by J. H. Croix
“It’s not a bad thing at all. I got irritated with Trey for wanting to basically shadow me ever since we knew Greg was around. But now it doesn’t bother me,” Emma said, her mind rubbing the stone of that thought.
A small smile played at the corners of Hannah’s mouth before she burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
Hannah swallowed her laughter and leaned her head back against the headrest. “Susie’s right. You got it bad for Trey.”
Emma glanced up at Trey and Stuart. Stuart waved, his smile wide. She returned the wave. “Even though I hate admitting Susie’s right, Trey’s pretty amazing. I haven’t really had a chance to think about much this last week or so. I keep trying to be rational and that part of me is worried this is moving too fast. But the rest of me has other ideas,” she said wryly.
Hannah rolled her head to the side, her eyes meeting Emma’s. “So don’t fight it. All evidence points to the fact that Trey’s a keeper. I may not be as nosy as Susie and always plotting everyone else’s relationships, but my gut tells me this is a good one.”
Emma nodded. “My gut tells me the same thing. If only I could shut my brain up. Have you met Stuart?”
Hannah shook her head with a smile and climbed out of the truck. Stuart ran up and hugged Emma’s legs. “Emma! Are you staying over again tonight? Dad says he doesn’t know.”
Trey shook his head. “Stuart, what did I just say?”
Stuart looked up at his father, a tuft of hair sticking straight up. “You said it’s not polite to ask things like that. But I want to know,” he said, his voice trailing off.
Emma brushed her hand through his hair. “How about you give me a few minutes and then I can come over? If that’s okay with your dad.” She met Trey’s eyes and saw an answering heat flare to life.
A long moment passed before Emma became aware she and Trey were staring at each other. Flustered, she looked away, her eyes colliding with Hannah’s. Hannah grinned and knelt down beside Stuart, holding her hand out.
“You must be Stuart. I’ve seen you before, but I’m not sure we actually met. I’m Hannah, Emma’s sister. It’s very nice to meet you,” Hannah said.
Stuart released Emma’s legs and shook Hannah’s hand. “I’m Stuart. You must be nice if you’re Emma’s sister,” he said with a grin.
“And if you like Emma, then you’re one smart boy,” Hannah replied in turn.
***
Hours later, Emma fell to Trey’s side and rested her head on his shoulder, her breath coming in gusts against his skin. His skin glistened in the lamplight. She tried to catch her breath, the aftermath of her last orgasm still rippling through her body. Trey chuckled, turning his head and softly kissing her, his lips lingering just long enough for twinges of desire to rear again. Though she didn’t know how that could be possible. After an early dinner, Risa had swept Stuart out the door for a ‘pajama party’ with one of her local friends. She’d given Emma a quick hug, whispering in her ear that she’d better take advantage of her alone time with Trey. Mere seconds after the sound of Risa’s car faded, Trey had tugged Emma close for a kiss—the start of a maelstrom of passion that held peaks and valleys of intensity. Trey had brought her to the edge and over again and again, until she was limp and sated.
His chest rose and fell in a shuddering breath. “I think you’ve finally done it.” His voice was raspy.
“Done what?”
“Completely worn me out.”
Emma lifted her head and then dropped it against the pillow. “I wore you out? And here I thought it was the other way around,” she said, wryly.
The mattress beneath them jiggled in tune with Trey’s laugh. “Let’s just say it was mutual.”
His laugh slowed and he shifted to his side, his eyes inches from hers. A single lamp lit the room with a muted glow. His eyes were almost black in this light. He stroked her tangled hair away from her face, his hand coming to rest against her cheek. Her heart sped and her belly fluttered at the intensity of feeling held in his eyes. He started to speak and then paused.
Closing his eyes, he took a slow breath. Opening them, he cleared his throat. “So…we haven’t had much time to talk lately. I thought about this a lot since yesterday and decided I don’t want to wait for the sake of waiting. To get right to the point: I love you.”
A wave of emotion crested inside, a tear slipped out of the corner of her eyes. No words came. His brow creased, his thumb brushed the tear away. “I didn’t want to wait to tell you how I felt, but I didn’t want to upset you either.”
Emma shook her head rapidly, and drew in a fortifying gulp of air. “You didn’t upset me. I just...ah…wasn’t prepared for you to say that. I know we had the talk about how I didn’t want to rush, and I was worried about the whole thing with Greg, but everything has happened so fast, I haven’t even had a chance to think. If I shut my brain off, all I know is…I love you. It’s just that I never really let myself think that was an option for me after my first marriage. And then I met you and everything went sideways, and I’m still not sure I’m what you want because…”
Trey put a finger over her lips. “Slow down and don’t even go where you’re guessing what I want. I know what I want and that’s you. And it’s not just the great sex, though don’t get me wrong, that is one hell of a bonus. It’s just…you. The mess with Greg was a good thing. It was on simmer ever since you left him. Now it’s boiled over and we’ll clean up the mess. All it did was show me how much you meant to me and to Stuart. When I realized Greg was at your house yesterday and you were there alone, I thought I was going to lose my mind. I knew then it wasn’t worth dancing this dance where I didn’t let you know how I felt. I won’t rush you. We can take all the time you need, but I wanted you to know exactly where I stood. And that’s right by your side. I don’t plan on going anywhere. As far as I’m concerned, as soon as you’re ready, let’s make it official. Stuart’s all but decided he’s going to ask you to marry me if I don’t do it soon enough, so you better be ready,” Trey finished with a chuckle.
Another tear slipped out, and she wiped it away. Her mind, such a creature of habit, started to say the things it usually said—this is too fast, you were never meant to have something like this, it must be a fluke, no one would ever love you like that—and Emma shook the thoughts away and listened to her heart. Her heart flung itself skyward, arms wide open, calling out for her to notice that someone amazing was right in front of her, someone she wanted with all of her heart.
Her eyes locked with his. “It’s okay. You’re not rushing me. I want to be right here…with you. And if Stuart wants to ask on your behalf, that’s just fine,” she said, a soft smile blooming through the blur of her tears.
Chapter 18
Trey walked down the dock at Otter Cove Harbor. He was picking up Stuart’s favorite fishing rod for a day of fishing with a school friend. After grabbing the rod and tucking it away in its carrier, he paused on the boat deck to look out over the bay. Gulls swooped and called, and a few eagles were perched on pilings. A raft of otters floated near the harbor entrance. It was early evening, and boats were starting to stream into the harbor from the bay. As it was late summer, there was a bite to the evening air. A salty breeze gusted through the harbor. Mount Augustine was clustered with clouds around its peak. The volcano’s flanks were scattered with light that angled through the clouds, glittering it with a golden hue.
Trey had persuaded Emma to meet him for dinner at the Boathouse Café. Not that meeting him signified much since they spent almost every night together lately. With Stuart off for an overnight with friends and a day of fishing tomorrow, Trey planned to capitalize on some private time with Emma. As he headed back up the dock, he heard his name and turned to see Jared and his brothers waving from their guide boat. He detoured to the adjacent dock.
“Hey guys, what’s up?”
“Not much. Just finished up another run today and saw you,” Jared replied as he
quickly tugged a cooler to the side and handed it over to Nathan who stood on the dock.
Nathan grinned. “Notice who gets to do the heavy lifting,” he said sardonically.
Jared checked the mooring lines and hopped off the boat. “As if you’re the only one,” he replied with a roll of his eyes.
Luke appeared from the boat cabin and stepped onto the dock, nodding at Trey. “Is he trying to act like he does all the hard work again?” Luke asked, his question directed to Trey.
Trey held a hand up. “Hey, no need to get me in the middle. Innocent bystander here.”
Nathan winked. “Just having fun getting my big brothers riled up.” He caught Trey’s eyes. “So Tess tells me Susie is about ready to hammer down your door. Thought you might want to know, advance warning and all that.”
Trey was puzzled. “Huh? Why does Susie want to hammer down my door and what’s Tess go to do with it?”
His questions were met with collective chuckles. Luke lifted an eyebrow. “You seem to have not quite caught on that Susie likes to take charge when it comes to her friend’s love lives. Don’t get me wrong, it worked in my favor. But you should be prepared in case you have a chance encounter with her. She was over at our place the other night for dinner and told Hannah that you had a month or else.”
“A month?” Trey asked.
This time, Jared lifted an eyebrow. “A month to declare yourself. That’s what Susie calls it,” Jared said with a roll of his eyes.
“Declare myself?” Trey was starting to feel like an idiot with his questions. He was met with a group laugh.
Nathan stopped laughing first. “That would mean Susie thinks you need to be officially shacked up with Emma.”
Jared piped in. “To clarify, she said that it’s stupid Emma’s at your place all the time anyway, and she’s wasting money on a rental. You two should stop dilly-dallying – her words, not mine – and move in together. She also thinks you should get married, but she’s not going to force it,” Jared said, his eyes dead serious for a solid moment before he burst out laughing at the look on Trey’s face.
Luke and Nathan shook their heads in unison. “You obviously haven’t spent enough time with Susie,” Luke said. “How about you come over for dinner one night? Hannah and I can host everyone. You can see Susie in action. Don’t get the wrong idea now. Susie is the best kind of friend. She’s just…opinionated.”
Jared met Trey’s eyes. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I think Emma said Susie was forceful,” Trey said, recalling the way Emma had described her once.
“That about says it. Guess you just didn’t realize she would be so forceful about your love life,” Jared said with a chuckle.
Trey considered pointing out Jared was the one who needed to worry, but all he had were heavy-duty suspicions about Jared and Susie, so he kept it to himself for now. He shrugged. “Fine by me. I’d like nothing more than to have Emma move in. I’ve been waiting for the right time to move things along, so knowing I only have a month by Susie’s timeline is helpful. I love a deadline,” Trey said, half-joking and serious at the same time. He glanced over at Luke. “As for dinner, name the time and I’ll be there. Okay if I bring Stuart or should I plan on finding a babysitter?”
“Great. I’ll check with Hannah and let you know. And the babysitting, either way. John’s easy going.”
Trey nodded, and talk shifted to fishing as they walked to the parking lot together. Trey drove home to help Stuart get ready for his overnight.
***
Emma stood on the beach looking out over the bay. She and Trey had finished dinner at the Boatyard Café. The sunset had drawn her to suggest a walk. When she’d first moved to Diamond Creek, she’d walked on the beach every day she could even when the weather was on the rough side. She loved the ocean and the mountains. A walk on the beach here meant the best of both. Those solitary walks had been cleansing for her—the bracing winds, salty gusts and the constant flux of life grounded her and anchored her in the reality that she’d managed to walk away from a destructive marriage. So much had happened since then. She couldn’t have imagined she would find Trey and fall in love with him, or that he would insist on standing by her side when the ghosts of her past reared to life. On the other side of that now, the sense of freedom from the haunts of that past was immense. She gulped in the crisp ocean air, relief and exhilaration washing through her.
The sun was well on its way to dropping behind the mountains. The mountainsides were shadowed. Arcs of light reached skyward behind them. A crescent moon rose in the background, a perfect curled sliver standing out against the rose and gold. Trey had paused to gently place a starfish back in the water. When the tide rolled in, starfish came with it in all their starred and colorful glory. But when the tide went out, some starfish were left behind on the sand and often died because they needed the ocean water, even if only a small puddle. Emma had been oblivious to this fact when she first moved here and cringed to think of how many hapless starfish she’d walked by. Once Hannah had pointed this out, she’d taken to carefully relocating the stragglers when she found them. Trey had the same habit, which he said he’d developed as a boy. She glanced down to see him gingerly release the starfish into the water where it lapped against the sand.
He rinsed his hands in the water and gave them a quick shake. Without a word, they began walking again. The sounds of late evening on the Alaskan coastline swirled around them—waves rolling softly in and out, the call of a loon who rested near the shore riding the soft rhythm of the water, the beat of a raven’s wings against the air, and the sudden sound of water breaking as a pair of seals surfaced. They watched Emma and Trey for a quiet moment, their sleek heads holding still above the water. Another moment passed and they dove in unison back under the water, nothing but a swirl left behind.
Trey reached for her hand. She savored the strength in his warm grip. The wind started to pick up, gusts coming in bursts off the water.
“Should we head back?” he asked.
Emma turned toward him, the wind blowing her hair across her face as she did. With a laugh, she nodded, brushing her hair out of the way only to have it blow wild again. When they reached the parking lot and climbed into Trey’s car, the car was a refuge from the wind that had continued to pick up on their short walk back. Emma ran her hands through her hair, swiftly untangling it.
She looked over to find Trey watching her, his eyes intent. Without a word, he closed the space between them, his lips landing softly on hers. Before she could form a thought, she was ruled by sensation, tugged into the tides of desire that were in flux between them.
Long moments later, he gentled the kiss and pulled a fraction away. “Just had to do that,” he whispered, his lips moving against hers.
A slow smile curved her lips, his following until they both laughed. Trey shifted away. He nodded toward the bay when he looked up to start the car. The sun had made its bow, leaving only streaks of fading red and gold above the mountains. The crescent moon was bright now, rising higher in the sky. The water shot glinted sparks in the colored reflections.
They drove home—she was beginning to think of Trey’s house as home—and tumbled into bed. Emma fell into a deep sleep. She woke sometime during the night, in the dark, to feel Trey’s hands skating over her body—a warm caress on her bottom, a palming of her breast, the roughened skin of his palms scattering a trail of heat. Desire shimmered around them, enveloping her in its spell. They made sleepy love in the quiet of the dark. When Trey slid into her core, she sighed in relief. He held still for a moment. Her channel pulsed around his thickness. A slow draw out and surge back in, and she shattered, careening into an intense orgasm that rippled through her. He captured her cries in a deep kiss, convulsing inside her. Gentling his kiss, he slowly shifted to her side. She fell back into sleep, held skin to skin by him.
***
Emma came awake, savoring the warmth from the sun splashed across the b
ed. The shower was running. Before she could summon the energy to roll out of bed, the shower stopped and Trey came out, a towel wrapped around his waist. She took a moment to enjoy the view. His muscled chest and abdomen rippled as he tugged his shorts on and toweled his hair dry. He chuckled when he found her ogling him. She shrugged and winked as he turned away.
“Want breakfast?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe.
A long look in those chocolate brown eyes and she’d have said yes to anything.
“Definitely. Want me to cook?”
“I got it. How about an omelet?”
“Perfect,” she replied before tossing the covers back and heading for the shower.
After she showered, Emma walked into the living room and kitchen area to find a fresh pot of coffee with a mug waiting beside it. Trey was nowhere to be found. She immediately went to get her coffee only to find a folded note inside the mug. Go outside. Curiosity prodded her, but she filled her coffee first. Trey had come to know her well. She didn’t do much of anything in the morning before she had coffee. A few sips of coffee, and she walked out the kitchen door. The deck was warm under her bare feet, the sun high and bright in the sky.
A bouquet of wildflowers, mostly fireweed and daisies, sat in a vase between two table settings at the small round wooden table on the deck. A small box sat beside the wildflowers with a folded note with an arrow pointing to the box. Unfolding the note, she found a small message from Stuart in his careful scrawl. I like you. So does my Dad and Tootsie. A smile bloomed in her heart. She reached for the small box and opened it carefully, her heart beating rapidly. Inside was another note, this one from Trey. If you want to keep waiting, that’s okay. But I wanted you to know just how much you mean to me. Stuart has quite a bit to say about this, so I let him tell you the most important part for him. When you’re ready, you can wear this. In the meantime, keep it somewhere safe. I chose the stone because it makes me think of your eyes.
