Page 31 of Play Action Pass

A thousand-pound weight was lifted from her shoulders. Peace descended into her heart. All from watching people enjoy belting off-key songs in a Country-Western karaoke bar. She glanced at Coleson. Maybe he had a hand in it as well.

Her name was called out, snapping out of whatever self-inflection she’d been lost in. Coleson smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. Each step up to the stage matched the staccato rhythm of her heart. When she reached the microphone, the DJ gave a thumbs-up and the words appeared on the monitor in front of her. The music started, and a moment later, she sang thewords to “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” She had a friend at the all-girls boarding school she’d attended, who loved Mama Cass. She’d play her music over and over. Some of the other girls in the dorm hated the repetitive songs, but Emmie enjoyed listening to something that had been forbidden by her parents.

Emmie wouldn’t call this a country song, but it definitely was a song that brought back happy memories. Once she was done, the whole place started clapping. She flushed and bowed her head as she made her way off the stage, but Coleson was there and he grabbed her hand, pulling her back. He took the microphone and the music started. Emmie couldn’t be embarrassed when she was trapped in his beautiful gaze. He started serenading her to a song by Phil Collins, called “Groovy Kind of Love,” and the melody was soft and beautiful. He stared into her eyes as he sang to her, and her heart swooned. In that moment, it was suddenly clear she didn’t want them to end when summer was over. This was a man worth being honest with. A man she could share her secrets with.

When the song ended, he scooped her up in his arms and marched across the stage while people whooped and hollered while clapping. The next singer came up and gave them a thumbs-up. Once off the stage, he kissed her like a man dying of thirst who just found an oasis.

That night, their unspoken feelings heighted every kiss. Every caress. He settled between the apex of her thighs. Using two fingers, his talented tongue rasped against her sensitive clit, and her body arched like it had touched a live wire. She buried her hand in his hair, making sure he stayed where he was until she vaulted over the edge.

Then they were moving together in a rhythm older than time. Straining. Yearning to fly. And when they reached that plateau of Heaven, it was if they were one body. One beating heart. Emmie knew it was time to come clean, sooner ratherthan later, and hoped like hell Coleson wanted to stick around.

Chapter Eighteen

The ice cream parlor was busy. Emmie and Coleson waited patiently in line, talking and keeping to themselves. He kept pulling her close and kissing her somewhere on the face. She’d laugh and pretend to pull away and he’d pull her back into his arms.

“What flavor ice cream are you going to get?” she asked.

His eyes widened. “What? You don’t know my favorite flavor of ice cream? I’m devastated. You don’t care for me—”

She slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh, my goodness. Are you always so dramatic?”

He nipped at her fingers and she pulled them away. “Moi?”

Rolling her eyes, she shuffled forward as the customer in front of her finished their order. Coleson wrapped his arms around her to murmur in her ear.

“You’re going to get salted caramel ribbon, am I right?”

He nipped her earlobe and she squirmed.

“Stop that,” she whispered.

“Why?” he probed while his warm breath softly blew in her ear. “Are you getting hot and bothered?”

“Just wait until we get home,” she warned. “I’m going to drive you crazy.”

“Oh, baby, you already do.”

“Emmie, Coleson, it’s so good to see you again.” They whipped their heads around and saw Mallory smiling at them. “Let me guess. Salted caramel ribbon? Double chocolate fudge?”

“Right on both. How’d you know?”

“When you run an ice cream parlor, you gain the wisdom of the cosmos.”

She seemed so serious, until a small smile cracked her mouth. Then they were laughing.

Once they got their ice cream, Coleson paid and they waved at Mallory as they headed to the exit. As soon as he opened the door to exit, a flash went off in his face. He blinked and stumbled back, directly into her which caused her to drop her ice cream.

“Damn it,” she muttered.

They were surrounded by reporters as they pressed forward, each one trying hard to outdo the other. Questions flew, surrounding them. Each one more intrusive than the other. Coleson pushed her back into the ice cream parlor and closed the door. The reporters pressed up against the window, cameras going off to capture a perfect shot. The remaining patrons inside the shop stared at them, whispering to each other.

“Shit,” Coleson muttered. “How the fuck did they find me?”

“How did they know I was here?”

Both turned to look at each other.

“You?”

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