Page 50 of An Impossible Love
“Ah.”
“He’s not giving you a hard time, is he?”
Emmy grinned. “No. I kind of wish he was, but no, he’s been very fair.”
“So, you’re an investigating agent now?”
“Just like Cagney. Or Lacey. Take your pick.”
Orin laughed. “Are you even old enough to know who Cagney and Lacey were?”
“Wash your mouth out, Bennett. Cagney and Lacey are my heroines. Now, drop trou.”
Orin busted up. “You see? No one can make me laugh like you, Emerson Sati. No one makes me feel this much—”
“—what?”
“Joy.” He said it simply but with a depth of emotion that made Emmy’s heart flip.
“I love you so much,” she said. “Perhaps even more than I loved Zach… no, that’s wrong. I love you differently. With Zach, I always felt… like a giggly teenager and that was good, exactly what I needed right then in my life. I will always love and thank him for that. But with you—” She stroked his face. “I feel like a woman. Someone who went through the worst and came out—and now sees love in a totally different way. I know it isn’t always easy and laid back and uncomplicated.”
Orin’s mouth was on hers then, and they forgot all about talking as they stripped each other’s clothes off and lay down on the bed.
Orin stroked his hand down her body, cupping her breasts. “Curvy Goddess.”
Emmy grinned. “Indian blood. No skinny girls in my family.”
“Good. Do you see them often?”
She shook her head. “Not for many years now; none of us keep in touch. We were never close knit to begin with. It wasn’t until Zach that I realized what a family could be. Now my neighbor Marge and my agency brethren are my family. Oh, and Zach’s cousin from Australia.”
“I heard about him. Moxie said he was the spitting image of Zach. That must have been difficult.”
“It was, I admit. But in a strange way, he’s helped me.” She rested her chin on his chest, smiling up at him. “What about you?”
“Only child. Parents died a few years ago. Like you, my family is constructed out of the people closest to me. Moxie, Peyton, Charlie.”
Emmy chewed her lip. “Kevin?”
“And Kevin and Issa, too. And now you, Emmy. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“Nor I, you.”
Orin stroked her hair back behind her ears, gazing at her with so much love that Emmy forgot everything else. He gently pushed her onto her back and began to make love to her. Emmy savored every moment, every touch, as he thrust into her, and they began to move together. Orin didn’t neglect any part of her body as he kissed, caressed, and tasted her, sucking on her nipples until they were rock hard, stroking her belly until it quivered under his touch.
It was almost three o’clock before they finally fell asleep, but Emmy’s dreams were wracked with torment, and when she woke, gasping and sobbing, Orin took her in his arms. “What is it, my love? What is it?”
Emmy struggled to catch her breath then slumped against him. “I don’t know why… but I don’t want you to give that speech. Don’t give the speech…”
