Page 119 of Tasting Fire
He kissed her on the neck and whispered, “Pretty sure my family is aware that you strip me naked and do kinky things to me.”
“I don’t even know what to do with you.” She shook her head.
“That, Emmy McKay, is a lie. You know all kinds of things to do with me.”
By this time, Way had dislodged the intruding item from his mouth and was staring at it as if he might use one of his custom-made firearms to take it out. “Is this what I think it is?”
Maggie considered the pint-sized troll doll Way was still glaring at and asked, “Why didn’t the hair melt in the oven?”
Emmy covered her eyes with her fingertips and confessed, “They’re no-bake cheesecakes.”
One by one, everyone at the table discovered a small trinket in their dessert.
A green spider ring.
A frog you could make jump by flicking its butt.
A smiley face superball.
A slap bracelet.
A mini Rubik’s cube that wouldn’t turn.
A rubber worm.
A pencil sharpener.
Once they were lined up in the center of the table, Cash couldn’t contain his smile. Every one of those prizes had come out of a quarter candy machine that was still just inside Hoffman’s.
“You kept that crap all these years?” he asked Emmy.
“Regardless of what you might’ve thought, Cash, I remembered and cherished everything you gave me.”
Her words brought a feeling to his throat that he wasn’t eager to let loose in front of his whole family. Because it felt a whole lot like tears. He grabbed Emmy’s hand and his dessert and stood. “We need a few minutes.”
“But we haven’t voted,” Maggie protested.
“You know who has mine,” Cash said as he urged Emmy toward the kitchen where he’d be able to hustle her out the back door.
“You shouldn’t get to vote for someone you’re sleeping with.”
Cash heard his mom say, “I guess that means I can’t choose your dad’s roasted chicken.”
It wasn’t until he had Emmy outside that he realized she didn’t have a cheesecake. “What about yours?”
“I think you got the picture.”
“Emmy, this game we’ve got going, I—”
She held up a hand. “It’s not over yet. Let’s talk about it then.”
“No one’s ever done anything like this for me. Why?”
“Because I want everyone in this town to know how I feel about you.”
“Em—”
She wove her fingers into his hair and pulled him in. The kiss wasn’t nearly as sweet as what he anticipated the cheesecake to be. It was hot and hard and full of so much honesty that those tears in Cash’s throat climbed into his eyes. When she finally let him come up for air, the expression on Emmy’s face could only be described as fierce. “I love you, Cash Kingston.”
“Then tell me this is going to work this time—you and me.” He hated that he still needed her reassurance, but old thought patterns were stubborn that way.
“Nothing and no one is going to stop us.”
