Page 65 of Tackle

She looked up from folding a sweatshirt. “Oh, that’s a good idea.”

Somuch easier than he thought. He left the room with a grin on his face.

About an hour later, there were six boxes sitting by the door ready to go down to his car. “Can you think of anything else you want to grab while we’re here?”

Emerson shook her head, making one last scan of the living room. “I think I’ve got everything I need.”

And then some. Her family photos and books had been removed from the accent shelves and packed. The only things left were a few odds and ends, along with her, in his opinion, much too small television and an older DVD player. Emerson had quite the movie collection but since Oz had all the same movies on his cloud storage there was no point in bringing those either.

All in all, he was pretty pleased with that day’s haul and Emerson seemed none the wiser.

He hugged her around the waist, forcing her up on her tiptoes. “If not, we can always come back,” he murmured against her jaw before capturing her lips.

She opened for him and he deepened the kiss. Her hand landed on his chest and slid up to his shoulder, her fingers digging in to hold on.

White flashes of light pulsed behind his closed lids like fireworks exploding, set in time to the galloping beat of his heart.

She tasted like happiness.

Love.

She tasted like his forever and he wanted that more with each passing day.

A ringing started in his ears and it took him a few seconds to realize Emerson was no longer clutching but pushing at his shoulder.

“Your phone,” she breathlessly said once he broke the kiss.

Still a bit dazed, he reached for it, fumbling it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen, and in that moment, it was the only person he’d pick up for. “It’s Linc.” He didn’t need to say more. Emerson knew he couldn’t miss his call.

“Everything okay?” He heard crying in the background.

“It’s Sophie. She’s been crying for the past hour and I don’t know what to do to make her stop.”

Shit. Oz didn’t know how to stop a kid from crying. “Is she hurt?”

“I don’t think so. At least I don’t see any injuries on her.”

Oz glanced at Emerson and she raised her brows. “Hang on a sec,” he told Linc.

“What’s going on?” Emerson asked.

He filled her in on the problem.

“Maybe we should go over there.”

Nodding, he said into the phone, “We’ll be there soon.” He disconnected and turned to Emerson. “Wait here while I take these boxes down and then we’ll head over to Linc’s.”

“I hope Sophie’s okay.”

“I think it’s more that Linc is out of his depth.”

“The adjustment has got to be hard for them both.”

“Maybe it’s good that you’re coming.”

She shook her head and huffed out a breath. “I don’t know anything about kids either. Especially ones who have just lost their parents.”

He gave her a grin. “We’ll stop for ice cream as insurance.”

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