Page 27 of Collide (Collide 1)

Chapter 9: Home Run

The mid-morning air in Central Park was mild but cooler than usual for the second week of August. Emily spread a small sheet under one of the maple trees that provided shade from the vibrant brightness of the sun. Placing her backpack beside her, she took out its contents, which consisted of two sandwiches, a couple of bottles of water, and her favorite novel, Wuthering Heights. All she needed now was Dillon. When she glanced at her watch, she noticed he was already twenty minutes late. As the city around her hummed its daily incessant chatter - even in the serene peace of the park - she decided to give him a call to find out what was taking him so long.

He answered on the first ring, his voice traveling through the phone with a hint of remorse. "Please don't be mad at me. "

Taken aback by his greeting, she didn't speak.

"Em, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, but you're not. Where are you?"

"I'm in New Jersey, but - "

"You're in New Jersey?" she interrupted. "Dillon, what the heck? I'm sitting in Central Park by myself. "

"Emily, would you just let me explain?"

"Fine, Dillon, explain. "

"Remember the Japanese tycoon I told you was interested in investing with Morgan and Buckingham?" He paused, awaiting her reply, but none came. "Takatsuki Yamamoto?"

"Get to the point. "

"Shit, Emily, I'm trying to. "

She let out a sigh, and he continued.

"He flew in from Japan last night and is only out here for the next two days. He asked to meet with me personally. I got the call early this morning from my boss, telling me to come out here. " He answered a question directed at him from someone else in the background while Emily waited patiently. "Babe, I have to go. I'm sorry, but this account is huge. "

Again, Emily said nothing.

"Come on," he breathed. "We'll do it another day. "

"I know; it's just that I took off from work, and I was really looking forward to - "

"Emily, stop trying to make me feel bad," he let out, his tone clearly annoyed. "This is important to me. I'll be at your place by six. " With that, the line went dead.

After the shock of him abruptly hanging up on her wore off, Emily rose to her feet and reluctantly started packing up what was supposed to be their little romantic getaway. As she tucked the sheet into her backpack, she straightened at the sound of her name being called out from a distance. Before she even turned to see the face, a familiar tingle traveled up her spine. She knew who it was. When she finally spun around, Gavin was jogging across the park, smiling, with his niece and nephew at his side. The backpack slipped through her fingertips as she took in his casual attire - a white V-neck T-shirt, cream-colored cargo shorts, and a blue New York Yankees cap. Emily tried to gather her racing thoughts as he approached.

It wasn't just that his presence pulsed through her. It wasn't that his masculine scent lingered on her senses, burning in her mind and plaguing her every dream. It wasn't even that damn kiss. It was his unwavering charm, bold confidence, insane sexiness, and the undeniable male dominance he exuded. Every bit of it seeped from his pores. All of those things - a truly lethal cocktail - scared and fascinated her at the same time. It was as if a twisted paradox occurred whenever she was around him. As much as she seriously felt the need to flee from him at that very moment, she also felt irreparably drawn to him. Suddenly, she became aware of the heightened charge in the air. A tense kind of feeling seemed to press in on her lungs, making her feel breathless. To top it all off with a heavy dose of whipped cream, seeing him now flooded her psyche with their last encounter two weeks ago.

Breathe, Emily. . .

"Emm-mi-me!" Theresa squealed, running toward her.

Kneeling down to hug her, Emily looked up to Gavin. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked as nonchalantly as humanly possible, considering the circumstances.

Gavin hunched over and propped his hands on his thighs, trying to catch a decent breath. He then stood straight up and smiled. "I'm babysitting for a while and decided to take these two squirts here to play some soccer. "

Timothy wrapped his arms around Emily's leg. "Uncle Gaffin took us to feed the duckies, too. "

Gavin swished his hand through Timothy's hair. "Yep, we had a certified feeding fest with Donald and Daisy. "

"Very cool," Emily replied with a smile. "A business mogul and a nanny all in one. "

"Add it to my resume," he laughed.

"I can't believe you spotted me here," Emily said.

"Well, I actually didn't see you; these two did. "

"Uncle Gaffin told us to say we saw you first, Emm-mi-me," Theresa confessed, curling her finger through Emily's hair. "But he did saw you first and said to come wif him to say hi to you. "

Drawing up a brow, Emily watched Gavin's face turn a light shade of crimson. "Using children to tell a fib, huh?"

He shook his head and smiled. "Damn, you caught me. Add that to my resume as well. " Emily laughed at his response. "What are you doing here?"

"Dillon was supposed to meet me, but he got called into New Jersey. " She lifted her backpack from the ground. "I was actually getting ready to go home. "

Theresa pouted her lips. "Can you stay and play soccer wif us, Emm-mi-me?"

"Umm," she replied, her eyes flicking up to Gavin. "I'm not sure. Maybe another time?"

Theresa frowned.

"You won't have to endure the torture of being around me too long," Gavin laughed, a smart-ass smile molding over his face. "Colton and Melanie should be here in ten minutes to come get them. "

Emily smiled coyly, almost challenging him. "Okay, fine. I think I can handle fifteen minutes of grief. " She placed her backpack down. "Can you handle it?"

"Mmm, I can handle it and handle it very well," he smirked. "Can you play soccer?"

"I'm a quick learner. "

"And I'm an excellent teacher. "

He dropped the ball to the ground, giving it a quick kick. Theresa and Timothy ran after it.

"And being around you is not torture, Gavin," Emily said, jogging away from him after the kids.

He caught up to her side. "Right, you made it clear that it's only grief. But, no worries, I really do take that as a compliment. "

Emily simply shook her head and laughed.

Over the next fifteen minutes, although he did partake in the game a little, Gavin mostly hung back a bit and watched Emily play with the kids. Taking a seat on top of a picnic table, his senses reeled at everything about her. His eyes swept over her body, ultimately settling on her face as he admired her smile. His ears listened to the way she laughed while his mind tried to wrap itself around the way his niece and nephew clung to her. He knew children had a keen sense of the aura that surrounded people, so it only justified what his heart already knew - her presence was magnetic. It consumed others, swallowing them whole, and left no room for regret.

As she ran around with them, he watched Emily's wavy hair bounce, the summer sun catching the locks and creating a fiery halo of rich auburn. His need for her snaked through his bones, cutting straight down to the marrow. From the moment he laid eyes on her, she made something strange happen in his chest when she looked at him. Something tightened in his stomach, and he realized he could find himself in deeper than he already was if she looked at him like that too often.

His mind hawked at the inward description of his feelings, knowing there was nothing more he could do to satisfy his hunger. The only thing he knew for sure was that his emotions were caught in a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Being around her was self-inflicted pain at its finest, but it was something he was willing to endure if for one reason only - just to be close to her. The sound of Colton calling his name dragged him from his thoughts.

Thank God for small miracles.

After he and Emily hugged the children and bid Colton and Melanie goodbye, Gavin walked with her to gather

her belongings.

"Mr. Blake, it's always a pleasure," Emily said with a smile, extending out her hand.

Gavin didn't oblige by shaking it because he knew if he touched her he wouldn't be able to resist the urge of pulling her into his mouth. Running his hand through his hair, he backed away slightly.

Emily smiled awkwardly and slung the backpack over her shoulder.

Gavin found his words stuck in his throat like verbal gridlock. "Wait, that's it? You're going to just leave me here all by myself?"

"You're a big boy. I think you can find something to occupy your afternoon. "

He laughed for a moment and then suddenly his face became serious. "I just thought this could be an opportunity to redeem myself. "

"Redeem yourself? What for?"

"For my behavior the last time I saw you. I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable, but. . . " He lowered his voice and stared directly into her eyes. "I'm not sorry about the way I feel about you, Emily. They're my feelings, and I can't deny them. But I really just need to be friends with you. "

She swallowed nervously, her voice as low as his. "Gavin, we've talked about this before and - "

Cutting her off, he stepped closer. "I promise you this time. I swear to God I won't say or do anything to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to get it out there - about the way I feel about you - but now I'm done. " He shifted on his feet and took a step back, not letting his eyes stray from her face. "Yes, you've got me twisted for some reason that I can't understand, and I don't know if I ever will. I find you to be the most remarkable. . . " He drew in a deep breath. "I don't know. There's something about you that just. . . sets you apart from any other woman I've ever met. And, because of all of it, I'm willing to put my feelings aside just to be your friend. " Just to be near you. . .

Not only did her heart pause with his words, but her stomach also curled in a disturbingly pleasant way as she gauged his face. True emotions swirled behind his eyes, and something deep down told her he was sincere. "Okay, we'll try this again. So you want me to hang out with you here for a little while?"

Gavin took in a deep lungful of air, the knot in his chest releasing, as he realized he had been holding his breath awaiting her answer. "You like baseball, don't you?"

"How did you know that?"

"The night that I found out you were really Emily and not Molly. " She nodded and laughed. He grinned. "Before you came into the club, Dillon told me that his girlfriend was a huge baseball fan. That's how I know that little bit of information. "

"You want me to play baseball with you?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

"You can take in all of the spectacular sights New York has to offer. However, you haven't experienced New York to its fullest until you've been to a Yankees game. " He smiled. "Trevor was supposed to come to the one o'clock game today, but he canceled on me at the last minute. " He pulled the tickets from his back pocket and held them up. "I have season tickets, but it would be a shame to let these go to waste. "

A confused smile touched her mouth as she contemplated him for a moment. "You want me to go to a Yankees game with you?"

"I do. "

"I don't know," she replied, looking down to the ground and then back to him. "That might be a little too much. "

His smile was slow, making his blue eyes sparkle mischievously. "Surely, in a stadium filled with 50,000 people, I should be able to hold myself at bay from attacking you. "

Emily screwed her mouth to one side. "True," she admitted. "But I'm not even a Yankees fan. I'll be rooting for the underdog. Is that something else you can handle?"

With widened eyes, he placed a hand over his chest, mocking a wounded heart. "Mmm, keep talking like that, and you may find a way to get me to not admire you as much as I do. I'm a die-hard Yankees fan, Miss Cooper," he laughed. "But, yes, I'm sure I could handle sitting next to a non-Yankees fan that I've brought with me. "

She shook her head and laughed. "Okay, I'll consider this friendly outing under one condition. "

"Anything. Let's go," he said, reaching for her backpack.

"Wait, you don't even know what it is. "

He placed his hand on the small of her back and started leading her out of the park. "No problem. Whatever it is, I can most definitely handle it. "

She came to an abrupt halt and laughed. "You will listen to me, or I go nowhere with you, Gavin Blake. Do you understand?"

A delicious grin slid across his mouth. "I'm all ears. "

"Like that," she motioned to his hand resting on her back. He smiled and pulled it away. "No touching me, no undressing me with your eyes, and no doing that. . . that damn stupid thing with your mouth when you pull it between your teeth. "

He smiled. "Does me sucking on my lip bother you that much?"

Only 'cause it's so insanely hot. . . "Yes. It's annoying. "

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