Page 117 of Tapped

Tess’s horse is named Spirit. She doesn’t get ridden much anymore because of her age. She’s as slow as molasses, and Micah said she was the only beast of an animal he’d trust for me to ride since she’s as sweet as she is slow since Chase rode with him.

The sight of Chase sitting on a horse with Micah made me all kinds of emotional. Watching them fish together was something my heart could barely take. My son has had more attention from the Emmett family in one day than he has from his father in two years.

My heart has gone from happy to sad to angry for my son. He’s beautiful, smart, and full of life. He deserves to be loved by both his parents. To think that complete strangers are willing to give him that when his own father wanted him dead…

Some days I feel like I’m living in an alternate realm. A horrible and unrealistic one that doesn’t deserve to be anyone’s reality.

I pull Micah up the stairs and into his bedroom by the hand. The moment we walked through the front door, I instructed Chase to eat cookies with Tess and to stay in the kitchen.

I shut the door behind us, locking us in his same childhood room we had sex in last night, and look up at him. “Who is it?”

He crosses his arms. “You know what I just realized?”

“Oh no, what? Is it worse?” I panic. “No, how could it be any worse? Unless it’s someone I know. Is it someone I know?

He licks his lips and shakes his head. “I just realized that, as a horny teenager, my imagination was shit. I never once jacked off to thoughts of an older woman dragging me into my bedroom, locking the door behind us, and sucking me off.”

I give his rock-hard chest a poke with my index finger. “Don’t call me the older woman.”

“You’re so fucking hot, even when you smell like a horse.”

“Micah Emmett. If you don’t tell me exactly what happened…” I let my words trail off and cross my arms to mirror his stance, because I have no clue what I’ll do.

He narrows his eyes. “What? Are you going to tell my mom?”

“Stop it and tell me.”

He drops his arms, pulls me to his chest, and presses his lips to my forehead. “You don’t know him.”

“How do you know I don’t know him?”

He sighs. “Do you know anyone by the name of Delcan Braim?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“I told you. He does not run in circles with the elderly or those who fly on private jets.”

I choose to ignore the private jets comment. “What do you know about him? And how are you going to find him?”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he captures my face in his strong hands that still smell like fish. Normally that would gross me out, but all I can think about is the fact they smell like fish because he was spending time with Chase.

When he pulls my mouth to his, I have to lift on my toes to meet him halfway. His lips move over mine. He’s not in a hurry, and his tongue slides inside my mouth to give mine a delicious lap.

My grip on his wrists tightens. What started as light and tender becomes deep and passionate. I forget about fish, hitmen, and my husband who I can’t wait to call my ex.

Hell, I can’t wait to call him an inmate.

He backs me into the bed and follows me down when I land on my back, barely losing our connection. I am forced to bite back a moan when he wraps a hand around my breast for a firm squeeze through my thin T-shirt.

“Everyone is downstairs,” I whisper as his lips move down the column of my neck. “And I need a shower. I smell like sunscreen and sweat.”

He licks the salty skin across my chest that’s framed by my thin tank. “Baby, as much as I want to, I’m not going to fuck you in the middle of the day with my parents and your son awake. You can come back tonight when everyone’s asleep, but you’re going to have to wait until then.”

I exhale and pull his face up to mine. “Do you think they’ll catch him?”

“Yes,” he answers firmly. “He’s from Georgia, not that he’ll do anything by his real name, unless he’s a total idiot. We have a picture and description. He’ll slip up eventually, baby. But we have a name and a face. We’re not looking for a ghost anymore. This is good.”

I relax into a relieved smile.

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