“I’m almost warm again, thank you.” She tugged the shawl sweater more tightly around her while he took a seat on the couch adjacent to her chair. “Tourists may swim in November, but I don’t usually go in the water this time of year.”
“Yet you didn’t even hesitate.” He’d been watching her from the deck of the skiff carrying him from the seaplane to the marina. “I saw how fast you jumped in after Emily fell.” He’d spoken to the girl’s family briefly after reaching the dock, to make sure she was going to be fine and that they would focus more on parenting and less on partying.
“You were in the water almost as quickly as me.” She shook her head and briefly closed her hazel eyes as a delicate shudder passed through her. “I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if you hadn’t arrived when you did. I was never so panicked as those few seconds when I couldn’t find her.”
“I only spotted her because you were just above her in the water.” He’d swum faster than he’d known he was capable of. “Although I would have searched the whole damn marina for her if I had to. I’ve had enough sleepless nights thinking about how different our lives might be if someone had been there to haul Caroline out of the water.”
He hadn’t meant to share that, but the loss of his sister-in-law had overshadowed everything else for their family. Delia’s hand on his forearm cut through some of the darkness though, providing an unexpected comfort.
“I’m sorry,” she said simply, her eyes filled with genuine empathy.
Empathy that didn’t even rightfully belong to him. It was Damon who’d been through hell. Suddenly Jager was reminded that he needed to focus on his family and not whatever he was feeling for his assistant right now. At least until they’d cleared up some business.
“Thank you.” He acknowledged her kindness before redirecting the conversation. “Which reminds me that I won’t be staying in town long, so I’d like to come up with a plan to review any new business over the next week.”
“You’re leaving again? Why?” Delia’s touch fell away from his arm. Her lips parted in surprise.
“I need to find Damon.” He’d never imagined his brother as the kind of man who might do himself harm, but Damon had been through more than any man should have to bear.
“I understand.” Delia nodded, but her expression remained troubled. She spun the gold bangle around her wrist.
“I won’t leave until we address any concerns you may have about the business.” Or Gabe did. But there was enough time to share his plan with her. He still hoped to put her at ease first.
“Of course.” She quit spinning the bracelet and glanced up at him. “I know how committed you are to this place. You’re always quick to respond to any of my questions about the business.”
Leaving him to wonder if she’d ever had questions of a more personal nature that he’d overlooked? He studied her features, trying to read the woman who’d become so adept at managing his affairs. A woman who had become a professional force to be reckoned with despite a lack of formal training.
She deftly changed the subject.
“Have you eaten?” she asked, straightening in her seat. “Dinner is ready. Chef texted me half an hour ago to say he’d prepared something—”
“Will you join me?” he asked, wanting her with him.
“I don’t want to monopolize your time on your first day home.” She scooted to the edge of her seat as if looking for the closest exit. Cautious. Professional. “I can bring you up to speed on the house and marina in the morning so you can enjoy your meal.”
“My brother Gabe is in Los Altos Hills for another week,” he reminded her. “There’s no one else in Le François waiting to spend time with me, I’m afraid.”
Still, she hesitated. No doubt about it, those chilly moments wrapped around one another in the Atlantic today had shifted the dynamic between them. She’d never been uneasy around him before.
“We can make it a working dinner, if you wish.” He reached for his phone and began to type out a text. “I’m requesting that the meal be served in here.”
“That’s not necessary,” she protested.
“I insist.” He needed them to clear away an important piece of business. To remove any barrier there was to being together. “Besides, I’ve been meaning to discuss something you brought up in the water today.”
“I...” Her eyes went wide. She swallowed visibly. If she were any other woman, he wouldn’t hesitate to end the suspense and kiss her.
But he wouldn’t rush this.
“You mentioned needing a raise?” he reminded her, clearing a place for their plates on the rattan chest by moving aside a fresh flower arrangement of spiky red blooms he recognized as native to the island.
Already, a uniformed server hesitated at the office door, a tray in hand. He waved the young woman in.
“Sir?” The woman’s starched gray uniform was cinched tight by apron strings. She carefully set the tray down where he indicated. “Chef said to tell you there is a visitor at the gate.”
“There is?” Delia tugged her phone out of a long brown leather wallet that she’d deposited on the chair beside her. The call button at the gate on the main road was hooked up to an app Delia and Jager could access. “I’m sorry I didn’t hear the bell. I turned off notifications for our meeting.”
Curious, Jager spun his own phone toward him and clicked on the icon for the security system while the server went to retrieve another tray from a rolling cart in the hallway.
Before Jager pulled up the video feed from the front gate, Delia gasped.
“What is it?” Jager asked.
She lost color in her face, her fingers hovering above her lips as if to hold in the rest of her reaction.
“It’s not your ex, is it?” Jager shot to his feet, moving behind her chair to view her screen.
“No.” Delia lifted the phone to show him. “It’s your brother. Damon.”
Steel-blue eyes stared up into the security camera. McNeill eyes. Delia had seen the three brothers together often enough to appreciate the family resemblance. The striking blue eyes and dark hair. The strong jaw and athletic build. Damon was the tallest of the three. He looked a bit thinner than she recalled, which was no surprise given the year he’d had.
“That’s not Damon.” The cold harshness of Jager’s voice stunned her as he tugged her phone from her grip, his strong hands brushing over her fingers. “Let me speak to him.”
Confused, she let go of the device while Jager pressed the talk button. Her skin was still humming from his touch as he straightened.
“I’ve made it clear I don’t want to see anyone from your family,” he barked into the speaker while he gently closed the office doors to keep their conversation private from the staff. “If you need accommodations in town, I can send someone out to the gate with a list of recommendations.”
“Jager!” Appalled, Delia leaped from her seat and reached to take her phone back. “What are you doing?”
The voice of the man at the gate rumbled through the speaker. “You’re not getting rid of us, dude. Now that my grandfather knows about you, the old man is insistent that you and your brothers join the fold.”