Page 91 of The Gilded Cuff
“How long was I here?” She’d forgotten if he’d told her.
“A day. Royce watched over you while I got Hans cleared and he went home for a few hours. I stayed here and used one of the hospital room showers. There was blood and…well, I needed to get it off.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him and burrowed closer.
They lay together for a long while, their breathing matched so perfectly she could have sworn they were one being, not two.
“Emery…”
“Yes?” His tone was so gentle, so sweet.
“I’d like to tell you about Rachel.”
“I’d love to hear about her.” His words were a little rough. “Why don’t I bring you home and you can tell me all about her? I think I’ll be able to convince the doctors to let you come home if I hire a fleet of private nurses.”
“Home?” She eyed the whitewashed hospital walls. It would be nice to get away from here. It might be hard to heal in a place like this.
“Yes, our home. Lockwood is ours now, not just mine. Do you feel up to leaving early?” He shifted closer on his chair and let his fingertips linger on her cheeks, where he’d been gently stroking her skin.
“Yes. Take me home, Emery.”
His full sensual lips curved in a bright smile that was nearly blinding. True joy lit every part of his eyes; no shadows lingered. He’d banished his demons, and she knew that loving him had been half the battle. The other half had been saving him and finding out Fenn was alive. She would share his heart with Fenn; it was the way of twins and she didn’t mind. He was alive and he loved her. Love was all that mattered.
***
Sophie winced as she eased into Emery’s bed. It had been three days since she’d come home from the hospital. Three days that had felt like a lifetime. They’d found out that Hayden Thorne hadn’t gone to Michigan as she’d told them, but instead had flown to Colorado ahead of her brother in a feminine knight errant attempt to rescue the lost Lockwood brother herself.
Fenn was coming home soon. Once Fenn was here he’d be safe, and the brothers could come up with a plan for how find out who really wanted them dead. Sophie had an idea, too, and planned to make sure she helped.
They were going to be meeting Fenn in a day or two. He and Emery had talked on the phone. Emery had rushed into the room the first night she’d come home and he’d been flushed, excited, like a boy again. The memory made her smile.
“Sophie, you wouldn’t believe it. He sounds just like me!” He’d laughed and stalked toward the bed, and her, tossing the phone at the foot of the bed as he stripped out of his coat and crawled toward her, grinning.
“Just like you, huh?” She laughed and tipped her head back, letting her tired body rest on the pillows as he caged her in, carefully, and stole a deep, seductive kiss.
The taste of him, so addictive, went straight to her head, and she couldn’t remember that she’d been hurting moments ago. There was only him and his wonderful lips, loving her with little nips, sensual caresses, and that ragged breathing that told her he was just as lost to their passion as she was. A universe only for them. Just the two of them. She would never have guessed it could be like this, not between them. Sexy, yet sweet. He’d made plenty of delicious threats that once she was fully healed, Master Emery would be back and expecting his little sub to please him, but until then, she had this other side of him, one she loved as equally as his dominant side.
When their lips finally broke apart, he sat back and held out a pair of familiar bracelets. Her gilded cuffs.
“My cuffs!” She reached for them, but he lifted them out of her reach, a wicked flirty grin teasing his mouth.
“What are you willing to do to earn them back, little sub?” he demanded, but his tone was light and sweet.
She lowered her lashes, and peeped up at him impishly, knowing it would undo him. “Whatever my master wishes.”
He dropped the cuffs onto the bed and leaned over her again, this time kissing a path to her ear, where he licked the inner shell and she arched up, ignoring the twinge of her sore body. She wanted him, wanted him so much that the ache for him replaced most of her other hurts.
“Easy, sweetheart,” he scolded. “Don’t hurt yourself. There will be plenty of time later for that.” He eased onto the bed beside her and carefully pulled her into his embrace, holding her. She sighed and rested her cheek against his chest.
“You promised you would tell me about Rachel,” he said. “Are you ready? I would like to hear about her.” Emery rubbed her hip with one hand and pressed a kiss to the crown of her hair.
She was ready. There was a flicker of old pain, like when one has a scar that sometimes aches. But she ignored it and started to talk.
“Our favorite holiday was the Fourth of July. She used to get tons of sparklers…We always managed to set fire to something…”
Emery’s laugh vibrated through her and she laughed too.
“One time we chased away her brother and his friend with a bunch of bottle rockets after they’d teased us. They stayed clear of us after that.”
