Love Like You've Never Been Hurt (36 page)

“I love you, Em,” he rasped as he moved inside her.
With just a couple of strokes he felt her tense.

He heard her, “I love you too Jack,” and let himself
go with her, seeing stars as he exploded.

Once he was able to move his legs again, he carried her back to
the bed. She rolled over and drew him on top of her.

“More,” she breathed.

“You are insatiable, you know that?”

“It’s all your fault. I was never like this till I met
you. But now I can’t get enough of you.”

Jack was amazed how quickly he recovered around her. Her words had
him almost ready again.

“I promise I’ll make it a lifelong endeavor to make
sure you do get enough of me.”

“Starting now?” She held her arms up and rubbed
against him, spreading her legs to receive him.

“Starting right now,” he breathed as he slid back
inside her. He circled her nipple with his thumb, capturing her mouth
with his as he moved slowly and deliberately. As he heard her
breathing change and muscles tense in anticipation, he withdrew from
her. He smiled as she opened her eyes and thrust her hips up to him.

“Come back! I thought you were going to make sure I have
enough?”

“Patience, Baby.” He held her eyes as he gave her what
she wanted, deep and hard, then slowly, despite her writhing
desperately beneath him. Sweat rolled down his back from the
restraint this was costing him, but the look of exquisite desperation
on her face encouraged him to torment her. As he felt her get closer
he pulled out again.

“Jack, please, I want you.”

He kissed her and she thrust her hips back up to him. He lifted
his head.

“Jack what are you doing to me?” She ran her hands
down his back and cupped his ass trying to draw him back.

“I love you, Baby.”

“Jack, I NEED you, now!”

They were the words he’d wanted to hear. He drove deep and
she came as he did, her immediate release encouraging him on. He
didn’t break his rhythm, just kept working her as she floated
away gasping, again and again. As she came back to earth he was still
thrusting deep.

“What did you say, Baby?”

“I... I...” Her eyes glazed as another orgasm took
her. She was totally at his mercy as he swept her along, “I
need you, Jack!” He felt her whole body quiver as kept up the
wild thrust of his hips. When she opened her eyes again, he smiled.

“Jack, I need you.... Go with me... Jack!”

He was amazed as he felt her tighten again and this time he let
himself go with her in a whole body orgasm that shook him from his
head to his toes. Eventually he lay still, heart pounding, breathing
hard.

“I take it you like feeling needed?” she asked, her
head on his shoulder.

An aftershock rippled through him at the sensation of her breath
on his ear.

“Ooh,” she gasped as it took her too. “I’ll
take that as a yes!”

He rolled over and pulled her into his arms. “I suppose I
should warn you that I do apparently have some caveman in me, yes.”

She laughed. “You mean like picking up your woman and
carrying her off to your bed?”

“Yes,” he nuzzled her neck. “I do and I should
put you on notice that I am liable to do that on occasion.”

“No complaints here. In fact I rather like it.”

“
Good. And yes, I do
like to be needed. I don’t suppose it’s very PC of me,
but I like it and I like to protect and provide for the people I
love. To date that has been my mom and Dan, and Laura and her mom.
But you, my little Mouse, you are the one I want to spend my whole
life taking care of and thinking that you need me makes me feel
happy.”

“And horny?”

He laughed. “Yes. And horny. Very horny.”

“I’m glad.” She held her hand up and looked at
the ring. “It’s so beautiful, Jack, and so very
thoughtful.”

He smiled, “I’m glad you like it. An awful lot of
thought did go into it, Em. You have no idea how much. I wanted it to
be right.”

“It’s perfect, just perfect.” She took his hand
and looked at the heavy gold band. “And you really want to wear
that? You don’t have to you know. I’m not that bad, am
I?”

“You are not ‘bad’ at all. If you’d asked
me to wear it, I probably would have freaked out. But when you talked
about your friend’s engagement ring, it really made me think.
I’ve never been a jewelry guy, but this is something I want to
do. As long as you don’t think it’s too weird?”

“I don’t. If I’m honest it makes me very happy.
I suppose it’s a bit like your caveman confession. I don’t
want or mean to be insecure, or jealous, or possessive or any of
those other unattractive things, but knowing you choose to wear that
– to reassure me and to tell the world – Jack, it makes
me love you even more.” She snuggled closer to him.

“You know, speaking of telling the world, hadn’t we
better get back to the party?”

“Oh, my goodness! I’d completely zoned out of the rest
of the world.”

“And Gramps is waiting for more than his chili.”

She looked at him. “He was in on this with you?”

Jack grinned and nodded. “I could hardly ask you to marry me
without getting his permission, could I? To think about marrying me,
I mean,” he corrected himself quickly as he saw her frown.

“You asked his permission?”

“Sure did. And as you may have noticed, he really is on my
side! He even helped me with damage control today.” He grinned,
loving the shocked look on her face. “You know, I really don’t
think he’d care if we went back without the chili, as long as
we show him these.” He held up their joined hands with the
rings.

“You! You mean the pair of you set me up?”

Jack shrugged. “I prefer to say ‘collaborated in your
best interests’.”

She laughed even as she tried to look cross with him.

“You’re not going to be mad at them, are you?”

“Them? I thought we were talking about Gramps.”

He feigned innocence. “Well, of course we were.”

“Jack!”

“What?”

“Who else knew?”

“Knew what?”

“Were they all in on it?”

“Not at first,” he pulled her towards him. “They
only want you to be happy, Em. Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not. I suppose I feel a bit, well, foolish!”

“You were being foolish, but it’s OK. I forgive you!”

She had to laugh. “You’re certainly used to getting
what you want, aren’t you?”

“Yup and I want you, Em. And I want you to marry me, so say
you will?”

She pulled away from him. “I told you once before, Jack. I
can’t change like that, in an instant.”

“I’m sorry, Baby, I know. I didn’t mean to
push.” He was mad at himself. He knew better than that.

She must have noticed. “No, I’m sorry.” She
kissed him and gave him a little smile. “I’m not saying
no, and that’s major progress.”

“I know, Baby and that makes me happy.”

She kissed him again. “It doesn’t even horrify me,
like it would have only a week ago. But, please, give me time to
think about it?”

“That’s all I’m asking Em.” He smiled,
hoping to make her laugh again. “How often am I allowed to
ask?”

“Not too often.”

“Only every five minutes?”

She rolled her eyes. “Give me a couple of months?”

“Hours?”

“Months!”

“Days?”

“Months!”

“Once a week?”

She laughed, “You don’t give up do you?”

“Never.”

“How about once a month?”

It was much better than he’d expected. “Done!”

“Hm, did I just walk myself into that?”

“Well, to be fair I may have led you a little.”

“Jack Benson, you are impossible!”

“
No, my love,
you
are impossible, but I’m working on getting you past it.”
He nuzzled into her neck, “And while you think about it, think
about this – Emma Benson – how do you like the sound of
that?” He watched her face, then grinned, “You like it
don’t you?!”

She nodded her head shyly.

“Well, as soon as you’re ready, Baby. And you know,
whenever you are ready you can always just tell me, you don’t
have to wait for me to ask again.”

“OK, Jack. I get the idea. Will you let it go for now so we
can get back to the party?”

“I’ll let it go, but I’m not ready to let you go
yet.” He turned her on her back.

“We really should...”

He held her hands above her head and devoured her with the look he
knew would leave her with no choice. Positioning himself above her he
kissed her and let his hands roam over her. A few minutes later, when
she was breathing hard he lifted his head. “Did you say we have
to go?”

“No, we can’t go yet.”

“Why not, Baby?” He shifted his weight and coaxed her
with his thumb.

“Mmm,” she moved her hips in time with his caresses.

“Should I stop?”

“No, don’t stop!”

“Why not?”

“Because I need you. I need you now.”

He reached underneath, cupping her and lifting her hips up to meet
him as he slid inside her. “You need this?”

“Yes!”

He rode her hard as she willingly gave herself up to him. She ran
her nails down his back, urging him on, then she dug them hard into
his ass, sending him over the edge, taking her with him as they
soared together.

“Note to self,” she murmured once she had her breath
back. “Tell him you need him and he’s all yours.”

He laughed, “He’s all yours anyway, but tell him you
need him and you’d better not have anywhere else you need to be
for a while, because you can bet he’s going to satisfy that
need.”

“I am well and truly satisfied, but now I think we do have
somewhere else we need to be.”

Before they got back in the truck, Jack fished his cell phone from
his pocket.

“I want to let Gramps know it’s OK. I don’t want
him worrying any longer.”

Emma watched him dial a number from memory.

“Hey, Gramps, it’s me.

Yeah, it’s all good.

Yeah, we’ll be back soon.

Yes it is. See you soon.”

Emma stared at him. “He gave you his cell phone number? And
he actually answered it?”

Jack grinned, “I told you, he’s my buddy!”

He was adorable when he was so pleased with himself. She looked
down at the ring on her finger; it was so beautiful. Everything it
represented was even more beautiful.

“Not having second thoughts, are you?” Jack looked
worried.

“No, my goodness, no! I was thinking how wonderful you are!”
The smile on his face warmed her heart. She could do this. For him,
with him, she could do anything. “It’s so beautiful,
Jack. How did Laura ever come up with it? I don’t think I’ve
ever seen a daisy ring before.”

He shrugged. “She’s so good at that stuff. You know,
Em, I really would like you to meet her properly. It wasn’t
exactly easy earlier – on any of us.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No need. Let’s talk to her before the party is over,
I think you’ll like her.”

Emma shuddered as she thought about last night, and what she
thought she’d been watching. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Last night on the beach. When I saw you. You held something
out to show Laura and she hugged you.”

“I’m sorry, Em. I guess that really didn’t look
good. We were looking at your ring.”

“The thing that threw me so badly was that when you hugged
her back you looked so very happy.”

Jack pulled the truck over to
the side of the road and turned to face her. Taking both her hands he
held her eyes. “Baby, that’s because I
was
so very happy. We were looking at your ring and she said it was a
very special piece. I told her it had to be, since my whole future
was riding on it. She hugged me and told me there was no way you
would turn me down. I believed that, Em. That’s what made me so
happy.” He lifted her hand to his lips, “And what’s
making me so happy right now is that you didn’t turn me down.”

Emma returned his smile as relief flooded through her. He’d
been happy about her! She looked at the heavy band on his finger.
He’d done so much to reassure her, to help her through her
fears. He didn’t dismiss them as silly like everyone else had –
even though, she acknowledged, they kind of were. To her the fear of
more emotional pain was very real, but Jack understood and he was
doing so much to work with her. For a moment she imagined the wedding
she used to dream of, out on Gramps’ dock. She could see Jack
standing there waiting for her, so handsome, so happy. Pete standing
beside him. She shook her head as cold fingers of dread crept down
her spine. Not yet, but maybe, with time, maybe she might get that
dream back.

“I’m so glad you didn’t give up on me, Jack.”

“I never will, Baby. No matter how scared you get or how far
you run.” He kissed her hand. “But you know it really
would be nice if you could work with me a little. And don’t
forget, wearing that ring means you have to talk to me before you
run, right?”

“Right.” She hoped he realized how big a commitment
that was for her.

Jack had to park the truck out by the gate, there were so many
people at Gramps’ place now. He carried a huge catering-sized
bowl of chili and Emma brought the smaller one he’d made just
for Gramps.

“Here’s my Sunshine,” beamed Gramps as they came
up onto the porch. “Got anything to tell us, Mouse?”

Emma looked around at all the smiling faces looking at her
expectantly. Pete and Holly, Ben, Missy, Dan and even Scott were all
up on the porch with the old timers.

She laughed. “You set me up, all of you!”

“We helped you along, Mouse,” said Pete, “since
you were messing it up by yourself.”

They all laughed.

“Wait while we take these in, Hemming,” she said.

Jack followed her into the kitchen where they handed the chili
over. He pulled her to him.