Page 104 of Tasting Fire
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As lovely asit had been to spend the day in Cash’s potting shed and bed, when Emmy woke the next morning, it was time to go back to the real world. Return to all the weird things happening around her.
She found Cash in his kitchen, wearing half-buttoned jeans and flipping an herb-studded omelet. Hugging him around the waist, she said, “All this and breakfast, too? Youarea keeper.”
He twisted around to look down at her, his expression unusually serious after the laughter- and passion-filled hours they’d spent together. “Em, promise me you won’t ever say things that you don’t mean.”
Feeling emotionally slapped out of her good mood, she tried to step back, but he just moved with her. “Why would you say that?” she asked, unable to keep the hurt from bleeding through her tone.
“Things have been unsettled around here. I don’t want you to mistake that instability for… something else.”
Emmy worked to shake off her immediate reaction. This wasn’t Cash taking a swipe at her. It was the uncertainty she’d planted and he’d allowed to grow for years. “I wouldn’t and I’m not.”
“How can you be sure?”
She couldn’t blame him for questioning her. After all, she was still sorting out her own feelings about so much. But one thing she knew was how she felt about him. “I get that we’ve experienced some high-emotion situations together recently. And I’ve been damn impressed with how you’ve handled all of them. But in my book, adrenaline alone does not lead to love.”
“What does?”
“Heck if I know. Maybe it’s a hodgepodge of things—respect, desire, trust, lust, admiration, need. Like a spice blend.”
“The twenty-one seasonings of love,” he mused. “You might be right.”
Emmy rose to her toes and kissed him. Warm lips and honest affection. “I’m not leaving this time,” she assured him. “I know who I am and whatIreally want now. I’m done listening to old recordings in my head.”
“Does that mean you’ll go to the next Kingston family potluck with me?”
“As your girlfriend?”
“How about as my future baby mama?”
“Or as—” Emmy laughed and cut herself off as a thought flashed like lightning through her mind. If Cash needed to be reassured that she was all in this time, she could do that. She could woo him like he’d never been wooed before.
“Or what?”
She gave him a bright smile. “Or whatever else you want. As long as I get to sit at that table holding your hand, I’ll be happy.” She sighed. “But today, we need to figure out if someone’s decided I shouldn’t be in Steele Ridge, and if so, who that is.”
“Holy… holy fuck.” Cash’s eyes went wide.
“What?”
“Who was the first person who didn’t want you in this town?”
“You?”
He frowned at her. “Can we forget that? I’m talking about your ex. Think about it. He obviously didn’t want you to take a job down here. You already believe he’s behind that trumped-up lawsuit.”
“But… Throwing bricks and setting fires isn’t exactly Oliver’s style. Besides, he’s in Baltimore.”
“Emmy, I checked out the dude. He has enough money to buy a shit-ton of bricks and hire people to toss them.”
“That just doesn’t seem like something he would do.”
“Desperation drives men to do dangerous things.”
“If Oliver is responsible for any of this, it’s not because he’s not driven by desperation for me. More like sour grapes.”
“Doesn’t make him any less guilty. Or any less of an asshole.” Cash turned back to slide the massive omelet onto a plate and turn off the gas burner.
