Page 39 of Mine to Save

CHAPTERNINE

Emmett held the SUV’s door and helped Trinity into the front seat.

“Where are we going?”

“To the park by the beach,” Emmett said. “Emmerson and I were starting to make people uncomfortable at the bed and breakfast. The last thing we need is to draw attention to you, and if the police are visiting you all the time, it’s going to make people wonder.”

“Melinda mentioned that I should be more social when I’m there. Maybe talk to some people. Outside of work, I’m generally pretty introverted.”

Emmett shut the door and raced around the hood of his vehicle. He slid behind the steering wheel and turned the key. He loved the sound of a V-8 turning over and couldn’t resist revving it a bit. Childish, but he didn’t care.

She glanced in his direction with an arched brow.

He shrugged. “I don’t even know what you do for a living.”

“I’m an ER nurse.”

“Nice,” he said. “That’s a hard but rewarding career.”

“I love it. Most of my friends end up leaving the ER for something a bit tamer, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.” She pressed her hands over her stomach. Quickly, she ran her hands down her thighs. “Unless I had a family, but I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“First off, I’m thirty-six, and I’m not getting any younger. I have no boyfriend to speak of and no prospects. Besides, my life is complicated. It would be asking a lot of someone to be a part of it.”

Emmett drove the mile down the road from the bed and breakfast and into the parking lot. “Because of your father?” His family dynamic was insanely cumbersome. To most, it looked like a nighttime soap opera, but to him and the rest of his siblings, it was just life. However, his world had taken a sharp left turn when he found out that children wouldn’t come naturally to him. But it got worse when Melinda became adamant that they spend a ridiculous amount of money on something that might not work when there were kids out there who needed to be loved.

He thought about adopting a child by himself at times, but that might be hard at forty and as a cop.

“That’s one reason,” she said. “The other is something I don’t like to talk about much.”

“No pressure from me.” He pushed the gearshift into park and turned to face Trinity. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind since he’d met her, and it was making him crazy. Not in a bad way, but it was a distraction, and he didn’t want it to affect the work he was doing to help clear her father’s name.

Or at least get answers.

He still wasn’t sure what he believed.

Or didn’t believe.

Except that Robash was a fucking liar. That much was for damn sure. And Rhett had something to dish on Cotania, but he wanted Trinity present. Emmett could only hope that whatever it was, it was good news and not more feds and cops doing bad shit. He hated that.

Of course, turning all this over in his head was the only way he got that damn kiss off his brain.

“You and Melinda seem to have a decent enough relationship, considering you were engaged at one point,” Trinity said. “Do you like her husband?”

“Chad? He’s a great guy.” Emmett shifted in his seat. Melinda, while she was a great host and usually knew when to stay out of her guests’ way, didn’t always know when to do that with her friends. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. You both seem a little overprotective of each other in a weird way.”

He chuckled. “We can be. I only want the best for her. That said, I know her, and I know how she can get. So, I sometimes feel for Chad, and that pisses her off. She thinks I take his side in things.” He held up his finger, pressing it over Trinity’s lips when she opened her mouth. “Chad is good friends with my eldest brother. I’ve known him forever. But, truth be told, he used to hate me.”

“Why?”

“Because of Melinda. He liked her back in the day and always thought I stole her away. They hadn’t even gone on a date when I had to arrest her.”

“She told me all about that.”

Emmett swallowed his breath. “What else did she tell you?” Melinda hadn’t broken his trust too many times, but he could see her doing it with Trinity, especially after the teasing text she’d sent him last night about the kiss she’d witnessed.

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