Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“What about my…situation down below? That doesn’t make you angry?”
She grinned. “Because you woke up hard?”
All the air left my lungs at once. Good Lord, the woman was braver than I was.
“Okay, if we’re being blunt—I didn’t wake up like that because I had a morning woody. I liked the way you felt against me. Very much.”
Her hand went to my chest and it almost felt searing. “I liked it too. And that scares me as much as it scares you, but I’m tired of being afraid. Aren’t you?”
My eyes closed, and I dropped my head back before looking up at the ceiling. “Emma, you do things to me without even trying.”
“What do you mean?”
Fixing my gaze on hers, I let out a halfhearted laugh. “Waking up relaxed, feeling like I’ve slept through the night for the first time in months. Looking at you first thing in the morning with those stunning eyes and your beautiful face. You’re like a dream, and I’m terrified I’m going to wake up any second and you’ll be gone.”
Tears filled her eyes. “No one has…has ever…has ever said anything like that to me before.”
Cupping her face in my hands, I went in for a kiss, but she quickly turned away.
“Morning breath!”
With a laugh that came from the very depths of my soul, I placed my finger on her chin and brought her mouth back to mine.
“Kiss me, Emma,” I whispered as I rubbed my nose against hers.
Her smile nearly made my legs buckle out from under me. Reaching up on her toes, she kissed me softly on the lips.
“Good morning,” she said against my tingling lips. I groaned internally. What did this woman do to me?
Wrapping my arms around her, I lifted her up and made her giggle. “Good morning,” I replied.
Her finger tracked along my unshaven jawline. “I promise you; I’m not leaving you and Hadley.”
My forehead leaned against hers. “I promise I won’t run.”
“Good,” she whispered. “Let’s go see what your daughter has made for breakfast.”
I laughed and hugged her again, loving the way she felt in my arms before I let her go and we made our way to the kitchen.
Breakfast was insane. Hadley and Jennifer had made toast, yogurt with what I hoped was granola, and Lucky Charms cereal that I guessed was at least a year old.
“This is so yummy!” Tammy said, forcing herself to swallow the yogurt.
Dalton nodded and took a bite of toast. It appeared to be the only safe food item on our plates.
“Girls, would you like me to make French toast?” Emma asked Jennifer and Hadley.
Everyone shouted yes, and by everyone, I mean the adults too. Laughing, Emma stood and got to work.
Dalton tapped me on the arm and motioned for me to meet him in my office. Slipping off the stool, I peeked over to see Emma watching us. She flashed me a grin and went back to getting everything ready for the French toast.
The moment my office door shut, Dalton gave me a knowing smile. “So?”
“So?” I asked back.
“Dude! Tammy and I show up and you and Emma are looking awfully cozy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Hadley slept between us all night.”
“Yes, and when she left, you just happened to find yourself up against Emma?”
With a shrug, I attempted not to smile. “If I did anything, it was in my sleep.”
He laughed. “Okay, so then why the freak-out?”
I decided not to mention the situation below my belt and stuck to all things emotional and mental. “For a moment, I let my old fears take over. Guilt, panic about hurting Hadley and myself.”
Dalton leaned against my desk as I took a seat on the small sofa. “Emma certainly wasn’t letting you walk away.”
The left side of my mouth rose in a slight grin. “No, she wasn’t. She’s freaking amazing, Dalton. I’ve never met a woman like her.”
He nodded. “She seems to make you and Hadley happy.”
Leaning forward, I groaned. “Oh, man. It feels like a dream that’s happening both too fast and too slow. I don’t even know. What I do know is, when I kissed her, it was like I suddenly needed her very existence just to breathe.”
Dalton’s brows shot up. “Kissed her? When did you kiss her?”
“Last night and this morning.”
A wide grin moved over my best friend’s face. “Dude, it’s about time. You deserve happiness.”
“We still need to work out some things, but I want to see where it goes.”
“And Emma does as well?”
“Yeah. I mean, she’s scared too. Probably even a little more than she’s letting on. I don’t want to push her, but at some point, I hope she opens up to me about her ex. I told her everything about Lisa and Nancy.”
He looked surprised. “You told her about Nancy?”
I nodded. “I don’t want anything between us. My entire marriage to Lisa, there seemed to always be something unsaid between us. I just hope she feels safe enough to tell me about her ex.”