While Doctor Jessica Huntington engages with the inmates at the women’s correctional facility where she works, she’s always careful to avoid emotional attachments in her personal life. Loss and betrayal taught her that lesson long ago. But when she comes across a set of old love letters in the prison’s library and visits the picturesque town of Hartwell to deliver them to their intended recipient, she finds herself unable to resist the town’s charm—and her attraction to the sexy owner of a local bar proves equally hard to deny.
Since his divorce from his unfaithful ex-wife, Cooper Lawson has focused on what really matters: his family and the boardwalk pub they’ve owned for generations. But the first time Jessica steps into his bar, Cooper is beyond tempted to risk his heart on her. Yet as their attraction grows hotter and Jessica remains stubbornly closed off, he begins to realize it will take more than just passion to convince her there’s only one real thing in life worth fighting for….
4 Stars
What I love about this author's work (not only that she gave us Braden Carmichael...) is the way she sucks you into a beautiful love story. And that is exactly what Jessica Huntington and Cooper Lawson had. Her characters are always mature and there's just enough angst and drama, but always ends in a HEA.
Doctor Jessica Huntington spends her entire days and nights working. She's content, but there's been something missing in her life and she's not sure what it is or where to look to make her truly happy. Jessica comes across some old love letters stuffed in a book and each letter is heartbreaking and the truth of people's lives are on these letters, but it's never been mailed out. Jessica decides to search for the man who should of received these love letters years ago. That brings her to the quaint and quiet town of Hartwell.
She immediately finds peace while spending time in this new town and has made some new friends. Plus, she can't shake off the handsome bar owner, Cooper Lawson.
Cooper Lawson is dealing with a crazy ex, betrayal of his best friend and outsiders threatening his business and the town's boardwalk. But when he runs into the "Doc" his whole outlook of possibly letting her into his already broken and jaded heart. But trying to break down Docs wall isn't going to be easy.
The One Real Thing is truly a real love story that takes you through the flirtatious stages, the drama and the falling in love. I'm excited to continue this series with new characters!
THE ONE REAL THING by Samantha Young
“You’re not walking back to the inn alone at night, Doc.
We’ve been over that.” He grinned as she flushed at the reminder of their
make-out session on the beach.
She huffed. “I’m perfectly capable of doing so.”
“Not arguing about it.”
“What happened to the enlightened gentleman who let me pay
for dinner the other day?”
“Splitting the cost of a date is different from seeing to
your safety.”
“Date?” Bailey’s ears perked up.
“Fine, you can walk me home,” Jessica said abruptly,
cutting off Bailey’s curiosity. “’Bye, all!” She hurried out of the house.
Cooper was met by four amused stares. He smiled back at
them and Bailey looked ready to burst with delight. She thought they were a tag
team.
They weren’t.
Cooper still wanted the doc to make up her own mind.
Didn’t mean teasing her wasn’t fun as hell.
He hurried to catch up with her outside. “Hold your horses,
Doc.”
She turned to wait for him. The sadness he caught on her
face kicked the amusement right out of him.
They walked together toward the inn in silence until Cooper
couldn’t take it anymore. It needed to be talked about. “You happy back in
Wilmington, Doc?”
He felt her tense beside him. She suddenly threw her hands
up in seeming frustration. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know. But I do know
that my life is back in Wilmington, Cooper. My job is
there. And I’m good at my job. Those women need someone like me. I made a
commitment to my job that I can’t just break.”
“And what about you?” he argued. “What about what you
need?”
Her only answer was this pained expression he didn’t quite
understand.
It was full of so much hurt he decided to drop it.
Silence fell between them, but the usual camaraderie he
enjoyed so much between them was gone. As the moments passed, he was aware of
everything about her. The heat of her body close to his, the quick rise and
fall of her chest that told him she was just as affected by his closeness, the
little tremble in her full bottom lip he didn’t think she was even aware of.
The previous night, he’d dreamed about her.
She was in his bar like the day they’d met. No one else
around but them.
He’d fucked her on top of one of the tables.
Fast. Furious.
So hot.
Cooper had woken up only to jump into the shower. He’d
closed his eyes and remembered the dream as he took care of himself.
It was empty, so fucking empty, in comparison to what
reality could be.
His dick tightened in his jeans thinking about it, his gaze
shooting to Jessica’s mouth. It was time to remind her what was possible
between them.
Cooper grabbed her wrist and pushed her up against the side
of Dahlia’s gift shop. The alley between it and George’s place was dark and
silent except for their heavy breathing. He pinned her in, his hands braced on
the wall at either side of her head.
Jessica stared up at him with those big, dark eyes. “Coop—”
He cut off her coming question with his mouth just like
last time.
She tasted of the mint ice cream they’d had for dessert and
something else. Something all Jess.
She whimpered against his kiss a second before he felt her
tongue touch his and that was it.
He was lost.
His kiss turned hungry as a feeling of desperation came
over him and he pressed his body down the length of hers. The lush feel of her
mouth mingled with the weight of her breasts pressed to him was enough on its
own to fire him up, but when she wrapped her arms around his neck and tightened
her fingers in his hair to draw him closer, he was done for.
He gripped her ass in his hand, urging her closer, his dick
straining against her belly. His hand slid down to the back of her thigh and he
hiked one of her legs up against his hip so he could be where he needed to be,
fitting snugly between her thighs.
Fuck, he wished she were wearing a skirt.
“Cooper.” She breathed out his name, breaking the kiss. Her
head fell back and her eyes fluttered with the sensation of him rubbing against
her, mimicking sex. Her cheeks were flushed as she moaned and dug her hands
into his shoulders to hold on. She flexed her hips against his and he felt his
nerve endings catch fire.
He needed to be inside her.
The soft skin of her throat called to him and, as she
gyrated against him, he tasted her, pressing kisses down her neck and across
her collarbones. He moved his other hand down her back as his mouth reached the
rise of her breasts. He brushed his thumb over the thin shirt and bra that hid
them from him and groaned as her nipple visibly pebbled through the material.
If they didn’t stop soon he was going to take her right
there.
“Fuck.” He pulled away from her abruptly and she stumbled
back against the wall, looking as dazed as he felt.
All he’d wanted was a taste of her.
Now he knew for certain that just a taste would never be
enough with this woman. “Tell me,” he said, a little breathless, “tell me
you’ve got this back in Wilmington, Doc.”
He watched the muscle in her jaw twitch as she clenched her
teeth.
She couldn’t tell him.
He knew that. Because what they had between them didn’t
come around very often.
“Doc?” he persisted, and he learned in that moment that
Jessica Huntington was not only smart and sassy but stubborn as hell.
“I can’t do this”—she gestured between them—“not with you.”
And she walked away.
Gutting him.
He was just asking her to think about making room in her
life for him. The fact that she wouldn’t even contemplate it for a second, when
his blood was on fire with need for her and his mind was on her most hours of
the day, was like a gaping wound.
Strangely, the pain fired his determination. Jessica
Huntington was lying to herself. Cooper didn’t know why, but he was going to
find out.
By then the doc would be in his bed.
Right where they both knew she belonged.
About the author:
Samantha Young is
the New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author of the On Dublin Street series, including Moonlight on
Nightingale Way, Echoes of Scotland Street, and Fall
from India Place, as well as the standalone novel Hero. She
resides in Scotland.
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