She employed her go-to tactic of denial. “Nothing’s wrong. Why would you think anything is wrong?”
“Maybe because your face is puckered up like you just sucked on a lemon.”
His description coaxed a slight smile out of her, but she kept mum.
“From what we’ve discussed about friendship, you should be able to tell me anything: the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
“Isn’t that the name of a movie?” she asked, trying out the next stall tactic—deflection.
Zack chuckled. “Come on, Em. Be serious. What’s on your mind?”
She moved to a cross-legged position and breathed a heavy sigh. “Has anyone ever told you that you can be very persistent?”
“Is that a code word for pain in the ass?”
A loud laugh escaped that time, and she finally gave in. “Ok, here goes. Listening to you on the phone with Gracie and knowing how much she needs you—it just really touched me.”
“And?”
“And it also made me wonder where that leaves us. I mean, Chicago has been wonderful, but what happens when we get home? Are we still supposed to pretend to be friends in front of Gracie? Are we still relegated to seeing each other when she’s not around? I just don’t understand how this is going to work.”
Zack leaned back on his forearms and blew out a breath. “First of all, we are friends, Emma. There’s no pretending to be friends. Just because we had sex doesn’t mean we’re no longer friends.”
She was about to protest, but he held up his index finger for her to wait.
“As for your other questions, I don’t have all the answers. I didn’t plan on getting divorced. I didn’t plan on meeting you again, and I certainly didn’t expect to have these… feelings so soon. So, if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, then that makes two of us. I was kind of hoping that we could figure it out as we go along.”
“Wait a minute. Can you rewind a little?”
He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “To which part?”
“To the part where you said that you didn’t expect to have these feelings. What kind of feelings are you referring to?” You had to go there, didn’t you, Emma?
Zack leaned forward, and his lips curled up in a slow, sultry smile. “I’m referring to the feeling of not wanting to be apart from you. The feelings that make me do crazy things like drive for five hours just to see you. The feelings that cause me to think about you all day long and dream about you at night. The feeling of wanting you so bad that I ache. The feeling…”
Emma put a finger to his lips to stop him. “I got the picture,” she whispered, and then she leaned in to replace her finger with her lips.
Emma and Zack spent the remainder of the evening wrapped in each other’s arms. Their lovemaking alternated between hot and heavy, and soft and slow. There was no more talk about what happens next, because there was simply not enough time. They were too busy kissing, sucking, nibbling, and exploring each other to talk. Instead, they found a rhythm all their own and practiced it repeatedly until it became a perfect song.
The following morning, they had their first mini-argument.
“Why won’t you let me drive you to the airport?” Zack huffed while he packed up his belongings.
“I already told you. I’m taking the airport shuttle.”
“But you set that up before I got here. Why wouldn’t you want to ride with me instead?”
“Because it will be a hassle for you to get in and out of the airport when you could just get started on your drive home.” Emma had stopped packing, and they glared at each other across the room.
“I told you that I don’t mind. Besides, it will give us some more time to spend together before…”
Before reality comes crashing down. “Ok, look, Mr. Persistent. I don’t like airport goodbyes. Ok? That’s the real reason.”
Zack moved across the room in a blur, and then she was pressed tightly against him. Emma blinked her tears away and cursed herself for being a big baby while she clung to him. When they parted, her eyes were still watery, and Zack held on to her forearms to steady her.
“I’m sorry for pushing, Em,” he said.
She flapped her hands around dismissively. “It’s not your fault. I think it stems from my parents leaving all of the time. I just don’t like goodbyes.”
He pulled her in again and ran his hand down the back of her hair in a soothing motion. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I promise.”
Emma breathed him in and let herself relax in his strong comforting embrace. This time, when they pulled apart, she offered him a shaky smile.
“I think we just had our first argument, and I’m glad to see that you did the right thing by letting me win!” With that, she flounced to the door, calling over her shoulder, “Come on, it’s time to go.”
Zack rolled his eyes, grabbed both of their bags, and followed her out the door. There was no make-out session in the elevator this time because it was full of passengers. They did get to stand smashed together, however, and Emma soaked up his closeness before they were deposited on the lobby floor. The airport shuttle waited in the pick-up area outside of the lobby doors, but Zack stopped her with a hand on her arm.
He kissed her firmly and said, “That was not a goodbye kiss. That was an I’ll-see-you-later kiss.”
Emma gave him a full-on smile and started to board the bus, but she turned around at the last second. “See you at home,” she said before the door closed behind her.
Chapter 27
Five hours is a long time when you’re in a car by yourself, Zack thought as he made his way home. He had thought about Emma during most of the drive, which was in keeping with what he had confessed to her the day before.
Ugh. So much for playing it cool. He had tipped his hand after spending one weekend in her arms. One weekend!
It’s not my fault. She looked up at me with those doe eyes and asked about my feelings. Yeah, dork, but you didn’t have to tell her everything.
When he had finished chastising himself, he switched to thinking more positive thoughts. Images were more like it. Images of her under him, over him, and beside him—her petite body heated and responsive to his every touch. She hadn’t been shy, that was for sure. And he loved it. Loved every minute of it. It wasn’t just the unbelievably awesome sex either. It was everything: her laugh, her smile, her bright eyes and flushed cheeks. The way that she sparred with him and didn’t back down when he was being Mr. Persistent. Zack laughed out loud at the nickname.
When his steamy thoughts caused a reaction in his pants, he toned it down and pulled up some G-rated images, such as them walking along Navy Pier and taking candid photos of each other at The Bean.
Inevitably, his thoughts wandered to their discussion about what would happen next. Here was where he floundered, because, honestly, he had no idea. He wasn’t convinced that Gracie was ready to include Emma in their lives, at least not on a permanent basis. Gracie saw Emma as “the one who told her stories,” not as “the one who was stealing her daddy’s heart.” Zack chafed when he recalled the discussion he had had with Alicia about Emma. Alicia had tried to warn him that it was too soon for Zack to introduce a woman into Gracie’s life, yet she was already living with her intern. When he had called her out on it, Alicia had made the excuse that she kept her activities with Gracie separate from what’s-his-name. What was his name anyway? Zack had been referring to Alicia’s live-in as everything but his real name, and now he’d forgotten what it was! Oh well, the point was, it had pissed him off. He had a right to live his own life without interference from Alicia, or did he? Certainly, as the mother of his child, she had the right to voice her concerns, but still, it irked him.
If he were being completely honest, some of what Alicia had said rang true. They hadn’t been divorced for that long, and Gracie was still adjusting to their separate living arrangements. It seemed like a lot to ask for her to accept Emma into their lives too. His thoughts swirled around and arou
nd in this vein, so when he saw the exit sign for Clarkston, he was pleasantly surprised. Zack shook his head and chuckled. “Emma Murphy, what on earth have you done to me?”
Chapter 28
Instead of driving straight home from the airport, Emma went directly to the bookstore. After spending the weekend with Zack, she dreaded going home to an empty house, plus she wanted to check in with Kelly and see how business had fared in her absence.
Kelly looked up in surprise when Emma entered the store, and she said, “Hey, Em. Welcome back. How was the windy city?”
“It was… interesting.” Emma felt her face flush while Kelly gave her the once-over.
“What does that mean? Did you pick up a mysterious stranger at a bar and have sex with him?”
“That’s your fantasy, not mine,” Emma replied drily.
“So? Don’t make me beg. What happened?”
Emma swung her head around to see if there were any customers within hearing distance. There were only two young women in the store, but their heads were buried conspiratorially in the romance section.
“Zack showed up,” she said and waited for Kelly’s reaction.
Kelly’s caramel brown eyes bulged, and she leaned forward intently. “He showed up in Chicago?”
“Yes. He was waiting for me in the hotel lobby after the show on Friday.”
“Holy…”
“I know. I was as shocked as you are.”
“So what happened next?”
“We hung out. We toured the city together, had dinner, that sort of thing…” Emma’s voice trailed off as the two young customers approached the counter, each with an armload of Harlequin romances.
“Have you read any of these?” the taller of the two girls asked Kelly and Emma.
“Only like every one of them,” Kelly answered enthusiastically. “This one with the cowboy on the cover is particularly juicy.”
The girls giggled and left the store, happily swinging the bags that contained their treasures.
“So, get to the good stuff. Did you and Zack do it?”
“Really, Kell?” Emma turned away and examined a stack of new books that had arrived while she had been in Chicago.
“Sorry. Let me rephrase the question. Did you and Zack make love?”
Emma still couldn’t bring herself to look Kelly in the eye, but if Zack was Mr. Persistent, then Kelly was Ms. Persistent, so she decided to give in. “Yes,” she said quietly.
“Wow, Em. That’s huge.”
In more ways than one, she thought giddily, deciding to keep that part of the story to herself. “It’s not that big a deal. You do it all the time.”
“I know, but that’s me, not you. You’re the relationship type of girl.”
Emma turned to face her. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that you don’t do casual sex, which means that you and Zack must be in a relationship now. No more of that friendship crap you tried to pull off.”
Emma suddenly wished that she had gone straight home. She wasn’t ready to voice her fears to Kelly or anyone else. She had thought about Zack the whole way home, and after replaying the events of the weekend over and over, she was still unsure about where they stood. She purposely hadn’t called him yet because she wanted more time to process it all.
“I don’t know what to call it, Kell. It’s all so new.”
Kelly had to have heard the waver in Emma’s voice because she backed off. “Well, I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”
“I know. Thanks. So, tell me what happened at the store while I was gone.”
Emma half-listened as Kelly related stories about some of their regular customers, including Mrs. Simmons, who had finally broken down and bought the Fifty Shades series. Kelly said that it had been hard for her to keep a straight face when she rang up the purchase. She went on to say that Brett had done an excellent job of leading story time on Saturday, and the kids (especially the girls) seemed to love him.
“Oh, and Mike asked about you yesterday,” she added as an afterthought.
“Really?” Emma was surprised given their last interaction.
“I felt kind of sorry for the guy. He really has a thing for you.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him that you were in Chicago at a book convention and that you’d be back on Monday. He asked about Zack, and I said that you two were just friends. If I would have known that you two hooked up, I would have discouraged Mike.”
Great, now I have to let Mike down again. “Being single is a lot harder than it looks,” Emma said, exasperated.
“Welcome to my world,” Kelly said, shaking her head.
“Sorry, Kell. I was so busy talking about myself that I forgot to ask you about….”
“Collin.”
“Yes, the poet. How’s that going?”
“We’re through. It turned out that he wasn’t so sensitive after all.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Emma rested her chin in her palm and gave Kelly her full attention.
“The good news is that I met Luke, and we have a date next weekend.”
“I can’t keep up with you, Kelly. Did you meet him here?”
“Yep, in the history section. He’s a history teacher at Clarkston Junior High School, and he wanted to read up on World War II.”
“So that makes him…”
“Worldly. I like a man with a global world view. Someone who thinks beyond himself.”
Emma had to laugh, but then, to soften the blow, she gave her friend a hug.
“What was that for?” Kelly asked even though she had hugged Emma back just as tight.
“Just because I love you. Your eternal optimism never ceases to amaze me.”
Emma let Kelly’s romantic outlook infuse her while she drove home. She unpacked, put on her favorite country music CD, and made herself a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. She puttered around the house for a while and congratulated herself for not checking her phone every other minute. It made perfect sense that Zack would want to spend some time with Gracie since he had been gone all weekend. Emma immersed herself in her James Patterson novel until she decided that it was a reasonable time to call.
Zack answered on the first ring, but he sounded a little frazzled. “Hey, Em.”
“Hey, am I interrupting something?”
“No. I just saved Gracie from having a meltdown when she couldn’t find her favorite doll. I used my superpower for finding lost toys and just finished tucking her in.”
“You really are Superman, then,” Emma said and giggled at her reference to his boxers.
“Something like that,” he replied, chuckling.
Emma thought she heard the rustling of covers, like he was getting into bed. “Whatcha doing right now?”
“Climbing into bed.”
Bingo! “Wish I was there,” she purred flirtatiously.
“That makes two of us,” Zack replied, lowering his voice.
“I don’t know if I thanked you properly for taking me out to dinner this weekend.” Emma snuggled a little deeper under the covers, smiling at her boldness.
“Oh yeah? How would you like to thank me?”
“Well, first, I would give you a long, deep kiss with lots of tongue.”
More rustling of covers. “And then?”
“Then I would undress you all the way down to nothing.”
“Keep talking.”
Now it was her that squirmed. “Next, I would run my hands down your bare chest and over your abs until I reached your…”
“DAAADDD!”
“Damn, I have to go.” Zack must have covered the phone, but she heard him yell, “Hold on, Gracie.”
Emma’s good mood evaporated just like that. “No problem. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she said, and then he hung up without even saying goodbye.
Chapter 29
Zack called Emma the very next day, just after she had opened the store at ten o’clock.
&
nbsp; “I’m sorry for hanging up on you,” he began. “Gracie had a really tough time settling down last night.”
That makes two of us, Emma thought. “I understand. Do you think she was upset because you were gone all weekend?”
“No. I think she was worried about going to school this morning. I might have to make an appointment with her teacher to discuss that boy who’s been teasing her on the playground.”
“Ah, man troubles. Been there, done that,” Emma said lightly.
“What man troubles are you having?” he asked suspiciously.
“None really, except that I haven’t seen a certain man in twenty-four excruciatingly long hours.”
Zack erupted in warm laughter. “I’d like to remedy that. In fact, that’s why I called. How about meeting me for lunch today?”
“I would love to. However, I’m the only one here. I gave Kelly the next couple of days off since she worked all weekend.”
“Ok. What if I brought lunch to you?”
“That sounds wonderful as long as you don’t mind if we’re interrupted.”
“How could I mind when I’m the king of interruptions?”
Emma’s smile stretched so wide that her cheeks hurt. “It’s a date then… or something like that,” she amended, feeling a little flustered.
“Are you blushing right now?” he teased.
“No,” she replied emphatically.
Zack seemed barely able to contain his laughter as he said, “See you at noon.”
Emma busied herself by paying bills, checking on inventory, and assisting the few customers who ventured in. Before she knew it, the bell chimed, and Zack walked in holding a McDonald’s bag and a drink tray.
“How did you know?” Emma asked, placing a hand over her heart adoringly.
Zack set the food and drinks down, took a quick glance around the store, and leaned over the counter to kiss her. It was a brief meeting of lips, but it sent a tingle down her spine all the same. Emma breathed in the spicy scent of his cologne and suppressed the urge to climb over the counter to get closer. He looked and smelled delicious, almost overriding the tantalizing aroma of the McDonald’s french fries!
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