Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

“I’m glad to hear it. What can we get you?”

Jack looked back at Emery, and I had to bite my lip in girlish delight at the way his gaze raked over her features, like he was savoring every detail of her lovely face. “My usual,” he said. “Times two.”

Em nodded, not meeting his eyes, and turned to the coffee machine. Her hands trembled a little as she worked, and I felt a pang of sympathy. How I wished I could give her even just a drop of my confidence so she could converse easily with a man.

It must be horrible for her to be so shy.

I wanted to hug her.

Instead I didn’t do anything that patronizing. I let her work. She finished making the coffee while we all stood in silence. She slid the coffee over to Jack. “Six dollars.”

He handed her a ten, and I studied how she took it by the tip so she wouldn’t have to touch him. I also studied the way this made a usually expressionless Jack frown in consternation.

And then when she handed him his change, he brushed his thumb deliberately over the top of her hand when he accepted it. Em’s skin flushed red all over again.

He nodded at us and then was gone just as quickly as he had appeared.

“So Jack Devlin, huh?”

Emery blushed even harder. “No. No. I mean . . . no . . . I know he works for the devil. So no.”

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

“That doesn’t stop him from being drop dead gorgeous.”

Emery let out an embarrassed huff of laughter.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Jack punched out Stu for attacking me.”

Her eyes widened at the thought. “Really?”

“Yeah. I told Cooper after it happened, but he didn’t do anything with it. I had hoped it might make him take a step toward approaching Jack but he thinks, and I suppose rightly so, that Jack should be the one to make the first step. I’ve always thought there was more to Jack’s story. The whole going to work for his dad, the whole Dana thing, it never made sense. And I don’t want to give up on him.” I nudged her playfully. “Maybe a sweet, gorgeous woman just like you is exactly what a man like Jack Devlin needs.”

“Me?” Emery was apparently shocked by the idea. “No. He doesn’t even know I’m alive.”

I considered the way Jack had stared at my friend like he wanted to eat her up. “I definitely don’t think that’s true.”

“Even so.” She frowned. “I . . . I like my life here now. I have you and Jessica and Dahlia. I can even hold a conversation with Cooper without blushing like an idiot. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize what I have now by setting my cap for Jack Devlin. I wouldn’t be able to trust him.”

At her practical, heartfelt response I felt renewed admiration for her. I threw my arm around her shoulders. “Wow. I am so glad you are a much smarter woman than I am when it comes to men.”

She smiled shyly. “I don’t think I’m smarter. Just . . . isolated enough from them to be able to think more clearly.”

“See? Smarter.” I grinned at her. “And ‘setting my cap’? Really?”

Em rolled her eyes, blushing again. “I said that, didn’t I? That’s all my grandmother. God, don’t let me end up sounding like her, please.”

“Oh, well, I’m going to find that hard to do when you say adorable stuff like ‘setting my cap for Jack Devlin.’”

She laughed. “You’re awful.”

“I am. And it’s fun. You should join me here in ‘saying whatever is on my mind’ land.”

Wistfulness filled her expression. “Maybe I will someday.”

Vaughn

“There’s at least two thousand dollars’ worth of damages, sir.” Jannette, Vaughn’s head housekeeper at Paradise Sands, sounded aggrieved.