wrapping her arms around her waist. “I was perfectly happy for the extremely well-mannered tourist to talk to me.”
The jealousy tightened his chest. “It didn’t look that way to me.”
“Oh, really? You discerned my discomfort in the two-point-five seconds you allowed our interaction before interrupting us?”
“You don’t date. I don’t know why you don’t date, but you don’t. So, I thought I was helping.”
Her pale-blue eyes were the iciest he’d ever seen them, and it cut Jack to the quick. “You don’t know if I date. You don’t know anything about me.”
“So, you date?” Who the hell was she dating?
“That’s none of your business. Now stop following me.”
A couple threw them a concerned look as they passed, and Jack decided he was done having this conversation in public. Grabbing Em’s upper arm, he pulled her down the lane between her building and Cooper’s. She protested, but he didn’t stop until darkness almost completely shrouded them. Light over the bar’s back door was the only reprieve, casting a yellow glow over Em as he maneuvered her against the wall of her shop.
“What are you doing?” She gaped up at him.
“I’m sick of chasing you down the boards.” Something light and sweet and floral filled his nose, and he realized it was Em. He leaned his hands on the wall on either side of her head, blocking any escape. Jack was careful, however, not to touch his body to hers.
He’d lose his mind if he did that.
Emery swallowed hard, and Jack studied every flicker and nuance of emotion on her face, fascinated by her.
Why her? he thought. Why did she have to be so beautiful to him in every way?
It fucking hurt.
It would be best if she hated him too. But the very idea … Jack was sure if Em hated him, he’d be done for. The anger eating away at Jack would consume him.
“Don’t be angry at me,” he said gruffly, studying her expression. “I thought I was helping you. I promise.”
“Were you jealous?” she blurted. Her eyes grew round, like she couldn’t believe she’d asked.
She was so goddamn adorable, it killed him. Because she was everything. He didn’t know one woman could be so much. Smart. Kind. Oblivious. Perceptive. Sexy. Beautiful. Classy. Awkward. Graceful. Innocent. Wise. And cute as hell. Jack huffed out an aggravated burst of laughter.
It would be so easy, he thought, weary to his bones, to just give in to her. Jack bent his head, breathing her in as he rested his forehead on her shoulder near the crook of her neck.
“Jack?” she whispered.
He could feel her chest rising and falling faster as his nearness affected her.
Jesus.
She smelled so good. What would it be like to lie with her skin to skin, wrapped up together, just breathing each other in? To confide everything and have her be a safe place to fall?
Jack turned his head so his nose pressed to her skin and he groaned, melting deeper as images of losing himself in her filled his mind. He buried his head in her throat, feeling her pulse flutter wildly against his lips. He brushed his lips against the flutter. Another brush, her skin soft and warm. Then he touched his tongue to her pulse, and her whimper of need was like a lightning bolt down his spine and straight to his dick.
“Jack,” she breathed his name. It was a plea.
And he lost his mind.
He lifted his head, looked into her desire-filled eyes, and lost his fucking mind.
His lips crashed down over hers as he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her from the wall and against his body.
She kissed him back. Just like she’d kissed him on the beach all those years ago.
Emery Saunders may have been a good girl.
But she sure as hell didn’t kiss like one.
She kissed him like she couldn’t breathe without those kisses. Hungry, deep, savage kisses that fired his blood. Her hands were just as hungry. Searching. Touching. Caressing.
He returned the favor, thrilled at the sound of her bracelets jangling in his ears as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Then he zeroed in on the one place he’d wanted to touch since the moment he’d seen her.
Jack slid his hands down her slender back and cupped her ass. He groaned down her throat at the feel of her. Firm, supple, round cheeks that he wanted to bite.
He wanted Em naked on her knees, that beautiful ass in his hands as he fucked her. They stumbled back against the wall as the