The Truest Thing: Hart's Boardwalk #4

by Samantha Young

“Yes,” she panted. Her hands moved down his chest, her fingers catching on his nipples. She kissed him there, her touch trailing possessively down his abs. “It’s not enough,” she whispered in frustration. “Jack, it’s not enough.”

  Holy fuck.

  This was the best night of his life.

  Jack slipped his fingers into her wet again, his thumb finding her clit, and her fingers dug into his waist. “This what you need, Em?”

  Her head fell back so she could look up at him through desire-fogged eyes. “Yes.” She pressed her hips into his touch as tears of need pricked her eyes. “Jack, please.”

  Tenderness added a tinge of desperation to his desire. “I’m going to take care of you. I’m here.” Always.

  He nipped at her lips. Playful kisses. Sweet kisses. He rubbed his thumb over her swollen clit. Taking one thigh in hand to open her wider, Jack slipped two fingers inside her tight channel.

  “Oh God.” Her head fell back. She clutched at his waist and undulated against his touch.

  “Open your eyes, Em. I want to watch it build.”

  She gave him those spectacular eyes, hooded with lust, and he didn’t break his gaze as she climbed toward climax.

  “How long have you needed this, sunrise?” he asked roughly.

  “A while.”

  “You’ve been fantasizing about it?”

  She nodded on a gasp.

  “You’ve been sitting next to me in my truck, wet and needful, and I didn’t know?”

  “Yes!”

  Jack felt like he might blow without her even touching him.

  “Jack!” She tensed and then her muscles throbbed around his fingers, more wet soaking them as she came.

  Not even giving her a chance to come down from it, Jack nudged her onto the bed. He hooked his fingers into her underwear and yanked them down her long, gorgeous legs. He discarded them on the floor and stood gazing at Emery spread out for him on the bed. His eyes zeroed in on that gentle rise of her belly again.

  His erection strained toward her, but he ignored it and bent his head to her stomach. Her belly trembled against his touch as he planted soft kisses all over it.

  “Jack,” she whispered.

  He looked up and saw the tender tears in her eyes.

  Eyes on her, he kissed his way down the swell until he reached the apex of her thighs. Then he took hold and pushed her legs apart.

  “Oh my God!” Her head flew back on the bed, breaking their gaze.

  But not their connection.

  Em lifted her hips, inviting him in, and he took the invitation with relish. He licked at her distended clit, pressed his tongue down on it, and then sucked.

  “Oh God, I can’t take it.” She squirmed beneath him, and he realized she was sensitive from her two previous orgasms. Jack gripped her hips tight, keeping her right there, and devoured her.

  It took a little longer this time, but when Em broke, she screamed his name, her hips jerking with the violence of her climax.

  And Jack was done with foreplay.

  He needed inside her.

  He lifted her under the arms and slid her farther up the bed. She was still gone. Still recovering from the orgasm that had just ripped through her. Still trembling and shivering in the aftermath. And Jack wanted to feel it. Spreading her thighs, hands braced at either side of her head, he nudged against her wet heat and pushed his throbbing dick inside her.

  “Fuck.” He groaned, long and hard. Although his Em was wet, her muscles were swollen from orgasm and resisted his presence. Em whimpered as her inner muscles pulsed around him. Her pussy clutched his dick as her hands gripped his waist, her fingernails biting into him.

  Heaven.

  He was in goddamn heaven.

  Jack’s breathing grew stuttered and he realized it wouldn’t take long. He was so hot from how hot his Em was.

  And then their eyes locked. Her fingers bit into his waist, her lips parted to release her pants, and she lifted her hips to meet his gentle thrusts.

  “Em.” He glided in a little faster, a little harder.

  “Jack.” She clung to him. “I feel you everywhere. I feel you everywhere.”

  His balls drew up and his hips stuttered as shivers chased down his spine, heat gathering deep … “Emery!” The orgasm wrenched out of him, the bliss making his eyes roll back in his fucking head as he poured himself inside her.

  He tried to hold himself up as he continued to pulse and throb, clutched in her tight heat.

  Then it was too much.

  He collapsed over her, his forehead pressed to her throat as she caressed his damp skin, her hands moving soothingly over his back.

  “Sunrise.” He shuddered, grinding his lower body against her, wanting her to wring every last drop of cum out of him. “Fuck me.”

  He heard a hitch in her breathing and then she said, sounding amused, “As soon as you’re ready to go again, I will.”

  Jack groaned through his lusty laughter.

  36

  Emery

  My selfishness strapped me to the bed.

  I was pinned by it as Jack got up and walked his gorgeous, naked ass into my bathroom.

  We’d had sex all night.

  Jack had been gentle, even when I demanded he not be. But he was being careful of the baby. The only time he’d let it get a little rough was when I was on top. I rode him hard.

  Cheeks flushing with the memories, I groaned and covered my face with my hands.

  The man had the ability to make me lose all inhibition.

  Jack had woken me to tell me he had to leave to get ready for court. I’d been unable to speak as I realized what I’d done. Last night, I’d let my hormones take over. I had no idea it was so possible to let your desires control you like that. I mean, they always kind of controlled me when it came to Jack … but this was next-level irresponsible. They had driven all rational thought from my head.

  Jack strode back into the bedroom a few minutes later, his smoldering gaze on me. He was so tall and delicious, despite my self-directed anger, I wanted to climb him. Forcing myself to look away, I finally unpinned from the bed and sat up, clutching the sheets to cover my chest.

  I didn’t know why.

  Jack had seen and kissed every inch of me.

  “First thing’s first. I’m clean. I got tested after our first little chat about that.”

  Remembering how badly he’d taken that conversation the first time, I felt guilty. “Jack—”

  “Don’t. It’s fine, Em. You should know I get checked regularly. I would never fuck around with that.”

  “Okay.” I believed him.

  “Wish I could stay and have coffee with you, sunrise, but I need to be back in Wilmington soon.” Jack began to dress.

  “Do you need me there?” I offered without thinking.

  He shot me a tender smile. “No, Em. I’m not on the stand today. You should open the store.”

  I barely nodded.

  “Hey.” He stopped buttoning his shirt and put his hands to the bed so our faces were close. “We okay?”

  Mine crumpled with anxiety. “Oh, Jack, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have …” I gestured between us.

  Jack’s expression hardened a little and he pushed back off the bed to finish dressing. “And why not?”

  Was he kidding?

  “Because … because we’re not together and this … I was selfish last night. This blurred the lines. So badly.”

  Jack’s hands went to his hips as he contemplated me. I tried not to think of what those hips could do to me.

  Jesus.

  I looked down at the bedsheets because looking at Jack was dangerous to my libido.

  “I thought we agreed this was just sex. Anytime you need me, I’m here for you.”

  My eyes flew to his. “But … you wanted more between us. It isn’t fair to you.”

  “Did you or did you not come down on me for making decisions for the two of us without taking your feelings into account?”
<
br />   Another guilty flush heated my cheeks. “Yes.”

  “Am I or am I not a grown man capable of making my own decisions?”

  I narrowed my eyes at his condescending tone. “Yes.”

  His lips twitched at my snippy tone. “Then, Emery, I don’t need you to protect me. You want sex, I’ll give you sex. Nothing wrong with that.” He flashed a wicked grin. “Honest to God, best sex of my life. Why the hell would I turn down the opportunity to have more?”

  “Because it’s not that straightforward, Jack, and you know it.”

  “Well, I’m a guy.” He stated the obvious. “I can have great sex without it being more. So, the only reason not to do this is if you can’t have sex without letting your feelings develop into something more.”

  I was at once hurt by his insinuation that he could detach his feelings from the act of making love and irritated that he’d trapped me. Now if I said no to the friends-with-benefits situation, I’d be suggesting I had deeper feelings for him.

  I shrugged, feeling petulant. “I can have sex without needing more from you.”

  He studied me a moment, an undecipherable look in his eyes. “Good.” He put a knee to the bed and leaned in and gave me the kind of kiss that was a prelude to dirty sex. I slid my fingers into his soft, thick hair and held on for the ride.

  When Jack finally let me up for air, my entire body tingled. He pressed a sweet kiss to my nose and tried to pull away, but I held on to his neck. “You don’t kiss a girl like that and leave her wanting more, Jack,” I whispered. “It’s exceptionally rude. Didn’t your momma teach you any manners?”

  He smiled a smile that was at once cocky and regretful. “I’ve got places to be, sunrise.”

  My grip on his nape tightened, pulling him down as I laid back down. “Then you should have thought about that before you kissed me.”

  Jack grinned, tugging the sheet down between us. “Guess I’ve no recourse now but to apologize for misplacing my manners.”

  “Don’t worry.” Heat flushed through me as all that rational thought flew from my mind and I unzipped his suit pants. “I’m very good at accepting apologies.” I slipped my hand inside his underwear and gripped his hardening length, loving the way he groaned, deep and wanting. “In fact, I predict my acceptance will be on your mind all day.”

  I thought I heard him mutter, “Then it’ll be nothing new,” but I couldn’t be sure and his fingers were between my legs, chasing away all thoughts of anything but him and his hands and his mouth and his … well, you know ...

  “Bailey, I love you, but if you tell one more story about your luxury three-week, five-star honeymoon across Europe, I’m going to scream,” Jess said, tucked into a large armchair in her sitting room with her feet up on a plush stool. Her cheeks were full and flushed, there were dark circles under her eyes, and I could see why Coop and Jess had asked repeatedly for their OB to check if they were having twins. She was huge.

  They weren’t having twins, though.

  They were just having a Lawson, and clearly he or she was going to be built like a Lawson.

  Poor Jess, I thought. Her pregnancy had been uncomfortable from the start.

  Bailey shot me, Ivy, and Dahlia a guilty look. “Have I been talking about it a lot?”

  No. She hadn’t. This was the first time since her and Vaughn’s return that she’d even mentioned Europe. I gave her a reassuring shake of my head.

  “I can’t think of you and Vaughn or anyone gallivanting freely across Europe, doing nothing but sightseeing, eating at nice restaurants, drinking champagne and cocktails, and having great sex all the time. I haven’t been able to find a comfortable position to sit or sleep in, let alone have sex in, for the last four months.”

  More guilt suffused me.

  I’d just had a night of epic sex.

  Such epic sex, I was in denial about how out of control this situation with Jack could get. I didn’t want to think about it. I only wanted to contemplate the next time I could get him naked.

  It was so unlike me.

  And yet there was something freeing in not caring about the future and only living in the moment.

  Probably a terrible point in my life, i.e., about to become a responsible parent, to indulge in such a philosophy.

  But my baby wasn’t here yet, so it didn’t count.

  Right?

  “I’m sorry, Jess.” Bailey gave her a sympathetic look.

  “No, I’m sorry.” Jess glowered at the wall beyond us. “I’m an irritable, unpleasant human to be around. Dahlia and Em closed their stores to come here so I didn’t have to come to you, and I’m being horrible.”

  “You’re thirty-four weeks pregnant with what I can only assume is a future NBA player,” Dahlia retorted. “You’re allowed to be irritable.”

  “Emery isn’t irritable.”

  Oh God, don’t bring me into it.

  “Look”—Jess gestured to me, bringing me into it—“twelve weeks pregnant and you wouldn’t even know it. I bet you’re going to have a cute little bump and stay long-legged and beautiful and comfortable throughout the whole thing.”

  “Let’s focus on the future,” I urged. “And how our children will be so close in age, they’ll grow up as best friends.”

  “And,” Bailey jumped in, “if one is a boy and the other a girl, they might grow up as childhood sweethearts. How adorable would that be?”

  “That would be adorable,” Jess agreed with a smile.

  All four of us sighed with relief that she liked the idea. It was her first smile of the day.

  “What about you and Vaughn?” Jess asked Bailey. “Have you had the kid talk yet?”

  “We know we don’t have a ton of years to put it off, but we’ve decided we’d like at least a year, maybe two, where it’s just us.”

  “I get it,” Dahlia agreed. “Michael and I talked about having kids just after I got shot. I wanted to know it was an option. But now Michael is talking about it a lot, as if he wants it all and he wants it all as soon as possible. I just want him for a while. I didn’t have him for so long, and as selfish as it sounds, I don’t want to share him just yet.”

  “Have you told him that?” Ivy asked.

  “No, I don’t want him to think I’m selfish.”

  “I don’t think he’ll think that’s selfish at all,” I assured her. “In fact, I think it’ll probably make him want to have sex with you.”

  “Watching paint dry would make that man want to have sex with her,” Bailey teased.

  Dahlia grinned, and it was smug. “You’re not wrong.”

  “And what about Ivy and Jeff?” Bailey gave Ivy a mischievous smile.

  “Oh hell, we are nowhere near that.”

  “Well, the entire town is talking about the good sheriff mooning after our Academy Award-winning Ivy Green. They’re anxious that she’ll break his heart by returning to Hollywood.”

  Ivy gaped at Bailey. “Are you kidding me? Are people really saying that?”

  “Of course, they are. Between Emery and Jack hanging out all the time, and you and Jeff, the tongues are a-wagging.”

  If they knew what Jack and I had been up to last night, the gossips would lose their minds.

  “Jeff and I are very new. We’re just enjoying each other’s company.”

  “But are you staying in Hartwell?” Bailey pressed. “Because the gossips want to know.”

  “The gossips can go take a flying jump off the boardwalk.”

  “I mean me, Ivy,” Bailey huffed. “Your best friend wants to know.”

  Ivy’s expression softened. “I just sold a screenplay I wrote awhile back, and I’ve started working on a book.”

  Melancholy moved through me at what this meant. Was Ivy leaving us?

  Bailey’s face mirrored my feelings. “You’re going back.”

  “Nope.” She shot us a dazzling grin. “I can still write scripts and not live in Hollywood. People still want to work with me. Plus I’ve always wanted to write a book,
and my agent thinks it’s a superb idea. I can do that anywhere. So, I’m staying in Hartwell. I’m happy here.”

  Bailey flew off her chair with a girlish squeal and threw her arms around Ivy. She laughed and held on to her friend, and my heart ached with the genuine joy I saw on Ivy’s face. After all she’d been through, it really seemed like she was going to be okay.

  Dahlia and I took turns hugging Ivy.

  “I’m so glad you’re staying,” I said with feeling.

  Ivy cupped my face in her hands in a way that reminded me of Iris. She whispered, “You helped me so much, Em. I’m so glad we met.”

  Tears filled my eyes, but the sweet moment was broken when Jess cursed. “Goddammit! I can’t even get out of the damn chair to hug a person!”

  Sure enough, she was struggling to push herself up and out of the armchair. Ivy rushed to her feet to go to Jess instead.

  “I swear to God,” Jess huffed after she was done hugging Ivy. “If he doesn’t go on to do a job that requires him to be physically huge, this kid will owe his mother!”

  We all stared at her in shock.

  “What?” She glared at us.

  “He?” Bailey took an excited step toward her. “You’re having a boy?”

  Jess’s face paled. Then her head flopped back on the chair. “Aw shit, Coop’s going to kill me.”

  37

  Emery

  I was assaulted with nervousness.

  The fact that Jack’s hand was on my ass as we walked up to the front porch of the huge Colonial-Georgian house was not helping. “Jack, your hand.”

  He shifted so it was pressed to my lower back, but his long fingers still touched the top of my butt.

  “Do you want your mother to think we’re together?” I turned to face him before we reached the door. “This is confusing enough. We do not need to mislead her.”

  With a patient expression, Jack settled his hands on my hips and bent his head to mine. “Sunrise, I’ve explained the situation to my mom. She knows we’re not together.”

  “You can’t call me sunrise.” I pushed his hands off my hips. “And you can’t touch me with sexual familiarity in front of her. Or anyone.” Or they might figure out we’ve been screwing each other’s brains out almost every night for four weeks.