In Your Dreams (Blue Heron #4)(108)

“Come on, puppy,” she said to her dog, wiping off his paws with the towel she kept in the car for just such a purpose. She carried him inside the mudroom and set him down, then took off her coat and hung it on a hook. Lazarus came to investigate, croaked at Sarge, earning a tail wag and a wary head lick, which the cat endured before skittering off.

Jack was lighting a fire as she entered the living room.

We’re together now. Get used to it.

So this wasn’t just for sex or a distraction or a human shield for Hadley. Maybe this was real.

The warmth in her chest seemed to expand.

His phone buzzed on the table next to her.

“Probably one of my sisters,” he said, adding a log. He stood up and came over, looked at the phone. “Yep. I should sell a few off. You want a glass of wine?”

“Sure.” She’d barely had any at dinner.

“I have a nice bottle in the cellar. Be right back.” He kissed the top of her head and went downstairs. He hadn’t said boo at his family’s, but he was making up for it now. She could live with that. She wasn’t perfect, either.

Sarge went over to the fireplace, turned in a circle five times, then curled up. Lazarus approached, warily, then lay down near the puppy’s head.

Aw. They liked each other.

Jack’s phone buzzed again. And again. In fact, it was vibrating right to the edge of the table. Without thinking, Em picked it up before it fell.

And then, before she could even make a case against it, she looked at the screen.

Pru: We like her, Useless. Are you guys na**d already? Don’t let her see those ugly-ass pajamas Honor bought you for Christmas. In fact, burn those.

Faith: You should’ve talked more tonight, dummy. She looked like a deer in the headlights. Tell her she doesn’t have breeder h*ps even if that will come in handy later. Takes one to know one.

Goggy: Wermww ri&ght cmlwlr?.

Honor: She took that like a champ. Tom & I both approve. Charlie too.

Hadley: Jack, I need 2 speak 2 U asap. We belong 2gther. Pls. call asap. I no u still love me. We can work this out!!!

Goggy: qhy ro$(ia we flt rgis

Okay. Jack’s grandmother appeared to be drunk. But, no, Abby had complained about getting seventeen texts from her that day alone.

Hadley’s text—not so nice. The woman really needed to get a clue or some counseling, stat.

But Em was glad Jack’s sisters liked her, which she already knew, more or less. And Jack liked her, and she liked him, way too much...or maybe the right amount. Maybe it was time to go for it. And if she wanted to prove something tonight, a constantly buzzing phone wasn’t going to help.

Maybe she’d just mute it for a little while. It was after ten. She slid the switch over. There.

She and Jack had been together for a few weeks now. And, yes, she’d been wary, given her own romantic past and Jack’s ex-wife being around, not to mention the emotional maelstrom surrounding the accident.

But tonight, she wouldn’t be.

He came back upstairs, and Emmaline stood up.

“So was tonight really awful?” he asked, setting the bottle on the counter.

Rather than answer, she went over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him for all she was worth. Hot, wet, demanding, 100 percent slutty kissing.

Jack didn’t waste time. He grabbed her breeder h*ps and boosted her up on the counter, and Em pulled him close, feeling him hard and solid and hot against her. She slid her hands under his shirt, over his lean stomach, his lightly furred chest, and tugged his shirt off over his head, then let her hands wander down his back, kissing him again, pulling his h*ps harder against her.

Jeans, unfastened.

Then she scootched off the counter, pulled off her sweater, unhooked her skirt and let it fall to the floor. Jack’s eyes lowered and a very gratifying noise came from his throat right before he unhooked her bra, and then she was kissing his neck, his hot, beautiful neck, and bit down on his collarbone. And then the smooth, cool tile of the kitchen floor was against her back, and Jack was on top of her, hard and heavy and hot, while his mouth burned heat on all the best spots until she wriggled free and returned the favor.

So yeah.

Wary no more.

Not when you were doing it on the kitchen floor.

The animals, bless their furry little hearts, stayed sound asleep, despite the noise.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

JACK HOLLAND WAS a happy man. For now, anyway.

After the kitchen floor encounter—which, by the way, yes—he’d led Emmaline into the master bathroom, turned on the bath taps and made out with her while the tub filled. Left her to get in while he uncorked the wine and brought them each a glass. Then he got in with her, pulling her back against his chest, so, so glad he’d gone for the big tub when he built the house.

The only sound was the water sloshing if either of them moved and the rain beating against the windows. The puppy came in and tried to drink out of the tub, making them both laugh, and if there was a better sound than Emmaline laughing, Jack didn’t know what it was.

Her skin was creamy and soft, and her body was solid and strong and perfect. After a little while, she couldn’t help notice that he was noticing, and she turned around to face him and they did it right there in the tub.

Come to think of it, Jack did know what sound was better than Emmaline laughing. It was her saying his name in a breathy, almost startled voice, and it made him feel incredible to make her feel so good.