one would know it was there if he didn’t tell them, which was why he’d felt obligated to warn her.

  He sat on her sofa and opened the laptop to check his email, but all he could think about was how surprised he’d been when she put her arms around him or how amazing it had felt to hold her. The information he’d given her last night hadn’t scared her away from him. If anything, it had seemingly made her more determined to turn their friendship into something more.

  What are you doing here?

  Her question from the night before had kept him awake long after she’d gone to bed. What was he doing there? Of course she was confused. Out of one side of his mouth, he was telling her he had nothing to give a relationship, but out of the other was his insistence he be the one to care for her at home when she certainly had plenty of others who could’ve done that.

  But she’d wanted it to be him.

  He stared at the screen full of emails without seeing anything other than her face as she’d told her aunt and uncle that she wanted what they had. Her words had pierced his chest, stabbing him straight in the heart. Did he want her to have that with some other random guy? No, he did not. The thought of her with someone else filled him with panic.

  “Well, then, you’re going to have to step up and give her what she wants unless you want to hear about how happy she is with someone else.”

  “Cabot?”

  He looked to his left and nearly stopped breathing at the sight of Izzy in a clingy robe. She had her hair wrapped in a towel, which put her gorgeous, flawless face on full display. Even with the lingering bruises on her face, she was stunning.

  “Were you talking to someone?”

  “Only myself.”

  “Do you reply to yourself?”

  Forcing a smile for her, he said, “Sometimes.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good. How was the shower?”

  “Delightful. I’ll never again take a shower for granted after going without for a week in the hospital.”

  “It’s the little things that make us happy.”

  “Yes, it is,” she said with a meaningful look. “The little things are the best things.”

  He put down his laptop and stood to go to her, knowing he had to either man up or get out of her home and her life. In the two seconds it took him to walk to her, he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do.

  “You said you’re good, but you don’t look so hot,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been sending you some mixed signals here. I see that now.”

  “I’m glad you do.” Her lovely eyes glittered with amusement. “The signals have been decidedly mixed.”

  “It’s not my intention to confuse you.”

  “And yet…”

  He looked down at the floor, summoning courage that was in far shorter supply than the rage before he returned his gaze to her face. “I heard what you said before, about there being more to me than the bad stuff.”

  “There’s so much more.”

  “I appreciate that you see that.”

  “I do. I have from the start. I thought you were amazing at the wedding, the way you didn’t care at all if the whole world saw you weeping with happiness for your daughter and yourself.”

  Grunting out a laugh, he said, “That was mortifying.”

  She reached for his hand and linked their fingers. “No, it was lovely.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do. I felt like I’d seen your heart that day, and I… I wanted…”

  “What?” he asked, feeling as breathless as he sounded. “What did you want?”

  “More. More time with you. More of everything we shared that day. Just more.”

  “I did, too. I couldn’t stop thinking about you after the wedding. Or after our dinner in October. I’d find myself thinking of you first thing in the morning, during important meetings, at business dinners and late at night when I should’ve been sleeping. I’d be thinking about you, wondering where you were, what you were working on, if you were happy.”

  “Cabot,” she said on a gasp. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I told you why last night.”

  She shook her head, took a step to close the distance between them and released his hand so she could wrap her arms around his neck. “You failed to scare me off,” she whispered, her lips so close to his, he could almost taste them. He wanted to taste them.

  “I see that.”

  “I’m not afraid of the anger that lives inside you. In fact, I wonder if you replaced it with a more productive emotion if it might eventually disappear altogether.”

  “What emotion did you have in mind?”

  Her smile was truly a thing of beauty. “I’m thinking of a couple that might work, but I’d hate to tip my hand too soon. And besides, why tell when I can show?”

  She brushed her lips over his, making his mind go blank of anything that wasn’t about her and wanting her. His fingers dug into her hips before he remembered she was injured and lightened his grip. He wished he could haul her into his arms and kiss her the way he’d wanted to since the first time he laid eyes on her the night before Mia’s wedding.

  Who, he’d wondered, was she? And how can I get her to talk to me?

  And now she was kissing him as if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said about all the reasons this was a bad idea. He needed to retake control of this situation, but how could he do that when she had her arms around his neck and her lips pressed to his? If he moved, he risked hurting her, and besides, kissing her was the best thing ever. Why would he want to stop?

  The thoughts raced through his mind, one after the other, as she kissed him with almost unbearable sweetness.

  “I knew it,” she whispered many minutes later.

  “What did you know?”

  “That kissing you would be amazing, even if my sore lip isn’t quite ready for that.” She released him and turned away, heading slowly and carefully to her room, as if she hadn’t just completely rocked his world in every possible way.

  He ought to leave. A work emergency could arise that would take him back to Boston, where everything made sense to him. He wished he could call Emily without Izzy overhearing him. Since that wasn’t an option, as soon as he could think again, he went to his laptop and wrote his sister an email.

  Subject: Greetings from VT

  How’s it going? Things are good here. Izzy is a little better every day, getting around more than she was. Which is great, except she’s decided we’re going to be more than friends, and I’m not sure what to do about that. So. Help.

  He sent the message before he could talk himself out of it and then forced himself to focus on work, pending issues and questions from his staff that had them at a standstill until he weighed in, and emails regarding city council business.

  One was from the mayor. Hey, Cabot, hope your friend is doing better and is on the mend. Just wondering if you’ll be able to make Tuesday’s meeting. We have a number of items on the agenda (enclosed in case you missed the email earlier this week) that we need you for. If you can’t be here, we will move to postpone the zoning matters and school budget. Let me know when you get a chance. All the best, Lenore.

  They would’ve already advertised the agenda, which meant they couldn’t change it.

  Tuesday was in four days. If he left to go back to Boston, what reason would he have to come back? Someone else would come and stay with Izzy while he was gone, which would make it strange for him to come back and take over. He didn’t want to leave. Not yet.

  He wrote back to Lenore. So sorry that I can’t make it Tuesday. My friend is still in pretty rough shape and needs around-the-clock care. He was going straight to hell for lying to Lenore, who was a good friend. Sorry to leave you short, but if you can postpone, I should be able to make the meeting in two weeks. Fingers crossed. Cabot

  Again, he sent the message before he could find a dozen reasons not to, such as his belief that Izzy would be much better off if he got into his rental car and drove home to Boston, leaving her to get on with her life without him in it.

  But would that be better for him?

  Not at all.

  “You’re a selfish bastard,” he whispered as an email from Emily popped up in his in-box. He clicked to open it.

  His sister’s email opened with a question. What the hell is wrong with you?

  “You want the whole list?” he muttered.

  When you heard Izzy had been badly hurt, I thought you were going to lose your mind trying to get to her. Remember that? I do, because you called me and told me you were losing it out of fear of losing her. Is this bringing back any memories for you?? Why are you doing what you do with her? When is it time to put the past where it belongs and live for the here and now? Granted, your past is horrible, and no one would blame you for avoiding relationships forever. But I think you like this woman, perhaps in a way you haven’t liked anyone—even SHE who shall not be named. So are you going to let Izzy slip through your fingers so she can go find someone else to love while you carry on, tending to the wounds of the past while she’s living a wonderful, fulfilling life with another man? Is that what you want?

  Leave it to his sister to sum things up in a way that only a sibling could do, with zero sugarcoating.

  You LIKE HER, Cabot. Apparently, she LIKES YOU, TOO. I have a feeling you’ll regret it forever if you don’t at least TRY to make it work with her. Remember how you felt when you weren’t sure she was going to survive the accident??? Tap into that memory bank and ask yourself how you would’ve felt if she hadn’t survived.

  That possibility was too awful to contemplate, even knowing she was going to make a full recovery.

  He hit Reply and started typing. As always, thank you for telling it to me straight. I hear what you’re saying, and you’re right. I do like her. A lot.

  He sent the message, and she wrote back a minute later.

  Don’t blow it with her, Cab. You’ll be so sorry if you do. I know it’ll take a huge leap of faith in a situation that has no guarantees of working out. But I saw you with her at the wedding, and I liked the way you smiled that day—and not just because of Mia or the wedding. It was Izzy, too. We all saw that and have been hoping we might see something come of it.

  I hear you. Thank you. I’m trying to find the courage to try…

  I have a feeling she’ll be worth the effort. Keep me posted.

  Cabot already knew Izzy would be worth the effort. He’d known that since last June and had been even more sure of it after their dinner in October. Emily had reminded him of just how frantic he’d been after hearing about the accident. Mia had called him, thinking he would want to know, and his only thought had been about getting to Vermont as fast as he possibly could. At no time during the seven-hour drive did he stop to wonder whether it would seem weird to her or her family if he showed up as if he had some sort of right to be there.

  That hadn’t mattered to him.

  No, the only thing he’d cared about was seeing her and being with her.

  Ever since Deb had disappeared with Mia, he’d been fanatical about the concept of control. He was in charge of his life, and nothing and no one was ever again going to catch him flat-footed the way Deb had when she’d bolted with Mia. Every single thing he did was predicated on him being in control of every situation, which was why he found it odd to realize that since he’d heard about Izzy’s accident, he’d been anything but in control.

  He’d been completely out of control, and that was so far from his comfort zone as to be laughable.

  She had that effect on him, which was another reason to disentangle from what was happening between them.

  Cabot couldn’t afford to be out of control.

  Izzy came out of her room, with her long auburn hair falling in sexy spiral curls around her shoulders. She had on an oatmeal-colored cowl-neck sweater with black leggings and had applied makeup for the first time since her accident. “How do I look?”

  Cabot could only stare at her until he recovered the ability to speak. “You look even more beautiful than usual. How did you dry your hair?”

  She smoothed her hands over her sweater. “I didn’t wash it. Just did some curls. I haven’t seen my father in a long time. I didn’t want to look like hell in front of him.”

  He was deeply touched to realize she was anxious about seeing her father. “You couldn’t look like hell if you tried.”

  “Haha, very funny. I’ve looked like death warmed over for days now.”

  Cabot shook his head as he moved closer to her. “No, you haven’t.”

  “You’re just being nice.”

  He ran a finger gently over the bruise on her right cheek that she’d covered with makeup. “Nah, you’re always lovely, even with a bruise here or there.”

  “Thank you.”

  “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “More than five years ago. I ran into him in Stowe. At first, I didn’t recognize him, but he knew me. Said my name. It was shocking to realize I’d almost walked right past him.”

  The same might’ve happened between him and his daughter if they’d run into each other somewhere before their reunion, albeit for far different reasons.

  “I was unprepared to see him. I didn’t know what to say.”

  “That must’ve been unsettling.”

  “It was. I think I’ve seen him four times, total, in the twenty years since he left.”

  Cabot despised Mike Coleman with a fiery rage for what he’d done to his wife and children. What he would’ve given for the chance to raise his daughter, while Mike had walked away from his beautiful family. “Did you ever hear why he left?”

  Izzy shrugged. “What does it matter?”

  “I guess it doesn’t.” He took hold of her hands, brought them gently to his lips. “You don’t have to see him today if you’re not up to it.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Is it, though?”

  “I tell myself it is. He wants to see that I’m all right, which is proof he still cares. That’s the part that bothers me. That I care that he still cares. I sorta hate myself a little for that.”

  “No one would blame you for feeling that way.”

  Smiling, she shrugged again. “I blame me.”

  Before he could think of what he should say to that, the phone rang. Cabot released her hands and went to the kitchen to answer it.

  “Hi, Cabot, this is Cameron Abbott, Will’s wife.”

  “Oh, hi, Cameron.”

  “My sister-in-law Lucy and I are on the schedule for lunch delivery today, and we were just checking to make sure Izzy is up for the visit. I also wanted to mention that our friend Troy is in town from New York and tagging along with us today, but he can stay in the car if Izzy isn’t up for extra guests.”

  “Hang on just a second, Cameron.” Cabot relayed the information to Izzy.

  “Oh, please tell them to come by, and their friend is welcome to join them.”

  He passed that on to Cameron.

  “Great, thanks. We’ll come by around noon, then.”

  “See you then.” He put down the phone and joined Izzy on the sofa, where she’d settled. “Your family is quite something with their schedule.”

  “They really are. I’d tell them not to worry about me, but that’d be pointless.”

  “You’re lucky to have them.”

  “And I know it. When I start to feel a little weird about seeing my dad, I think of how many wonderful people have been there for my siblings and me all along, and they make it so he can’t hurt me, you know?”

  “I do. That’s a good way to look at it. I was wondering about his health since the transplant.”

  “I heard he’s in remission, which is good news. We all give Gray so much credit for what he did. I’m not sure I could’ve done it.”

  “You would’ve so you didn’t have his death on your conscience.”

  “That’s why Gray did it.” She glanced at Cabot. “You must have work to do.”

  “I have a meeting in fifteen minutes that’s apt to take an hour or so.”

  “Do what you need to. I’m capable of entertaining myself.”

  He had numerous things that needed tending to, but since she’d kissed him earlier, the only thing he wanted to tend to was her.

  Chapter Five

  “Pleasure of love lasts but a moment. Pain of love lasts a lifetime.”

  —Bette Davis

  Izzy tried not to listen to him on the phone with his office, but that was hard to do in a tiny house like hers. He spoke respectfully to his colleagues, asked their opinions, listened to what they had to say and made decisions only after he had all the relevant information. Friends and family had brought countless books and magazines to keep her entertained, but nothing was more interesting to her than Cabot.

  She still couldn’t believe the brazen way she’d kissed him and put him on notice that she wanted something more from him. Today would’ve already been classified as a great day if only she didn’t have to think about seeing her father later. Why had she said he could come if thinking about the visit was going to upset her so much? Probably because it’d always been important to her and her brothers Grayson and Noah, as the eldest three, to be the bigger people in their dealings with him.