Page 97 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
Emmett glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to shower and get back in the office. Post for the job and I’ll forward it to Calvert.”
“Thanks.” Troy Lee frowned at him. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Not really.” He settled for partial honesty. “But I will be.”
* * * * *
Savannah woke alone, wrapped in sheets that bore Emmett’s clean scent. Her awareness was foggy and dense, much like the mist wrapped around the pine trees lining the river. With the ER slammed, she’d pulled a double shift, and when she’d arrived home well after one in the morning, he’d already been in bed, asleep with one of his grad-school leadership texts splayed across his chest. Exhausted, she’d grabbed a five-minute shower, laid the book aside, and crawled in next to him.
She didn’t like waking up without him, without his arm across her waist and his thighs under hers. She’d gotten addicted to the smell and feel of him.
Sheet clutched to her chest, she sat up. The house lay quiet around her, with none of his usual music-streaming reaching her ears. The rich scent of coffee lingered in the air, so he probably wasn’t far away.
Thisneedfor him was crazy. A holdover from earlier in the week, those awful hours when she’d had to worry about him. She didn’t need him in order to do every day, but sheneededhim.
Maybe instead of “I think I love you,” she should have said, “I need you” the other morning. It was more accurate, made more sense, and didn’t scare the hell out of her. She pushed the sheets aside and swung out of bed.
The house was indeed empty, his phone and wallet gone, but the truck in the drive next to her car. The coffee pot was full, thanks to its preprogramming. She poured a cup and took it out to the back deck. A hint of coolness touched the air, and with her robe tucked around her, she curled into one of the Adirondack chairs. Birds chattered to life in the trees, and the heavy murmur of the river carried up the bank. She sipped at her coffee and soaked in the stillness, the sense of home.
Footsteps thudded on the side stairs, and she smiled into her mug. That had to be the other half of home. Sure enough, the French door behind her swung open moments later.
“Hey.” He leaned over the back of the chair, enveloping her in scents of morning mist, pine, and sweat as he kissed her. His skin was damp under her touch, and his hair stuck out from his head in crazy spikes.
“Have you been running?” If so, she was going to kill him. The key idea was to rest until those bruises healed. She held on to his nape with one hand, wanting to keep him near.
“Biking with Clark.” He made a disparaging noise in his throat and kissed her again. “He doesn’t run unless something is chasing him.”
She released him without comment. At least it was low-impact exercise, and the bruises were slowly healing, turning to shades of darker purple and yellowing at the edges. Besides, keeping him completely contained appeared an impossible task; it seemed he’d saved up months of energy from his recuperation. He dropped into the chair next to hers and reached for her mug to take a sip. She hugged the sweet normalcy of the moment to her.
Pulling one knee to her chest, she trailed her finger along his wrist. “So if you’re up for biking, I assume that means you’re up for tailgating at Rob and Amy’s this afternoon?”
“It’s Georgia-Auburn weekend. Of course I’m up for it, even though we’re going to lose.” He frowned, brows drawing together and forehead wrinkling. “How obnoxious is Bennett when Auburn wins?”
She laughed. “Not very because he wins either way.”
Emmett’s frown deepened. “What?”
“They make sex bets on the game.”
His mouth parted. “That is brilliant. There’s only one problem.”
She smiled. “We root for the same team.”
“Yeah.” He rotated his wrist under her hand to link their fingers. “Give me some time to think about it and I’ll figure out a way to make it work for us.”
“Go for it.” She aligned her palm to his, enjoying the warmth. She loved the light teasing, but beneath, she still sensed hints of the insecurity he’d brought home with him the night of the shooting. He loved her, she needed him, they were basically living together…and somehow it wasn’t enough to make him trust her. She didn’t know how to give him what he needed.
So she avoided the hell out of confronting the disconnect, out of fear that doing so would break the fragile bonds between them. She didn’t want to lose him.
“What’s on your agenda for the day?” She rubbed her fingertips over his knuckles.
“Locking myself in the office and finishing that leadership paper so I can go tailgating with you later. Sorry, babe, but I have to get it done so I can run it through the writing center before it’s due.”
“No problem. I understand completely, believe me. Amy says they didn’t see me for days when I was studying for boards.”
The day passed quietly. He did indeed closet himself in the office, emerging only to grab a sandwich at lunch. Savannah caught up on several loads of laundry, read a handful of journal articles, and dozed through an action movie.
The roar of an enraged alien startled her from light slumber. She blinked at the television and fingered the edge of the warm throw draped over her shoulders. She smiled—Emmett had obviously emerged at some point to cover her while she napped. From the office behind her, he sang along quietly with Sidewalk Prophets, accompanied by the hushed clicking of his laptop keyboard.
