Page 58 of Mine to Hold
“Thanks, Dad. I appreciate the heavy dose of honesty.”
“Call me if you need anything, son.” Dalton gave Emmerson a man hug before taking her by the shoulders. “This family has adopted you as one of our own. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.” He kissed her cheek. “Make sure my boy here is taking good care of you. He can be a little moody at times, but he’s a good egg.”
“I agree on both counts.” She wrapped her arms around Dalton. Never in her life had she felt so many emotions in one day. But mostly, she felt safe. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, darling.” Dalton snagged his briefcase and waved his free hand over his head.
“You look almost exactly like your father,” Rumor whispered.
“I get that a lot.” He kissed her forehead. “For the record, I’m not moody.”
She laughed. “Yes, you are. But I would be too if I had your job. Honestly, I don’t know how you do it.”
He lifted her off the ground and set her ass on the counter, wrapping her legs around his waist. “I’ve told you before, being a cop in this small town is mostly boring. I scare kids out of the park at night. I deal with stolen bikes. Give speeding tickets. Sometimes the most excitement I have is dealing with naked neighbors having sex in open spaces.” He arched a brow.
“Seriously?”
“A few months ago, we got a call about a couple who were constantly doing the nasty in their outside shower for all the neighbors to see. The problem in this state is if you have a cage over your pool, it’s kind of considered inside and if you want to walk around naked, you can. But they didn’t have a cage. We had to ask them to stop. Only, when I got there, they were in the middle of it.”
“Live porn. What fun.”
“Not really. They were seventy-eight. It was almost worse than walking in on your mother and her new husband.”
“Oh God. That had to have been embarrassing… for your mom.” Rumor rested her hands on his shoulders. Her chest tightened and her heart fluttered. No way could she be falling in love with this man. It couldn’t happen this quick.
And certainly not to her.
“All I can say about that is thankfully I didn’t actually see anything because it would have scarred me worse than having my mother see me naked, handcuffed to a bed.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “With my brother standing there laughing his ass off.”
“Oh my. You didn’t tell me that juicy piece of information before.” She palmed his cheek.
He blinked.
“The five o’clock shadow is sexy, but once it gets to this, you start looking like a bum.”
“I know. The only one of us boys who can do facial hair is Rhett. But he is a bum,” Emmerson said with a beaming smile. “I’ll shave it in the morning. Right now, I have other things on my mind.” He tugged her shirt over her head and pinched her nipple with his thumb and forefinger.
She groaned, dropping her head back, threading her fingers through his short hair as he sucked her nipple into his mouth. She couldn’t get enough of him and she never wanted it to end. She’d sailed into this town and it had touched her heart.
But Emmerson had stolen it and her soul.
He dotted kisses down her stomach as he removed her shorts and panties, tossing them haphazardly to the side. He licked the inside of her thigh, staring up at her with an adoring gaze.
It nearly brought tears to her eyes.
He ran his finger over her hard nub, teasing and toying with her until she begged him to give her the satisfaction only he could deliver. He smiled before diving two fingers inside and lapping at her clit with her legs draped over his shoulders.
She gripped the sides of the counter. Her breaths came in short, raspy pants while she watched him please her until she cried out his name, trembling in the purest of delight.
Never had she felt so loved. Valued. Appreciated. Sexy. A gamut of conflicting emotions washed over her body.
She loved him.
A fact she could no longer deny.
It was the single most gratifying sensation she’d ever felt. And yet she resented it. She resented him for making her fall in love.
She believed he cared, because Emmerson wasn’t the kind of man to take a woman to bed if he didn’t. But after everything he’d been through, she knew he’d never be able to fully give another girl his entire heart again. It wasn’t so much because he was broken, even though he was, a little. But because he was so guarded, he could never truly let anyone in.
