Love Like You've Never Been Hurt (22 page)

Jack looked at her. That would be a really good idea if he could
bring himself to do it.

“Oh, you poor soul, you don’t know what to do for the
best, do you?’

He shook his head miserably.

“As her friend, I say that if you really want to give her
some space, come and hang with me and Scott, or go and have a beer
with Ben, But,” she wrinkled her nose at him, “if there
is even the tiniest chance that she might be mad at you for anything,
anything at all, then get back up there. Don’t go near her,
mind. Just let her see where you are so she won’t go thinking
you’ve disappeared on her.”

Jack was relieved to have it spelled out for him. “Thanks,
Missy. In that case, I’ll get back up there.”

Laughing now, Missy reached up and gave him a hug. “Go on
then and good luck.”

When Emma arrived home her
heart fell as she saw the empty driveway. She’d had a lot of
time to think on the drive back from LA. Her lunch with Holly had
made her step back and take a look at herself. She had thought she
was being brave with Jack, but after talking to her friend she had to
admit that she was only pretending to be. She was still looking for
any excuse to run and hide, to say that it wouldn’t work and
yes, to blame him. She’d listened to his messages. The first
two had sounded so desperate. The last one, he had sounded resigned.
He wouldn’t keep pestering her. He’d like the chance to
explain. Hopefully he’d see her tonight. She’d listened
to Pete’s messages too. He had sound sounded increasingly
concerned. The first call this morning, he had just hoped to see her
today. Then he hadn’t been able to get hold of Jack, wondered
if she knew where he was. Then another, he was pissed and now a bit
worried as nobody would answer him, so please call him back! She’d
smiled at that. Peter the Great, as Jack liked to call him, wasn’t
used to people not returning his calls. So she’d called him,
told him that she and Jack had had a little misunderstanding, that
she was fine and neither of them wanted to involve him in it. He’d
been appeased by that. She really didn’t want to cause any
friction between the two of them, or to put Pete in a difficult
position. Jack was his partner, and his best friend, but at the same
time she knew he was still overly protective towards her. He’d
assumed responsibility as her protector in grade school and had never
relinquished the role.

She’d decided not to call Jack. He’d said he hoped to
see her this evening and she’d rather talk to him in person
than on the phone. Only now it was this evening and the RV was gone.
Well, she wasn’t going to get over dramatic about it. She’d
wait and see what happened. Grow up a bit, like Holly said, and wait
for the facts instead of imagining the worst. As she opened the
screen door she saw his note. She let herself inside and sat at the
counter to read it.

Dearest Emma,

I am so sorry about this morning. I can imagine what you’re
thinking, but it’s not true. I’ve moved the RV to give
you some space. You can avoid me if you want to. I hope you don’t.
I’d like the chance to explain. I’ll be on the beach at
eight o’clock. I hope you’ll join me.

Love

Jack

She put the note down. ‘OK, Mr. Benson,’ she
whispered, ‘I’ll see you at eight’. She looked at
her watch. There was time to eat something then take a shower. It had
been a long, stressful day.

At quarter till eight Jack turned to see Emma emerge from the
house and start out on the path down to him. He’d been out here
twenty minutes already. He hadn’t been able to stand the
waiting. He’d lit the fire in the pit and had a cooler with
beers and a few other goodies. He took a long swig of his beer as he
watched her approach. She was so pretty. Hair tied up in a pony tail,
she wore jeans and sneakers and a fleecy pink sweater. She didn’t
meet his eye as she walked down, but still, she was coming, and early
too. Hopefully that was a good thing?

He stood up, “Hey, Baby.”

She finally met his eyes, “Hi Jack.” She didn’t
come to him, instead she took a seat.

“Want a beer?”

“Yes please.”

He popped the top off a bottle and handed it to her. As she took a
sip from the long neck he remembered what she’d tried to do to
him last night. Man, this was no time to be thinking of that!

“Emma, Baby, I’m sorry. I was trying to do something
nice for you and I screwed up.”

She looked at him and those big eyes, where last night he had seen
such trust, were now shuttered again. One step forwards, three steps
back!

“Em, I lay there this morning, watching you sleep and I
wanted to do something to make you smile. So I went to the resort to
get you doughnuts.”

She raised her eyebrows. He explained about the doughnuts and the
spare and the disaster of his good intentions gone awry.

“But I called you before I left. You didn’t even
answer.”

“Did you not hear it ring?”

She looked confused.

“Remember what we did with my phone last night?”

She nodded slowly.

“
When I did finally get
back here, you were gone. I couldn’t call you because I only
had your number in my phone. I tried, Pete. I even tried Missy.”

Her eyes widened.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but I was desperate. I
was only going to ask for your number though, not explain why I
needed it.”

“But you have your phone. You called me from it. Not the
first time, but the other times.”

This was the part he wasn’t looking forward to, not sure
what she would make of Gramps’ involvement. “Gramps
rescued me.” He explained about Gramps coming to the house and,
having decided to stick with complete honesty no matter what, he told
her everything, right down to finding his keys and cell phone in the
truck after Gramps left him. When he finished he looked at her,
expecting the worst for having let the old guy know that they’d
spent the night together. Instead of anger though, he was relieved to
see a little smile playing on her lips.

“I’m glad you’re finding this funny,” he
smiled, “I’ve had a pretty stressful day of it.”

“I’m just smiling at Gramps doing that. I’d have
been less surprised if he’d run you out of town with his
shotgun when he found your things upstairs.”

“The same thought had crossed my mind!”

“He must like you and he must trust you, that’s all I
can make of it.”

“That makes me happy, but it would make me a whole lot
happier if you liked me and trusted me.”

“I do like you Jack, you must know that much...” she
hesitated.

“But you don’t trust me,” he finished for her.

She met his eyes, “I would like to trust you Jack, but it’s
hard for me.”

“I know, Baby, I know. Can you at least forgive me for this
morning?”

When she nodded he released the tension he hadn’t realized
he’d been holding. This was quicker than he’d hoped. He
came to sit in front of her and took her face between his hands. He
planted a quick kiss on her lips and she smiled back at him.

“I’ll do everything I can to earn your trust, Em.”

She shook her head, looking sad now.

His heart stopped. “What do you mean, no?”

“It’s not you, Jack. It’s me.”

Oh, no. Not that old line. He really didn’t want to hear the
“you’re a nice guy, but I don’t think I can do
this” speech. He was used to delivering it as a gentle let
down. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it, not from
Emma.

“Em, please give me a chance.”

“I am doing, if you’ll listen.”

“Oh, sorry.” He felt a little foolish as she
continued.

“What I’m saying is that it’s not really you I
don’t trust. You have done nothing to make me think you are
anything other than a decent, honest,” she smiled, “very
sexy, man. I’m having trouble trusting because of my own past,
not because of anything you have done.”

He was surprised at her insight; it was what he thought, but he
hadn’t been about to say it so bluntly.

She went on, “I had lunch with my friend Holly today and she
very kindly told me I was being an idiot and that I needed to grow
up!”

Jack silently thanked the unknown Holly, but said nothing.

“She helped me put myself back together after Rob. She knows
me too well. I’ll admit. I was a little freaked out by this
morning and she talked me down, showed me I was overreacting and that
perhaps I needed to listen to what you had to say, instead of
listening to all the stuff going round in my head. So, Jack, I want
to apologize to you too.”

“Emma, you don’t need to.”

“Yes, I do. Because I’m taking all my stuff out on you
and you didn’t cause any of it.”

“Hey, Baby. Look how big these shoulders are.” He
mimicked a body builder, trying to make her laugh. “I can take
it.”

He won a small smile before she continued. “But Jack, you
might want to dump me...”

“Emma!” he tried to interrupt, but she put a finger to
his lips.

“Maybe I’m starting to understand why I freak out at
things and struggle to trust, but it doesn’t mean that I’ll
be able to stop doing it just like that.” She clicked her
fingers. “You could go and be with any beautiful, uncomplicated
woman you want. Why would you stick around to deal with my crap when
neither of us know how long it will take or even if I will ever get
past this? Perhaps you should think about that?”

“Don’t you think I already have thought about that,
Em? As you keep reminding me, I could have any woman I want. I don’t
know how this sounds, but don’t you think I know that? The only
woman I want is sitting right in front of me. I already know she’s
afraid of getting hurt, that she’d rather hide away her heart
than risk having it broken, but that doesn’t change the fact
that she is the only woman I want. It’s for me to decide what I
want, and I want you. I am prepared to take the risk that you may
never want me back in the same way. I know I’d rather be taking
the risk to win you than going for a sure thing with anyone else. I
know you can’t change it all overnight. All I’m asking is
that you let me stick around, for all the time it takes. We can
change it together, build new memories.”

She looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes. He folded her
into his arms and felt the wetness on his chest. Her arms came up
around him and she clung to him. He nuzzled his head down by her ear.
“So, what do you say?”

“I say yes, if you’ll have me.”

“Oh, I’ll have you!” he grinned.

“I’d definitely like that.”

“I think maybe we should have some S’mores first
though, don’t you?” He opened the cooler to reveal his
supplies of chocolate and marshmallows.

“Oh, I love S’mores!”

“Then you shall have them,” he said, relieved to
lighten the mood.

Emma watched him as he reached into the cooler to pass her another
beer. He was so handsome. Holly had been right, he was like the
romantic hero from a movie. She’d be mad to push him away. Even
after the craziness of today, here he was toasting S’mores for
her, sitting on the beach, telling funny stories to make her laugh.
He really was a good man and she determined to do her best not to
mess this up.

Once he’d popped the top on his own beer, she raised her
bottle to his. “Here’s to S’mores.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

She leaned in and kissed him, running her tongue along his bottom
lip. “I’d like s’more of what we had last night
too.” She loved the way he looked at her, eyes filled with lust
at her words.

“That could be arranged.”

She stood up and pulled him to his feet.

“You mean right now?”

“I mean right now.” She laughed as he tipped his
freshly opened beer and poured it away into the sand,

“What my lady wants, she gets,” he smiled.

She reached up to kiss him and molded herself against him as he
pressed into her, loving the feel of his hard desire.

He broke away. “Let’s gather this up and head inside,
shall we? Your place or mine?”

“Oh, mine, I think. It’s closer.”

He laughed at that. Once he had packed up the cooler and fastened
it shut, she kicked out the fire. In the darkness he kissed her
deeply. She ran her fingers through his hair, completely aroused,
wanting more of him. He hooked his arm behind her knees and lifting
her off the ground, carried her up the path to the house. Surprised,
she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. At the front
door she squirmed to get down, but he held her tighter.

“I’ve got it.”

“What about the cooler?”

“Critters can’t get in, it’s fastened.” He
managed to open the door and close it with his heel then, holding her
close to his chest, bounded up the stairs and kicked open the bedroom
door.

“So masterful,” she giggled, both amused and very much
aroused by his caveman act.

He smiled down at her. “Seemed like the quickest way to get
here.” He lowered her onto the bed and lay beside her. She
pressed her lips to his neck and trailed her tongue up behind his
ear, loving the sigh it drew from him. Still kissing his neck, she
tugged his shirt up and over his head. He pulled her own sweater up
and off, then freed her breasts from her bra. He seemed to hesitate
before he took it off her, but she was determined she wouldn’t
spoil this moment, so she pulled his head down to her nipple which
was hard and taught, longing for his touch. As he circled it with his
tongue she felt the heat pool between her legs. She tugged at his
jeans and soon two pairs of denims lay on the floor.

He kissed her hungrily, his tongue exploring her mouth as his
hands explored her body. She gave herself up to him, losing all sense
of everything except his mouth on hers and the way her whole body
ached with desire for him. She tried to turn him on his back, but he
gently overpowered her. Pinned to the bed with her arms above her
head, she met a hungry look. He held her arms in place and let his
eyes wander down over her. She was amazed how her body responded to
just a look. She could feel the heat and the wetness between her
legs. Her nipples strained for the feel of his hands or his mouth
around them.