Page 54 of Beautiful Crazy

Emmett:*Barf emoji* Sure, but just FYI, watching you eat both at the same time is a hard pass. That’s disgrossting.

Me:*Heart emoji* Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Emm.

Emmett:Anything for you, Babe.

I spend the next forty-five minutes trying my best to buckle down and do the things on my to-do list that I can control in hopes YouTube and Facebook will come back to life so I can complete my work on those platforms as well. Seriously, a marketer’s work is never done.

Ever.

It’s almost lunch time when Lola’s ears perk up as she lays on her cat bed near my desk. She hears the sound of someone in the building operating the elevator just outside our door. I’m about to tell her it’s okay when I hear the jingling of a keyring. Funny how when you hear a sound so often, even though it can be the sound of random keys jingling together, you automatically recognize the exact noise.

Those are Emmett’s keys.

Just then the door opens, and Emmett walks through with a smile on his face and three grocery bags in hand.

“Hey Beautiful! Turn on the oven because it’s pizza roll time!”

I watch with a surprised smile on my face as he crosses the kitchen, laying his bags on the counter. “What are you doing here, Emm?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing here? You said you were having a bad day and needed chocolate.”

My mouth falls open. “I didn’t mean for you to leave work and scour the land for chocolate treasure.”

“Oh, well that’s good because I just stopped at CVS on the way home. Thought we were almost out of toilet paper so I knew I would need a good long receipt.” He winks and I snort in response. He’s so weird but I love that about him.

“Fun fact. Did you know that about four billion people in the world don't use toilet paper at all?”

He pretends to gag. “Seriously? So, people are just walking around with shit all over them all day?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Maybe they use sponges like the Romans used before TP was ever invented. Anyway, that’s like seventy-ish percent of the world’s population that doesn’t use toilet paper. Isn’t that weird?”

Emmett’s eyes narrow. “Hmm, do you think that would be an appropriate question to ask someone you just met?” I watch as he sticks out his hand pretending to be talking to someone. “Hello, I’m Emmett Fox. Do you use toilet paper to wipe your ass? No? Well, doesn’t that make this hand shake extra awkward? Good day to you.”

I throw my head back in laughter. “I double dog dare you to do that the next time you meet someone…which will probably be a client, making the idea even funnier.”

He points at me. “Be careful what you wish for.”

“Okay so seriously, why are you here? You never come home during the day.”

I watch as he spills an entire bag of pizza rolls onto a cookie sheet and pops it in the oven. Then he holds up six full sized Hershey bars. “Seriously. You said you needed chocolate and I thought you could use a hug, so, I took the rest of the day off so I could help my damsel in distress, and I brought you what you needed.”

Oh, my heart.

He really did all that just for me?

“You’re going to stand here and hug me for the whole rest of the day?”

He spreads his arms wide and waits for me to walk into them, which I do, happily. I don’t know what it is about a man who gives good hugs, but Emmett gives the best ones, like the ones you want to hold on to and never let go of because they just feel so good. I’ve always been grateful for the way he hugs.

He’s always the warm to my freezing and feeling his body wrapped around mine holding me, it’s cozy, protective, calming and sometimes, like right now, I sincerely feel his affection. And his cologne always reminds me of an apple orchard in the winter, which makes me think of home so, bonus.

“Hugging you all day wouldn’t be very productive for you,” he murmurs, his cheek resting on my head. “But if it’s what you need, it’s what you’ll get. I just thought maybe I could be of some help to you, and I felt bad that you were having a rough morning. I wanted to make it better.”

I squeeze him around the waist just a little tighter, crossing my hands across his back. “You are making it better, Emmett. Did you know hugging boosts the immune system so a hug a day actually can keep the doctor away?”

“Yeah? Maybe we should just hug all the damn time then.”

Taking a calming breath, I feel myself relax against him as he smooths his hand up and down my back. “You’re an excellent hugger so be careful what you offer. I might just take you up on that. And thank you for coming home to rescue me. I’m sorry I’m so…crazy.”

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