Mia wandered back over to us held her hands up to me. I looked at Emma, not sure what to do. She laughed.
“She wants you to pick her up. I think she’s finally worn out.”
I picked Mia up and stood to carry her to the stroller while Emma was packing everything into her diaper bag, preparing to leave. I leaned over to put her inside and Mia patted me on the cheek and smiled up at me. I smiled back at her and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. She giggled and reached for her teddy bear as she snuggled back into the seat.
“I’ll walk you ladies back to your place. I’ve got to get moving anyway.”
Emma smiled as we started walking toward the street. “It was nice running into you again today. Maybe I’ll start scheduling our trips to the park so we can catch you at the end of your run. It’s a nice way to end our day.”
I smiled back at her at the same time that I hear alarm bells ringing in my head. Warning! Danger! This is becoming too much like dating. I’m supposed to be backing off from Emma, not getting closer, dammit.
As I’m trying to find a way to discourage her without being an asshole, I noticed a dark sedan parked down the street from our building. The same dark sedan I saw last week. And there’s someone sitting in it today, too.
I glanced at the plates as we crossed the street to go inside. I needed to report this in case it’s tied to the Patzkowsky case. John has too many of us in this building to risk someone hanging out down here.
As we walked into the lobby, Mrs. Martinez was talking to Frank at the front desk. I nodded and said hello, but Emma stopped beside them. I touched her shoulder to get her attention.
“I’ve gotta run. I’ll see you later, okay?”
She smiled up at me, “Okay. Bye, Jason.”
I took the stairs at a run. Tex will keep all the good toys for himself if I don’t hurry up and I still had to put the make, model and plate number into the database on that suspicious vehicle outside. I needed to get my mind on something other than Emma, too. Maybe I just needed to get laid. Tex had been a good wingman in the past – maybe we needed to hit a bar when we’re done tonight….
~Emma~
As I was pulling everything out of the diaper bag I took to the park, I noticed I had Jason’s arm band he uses for his phone when he’s running. I vaguely remember grabbing everything that was on the park bench while trying not to focus too much on how sweet he was being with Mia when we were leaving. Running into him again had been fun. More fun that I’d had in a while, which probably said a lot about my social life. He was funny and smart and easy to talk to most of the time. He was a friendly guy.
Friendly. Looking back at our interactions, he was very… friendly. Like, ‘you are the girl next door and I am playing nice because living next to someone you can’t stand sucks’ type of friendly? Dammit. Since when did I start to care about how he sees me?
Mia was playing with her blocks while PAW Patrol was playing on the television, so I grabbed the strap and jogged the few steps down the hallway to Jason’s apartment and knocked on the door. My heart was pounding and I could feel my cheeks turning red while I stood there. Oh man, I have it bad for my hot neighbor!
After waiting a minute, I figured he hadn’t made it back from meeting up with his friend and walked back down the hall. I glanced back at his door, wondering if I can slide it under the door itself, but it looked like it would be a tight fit and I don’t want to end up messing it up trying to give it back.
Since I didn’t want him to come home tomorrow and not have what he needs to go running, I’ll leave him a note that I’m going to drop it at the front desk so that he can get it when he gets back.
I darted back into my own apartment, scribbled the note about the arm band and signed it with my big loopy E. I paused for just a second and then I wrote my phone number beneath my initial. Just in case he ever needed it…. You know. If another package of mine is delivered to him or… whatever. Meh.
“Mia, wanna go see Frank for a minute?”
“Fank? Yeh.” Mia toddled over to me and we made a slow trip downstairs to drop the arm band off at the desk. Frank had always been super sweet to us and went out of his way to make us feel safe. He snuck snacks to Mia when I checked the mail a few times and now she’s a ruthless manipulator every time we see him. But she’s adorable.
Tonight, Mia discovered Frank’s stash of pretzel sticks and was nice enough to share with the kind older man. When I gave the armband to Frank and asked if he could get it to Jason, he told me that Jason is actually in the building if I wanted him to call and have him come down. Part of me wanted to say yes, but the other part of me knows how desperate that would look. I pass. Frank and I argued over a few lines on his crossword puzzle before I convinced Mia she’d had enough pretzels and it was time for a bath and bedtime.
“Bye, Fank!” she screeched as I ran to the elevator carrying her on my shoulders. Franks laughter followed us into the elevator and I heard him wish us a good night, too. I am so lucky we moved into this building. Seriously.
The next morning, as I was dropping Mia off with Carla so I could head to a client meeting across town, my phone beeped letting me know I had a new text message.
Em – thanks for dropping my arm band at the front desk. I would have missed it this afternoon! Jason
I have no idea how long I just stared at that message…or how long I mentally ticked through options to find an appropriate response before writing back.
That’s what I thought. Glad it made it back to you! E
Before I tucked my phone into my purse, I saved his number in my contacts with a silly smile on my face, I’m sure. Then, I hurried out to my car. I hated driving in rush hour traffic, but I don’t get to set meeting times, so here we go!
Chapter 5
~Emma~
Thank God this week was done! And thank Heather for hanging onto my Mia so I could clean house and get a few sections of my next project started today instead of being rushed on Monday.
I’m already halfway through what I wanted to accomplish work-wise, so now I was tackling the house work. My first can of Diet Coke got me through scrubbing the kitchen floors and putting away the dishes from the dishwasher. Once the counters were organized, I ticked that room off my to-do list.
I worked my way through my second can of Diet Coke while I deep clean the bathroom. I had pop music blaring from my iPhone on the bathroom counter and I wiggle-danced my way through my task.
Once the bathroom was finished, I headed to my room to strip the bed. As I was tugging the fitted sheet off my mattress, my phone shrilled with a weather alert. ‘Severe thunder storms moving into the area’ – at least my car is in a parking garage and I’m inside already. I sent a quick text to Heather to check on Mia.
Bad weather moving in – you okay keeping Mia until it passes? I should be done with my stuff in another couple hours. J
I plugged my phone in to charge and turned on the radio on my alarm clock to my favorite station before Heather wrote back.
Np. We’re painting nails. Used ‘baby doll pink’ on your baby doll. Putting ‘hooker red’ on myself. ;) We’re good. TTYL.
I laughed out loud and got back to my chores. Beyoncé, JT and Shakira kept me grooving while I got a load of laundry started, put clean sheets on Mia’s bed and got chicken marinating for tonight. I was stretching the fitted sheet across my mattress when the lights flickered once and then went out completely. I waited for a second before grabbing my phone and using its flashlight app to finish making my bed. At least I was pretty much done with what I need to do today.
Me: Power out here. You girls okay?
Heather: Our power is on. Watching Dora and eating goldfish.
Me: Good deal. I’ll find some candles in case it’s off for a while.
Heather: No worries. Maybe you should join us for a slumber party.
Me: What about John? ;)
Heather: I don’t share that kind of party. Sorry. Find your own.
&n
bsp; Me: LMAO. Not what I meant. I’ll be over when storms pass. TTFN
I turned the flashlight app back on and went in search of the candles I know I have somewhere. I have one that’s just for decoration in the bathroom – I can use that if I need to. What I can’t find is the lighter. I don’t even remember the last time I had matches, so that’s a no go. But I know we had one of those lighters for the grill at our last place.
After searching for a while longer, I am still without a lighter. Standing in my living room considering my options, I think of Jason. I bet he has a lighter or matches. That whole ‘always be prepared’ thing is a military thing, right? Or is that the boy scouts? Eh. I start to send him a text and then figure I’ll just go knock on his door.
Seconds after I knock on Jason’s door, it opens.
“Bwahahaha – welcome to my dungeon…” he says in his best vampire impersonation. I was so surprised that I actually snorted when I laughed at him. He laughed with me and invited me inside. He had a camping lantern on his coffee table in the living room. I switched off my phone’s flashlight and tucked it into my pocket.
“No Mia today?”
“My friend Heather was watching her for me so I could get some stuff done. She’s keeping her until the storms move through.”
“That’s nice of her.”
There’s a not-quite-uncomfortable pause before I realized he must be wondering why I’m here.
“It’s been so long since we’ve been without power, I can’t find my lighter to light the candles. I was hoping you might have one….”
“Sure. Let me go grab you one.” He disappeared into what looked like a home office and came back a few minutes later with a long handled lighter.
“Perfect. Thanks! I had a feeling you’d know where yours was.” I moved toward the door to go.
“Hang on. Let me grab you a flashlight so you don’t run down your phone like that.” He headed into his bedroom.
Without really thinking, I walked toward his bedroom, too. Curiosity is my only excuse. He was going through a drawer in his dresser and pulled out a flashlight at the same time that the power came back on.
I blinked hard at how bright the lights seemed after being used to the dark. Jason gave a short laugh. The sound of Taylor Swift’s newest song filled the room.
“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Jason – I had no idea my music was turned up that loud!” I felt so awful that he was over here trying to work and I was being so loud.
“Not a big deal, Emma. Apartment walls aren’t very sound proof. It’s fine.”
And then my brain started firing too fast for me to keep up. Because. Thin walls. His headboard shares a wall with mine. Moans at night. Moans I assumed I heard only in my own head. MY moans that HE could probably hear. Oh no. No no no. My eyes snapped to his in panic.
And then he was just there. His hands framed my face and his mouth was on my mouth. His hands tipped my head a little and he lightly licked along the curve of my bottom lip. I heard myself whimper as I parted my lips. His tongue swept inside and ran along in soft skin on the inside of my bottom lip before he sucked it into his mouth and nibbled on it. Heat flooded my body. I stood on my toes to reach him better and my right hand clenched his bicep, hanging on for dear life.
Every pulse in my body now throbbed between my legs.
Jason slid a hand down my neck and shoulder, leaving a wake of fire and ice in its path. His hand moved down my back to my waist and pulled me closer. His erection was hard against my middle. His hand flexed on my lower back and his other hand moves to join it before they both slid lower, cupping my bottom.
I pulled my mouth from his and moaned at the feel of his hands on me. Every flex of his hands on me sent another wave of heat straight to my core. Jason’s hot mouth moved along my jaw to the spot just below my ear that makes my whole body shiver with need. His teeth scrape over the sensitive skin before his tongue licks a path down my neck. My hips rocked against his thigh, desperately seeking friction where I need it most. He knew what I needed and slipped his thick thigh between my legs. His hands rocked me over his thigh as his mouth slid back to mine.
His tongue rubbed along mine in time to the rhythm of my hips. The friction, the hot slide of his mouth on mine, the realization that reality was so much better than the fantasizing I’d been doing about him…all added up to an orgasm that hit me like a freight train in no time.
I jerked my head away as I gasped and moaned through the incredible pleasure coursing through my body, my head tipping back as my body started to go slack. Jason held me up, pressing me firmly against his thigh as I rode out my orgasm, his erection pressed tight against my belly. He pressed his mouth to my neck, his breath coming hard and fast. I reached up to hold onto him and dropped the lighter I had been holding with my left hand.
The clatter as it hit the floor was like an explosion, jerking me back into reality and I couldn’t get my brain to catch up with my body. I jerked away from Jason’s arms, breathing hard, my heart pounding against my ribs.
“I - . You - . I… Mia. I have to get Mia. Uh.” I stumbled to the door and escaped to my own apartment.
The radio was playing a song about lost love and chasing dreams like there’s no tomorrow. I slapped my hand down to shut it off and saw how hard my hands are shaking.
What the heck just happened?
Chapter 6
~Jason~
Holy Shit.
I let her go. The expression on her face when she jerked away from me was enough of a figurative cold shower to get my head on straight. I scrubbed my hands over my face and leaned against the wall.
I had been sitting here going over the report on the car that’s been outside our building more than once. Plates led back to a mechanic on the other side of town who had no known ties to the Patzkowsky case, but none of us at RED-Stone trust that easily. I had been tasked with watching the tapes from the cameras around the building each day, doing my own recon and getting a GPS tracking unit on the vehicle if at all possible. There was a reason he was way over here and hanging out in his car – and we’d figure it out.
And then the power had gone out.
Battery operated lanterns are a staple in my field gear and camping equipment. Flashlights, matches, lighters, fire starters – all of these things were useful in many situations, so my power going out isn’t a big deal. Even my computers have battery backups that give me almost an hour to shut things down manually in a long-term power loss.
We were relaxed when she first got here. It was an easy thing. She snort-laughed at my Dracula impression. Yeah, the sexual tension was still there, but things were…normal. I went to go get what she needed and then the power came on.
My first thought was how good she looked standing in my bedroom. Unfortunately, my brain was still stuck in that thought when she apologized for the music next door – which is the only possible explanation for why on earth I would say something that caused her to realize I could hear her at night. Her face had flashed with so many thoughts and emotions and finally settled on panicked embarrassment. And I just couldn’t let that stand.
It wasn’t even a conscious thought when I moved to kiss her. I just needed to erase that look from her face. God, the taste of her. The first stroke of my tongue over hers. The soft moans and whimpers. The heat of her against me, her ass in my hands, the scent of her arousal, the feel of her rubbing her sweet little body against me until she couldn’t keep herself from coming apart in my arms. It was incredible. Until she jumped right back out of my arms and ran like the building was on fire.
I sighed and walked back to my desk. After spending some time staring at nothing, I tried to get back to work. But I just couldn’t seem to concentrate. And then I remembered what I had completely forgotten. I yanked open one of the locked drawers of my desk and pulled out the report my system had run on Emma. With everything else going on, I hadn’t ever sat down and gone through it all.
She was born in Arizona, started college in
Colorado before losing her parents in a car accident, packed up and moved to California. Got married to her ex and finished her degree at UCLA – she earned a BS in Chemical Engineering. That’s not quite what I expected. I had copies of her marriage certificate, her medical records, her divorce decree, her lease application for her apartment in this building…. As I flipped through the rest of it, I felt like something wasn’t quite right. But I get paid to be looking for the missing piece of the puzzle. It’s possible that I’m just always expecting something to be more than it appears. But Emma isn’t like that. She’s so expressive and open, it’s not like she’s hiding anything.
Later that evening, I kept circling back to wondering if I had made the right decision to let her run out of my apartment without talking about things. I have never considered myself a “relationship” guy. In the military – especially as a SEAL – relationships are hard. Really hard. Close-to-impossible hard. So, a long time ago, I stopped even considering anything longer than the couple of weeks I might be on shore between missions. It just wasn’t worth the investment on my end and the emotional meltdown the woman always has. I’d seen it enough. Pass. Hard pass.
But I’m not in the Teams anymore. And my job isn’t as hardcore as it used to be. Yes, sometimes I was in danger, but it isn’t often and never as dangerous as life as a SEAL had been. Maybe it was time for me to consider other options. Maybe Emma is worth trying something new. Maybe….
After pacing my apartment for half an hour, I finally tapped out a text to Emma.
Were you able to pick up Mia and get home safe?
A few minutes later – that felt like forever since I just kept staring at my phone – she wrote back.
Yes, thanks.
Now what?
Good deal. You girls have a good night.
I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never worried about feelings and dating. And she has Mia – which makes things even more complicated for both of us.
Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) Page 5
