Page 156 of Rough and Rugged

“I need to go to the bathroom, please,” she says.

“Of course, sweetheart,” I say, pulling her up against my chest. Instead of carrying her bridal style, her legs wrap around my waist, and she clings to my torso like a spider monkey. I bite back a groan when her core brushes against my rapidly hardening cock as she settles against me.

“Thank you, Emmett,” she says quietly, leaning in and pressing her lips against my scarred cheek, giggling when my beard tickles her soft skin.

“My pleasure, sweetheart,” I whisper, kissing the crown of her head. She has no idea just how much pleasure I derive from carrying her around.

She’s never shied away from me despite the scar that is so off-putting to so many. The second night she was in my bed, she pulled me down to her when I sat her dinner tray on her lap. Running her fingers over the scar, she asked me what happened, listening intently while she ate and iced her ankle, giving her the soft version of events, and she was near tears when I finished.

“I need to run into town later,” I say when I bring her a warm cinnamon roll a little while later.

She pats the spot beside her on the couch, and I sit, pulling her legs up onto my lap with a quick “to elevate your ankle” excuse when she gives me a quizzical look.

“What, no foot rub?” she teases when my hands rest on her shins.

I throw my head back and laugh at her cheekiness, but I’m secretly delighted that she’s comfortable telling me what she wants.

She groans as my thumb draws firm circles on the arch of her uninjured foot, and my dick tents my sweatpants as I imagine other ways I can elicit those moans from her while I lazily explore every inch of her body.

“Town,” I say again, quietly. “Do you need anything?”

She tilts her head to the side, thinking, and I’m petrified that she’s going to ask me to take her with me so she can head home.

“Nope,” she says instead. “Don’t stay gone too long. I kinda like having you around.”

My heart thuds in my chest, and I stand, propping her bad ankle on a stack of pillows.

“Back soon. Be good.”

Shady Rock is a beehive of activity, and it doesn’t take long before the gossip reaches me. There’s a missing woman. A kayak was found washed ashore on the Buffalo, and she never returned to the outfitter.

Several volunteers are passing out lime green flyers with a grainy, blown up driver’s license photo of Briar in the middle, asking for anyone with information to contact the hotline.

Nope.

I avoid eye contact with everyone, which isn’t hard since most people scurry out of my way on the best day. With the threat of losing the woman of my dreams, my aura is thunderous, and even the locals who know I’m no threat cross the street to avoid me.Good.

I gather my supplies and hightail it out of town quickly, needing the reassurance of Briar’s presence to calm my frayed nerves.

“You’re home early,” she says when I storm through the front door, desperately trying to relax before I abduct her and go on the run to keep her with me forever.

“Got what I needed. Too many people.”

“Can we have pizza for dinner?” she asks, changing the subject. My girl loves people, I remind myself. Just one more reason this could never work.

“Absolutely, sweetheart. Wanna help me?”

“It’s sticking,” Briar says, perched on a stool at the island, rolling the dough while I make the sauce.

A wicked grin spreads across my face as I grab the paper bag beside me and turn to face her. “That’s because you need more flour,” I say, reaching into the sack, tossing a small amount of flour at her.

She gasps in surprise, her eyes comically wide as she searches for something to get revenge. She pinches off a bit of sticky dough and launches it at me, laughing hysterically when it splatters against my forehead and falls on the floor between us.

A loud knock on the door breaks through our raucous laughter, and I call a truce before moving to answer the door.

“Hey, Emmett,” Sheriff Sands says. “We’re going door to door along the river looking for anyone who might know anything about a missing woman.”

“Huh,” I say, noncommittally, knowing it’s all about to come crashing down around me.

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