Page 75 of Pervade Montego Bay

The greatest loss of control for him was falling in love. He’d gone through hell as a widower, so it was easy to understand why this affected his ability to fall for anyone now.

I’d always fought for him. Even doing the unthinkable and leaving him so he’d realize what we had. If not for finding Emily, I’d have never survived the loss of James. The fact he’d searched for me for months proved his feelings, even if he didn’t want to acknowledge it. I needed to persuade him we had something that was too precious to throw away.

I kicked James’ office door open and stormed in.

He didn’t react. He continued sitting behind his desk clicking around on his iMac, refusing to even look at me.

This room couldn’t be considered a reflection of the man—even with the black and white prints of sailboats and the antique furniture. There was an empty space on the wall where he’d once hung a photo of himself with Victoria. Didn’t he realize that missing memento spoke volumes about his state of mind?

Without looking up, James said, “I know, I know, throwing your girlfriend unceremoniously into the pool could be construed as rude behavior.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I stood on the other side of his desk and gave him the silent treatment.

James relented and sat back, finally looking at me.

I gave him a dry smile. “The only reason I’ve not punched you in the face is because you’ve already taken care of that level of stupidity by headbutting a jet ski.”

“The jet ski hit me.”

“Punching you is still an option.”

“You love this handsome face too much.”

I shook my head, trying not to be amused. “I feel like I’ve lost you again. What is going on with you?”

“What else have I done?”

“James, the list is endless. The way you treated Louis—”

“He knows the rules.”

“Fuck your fucking rules.”

“Does this have anything to do with the fact I’m about to throw you reprobates out of my home?”

“Seriously?”

“Xavier, I have work to do.”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Because there would be plenty more issues for me to apologize for if you stay.”

“You were looking at her photo, weren’t you?”

He casually placed his hands behind his head. “If by ‘her’ you mean my wife—”

“Late wife.”

“Yes, I like to look at my late wife’s photo.”

“You need to talk about her.”

“Emily’s been gossiping.”

“If you ever show any violence towards her again—”

“That’s unnecessarily dramatic.” He let out a sigh. “Xavier, I’m sure if anything happened to Emily…”