Page 3 of Emmy's Ride

Austin stared at me for a long beat. "This isn’t your world anymore, Emmy. Remember, you couldn’t get away fast enough."

I refused to let him bait me. We both knew what happened. "What did or didn’t happen years ago isn’t important. My brother’s disappearance is, and I need to know if Luke is in trouble."

The silence stretched between us, but something shifted in his eyes.

Finally, he ran a hand through his dark hair, exhaling loudly as he conceded. "Fine. But if you’re in, you follow my lead."

My chin lifted, enabling me to meet his gaze head-on. "I don’t take orders from you, Austin."

His grin was back, sly and knowing—the kind that used to make my panties wet every single time. This time was no different, but I would die before I admitted it.

"You never did. Except in the bedroom. I remember you loving my orders then."

Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I didn’t look away. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. "That was a long time ago."

"Doesn’t feel that way." His voice was lower now, raspier. The way his gaze raked over me made it impossible to forget the nights we stole in secret, the way he used to hold me down, command my body until I was too wrecked to deny how much I wanted him. “I’ve missed you, Emmy.”

His words did funny things to my insides. I wanted to throw back that I hadn’t missed him, but that would have been a lie. "Everything’s changed, Austin."

"Has it?"

“Yes. It had to, remember? You said I couldn’t get away fast enough, but you’re the one who threw me away," I reminded him, needing to direct the power back in my favor.

Austin rolled his shoulders like he was shaking off a weight. "You walked away, Emmy. You made it real damn clear that whatever we had wasn’t worth the fallout."

"I walked away when you gave me no other choice."

"Sure," he muttered. "You always had a plan, didn’t you? Get out, get that fancy degree, and leave this place in your rearview and never come back."

Not my original plan. At one time, I saw my life going in a completely different direction. One that included him. His casual comment about a confusing and painful time in my life shouldn’t have stung, not after all these years. But it did.

"I didn’t leave Luke," I spit back at him. "I called. I visited. And if he’d needed me—really needed me—I would’ve been here."

Austin studied me, something flickering behind his eyes that was quickly masked. "Well, he needs you now."

Right. I exhaled sharply. That’s why I was here. Not to resurrect the past. Not to let Austin get under my skin. "Then tell me where to start."

His expression hardened. "We’re working on finding the last person who saw Luke. Then we pay them a visit."

A chill skated down my spine as I walked out of the clubhouse. I did what I came here to do. Austin agreed to help me find my brother. Now I’d crossed a line I couldn’t uncross. A man I once loved with my whole being was back in my life. There was no turning back.

As I got into my car, I bit my lip to keep the emotional tears from falling. My hand shook as I pressed the button to start the car and, as I pulled out onto the road with the clubhouse in my rearview mirror, I refused to allow myself to go there. But some things were too powerful to deny.

Wild, stupid in love, and convinced Austin King had hung the damn stars in the sky.

We were lying in the back of his truck on blankets, parked on a dirt road near Lake Jordan. My head rested against his chest, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear. We were both naked and glowing from the most incredible orgasms.

“I ever tell you I’m gonna marry you one day?” His voice was laced with that lazy confidence that always made me shiver.

I smiled, tracing his KOC tattoo with my fingertip. “Only every day.”

“Well,” he murmured, tipping his head to look down at me, “don’t forget it.”

I laughed. “You can barely commit to a song on the radio.”

He shifted, turning onto his side so he could hover over me, brushing my hair back from my face. “But I’d commit to you, Em. In a second.”

My breath hitched.

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