Should I have mentioned Harper going to see her father? Who the fuck knows? It’s done now. I woke up to a long note explicitly stating where she had gone, who she was with, and when she would be back.

She did everything we asked of her. She’s letting us follow her around and telling us where she’s going. Knowing that Cillian was with her eased any concern I might have had. He wouldn’t let Flynn hurt her or get in her head. I trust him and deep down I know Declan’s anger is just misplaced concern.

He’s so fucking in love with Harper he can’t see the forest for the trees. I’m right there with him, to be honest, but I can at leastadmit it to myself. The love I have for her is matched by the love I have for Emerson.

That realization of love has me doing something I’ve never done before. As he puts his bags in the back of the Jeep, I reach over and pull Emerson to me, covering his lips with my own. I feel him stiffen in surprise but then melt into my embrace, returning the kiss with matching intensity. It’s not the words I want to say, but it’s the action that shows them.

“What was that for?” he asks as we pull apart.

“I missed you.”

He cups my face in his large palms and pulls me back for a deeper, longer kiss. His tongue licks into my mouth as I part my lips, allowing him full access. I grip his waist and pull him against me, our rapidly hardening cocks pressed together.

“Can you two stop fucking making out so we can get home?” Declan yells from the backseat.

We break apart, barely suppressing a chuckle at his outburst. I walk around to the driver’s seat and climb in while Emerson gets in the passenger side.

“Sorry, sweetheart, do you want a kiss, too?” I ask in an overly sweet tone.

“Fuck off,” he grumbles.

Emerson reaches over and sets his hand on my thigh, giving me another slight shake of his head. I’m not sure if he’s using the hand as a distraction, but it definitely serves as one when his fingers begin rubbing in firm circles. He hooks his phone up to Bluetooth and picks a more mellow playlist, probably hoping the music will somehow calm Declan down before we get home.

As the minutes and miles pass us by, both Emerson and I realize that he’s not calming down. In fact, he’s becoming more agitated. I can’t let him continue to stew and risk blowing up at Harper.

“Why don’t you let it all out before we get home? That way you don’t go off on Harper.” I look back at him, making eye contact in the rearview mirror.

“I’m not going to go off on her.” He looks away, clenching his jaw so hard the muscles twitch. “I’m going to go off on my dad for thinking it was a good idea to take her there. I don’t know what the fuck he was thinking, but she’s not a sacrificial lamb for him to use to taunt her father with.”

“She’s not,” Emerson concedes. “But I don’t think that’s what he was doing.”

“What other reason could there have been?”

“Maybe finding out who her stalker is?”

“Do you really think he’d give up that information, if he even knows?” Declan sneers and shakes his head. “It was pointless, and I bet he got into her head. I don’t know what my dad was fucking thinking doing this.”

I pull into the driveway, and before I’ve even gotten the Jeep in park, Declan is out the door and moving quickly for the house. Emerson and I both jump out as fast as possible, hoping to stop a huge explosion between father and son. Cillian is sitting on the couch, his ankle resting over his knee and a mug of coffee in his hand while Declan looms over him when we walk in.

“Where’s Harper?” Declan asks.

“Upstairs taking a bath.”

My eyes travel to the stairs, wanting desperately to go check on her but unsure if I should leave the room.

“I think she wants to be alone for the time being,” Cillian looks at me as though he can read my mind. “But would you and Emerson mind leaving us to speak privately?”

“Of course.” Emerson walks through the living room and kitchen, heading for the stairs.

I follow him but turn to make eye contact with Declan from behind Cillian’s back, so he knows I’m paying attention. As Ifollow Emerson up the steps, he pulls me into his room and shuts the door. Before I even realize his intent, I’m pressed back against the wood by the length of his body. His lips cover mine once again in a long, passionate kiss that immediately has all the blood draining from my brain to my cock.

He drops to his knees in front of me, something neither of us have done before. We’ve jerked each other off, we’ve fucked, but we’ve never sucked each other off. Breath whooshes from my lungs as I realize that is, in fact, his intent. He looks up at me as he pulls the waistband of my sweats down, along with my boxers until my cock springs free.

Pressure builds deep in my belly just looking at the way he looks at my cock, like he can’t wait to slip it between his lips. He looks back up at me again, holding my gaze as he flicks his tongue over my tip, lapping up the bead of moisture that has collected there. I twitch against tongue as he glides it lightly down my length.

“Fuck, that feels incredible.” I slide my fingers through the top of his auburn hair, fighting the urge to yank on the short, soft strands until he’s choking on my dick.

“Good.” He fists my cock, running his hand from base to tip, back and forth. “I want to make you feel incredible. As incredible as you are and deserve to feel.”