Page 79 of Starcrossed Colorado

I snorted. You’d think my brother was sixteen instead of thirty-two.

“Heard about you and some blond hanging out at Hearthstone last night,” Callum said. “Even though I was pretty sure you and Emma were getting close just the other day.”

Judson lifted his thick brows, glancing over curiously.

“What happened?” my brother asked. “Because Elias and I might have twenty bucks riding on it.”

I hit the stop button. The treadmill belt slowed. “I have no comment. Except that you need to grow up.” Grabbing my towel to wipe my face, I went to the locker room to get my gym bag.

I had no idea what to tell my brother and my friends about me and Emma. And suddenly, that seemed like the most pressing matter. I needed to talk to her. This was Silver Ridge, and any moment, people would be gossiping about the two of us even more than they had already.

Keeping something quiet around here was not easy. A fact I knew all too well.

I made it to the Big Blue Monster just as toddler music class was letting out. I hovered in the doorway, nodding politely at the moms and babies streaming past. But my eyes were on Emma as she put her guitar in its case. Also on her long legs in her cutoff jean shorts.

She smiled when she saw me. “Hey. Maisie still at her camp?”

“Few more minutes.” I schooled my face into a stern frown, aware all those nosy moms were watching us. “Can we go to my office? We need to talk.”

Emma sighed. “If this is about the trash cart again…” She followed me down the hall. The moment I had her in my office, I pushed her up against the closed door.

“Hi.”

Her eyes glinted with mischief. “Only about half of that audience bought our act.”

“I might not actually care.”

I crashed my mouth onto hers.

Grabbing onto the seat of her jean shorts and hiking her up, I braced her against the door and explored her mouth with my tongue. The kiss was hot and dirty and fast. When she broke away, she was panting. “Wow. That was quite a hello.”

I set her down and grabbed her hand. Pulling her over to my desk chair, I sat and tugged her into my lap. “I did want to talk. We didn’t discuss how we want to handle this. Us.”

Her brows knit. “What do you mean?”

“People are going to be gossiping. We should be on the same page about what to say.”

Emma looked down at where our hands were entwined. “You want to keep this a secret.” Slowly, she pulled her hand away from mine. Her shoulders sagged.

Oh, crap. Understanding hit me. She was thinking of her douchebag ex-boyfriend. The way he’d kept their affair on the down low, which was the exact opposite of the way Emma deserved to be treated.

I wasn’t so sure Icouldkeep this a secret, much less wanted to. And that was mind-blowing in itself.

I hooked her chin with my finger and turned her to face me. “You can let me know what you’d prefer. But I’m up for letting people see and think what they will. I won’t be able to keep a straight face around you anyway. My brother already guessed this morning that something was up with me.”

“You’re okay if people know about us?”

“More than okay.”

A pleased smile grew on her pretty lips. Which meant I had to kiss them. What else was a guy to do?

“The only issue is Maisie,” I said when we broke apart again. “I don’t want to confuse her.”

“Of course. We can be discreet around her. I think that’s wise.”

“As far as what we tell other people…” I began.

“Like you said, let them think what they want.”

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