Page 52 of Always Be an Us

But it's important to drag her back to reality.

Before either of us can say anything further, we're interrupted by the fervent revving of a vehicle.

And by vehicle I mean a sleek red Bugatti that just about screams its presence from miles away. I frown at the approach. That kind of car seems wholly out of place in a town like this. And I hate the way the loudness shatters through the trees, disturbing the delicate nature. It feels disruptive and rude.

And then the car drives right up to my hotel and the driver gets out of the car.

I groan.

"Who’s that?" Emma asks.

"You don't want to know," I respond.

Micah, dressed in what appears to be a black Armani suit. The two top buttons of his shirt are undone and he walks up to us with his usual swagger and takes off his dark sunglasses.

His eyes give Emma an appreciative once over and he says, "Well hello beautiful. If I had known I would be seeing you today, I would have worn the silver Armani. Brings out my eyes better than this junk."

Emma grins and blushes a little despite herself. "You look fine," she says. "But I think you probably already knew that."

"You're right." He winks. "I knew it. But it's nice hearing it from you, though."

Emma shakes her head still smiling and I frown as a dark emotion flows through me. My stomach clenches itself.

Jealousy?

Never. I probably ate something rotten.

"What do you want?" I ask Micah.

He raises an eyebrow. "Well hello to see you too, Grumpy. What crawled into your sleeping tent?"

"I have a lot of work to do. So tell me what you want and then get lost."

"Declan," Emma scolds. "You're being rude."

"Yeah Declan, don't be rude to your good friend, Micah." Micah grins when he says it.

I ignore him, turning back to Emma. "Do you want me to give you a ride home? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you driving back in that."

"Oh, it'll be fine. I drive Annie all the time."

"Annie?"

"Yeah. She's Lou's car."

I don't even want to ask who Lou is. It seems Emma knows far too many people for me to keep track of.

"Besides," she says. "I'm not going home. I'm going to check in on my Grandpa. Gracie says there's a good chance he wakes up today."

"Alright," I say, not asking who Gracie is either. "Tell him I said hi, I guess."

"Will do. I'll see you later. And it was nice meeting you..." She lets it trail off for one of us to fill in the silence.

I don't volunteer but Micah winks at her again.

"Micah," he says. "But pretty soon, you'll be calling me yours."

Emma snorts. "Right. I'll see you around, Micah. Declan."

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