Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

I should not turn Vaughn into family.

I shouldn’t.

“Stu will pay for tonight.” Vaughn’s hard words cut through my musings.

He looked fierce. Determined. Like a protector. An unexpected protector.

And that’s when it hit me.

Maybe I didn’t want to rescue Vaughn.

Maybe . . . holy hell . . .

Did I want Vaughn to save me?

I felt winded by the prospect that I could feel something emotional for Vaughn Tremaine. Was I willing to throw out all my fears and insecurities that only he brought out in me, because for one night he’d shown me the softer side of him? The kind side. The passionate side.

Did I want him? Really, truly?

I imagined myself naked beneath him, his hands pinning my wrists to the bed as I allowed him to take sexual control of me.

“Yes,” I whispered.

Oh, holy hell, was I in trouble.

“What?” Vaughn frowned.

I realized then I’d spoken out loud.

My heart hammered in my chest. “I better get back to the inn . . . Will you . . . will you walk with me?”

If he was surprised by my question, by the vulnerability I allowed him to see, Vaughn didn’t show it.

Instead, like the gentleman I’m sure his father raised him to be, he got to his feet and held out a hand to me.

I took it, acknowledging the rush of sparks I felt tingle through me at his touch.

Awareness.

Those sparks had existed between us since the beginning, but I’d refused to admit I could be that attracted to someone I didn’t like, especially while I was supposed to be in love with Tom.

I could admit now that there was more to Vaughn Tremaine than met the eye, and yes he could be an asshole, but there was a reason for that, too. I hadn’t missed the fact that he’d avoided my question about being in love. And I was Bailey Hartwell. There was no one who enjoyed a mystery more than I did. He was a mystery I very much wanted to work out.

As Vaughn’s grip on me tightened as he pulled me up, as our eyes met and his flared at the brush of our bodies as I stood, that power I’d felt earlier surged through me.

Vaughn wanted me.

Thrill soared through me.

It was hard to puzzle out a mystery when you had no aces up your sleeve.

I had an ace in this situation, though.

I’d never used sex as an ace before. It was something we both wanted but could never admit to. Until now. And for me, it was the stepping stone I needed to get close enough to a man who I finally could admit intrigued me like no other.

TEN

Bailey