Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

“To the happy couple!” Kell lifted his glass in the air. Jake and Vaughn clinked theirs against his.

“Wait for us!” Mayor Jaclyn Rose and her husband, Cliff, pushed their way into the little circle.

Jaclyn Rose was a tall, statuesque woman in her late fifties. Vaughn had never seen her in anything but a power suit, heels, and red lipstick. She was a force of nature, outspoken and strong, like Bailey. Her husband, a man two inches shorter than her, with a receding hairline and kind eyes, was quiet and unassuming. He was her complete opposite.

Jaclyn was a good friend of the Hartwells, and when Bailey took umbrage against his hotel, she pit the mayor against him.

He had not had the easiest of relationships with the mayor, but apparently his growing friendship with Kell and Jake was working its magic on Mayor Rose.

Vaughn felt satisfaction as they all raised their glasses together and she shared a smile with him.

Three years ago he wouldn’t have believed that he’d care about ingratiating himself with these people, but these people were the town of Hartwell. To be included as one of them, as a peer enjoying the celebration of one of their own, filled him with a pleasure he barely understood.

Finally Hartwell was truly becoming his home.

Now he only needed one thing to feel true contentment.

Bailey

As much as my chest swelled tight with emotion watching the photographer take photos of Jess and Coop in each other’s arms on the boardwalk, I knew the pressure on my chest was born of another reason, too.

I wanted nothing more than to give all of my concentration to my best friends, to the bride, who looked beautiful in her ivory satin ballgown, looking like a starlet from the 1950s, and her groom, who looked so damn handsome it was a sin.

They were stunning together, and not just because they were

good-looking people but because they were kind people so freaking in love they glowed with it.

I wanted to focus on that.

Yet, I couldn’t.

Because I’d felt that damn devil’s gaze burning through me from the moment I’d gotten out of the limo. He’d stared at me throughout the entire ceremony. And it wasn’t just his attention. It was the nature of his attention. Vaughn Tremaine looked at me as if he wanted to ravish me, protect me, and keep me forever.

How was any woman supposed to stay strong against the kind of longing and determination in Vaughn’s eyes? It was the kind of expression that gave a woman hope; that made a woman think maybe she was being a coward; maybe she was giving up on the one person that might be worth fighting for.

Damn him to hell!

I flushed under the hot sun, wishing the photographer would hurry up and finish so we could get into the shade. Cooper was starting to look a little flushed in his tux, and Joey, usually a good-natured kid, was ten seconds away from throwing a fit. Someone had gotten him a juice box to cool him down but it didn’t look as if it was doing much to appease him.

Jessica turned to the photographer. “I think we’re good!”

“Just a few more,” he said.

“No. My husband is about to pass out and my nephew is about to strip naked and run into the ocean. We’re good.” She took Cooper’s hand and led him past the unhappy photographer. “You’ll get plenty of candid shots at the reception.”

“But I wanted a few more of you on the beach.”

“We got plenty.” Cooper’s tone was final.

The photographer shut up.

I grinned at my friends. “We love you.”

Jessica winced. “Everyone’s dying, huh?”

“Just a bit.”

“Let’s get inside.”