Page 55 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
“Don’t worry about it.” Sounding supremely pleased with herself, she kissed the side of his throat. “You’re a couple up on me, remember?”
“We’re not keeping score. We don’t have that kind of relationship.” Shit, he was sweating, breathing hard like he’d been running with Troy Lee and his insane pace. His heart wanted to pound out of his chest, and he couldn’t get enough oxygen. Could a guy have a sex-induced heart attack at twenty-six? He heaved in a couple of breaths. “Fuck, did I just say relationship?”
“Yes.” She gave a lazy stretch against him. “You did.”
“You’re not going to leave me because of that, right?”
“No.” She wrapped an arm across his waist, lips resting against his pectoral. “I’m not going to leave you.”
“Good.” He folded both his arms about her and hugged her to him. Man, she felt good, all soft and boneless in his easy embrace. He buried his mouth in her hair. “Because that could be damn addictive.”
Silence hovered around them, broken only by his own hard breathing returning to normal and the quiet hum of crickets. He stroked his hand over her tousled hair, unbelievably silky beneath his palm. Nothing was settled between them, but they felt different, almost like he could breathe easy and let go, let himself trust for a little while.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she flexed her hand along his ribs. “So what do we do, Savannah?”
“We do Hamilton’s baptism and that fundraiser you keep talking about. You take care of your sister, as much as she’ll let you.” She moved a shoulder in a light shrug and yawned. “We keep doing tomorrow and see where we end up.”
* * * * *
Savannah rested her head on the window and watched the town open up around them. Streetlights cast pools of golden light on deserted sidewalks, and only a couple of cars passed by them on the main streets near the courthouse square. Colton Dixon crooned from the radio, and Emmett sang along quietly, tapping his palm against the wheel.
She smiled at the relaxed line of his shoulders, even though his expression remained a little pensive.
Being with him like this felt good.
He swung the right into the complex lot and braked harder than necessary.
“Ah, fuck.” His agonized whisper sounded anything but relaxed, and she sent a quick, searching glanced across the parking lot.
“What?” She didn’t see anything out of place, other than a white Chevrolet Z71 in his parking spot. She laid a hand on his thigh, singing with stress under her palm.
He didn’t reply, a muscle flicking above his rigid jaw. He parked in one of the empty spots down from their apartments and killed the engine. His phone rang, and he snatched it from the console to glare at the screen before swiping to answer.
“Fuck off. I’m pissed as hell at you.” He listened a moment, brows drawn into a deep scowl. “Yeah, let’s go to lunch tomorrow. I can ream your ass then.”
A squawk of laughter that sounded suspiciously like Clark Dempsey’s carried through the device, and Emmett’s glare deepened. “Not funny, Clark. Asshole.”
He cut off the call, shoved the phone in his pocket, and pushed his door open. Savannah followed and joined him on the walkway before the ground-floor apartments. Whatever he saw that she didn’t had completely undone everything she’d done earlier to relax him.
His front door opened and shut, and Tick Calvert approached them, dressed casually in jeans and a red polo.
“Did they call you?” Emmett flung a hand toward the Ford Taurus sitting in a visitor’s spot.
Brows lifted, Calvert rested his hands at his hips. “No. I came by to check on Landra and bring her my extra shotgun, but I see you already took care of that.”
“Yeah, because I’m gonna leave her alone without a way to protect herself.” Emmett’s posture didn’t relax. “How long has Mama been here?”
“About an hour.”
“How wound up is she?”
“On a scale of one to ten?” Calvert shrugged, a slight grin playing about his mouth. “About a twelve.”
“Great.” Emmett groaned, body dipping at the knees. “Let me guess, they think I’m out getting into trouble.”
“Probably not the kind you were actually getting into.”
Savannah startled as Calvert reached out and plucked a piece of pine straw from her tousled hair. A flush spread over Emmett’s cheekbones, and Calvert grinned.
