The One Real Thing (Hart's Boardwalk) (22 page)

“What the hell do you mean you’re not coming back, you quit your job, and you want me to pack up your apartment for you?” Fatima yelled through the phone at me a few hours later.

I’d already called the hiring manager to let him know I was faxing through my resignation. He hadn’t been too pleased, but I tried to ease my guilt by reminding myself that there were two doctors at the prison who could step up while they found a new primary physician. In fact, Dr. Whitaker would probably be gleeful about it.

Still, it didn’t leave me feeling good. I’d never acted irresponsibly in my entire adult life.

“What the hell do you mean?” Fatima repeated at my silence.

I cleared my throat. “I mean that I’m staying in Hartwell.”

“What the hell for?”

“I like it here. I like the people. The lifestyle is very different from what I’ve been used to in Wilmington. I’ve made fast friends here. There’s this crazy lovable inn owner; and Emery the sweet, shy bookstore owner; and this really hot, sexy, nice—so goddamn nice—bar owner. And there’s Old Archie, and Iris and Ira, and Tom, and Vaughn, who is a very interesting character, and I want to meet Cat and Joey and Dahlia and—”

“Jesus, woman, is this place trapped in a time vortex or something? Has three weeks to me been three years to you?”

I laughed, but it came out sounding sad. “You are the one person I am going to miss, Fatima.”

“My God, you are serious, aren’t you?”

“Before I got here, you were trying to tell me something. You were trying to tell me that my life was empty. And it turns out you were right. I can’t do anything about it back in Wilmington. But I think I’ve got a chance of filling my life up with good things here in Hartwell.”

She was quiet a moment as she thought about this. “You’ve got a job at the inn you’re staying at, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Think maybe you can get discounts?”

I smiled and my mood lifted. “Probably.”

“Then I’ll pack up your apartment for you. But this isn’t good-bye, Jess. When I get vacation time I’m coming to see what’s so great about this place that has won you over.”

“That sounds great.”

“Quitting your job and moving to a new town after only three weeks for a hot guy—yeah, I heard that part—you’re a crazy woman. The craziest. How come I never knew how crazy you are? You are a riot. A frickin’ riot . . .”

I let her babble on, laughing to myself the whole time.

I’d surprised her.

But more than that, I’d surprised me.

And it felt good.

“Uh-oh,” Bailey said as soon as I came downstairs to the kitchen.

It was my first time in there, but I figured since I was going to be working there I should get to know the workings of the place.

A curvy woman with black hair stood beside Bailey, staring at me. This was Mona, the chef, and we’d met briefly a few times over the course of the last few weeks. Mona was hard to miss. Every time I’d seen her she’d been wearing a head scarf with a large knot
in the top. She wore oversized black-framed glasses and bright red lipstick, and when she wasn’t in her chef’s whites, she wore overalls. She was like a 1940s war propaganda poster for female industrial workers.

And the look worked for her.

Also in the kitchen were Nicky and Chris—her sous chef and junior chef.

“She’s in my kitchen,” Mona said, looking affronted. “There’s a guest in my kitchen.”

“Chill,” Bailey said. “I told you she’s going to be working here.”

“But until then she’s still a guest and she’s in
my
kitchen.”

I was getting the vibe Mona was a little particular about her kitchen and the rules of her kitchen. “Maybe we should step outside?”

Bailey rolled her eyes but followed me out of the room before speaking any further. “You know, I’m trying to break her of her obsessive rules and regulations. We should have stayed. You’re going to work here now and the staff need to get used to you.”

I stopped at the reception desk where we had some privacy. “That may or may not be a problem. I’m unsure at this point.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been looking at real estate here and, um . . . it’s pretty expensive.”

Bailey made a face. “Seaside town.”

“Right. Well, you’d think as a doctor I’d have put some money away, but the truth is I’m still paying off my student loan debt and, um, that, versus salary here—I’m not sure I can swing it.” It took a battering to my pride to admit that, because for the longest time the most positive thing I could say about myself was that I was a successful career woman. There would be no more nice jewelry or designer handbags for me for a long while.

“Oh.” Bailey’s eyes widened. “Right. I didn’t think of that.”

“I can’t afford the apartments here.” I slumped down into a chair. If I wanted to stay in Hartwell, I would likely have to stick to doctoring after all.

“Maybe not . . .” She suddenly grinned at me. “But it’s not a problem. You could stay with me. I have a pullout.”

“No,” I said, despite feeling grateful for the offer. “I appreciate it, really. But Tom is at your place a lot and it . . . I’m not going to intrude on the two of you like that.”

Bailey sighed heavily. “Okay. Well, I keep a room at the inn open for myself in case I need to crash here. It’s not as big and it doesn’t have a view, but it’s a room with a bathroom, and it’s yours for free if you want it. I’ll show you.”

She led me to the back of the inn, to a modest but pretty room. One window looked out to the garden at the side, and I caught a sliver of the beach and water at the corner. The other window looked out on the parking lot at the back.

But it was free, and it would certainly do until I could come up with something more permanent.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

I hugged her hard, making her stumble back and laugh in surprise. “Thank you.”

Bailey squeezed me tight. She gave good hug. “We’re going to make this work for you, Jess. Just you wait.”

Despite her reassurances, a while later, back in my current room upstairs, I felt more than a little panicked by all the decisions I’d made that day.

I was exhausted from lack of sleep, so my anxiety was worsened by it, and I guess that was how I sounded when Cooper called me late in the afternoon.

“So Fatima is packing up my apartment for me, and Bailey has given me a job and a room here until I can figure out something else, and the prison isn’t too happy with me, but it’s done, so I guess . . . Oh, and I’ll need to find somewhere to store all my stuff. I hope I can find a cheap storage place and—”

“Doc,” Cooper interrupted, “you sound like you’re freaking out.”

“I’m a little on edge,” I admitted.

“Look, it’s done, it’s scary, and now it’s about living with those decisions. As for storage, I’ve got a big secure shed on the outskirts of town. I used to work on cars there, but I haven’t had the time lately and the place is lying practically empty. You can put all your stuff there.”

“Really?” God, I liked this guy.

“Really. Now get some rest. Things will look better after a little sleep.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll see you soon.”

As I hung up and lay down on the bed, all I allowed myself to think about was his voice, his reassurances . . . and just like that I was out like a light.

I awoke with a start, momentarily disoriented. The room was pitch-black.

To me it felt like it had been daylight only minutes prior.

Sitting up with a groan, still fully dressed, I caught sight of the clock on my bedside table and winced.

It was almost one o’clock in the morning.

Flipping on the lights, I then swung my legs over the bed. I felt weird. One, I was now all over the place with my sleep because I’d slept during the day, and two, my whole body felt hot and needy.

Suddenly I remembered why.

I’d been dreaming.

It had been a
good
dream.

And Cooper had the starring role.

Thinking of him, I realized Cooper would just be closing up the bar. I wanted to see him. Moreover, I was such an uncertain mess over making the move there that I needed to see him. It scared me to give him this much power, but I knew that if I saw him I would feel better about everything.

A piece of paper on the carpet by the door caught my attention.

It was a note from Bailey.

Left some food in the fridge for you in the kitchen, Sleeping Beauty. See you in the morning. B. xoxo.

God, I loved her.

I thought about going downstairs and getting the food, but I wasn’t really that hungry. Looking back at the clock, I considered my options. If I was quick, I could probably catch Cooper as he was closing up. We didn’t need to do another all-nighter, but maybe we could talk a little until I felt better.

I considered my wardrobe. The dress I’d been wearing was wrinkled badly from sleep.

“Screw it.” I didn’t have time to change.

Instead I threw on some flats and a sweater, grabbed my keys, and dashed quietly out of the silent inn. I hurried along the boardwalk, loving the soothing breeze that moved through my hair and caressed my flushed skin. The waves lapped gently to shore, and with them a sense of calm whispered up toward me.

I already felt better about my decision.

Seriously, the boardwalk was like some kind of seductive sentient being.

I laughed softly at the thought and tried to ignore the couple who looked at me like I was crazy as they strolled by.

There weren’t many people about at this time and it was more than kind of nice. The past few days, the boardwalk had been packed with people as the high season kicked in and, as cool as it was to see it so alive, I’d also missed the quiet.

My heart sank as I approached Cooper’s. The lights on his signage were switched off and the blinds were down on the windows and door.

Had I missed him?

I picked up my pace, hurrying to the front entrance.

I knocked hard. “Cooper, it’s me!” I called.

At the sound of heavy footsteps beyond the door, I relaxed. When he unlocked the door and opened it for me I relaxed even more.

I remembered back to when we first met and how I hadn’t seen him as the kind of guy I’d be attracted to. Sure, I’d thought,
Wow, amazing blue eyes,
but I hadn’t thought,
Wow, he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever met.

Now I was thinking,
Wow, he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever met
ever.

Cooper gave me a bemused look but stepped aside to let me in. “You okay?” he said as he locked up behind me.

Most of the lights in the bar had been turned off.

I suddenly felt bad for imposing on him. “You were heading home. I should let you head home. You’ll be tired.”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Are you?”

“I just woke up.”

“You want a drink?”

“Water, please.”

All the chairs had been placed on the tabletops. I pulled one down and sat up on the table with my feet on the chair. Less than a minute later I had a glass of water in my hand and Cooper was leaning against the bar, watching me.

“It’s been some day for you, Doc.”

I gave a little laugh. “I’ll say.”

“You still freaking out?”

Staring at him, just being with him, I had the overwhelming realization that I wasn’t freaking out and all evidence was suggesting his presence was the reason. “I was. Until I got here.”

Cooper’s eyes warmed.

I smiled before taking a sip of my water, studying him as he studied me. Those blue eyes of his traveled over me, lingering on my legs awhile, before slowly making their way back up to my face.

My breasts suddenly felt too tight against the fabric of my dress.

I finished the water and moved to get up.

“Don’t move.” The way his voice had turned suddenly deep held me captive.

He approached me slowly, carefully, and I felt my heart rate start to speed up as I waited for his next move.

I knew what move I wanted him to make and also suddenly realized that I’d come here for more than reassurance. I’d come here because I’d woken up turned on after a sexy dream about him.

Cooper gently took the water glass from me. “Stay right where you are,” he demanded.

His tone brooked no argument and the heat in his eyes and his serious expression were an incredibly hot combination.

My breathing grew shallow as he strolled casually back to the bar to deposit the glass and then he turned back, his gaze burning through me.

“Cooper?” I whispered, somehow unable to raise my voice, fearing if I did I’d put a stop to whatever was about to happen.

He prowled toward me, his eyes never leaving my face. He stopped, his body pressed against the back of the chair my feet were on. “I had a dream about you a few nights ago.”

There was a flip deep and low in my belly and an answering tingle between my thighs . . . because there was no mistaking what kind of dream he’d had. The sexual hunger in his expression told me everything.

My God.

I’d
never
had a man look at me like that before.

He made me want to strip off my dress then and there and let him feast on me.

“We were alone. In my bar,” he continued, carefully moving the chair out from between us so that I had no choice but to scoot forward and plant my feet on the ground. “And you were on a table just like this.” He moved closer and goose bumps rose up all over my arms as his fingertips trailed across the bare skin of my thigh. Cooper gently pressed against the inside of my legs there and moved into the space he’d created.

“Cooper,” I murmured, my chest rising and falling quickly. I stared up at him, completely open to whatever he wanted to have happen next because at that moment my body was on fire for him. I wanted him to help me escape all the seriousness of the decisions I’d made that day.

His eyes dropped to my breasts, where he could plainly see how much his proximity was affecting me—my stiff nipples peaked against the fabric of my dress, begging for his touch.

Cooper’s lips parted on an exhalation at the sight and he suddenly gripped the backs of my thighs, tugging me with a hard jerk against his straining erection. I grabbed on to his arms to steady myself and our eyes locked.

Mine told him how much I wanted this.

His were fierce with how much he wanted to give it to me.

I felt the bite of his fingers on my bare skin as he rocked me against him, the denim of his jeans catching on my thin, now damp, panties. I whimpered, pushing against him for more.

“Doc, in my dream,” he said, his voice guttural, “I fucked you on the table. Hard. Fast.”

The flip in my lower belly this time was bigger and as he moved me against him again I felt the slick wetness of my reaction to his words. I’d never liked Andrew talking to me during sex. It distracted me. But Cooper’s blunt hot words were like foreplay.

Cooper bent his head to brush his lips gently against mine, and in the process he pressed his cock harder against me. “You up for making a man’s dream come true?” he murmured against my mouth.

Fuck, but he was good with words!

My answer was to kiss him, my tongue flicking against his in a wet, erotic kiss that mimicked everything I wanted our bodies to do. I pulled back, breathless and excited and more alive than I could ever remember feeling.

“Thank God,” Cooper muttered, nipping at my lips as I helped him remove my sweater. Once it was gone he slipped two fingers under each thin strap of my dress and smirked at me. “How come this is the first time I’m seeing you in a dress, Doc?”

“Today was too hot for pants.” I was surprised I managed a coherent sentence while I was so freaking dazed by the lust roaring through my veins.

“Well, now it’s too hot for clothes, period.” He grinned at me, pulling the straps down my arms until my breasts were bared. His smile disappeared and I felt his cock grow impossibly hard between
my legs. “Fuck me,” he breathed, cupping my breasts in his big, warm, callused hands.

I whimpered, arching into his touch as he gently squeezed them and then brushed his thumbs over my nipples.

“You’re beautiful, Jessica,” he said gruffly, and something about him using my name instead of the nickname he’d given me made my sex throb even harder.

My fingers curled tighter around his biceps. “Cooper, please . . .”

At the hot, wet sensation of his mouth closing around my right nipple, my thighs automatically clamped against his hips. He sucked hard and lightning streaks of delicious heat seemed to score down my body to where his cock was currently rubbing against me.

Usually I loved the foreplay. I needed the foreplay.

I was never in an impatient rush to get to the main event.

But I was so unbelievably turned on that all I could think about was getting him inside of me.

“Fuck me, Cooper,” I whispered, straining against him.

He lifted his head to stare at me, breathing fast. “Say it again,” he demanded.

I slid my hands up his arms and behind his neck, my fingers curling in his soft, dark hair. I tugged him close to kiss him again because he was freaking fantastic at it. “Fuck me, Cooper,” I repeated against his lips.

His hands were on my ribs and his grip tightened there. “You have no idea what it does to me when you say those words.”

I smirked, hitching my legs higher against his hips and, in doing so, creating more friction between us. He was going to burst the zipper on his jeans if we didn’t do something about it right then. “I think I do.”

He kissed me again, this time sweet, slow, and languid, and it only fired my impatience.

Cooper abruptly stepped back from my body and I watched in wonder as he pulled his T-shirt over his head, throwing it at a nearby table.

“Holy . . .” I murmured, that impatience I’d been feeling quadrupled at the sight of his taut abs and big, strong shoulders. His tanned skin emphasized his muscled physique.

I’d wanted to explore every inch of him with my mouth and fingers since I’d seen him shirtless at the bandstand.

He really was the most ruggedly beautiful man I’d ever known.

A prick of emotion clogged in my throat as I drank in the sight of him.

He didn’t take time to notice that my drooling over him was mixed with mooning over the fact that we’d found each other just when I most needed it—he was too busy staring at my body. That was okay. If he stared at me like a starving man for the rest of his life I’d be happy.

When he stepped back into my space I reached for him, caressing his stomach, and my fingertips followed his happy trail to the top button on his jeans.

I slipped the button out, but Cooper stilled my hand.

“Me first,” he said.

I got what he meant when he grabbed hold of my ass and lifted me as if I weighed nothing until I was balanced precariously on the edge of the table. Eyes holding mine he hooked his fingers under my panties and began to draw them down my legs.

Cool air caressed me along my naked skin and I felt my core pulse.

My legs automatically opened for Cooper as he stepped between them to slip his fingers into me. “Oh, God,” I groaned.

“Fuck, Jessica, I can’t wait,” he growled as soon as he felt how wet I was.

When his fingers slipped out of me my eyes popped open and I watched impatiently as he pulled a condom out of his wallet, threw the wallet aside, and then unzipped his jeans.

My gaze zeroed in on his thick, long dick, which stood at throbbing attention for me.

Yes, please!

It was like I was a teenager again. Or what I thought I would have felt as a teenager if I’d ever found a boy to love—impatient with emotion and, more urgently, hormones.

“Cooper,” I said, and he heard the urgency in my tone because he was rolling the condom down his cock in seconds. He took hold of my thighs, parted them, and thrust inside of me. “Oh, God—” My breath caught at the sensation of him filling me.

All I could feel was him pulsing inside of me, and his heated skin under my fingertips. All I could smell was him—the woodsy cologne with a hint of spice he wore, and now the added base note of sex.

He was everywhere and everything.

His mouth came down on mine as he started to move in fast, hard thrusts. It was sensational. The desperateness to his kisses; the hurried, frantic rush for ecstasy.

“Jessica,” he groaned, breaking our kiss to press his face against my neck, “Fuck, Jessica, yes, Jess, Jess . . .” He said my name every time he pounded into me.

I could only hold on for the ride, pleasure sparking me ever closer to igniting every time my inner muscles squeezed his cock.

I slid my hands down inside his jeans to grip his firm, muscled buttocks, urging him against me. I wanted it even harder, faster.

Cooper pulled back, his expression fierce as he got the message, and he tilted my lower body so he could slide into me at a different angle.

Lights exploded behind my eyes.

No joke.

I think I might have screamed.

“Oh, God!”

And suddenly everything was harder, faster, deeper, dirtier.

It was rough, unadulterated, fierce, raw sex.

I came hard, and the pulsing waves of my orgasm tugged Cooper’s cock so intensely I took him over the edge with me.

“Fuck!” he growled, his hips jerking against mine as my body demanded his climax from him.

I rested my forehead on his strong shoulder and tried to catch my breath. If it wasn’t for Cooper still holding me against him I think I might have melted right off the table onto the bar floor. My muscles were languid, like I’d just had a deep-tissue massage. Except sex with Cooper was better than any massage I’d ever had.