Page 79 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
“There you go.” A hint of exasperation colored his voice. He waved a hand toward a display of sofas and chairs. “What do you like?”
“What do you prefer?”
“I don’t care.”
She pinned him with a look. “So if I pick out purple velour, you’re good with that.”
“Leather. Something well built.”
“Thereyougo.” This time, she directed him toward a display. “Emmett, just because your mother enabled you does not mean I’m spending the rest of our lives doing your shopping for you.”
The unthinking words hit her consciousness the same moment they spilled from her lips. She blinked, trying to get her wits back about her, and his chest moved with a deep breath, his mouth parted as he looked down at her. He swallowed, throat bobbing, and for a moment, she cringed from what might come from his lips.
“I knowhowto shop, Savannah.” The gentle tone and avoidance of the elephant between them had her sagging in relief. “I simply don’t like to. I do quality and classic so I don’t have to do it often. When I care, I care. I’ll make you nuts the first time we’re in a sporting goods store together.”
She nodded, her throat still tight, and when she spoke, her words had a shaky edge to them. “Okay, leather and well built. Black or brown?”
“Brown.”
“You said classic.”
“And comfortable.” He smiled, a hint of wickedness in his gaze. “Classic, quality, and comfortable—like a Caddy.”
He curled a hand along her waist, and she paused in the act of checking a price tag on a great brown leather sofa and eyed him suspiciously. He was teasing in some way, and again, that rare fizz of happiness danced through her.
Twice in one day. As much as the emotion made her kind-of-terrified, she appreciated the return of it to her life. She hadn’t truly experienced that surge of joy since Gates had died.
Her gaze lingered on Emmett’s profile as he examined the sofa’s seams and ran a hand over the leather. Everyone who counted—Amy, Rob, Emmett himself—insisted she simply let go and enjoy being with him. They all seemed confident the relationship would work itself out. The very thought made her want to hyperventilate, kind of like standing too close to the edge of that lime pit.
The return of long-forgotten happiness beckoned her closer to the edge.
And Emmett had promised he wouldn’t let her fall.
She pulled in a couple of centering breaths, aware of another emotion hovering at the edges of the bubbling joy. Hope fluttered with tentative wings, urging her to take in glimpses of the future while reassuring her everything would be okay.
Emmett stepped back from the sofa, hands at his duty belt, and eyed the piece. Savannah let her gaze trace over the familiar lines of his face, the solid breadth of his shoulders, and the strength in his arms. Hope and joy, Landra had called him, and now Savannah could see that, both qualities wrapped up in steady strength and security.
Maybe she could let go with him.
“Do you like it?” He turned his attention to her. His gaze sharpened on her face, and his brows dipped. “What is it?”
She struggled to pull her thoughts and emotions into a cohesive state. “I’m sorry?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m just…thinking.” She didn’t have to fake her pensive smile. With a shaky hand, she smoothed the edge of his perfectly straight collar, his lieutenant’s gold bar cool under her fingertip. “About you and today. And maybe tomorrow.”
His chest moved with a harsh breath. “You cannot say things to me like that in public when I’m in uniform.”
A tremulous laugh escaped her. “Why?”
His eyes darkened. “Because it makes me want to do things to you that would get me called on Calvert’s carpet so fast it wouldn’t be funny.”
Desire twined about the joy and set off a heaviness between her thighs. She trailed a fingertip down the placket of his shirt, the vest unyielding beneath her touch. “So we should order the couch. Then we can go home and I can get you out of this uniform in private.”
* * * * *
She knew it was a dream because she lay in their sun-dappled bedroom in Valdosta, and the bed beside her remained empty. Sheknewthis dream and desperately wanted to escape, to wake to a much different reality.
