Love Like You've Never Been Hurt (25 page)

“Do not!” He stuck his tongue out, looking every bit
the kid he’d been all those years ago.

She laughed, “So much for the suave and sophisticated Mr.
Hemming.”

“It’s your fault, Em. You bring out the worst in me
and it’s only your food that is worthy of taking my time over
like this, its sooo good.” He enjoyed another mouthful before
asking, “So, you’re sure you don’t have any
reservations about me and Jack working up here?”

“I’m sure, Pete. It’s OK, really. I do
appreciate that you would pull out of it for my sake, but there’s
no need.”

“
I would, you know. You
only need to say the word and I’ll pull the plug on the whole
thing. Jack would too. I hope you can see by now that he would never
do anything that would make you uncomfortable.” He looked at
her, searching her face for the truth.

“I can. That’s part of why it’s OK. He is a good
man. Even I get that. We don’t know how this will end up, but
if it doesn’t work out, I think we’ll do OK as friends.”
Even as she said the words she wondered how it would feel to just be
Jack’s friend. Not to be able to hold him, to no longer see the
lust in his eyes when he looked at her. She shook her head and,
catching Pete still watching her, said, “No, no problem at
all.”

“I had to be sure. You know I’ll do anything for you,
Mouse.”

“I know Pete and I love you too. Now, are you about ready
for some of that key-lime pie?”

“Hell, yeah. And I get to eat it before anyone else gets
any, right?”

He really was such a big kid. “Yes, you do. In fact this
one’s got your name on it. I made another for later. You are
coming up here tonight?”

“I wasn’t sure, didn’t know what your plans
would be. If you would want us all around?”

“Of course I do. Missy’s bringing Scott and Dan over
and I thought Ben would probably come with you two after your
meeting?”

“Well, that’ll be great then.”

“Pete, I’m not that girl who abandons her friends when
she meets a guy and besides, that guy is your best friend and his
brother is coming up here too. If it’s going to go anywhere
between me and Jack it will be by him being one of the gang, not by
me missing out on the gang in order to be with him. I made that
mistake once, remember?”

Pete nodded. She knew he’d hated her relationship with Rob
and had tried so hard to make her see sense. She wished now that she
had listened to him. She smiled at that as it reminded her that she
really should listen to him and these days he was encouraging her to
be with Jack.

“Is it weird for you?” she asked.

“Is what weird?”

“You know, me and Jack seeing each other like this.”
If she was honest she wanted some more of his encouragement.

“I don’t think weird is the word... Or maybe it is.
There are so many different angles to it for me. First there’s
you. My little Mouse is dipping her toes into a relationship for the
first time since the asshole episode, and I’m happy that you
are. I want you to be happy and not die an old maid.” She
laughed at that. “But at the same time I’d kill any man
that hurt you. After watching what you went through before, and
knowing what taking this risk is costing you, part of me wants to
supervise and chaperone the whole thing. Then I remember that the guy
you’re with is the most decent man I’ve ever known, who
would never hurt anyone intentionally. He is also the most protective
man I’ve ever known. I truly would trust him with my life. But
when it comes to women I’ve only ever known him do
superficial.”

Emma’s heart jumped into her mouth at that; it certainly
wasn’t the encouragement she’d been hoping for.

“Don’t look at me like that, Mouse. I don’t mean
it like that. I mean, I’ve known him date a lot.”

Oh, how she wished he’d shut up now. This was not what she
wanted to hear.

“Argh! Just wait till I’ve finished before you jump to
conclusions, Em. This isn’t going where you think.”

She nodded, her heart still pounding.

“I mean, he’s a good looking guy. Got a lot to offer.
The personality, the lifestyle, the money and all. Lots of women want
all that. But he never really seemed to want them. He dated them, but
never too long and I never saw him really into any of them.”

Emma nodded, still not sure she needed to be hearing this.

“Damn. This is your fault you know, for asking.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Let’s leave it.”

“No, I can’t leave it now, Mouse, because I’ve
given you the wrong idea and I need you to understand what I mean.
Let me give this another shot, eh?”

“If you must.”

“My point was, I’ve known him date women, but always
like he was going through the motions. I’ve never seen him act
the way he is now. He’s crazy about you. He talks about you all
the time, asks my opinion on stuff. See, here’s an example that
might make you understand. His secretary, Lexi, she’s always
sent his flowers for him. Birthdays, thank yous, those kind of
things, she takes care of them, yeah? Well, with his dates it was the
same, just some routine detail you let a good secretary handle. Then
you come along, and he’s bugging me the whole time; what
flowers do you like, what colors do you like. He’s like an
excited little kid. And, I’m sorry Mouse, but I told him to let
Lexi take care of it. He was horrified. It was like he was on the
most important mission of his life! He had to find the perfect
flowers for you to make you happy and he had to do it himself and no,
they weren’t going to be delivered, not by anyone but him. I
imagine you’ve already noticed, but he’s a detail guy, at
least he is when he cares about something. You’ll see it in his
work, when he talks about his brother, a few other things, but never
before have I seen him go into detail mode for a woman.”

Emma smiled, remembering his face as he’d given her the
flowers, so eager to please her. “OK, You made a much nicer
point, Now can we please leave it alone?”

“Gladly,” said Pete, looking relieved, “And you
know, more pie would really shut me up.”

She gave him more key-lime and they chatted as he ate.

“Jack’s going to swing by to pick me up in a little
while,” said Pete looking at his watch. “Do you want me
to bring anything back later?”

“If you guys would do the booze run, that’d be great.
I need to catch up with Gramps this afternoon, sort out a few things
for next week’s cookout. Can you make it up here for Friday?”

“I’m planning to. Is Gramps looking forward to
Saturday?”

“They’re like two little kids, him and Joe. I don’t
know about a joint seventy-fifth birthday party, I think it’s
more like a joint seventh the way those two are carrying on.”

“They both know how to enjoy themselves, that’s for
sure.” Pete looked up, “Well, here comes my ride,”
he said as Jack turned into the driveway. “S’funny, you
know, he drives that fancy SUV in the city, he has an Aston Martin in
Texas and yet he looks most at home in your Gramps’ old truck.”

Emma smiled, watching Jack get out of the truck. “He does,
doesn’t he?”

“And it must tell you something that your Gramps trusted him
with it.”

“Yes. Gramps really surprised me with that.”

“He’s another good judge of character, Mouse.”

Emma nodded as Jack climbed the steps.

“Good lunch?” he asked.

“Good lunch,” said Pete. “You ready to go make a
deal?”

“Sure am, just one thing first?” He came to Emma,
“Kiss for good luck?”

She hooked her arms around his neck and, standing on tiptoes,
pulled him down to kiss her lips.

“Oh, pur-lease!” laughed Pete, “I’d say
get a room, but we have a meeting to get to. I’ll be in the
truck when you’re done here. Later, Mouse.”

“Later, Pete.”

“Sorry, Em,” Jack held her close, “I needed a
quick kiss.”

“I’m only sorry its’ not a slow kiss.”

His eyes softened, “Oh, Baby.”

“That’s OK, you’ll have to owe me one till
later.”

He ran his hand down her arm, sending a shiver all through her.
“I’ll pay with interest.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“I’ll hold you to this.” He drew her against him
and she looked up at him wonderingly, he was so hard. “It’s
what you do to me,” he laughed.

“Perhaps later you’ll let me relieve you of that
problem.” She brought her finger to her lips, loving the way
his eyes filled with desire as she suggestively sucked her fingertip.

“Hold on, I have a meeting to cancel!”

She laughed. “No, you don’t. You have to go and sit
through your meeting and you have to hang out and have fun with
everyone tonight. When you’re done with all of that, then we
can revisit this.” This time she held his hand up and flicked
the tip of his finger with her tongue.

He rolled his eyes back and gave a low moan. “Later, my
little minx.”

“Later, Mr. Benson.”

Emma stood on the deck as they drove away feeling incredibly sexy.
The fact that she could arouse him so easily pleased her immensely.
She may not have the hang of trust or relationships yet, but she knew
she was getting rather good at the sex at least.

“So, how are Scott and Dan getting along?” Emma asked
Missy as she washed some salad.

“Like a house on fire. Dan must have set out before dawn
this morning to get here and they’ve been messaging each other
constantly since he left Monday. It’s so nice for Scott to have
someone he can work with, you know?”

“It is, and it seems to be a two way street.”

“I’m not sure which one of them is more excited. And
how about you, Mouse? How’s it going with Jack?”

Emma faced her friend and smiled. “It’s good. We had a
bit of a hiccup the other day, but it’s all OK now, we got past
it.”

“Speaking of the devil, here come the three musketeers now.”
Jack, Pete and Ben all piled out of Gramps’ truck looking very
pleased with themselves.

“Now there we have three good looking guys”

“Four, don’t forget the one in the RV with Scott.”

Emma raised an eyebrow, “I’ll need you to elaborate on
that, lady.”

Missy gave her a smile and then turned to the guys. “I’m
guessing from those smiles that all went well?”

“Real well,” said Pete.

“Sure did,” added Ben, looking happier than Emma had
seen him in a long time.

“Once we get the papers drawn up we’ll be partners,
partner,” Jack slapped Ben on the back.

The five of them ate out on the deck. Scott and Dan had
disappeared into the RV once more.

“So, Mouse,” said Ben, “we got everything
covered for the big birthday bash next week?”

“We certainly have. I saw Gramps this afternoon and he is so
excited.”

“Joe’s the same,” laughed Ben, “Remember
what we were saying about their second childhood? Looks like we were
spot on. You sure you don’t need anything else bringing out
from the resort?”

“I don’t think so, but I’ll check in with you
midweek if that’s OK? I’ve got to get back to the city
again and there’s a chance I won’t make it back till
Saturday morning” She caught Jack’s eye as he made a sad
face at her. That hurt puppy dog look he played so well melted her,
even though he was only teasing.

“Is everything Ok with Carla?” he asked.

“Yes, she’d doing what she does and trying to throw
another project my way. And I do have to meet up with Brad. I
promised I’d go over his spec script with him before the end of
the month, that’s what may take the time, but I can’t let
him down.” Brad was another screenwriter she had worked with on
several occasions. They’d known each other since her early days
in the city, so though the timing wasn’t perfect she was
determined to help him out this week, as he had done for her so often
in the past. “It’s just such a pain to have to make that
drive again. It’s getting old already.”

“Tell me about it,” said Pete, “I’m loving
being here on the weekends, but I’m not loving the eight hours
on the road each time.”

“It’d only take about forty-five minutes in the air,”
said Jack.

“Mind reader. I was going to ask you why we still have the
plane based in Houston. Now you’re not there and Nate is
closing out the Allen project, perhaps it’s time we hangar it
in Santa Monica? That would make my weekends a lot easier – and
any time you two need to get back to the city.”

“I won’t be able to do anything this week,” Jack
looked at Emma apologetically.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine driving.”

He looked at Pete, “I’ve got Nate out in Miami till
the first, but after that we can get it out here. That work for you?”

“Sounds great.”

“OK, I’ll put Lexi on it on Monday morning.”

Pete gave Emma a knowing look and she smiled to herself. That was
merely a detail to hand over to his secretary.

“Thanks for another great dinner, Em” said Ben. The
others all muttered their agreement. “I was wondering if I
could take care of tomorrow night? We’ve got a couple of big
parties coming in and I need to be around, but I still want to hang
with you guys. Is everyone up for dinner at the Boathouse on me?”

They all agreed it would be fun to have a night at the resort and,
despite Emma’s protests that she really didn’t mind, good
to her give her a night off from cooking.

Emma, Missy and Ben sat out on the Boathouse deck. The restaurant
was packed.

“
We’ve got a big
reunion upstairs,” said Ben, “And this lot,” he
nodded through the doors that had been slid back to create a huge
indoor outdoor space, “this is the usual Saturday night crowd
plus a girls night out.”

Two long banquet tables of already rowdy women were making quite a
racket.

Missy laughed. “They’ll be hunting in packs later,
Ben. You’ll have to watch yourself.”

“I’ve already had to dodge a few,” he grinned.
“Looks like the guys won’t get away unscathed either.”