Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

“I didn’t whip him but I won. You know, for never having bowled before he did pretty well.”

“I still can’t believe you took Tremaine bowling.”

“Every time he mentions something ordinary that he’s never done my heart hurts a little.” I shrugged. “I just want him to experience a normal life. Do normal things. He works so hard all the time and in the five-star hotel environment. He needs a break from all that hoity-toity, everything has to be perfect, ‘I have to make a ton of money’ stuff.”

“But that is who he is, right?” Emery said. “Vaughn is career-focused.”

“Yes. I know that. And I expect him to be busy a lot. As it is, last night was the first evening we spent real time together. We’ve only seen each other late at night, if you catch my meaning.”

Dahlia rolled her eyes. “Okay, stop. Some of us aren’t getting it regularly.”

“But doesn’t that bother you?” Emery said. “Not the getting it regularly part.” She blushed. “The him working a lot part.”

“We’re both busy with our businesses. I, more than anyone, can understand it.”

“Don’t you want to spend time with him?”

“All of the time. I want to spend an obnoxious amount of time with this man.” I huffed and flopped back in my seat. “I never felt this way with Tom. I actually liked the space from Tom, even in the beginning. But with Vaughn I just want to be with him all the time because every moment we spend together I find out something new about him—his quirks, his sense of humor, his cockiness, his flaws. And do you know what? I like it all. Flaws and all! What is that?”

Emery gave me a dreamy smile. “You’re falling in love.”

“No, I’m not. It’s too soon. I’m just . . . I’m infatuated.” I bit my lips as my worries came to the surface. “Shouldn’t he want to spend all of his time with me?”

“You need to talk to him about this. Now. Before it goes any further,” Dahlia said. “If Jess was here, she’d say the same.”

Jess wasn’t here. She was in Canada on a three-week honeymoon.

“I don’t know . . .”

“Do you really want a husband and a father to your kids who is never there?”

“No.” I didn’t. “Fine. I’ll talk to him. It’ll probably scare him off but I’ll talk to him.”

“After what he said to you”—Emery smiled, referring to the speech he’d given me on the beach, the one that was too good not to share with my best friends—“I don’t think anything you do will scare him off.”

“Yeah,” Dahlia agreed. “He certainly seems to get a kick out of your obnoxious honesty.”

“My obnoxious honesty?” I gestured to her. “Pot.” Then to myself. “Meet kettle.”

She laughed. “Whatever. Just talk to him.”

The bell tinkled over the bookstore door and Emery got up to greet her customers. She returned a minute later and sat down. “They’re just browsing the books, so I told them to come get me if they need me. What were we saying?”

“We were discussing my possibly relationship-ending talk with Vaughn. Oh, and the fact that my sister seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet. I swear to God, if I don’t find her soon, my parents are going to get on a flight out here.”

“And that would be a bad thing?”

“Right now? Yes. I’d like to get to know Vaughn without my dad breathing down my neck. I love the man but he also is the only one in my family who knew about Oliver Spence. He might assume things about Vaughn, and I need to work out how I feel about Tremaine before I take into consideration anybody else’s feelings about him.”

“Oh, please, you know how you feel about Vaughn.” Da

hlia sighed.

“I’m going to smack you.”

She grinned and turned her cheek to me, tapping her finger where her adorable dimple was. “Go ahead. Make my day.”

Affection and amusement swamped me. “Ach, you’re too damn cute for your own good.”