Page 59 of The Double Play

“I understand,” I whisper.

He frames my face with his hands and presses our foreheads together. My eyes flutter shut. Our chests rise and fall in tandem. The only sounds are the crickets and the rustling of trees in the wind. I can feel his heartbeat against my palms.

“You said you didn’t know what it was like to be wanted in this way.” His raspy whisper accompanies the breeze tickling my skin.

“Now I do.” I brush my lips over his, feeling him smile against my mouth.

“I didn’t know either,” he confesses. “It’s overwhelming to feel this much.”

I pull back. His hands fall away, then settle on my hips. My fingertips run through his silky hair and his eyes fall shut.

“It is overwhelming,” I agree softly. “In the best way.”

His dark eyes open once more. My hands settle against his chest again.

“I wish–” Anguish twists his features. “I wish I could have met youfirst. I wouldn’t trade my life. I wouldn’t give up June, but I hate that there was ever someone else.”

My heart aches for him. On the outside he’s been so strong, but here beneath the moonlight it’s easy to see that there’s been a lot of pain hiding beneath the surface.

“It all brought you here,” I tell him as I run my hands up to his shoulders then back down.

“I know, but does it bother you?”

I shake my head. “She took so much from you, Emmett, don’t let her take this moment too.I want you. I think I made that pretty clear.”

Relief paints his face as a blush colors mine.

He squeezes my hips. “Thank you.”

“Should we go to bed?” I ask after a beat of silence.

His head tips back against the chair. “You shouldn’t ask me that while we’relike this.”

Who needs a blanket to keep warm when I’m blushing this much?

“I didn’t mean–”

His low chuckle fills the night air. He lifts his head again. “I know what you meant. Doesn’t make letting go of you any easier though.”

I bite my lip. His eyes drop to my mouth.

“We should go inside,” I whisper. I don’t want either June or Raven to wake up without us in there. Though it feels like I could never have enough time alone with Emmett, I’ve certainly had my fair share tonight.

He nods, but his eyes disagree with the action. I grab the arms of the chair and slowly push off of him. My legs feel weak, making me wobble a little. Emmett’s hands reach out to steady me, splaying the backs of my thighs. My stomach swoops at the intimate touch.

If he keeps touching me like this, he’ll have to carry me because I won’t be able to walk straight. I manage to step back enough for him to rise out of the chair. He holds out a hand and I take it. We walk toward the back door together.

I have so many questions burning in my chest, but I don’t think that now is the time. We both need sleep, and my personal life is a wreck right now. I can’t ask him what this means when it comes to my job when I still have to figure out where my little sister is going to live. I don’t want him to feel pressured to answer a certain way. It’s probably for the best that I find another job so that the lines don’t blur more than they have, but I don’t have the time to look for one with everything going on with my mom.

We walk inside and I shiver at the cool greeting of the air conditioning. Emmett walks me to the guest wing while my mind continues to spiral.

Emmett may wish we could have met before he was with his ex, but I wish we could have met in a more traditional way. I can’t bear the thought of not seeing June every day, but how can we manage a working relationship and arelationship? Emmett is the type of man who compartmentalizes each thing in his life. This situation upends all of those little boxes and mixes up the contents.

“Whatever you’re worrying over, we’ll figure out,” Emmett says as we arrive at my bedroom door.

I face him. “This whole thing is a lot more complicated than I anticipated.”

“It can be as simple as we want it to be. Don’t worry.” He bends down and gives me a tender kiss. “Rest for tonight. We’ll work through it together tomorrow.”

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