Page 39 of Reckless Hearts
I knew she’d say that. It’s the same advice she gave Tess about Levi and Savannah about Weston, but we all can’t just go word-vomiting our deepest feelings. “I can’t. I don’t want to ruin things between us, but I also don’t know how much longer I can keep being casual.”
Claire’s expression softened. “But what if it didn’t ruin things between you two? What if he feels the same?”
I scoffed. “There’s no way.” It didn’t matter how much he comforted me on Tuesday; I knew Emmett didn’t have feelings for me. He might’ve cared for me and enjoyed having sex with me, but that was it. And the care only stemmed from the sex.
“Only one way to find out.” Horse hooves clicked on the concrete down the aisle, and I straightened off the wall, going back to Willow.
“You two make up?” Beau asked, his gaze flicking between Claire and me.
I glanced at Claire, who was watching me apprehensively, waiting for my answer. “Yeah,” I finally said, smiling. “We did.” She smiled back at me, the relief evident in her eyes.
“Tell Delilah to tell the guy she likes that she likes him,” Claire told her boyfriend.
I gasped. “Never mind, we’re not made up.”
“It’s true! You need to tell him.”
Beau backed away from us, hands held up in surrender. “Hell no. I’m not gettin’ in between anything involvin’ you two ever again. I’ve learned my lesson.” But as he turned to go back to his horse, Daisy, he said, “Tell him. You’ll feel a hell of a lot better when you do.”
And once he was gone, Claire came to my side, petting Willow. “He’s right. Before we got together, and I was holding back how I felt, it was suffocating. It felt like I was dragging around a fifty-pound weight with me everywhere I went.” Thenshe smiled softly, lost in a memory. “But then I told him, and it felt like I could breathe again.”
Normally, a response like that would’ve had me disgusted with how gooey and corny it was. But now that the situation had changed, I wanted to breathe fully. I wanted that soft, longing smile while I thought of Emmett. I wanted everything with him. I wanted him to love me, too, and I didn’t know if he ever would—if he’d let himself with everything he’d been through.
Willow huffed, fracturing the moment. “I’d better go take her out before she starts pouting,” I said, kind of thankful for the out she’d given me.
“Okay. But think about what I said.” Then she hugged me quick and tight. “Love you.”
I smiled, small but real. “Love you.”
Willowand I walked around for a good hour and a half before I had to get back to work. While Claire said she trusted me and we had made up, there was still that need to earn my place here and prove everyone wrong. I was determined now more than ever to do it. Call it spite or whatever, but I wanted to make sure no one ever doubted me again after our successful launch next month.
And that meant finding a new sponsor.
I walked into my office and was immediately attacked by a big, sexy blonde man. “Hi,” I squeaked against Emmett’s mouth.
He pushed me up against my door. “Been waiting for you for forty-five minutes,” he said, kissing down my neck. My breath caught in the back of my throat when his tongue ran along the sensitive spot by my ear.
“Emmett,” I murmured. My hands curled in his shirt, and I didn’t know if it was to push him off or pull him closer. After my conversation with Claire and some time to think about it, Iwasn’t sure I could do this with him anymore. But I also wasn’t ready for this to end.
He picked me up and crossed my office in two steps, laying me down on the loveseat. He looked down at me, breathing hard, eyes roaming all over my face. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”
Before I could say anything, his lips were on mine again, kissing me like he needed me to breathe. His hips rolled into mine, pressing every perfect, hard inch of him against me. My blood hummed in my veins, my mind muddled with need for him. “Feel so good, baby,” I whimpered, tilting my hips up for more.
“I love it when you call me that.” Another thrust against me had my eyes rolling shut and swallowing back a moan. “Love everything about you, sugar. I can’t get enough.”
I froze, my eyes snapping open.
No. I couldn’t do this. Not now. Not while my head was all over the place. I pushed on his chest. “Stop,” I choked out. “Stop.”
He pulled back instantly, propping himself up so not one part of his body touched mine. “What is it?” Those green eyes of his flooded with worry, and I couldn’t take it. “What’s wrong?”
I sat up, my head spinning. “I can’t…” The words died on my tongue when I saw him sitting across from me. Saw the way the sunlight filtered in through the window and highlighted the side of his face. The way his curls had little wisps of gold in them. The way the ink on his neck thumped with his pulse. He was everything to me, all I’d ever wanted. And while I knew the only way to find out how he felt was to talk about it, I couldn’t get the words out. Not yet.
“I just”—I swallowed—“I have my period. I’m sorry.” I was due any day and cramping like crazy, so it wasn’t a total lie.
“Oh. Don’t be sorry about that.” He took my hand, the corner of his mouth tilting with an endearing smile that swiftly became the center of my universe. “Do you need anything? Ice cream? A Pixy Stick? Midol? Something salty?”
I’d quickly begun to adore how caring he was. It was a side of him I’d never seen until we started hooking up.
