Page 47 of Owning Emma

Chapter 21

SHAW

Royal camewith a beauty attached to his arm, as I suspected. What wasn’t suspected was the title attached to it. Wife. He had a wife and I couldn’t help wonder what that might feel like exactly. Images of Emma flashed through my mind and I knew how farfetched it was, I knew the possibility as more of an impossibility. But, I had never wanted something more in my entire existence.

We had been gathered around a table, lounging, discussing the matter at hand, the loan of some of his men to find the mole within ours, when Emma walked in. She had a plate of cookies in her hand and a tiny dust of flour on her nose and as always, she looked perfect. She laid the plate on the table and I winked, savoring the slight blush that creeped past her shirt line and covered her cheeks, before she turned and left the room.

“Have something to say, Russo?” Roman’s eyes locked on Royal, daring him to comment.

He looked like he was ready to burst with laughter, but he held it in. “I see your treat extends past the plate in front of us.”

Roman reached over, grabbed a perfectly decorated cookie, and took a bite before declaring, “I’ve never touched her.”

“Yet,” Royal taunted, grabbing a sweet of his own.

Yet, was definitely a keyword that was up for discussion because at the rate things were going, how long could either of us keep our hands off her? Roman took another bite and chewed slowly before saying, “It’s not like that; she’s our employee.”

Royal swiped a finger through the frosting of his cupcake and pointed out, “She’s your employee. Not Shaw’s.”

Damn him, why did he have to bring me into this? Roman’s hand came down hard on the table, the plate with desserts shook under the motion. “Sharing a woman with Shaw isn’t something I’m a stranger to, you know that. We share, we fuck solo, we don’t fucking care. But that girl, I forbid him to touch her when I am not around.”

Royal wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Roman’s outburst. “So, he can touch her when you are around?”

Shit, this conversation was taking a turn that had my cock hardening under the table and my mind roaming to possibilities I would never see. Roman scrapped his hands over his face no doubt trying to clear the same damn images that I now had. “She’s making me weak, man. Look at her.” I hummed my agreement. “She’s flawless and so damn innocent all I want to do is leave my hand prints on her skin while I dirty her up.”

Royal nodded knowingly, like he knew we were seconds away from crumbling and dragging that girl back to our cave like barbarians. “Are you going to make a move?”

“I can’t do it, man. Shit, just being around all of the men here is corruption enough.” Then Roman shoved a piece of cookie in his mouth and changed the subject to Royal’s new wife. Interesting story they had and I suspected it hadn’t even begun to reach fruition but for now, he had a wife in name, but not in body. I could only imagine how cranky that would make a guy.

When the truth of Royal’s marriage was out, Roman tapped the table a few times and told the truth, the full truth to Royal. “This meeting, it’s about Emma, just so you know. Krank had his eye on the girl, and he’s mad that we got her first. Her father owed us both money. She’s living here to help work off the debt while also working at her father’s bakery.”

“Sounds familiar,” he snorted, “Why do girls get stuck with such shitty fathers? How serious is the issue with Krank?”

“He’s threatened Emma’s life and our compound. I-I think,” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing, “I am positive one of my men is a traitor and assisting him. I need new eyes, help from people I can trust that wouldn’t immediately send warning bells that I’m onto the situation until the situation is handled and under control.”

He let it out. Let him know the real reason he suspected a traitor and needed his men’s protection, if he agreed to help. It wasn’t just his property or his own life on the line, it was Emma’s, and there was no way we could risk it. Royal rubbed his hands together while he thought about it, no doubt imagining how he would feel if it was his wife in that situation. “I can help with that. Do you know how long?”

“As long as it takes. I don’t care about the compound, Royal. It can all be rebuilt, but I don’t want a single strand of hair touched on her head. Not one.”

“Understood,” Royal declared and for once, I knew I didn’t have to question the clarity of the knowledge because I knew he probably ran through every possible situation in his head already, only putting Bianca in Emma’s place.

They worked out the details loosely, promising that tomorrow we could meet before they left to arrange the more intricate details. When all major info was arranged and our stomachs began to growl, we abandoned the room in search of the ladies. We found them in the kitchen, already dressed in pretty little dresses, and Royal gravitated to his new wife like he couldn’t fight the pull.

“Oh, that’s going to hit him so hard,” Roman said next to me, as we eyed Royal.

“I’m afraid it’s already hit.”

He agreed and I followed him as he approached Emma. “What do you need help with?”

She looked a bit flustered, “Oh, I’ve got it. No worries.”

“Emma,” I said sharply, and she stopped her movement and turned to me, her eyes questioning my tone, “We are here to help you, let us help.”

She wrung her hands in front of her, “I-I don’t want to make you do anything, you have a friend over.”

She made it sound like we were teenagers. “First of all, if we didn’t help, Royal would hand us our balls with a bow, secondly, you have your friend helping.”

“Only stirring the pot,” she whispered, “I couldn’t think of anything else.”

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