The Truest Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 4)

Melancholy moved through me at what this meant. Was Ivy leaving us?

Bailey’s face mirrored my feelings. “You’re going back.”

“Nope.” She shot us a dazzling grin. “I can still write scripts and not live in Hollywood. People still want to work with me. Plus I’ve always wanted to write a book, and my agent thinks it’s a superb idea. I can do that anywhere. So, I’m staying in Hartwell. I’m happy here.”

Bailey flew off her chair with a girlish squeal and threw her arms around Ivy. She laughed and held on to her friend, and my heart ached with the genuine joy I saw on Ivy’s face. After all she’d been through, it really seemed like she was going to be okay.

Dahlia and I took turns hugging Ivy.

“I’m so glad you’re staying,” I said with feeling.

Ivy cupped my face in her hands in a way that reminded me of Iris. She whispered, “You helped me so much, Em. I’m so glad we met.”

Tears filled my eyes, but the sweet moment was broken when Jess cursed. “Goddammit! I can’t even get out of the damn chair to hug a person!”

Sure enough, she was struggling to push herself up and out of the armchair. Ivy rushed to her feet to go to Jess instead.

“I swear to God,” Jess huffed after she was done hugging Ivy. “If he doesn’t go on to do a job that requires him to be physically huge, this kid will owe his mother!”

We all stared at her in shock.

“What?” She glared at us.

“He?” Bailey took an excited step toward her. “You’re having a boy?”

Jess’s face paled. Then her head flopped back on the chair. “Aw shit, Coop’s going to kill me.”

37

Emery

I was assaulted with nervousness.

The fact that Jack’s hand was on my ass as we walked up to the front porch of the huge Colonial-Georgian house was not helping. “Jack, your hand.”

He shifted so it was pressed to my lower back, but his long fingers still touched the top of my butt.

“Do you want your mother to think we’re together?” I turned to face him before we reached the door. “This is confusing enough. We do not need to mislead her.”

With a patient expression, Jack settled his hands on my hips and bent his head to mine. “Sunrise, I’ve explained the situation to my mom. She knows we’re not together.”

“You can’t call me sunrise.” I pushed his hands off my hips. “And you can’t touch me with sexual familiarity in front of her. Or anyone.” Or they might figure out we’ve been screwing each other’s brains out almost every night for four weeks.

“One, I’m pretty sure they can tell I’m sexually familiar with you.” He nodded to my bump. “Two, then you shouldn’t have worn that dress.”

With temperatures cooling, I’d worn a long-sleeved, ankle-length jersey dress I loved. It clung to my figure but the material was stretchy, so it gave over my little baby bump and my somewhat bigger-than-normal breasts. Despite the clinginess, with its tight sleeves and high scoop neck, I’d thought it was conservative. Until I opened my door to Jack and his eyes turned smoky and wanting.

Apparently, he told me, I’d worn a similar dress the first time he ever saw me, and it did wonderful things for my ass. The man was incorrigible.

I’d plaited my hair into a fishtail braid and I’d forgone a ton of bracelets for a few necklaces of varying lengths. Silver and amethyst drop earrings Dahlia had crafted hung from my ears, and as per usual, nearly every finger had a ring on it.

I wasn’t sure what kind of woman Rosalie Devlin was, but I was determined to be myself. Silver and all. Even if I was a nervous wreck about it.

“Em, you look beautiful. You always look beautiful, and not just because you have a Helen of Troy thing going on with your face.” He grinned. “But because your goodness shines out of you, sunrise. My mom and Becs will see that, and they’re going to be grateful that my kid’s mom is an outstanding woman. End of story.”

My cheeks heated at his compliments. “Jack,” I whispered, gazing up into soulful eyes and seeing he meant every bit of it. My stomach somersaulted at the intensity of his expression.

The sound of a door opening broke the moment between us. “I thought I heard voices.”