Page 77 of Resisting the Temptation
“You shouldn’t have to thank me for that, but you’re welcome. What else do you need to pack?”
Emma closes the drawer and drops the bundle of underwear in her bag before I can see it.
“I think just my phone charger and my Kindle.” She grabs the items and zips her bag.
Then, she grabs the pillow off of her bed and shoves it between the two smaller handles on the duffle bag before slinging it over her shoulder.
“You know hotels have pillows, right?”
“Yes. Butmypillow is the perfect firmness and has already been broken in. Hotel pillows are usually too lumpy or too fluffy, and then I won’t be able to sleep.”
I guess that makes sense.
“Okay then. Last chance to grab something before we hit the road.” I glance at the time on my phone. “We should be able to make it to Vegas by eight with a few pit stops.”
Emma glances around her room again, then double checks the bathroom before she deems herself ready.
When she goes to reach for the duffle bag, I swoop in and grab it before she can.
“I can carry my own bag,” she huffs.
“I know. So can I. Let’s go, honey.”
Emma follows behind me as we walk out her front door. She locks it, then we walk to my car where I deposit the bag into the back seat, then open Emma’s door for her.
She picks up the plastic bag in her way. “What’s this?”
“Road trip snacks.” I give her shoulder a little shove to get her to sit down so I can close the door, then round the car to settleinto the driver’s side.
Emma’s rifling through the bag with her brows furrowed when I close my door.
“How did you know these are my favorites?”
I shrug. “I pay attention.You and I have spent a lot of time in the car together.”
“I didn’t know you paid attention to those kinds of things.”
I start the car, then look her dead in the eye when I say, “I pay attention to everything about you,Dulzura.”
I watch Emma’s throat work on a swallow. “Well, thank you. It was very thoughtful of you.”
“I take care of what’s mine.”
Whatever reply she had is cut off by my phone connecting to the Bluetooth, and the voices of the podcasters coming over the speakers.
When I get it turned off, Emma gives me an unamused look. “Are you seriously listening to a podcast aboutconstruction?”
“It’s our field!”
“You’re not supposed to make it your whole life! Listen to a true crime podcast or an audiobook for crying out loud.”
“Got any recommendations?”
“Actually, yes. There’s a great new audiobook out now about a vanilla businessman who gets snowed in with two loggers who arereallyinto primal play and—”
“Che cazzo?What the hell kind of books do you read?”
Emma smirks. “That’s tame compared to the other one I just read about a mafia boss who breaks into this girl’s apartment and watches her sleep and then stalks her until she falls in love with him. Ooo or I could tell you about the one where her twostep-brothers—”
