want to beg for forgiveness for his entire race.
The screaming echoed in his head, which suddenly felt detached from his body, and if he’d been standing, he’d be flat on his ass by now, but he had Lilah squeezing the holy hell out of him, keeping him conscious.
“I’ve got her!” Emma said in triumph. She came up on her knees, cradling her bundle in a towel, vigorously drying the baby and suctioning the nose and mouth at the same time. She expertly swapped out the wet towel for a dry one as the baby began to wail. “A gorgeous baby girl,” she declared, and set her on Lilah’s belly.
The baby squawked and let out a gusty cry.
Stone stared down at the sticky, gooped up baby in shocked awe.
A living, breathing person.
Emma was evaluating the baby for color, respirations, muscle movement, anything unusual as she clamped the umbilical cord, and then turned her attention to the placenta, while Stone’s head just spun.
It was truly the most amazing thing he’d ever seen, and he lifted his gaze to Emma and found her already looking at him, her eyes suspiciously bright and misty.
And then she did something totally unexpected. She smiled at him.
Yeah, she was tough as nails and cynical and blunt. And sometimes just a little mean.
And she cried over a newborn.
Neely and Lilah were both laughing and sobbing. Once Emma said that everything was okay, Stone and TJ carried Lilah to TJ’s Jeep. They got her and the baby settled in and TJ drove them down the hill to Neely’s sister, who was a midwife and registered nurse in South Shore.
Which left Stone and Emma alone.
He walked to where she stood at the cliff overlooking the open meadow below. “You okay?”
“Always.” She turned her head toward him and did the damnedest thing. She smiled again, a God-given, sweet, warm, real smile that met her eyes and curved her mouth, and rocked his world. “And how are you?” she asked.
He let out a low laugh. “I’ll come right out and admit it. My knees are still shaking.”
She smiled again and blew at least a thousand more of his brain cells, which didn’t leave him with much. But wow, the smile softened her. Made her seem gentle.
Sweet.
All the things he’d thought her void of, all the things he tended to love in a woman, and he had one thought as he felt another catch from deep inside him, as his body went still on high alert and his pulse picked up speed-
He needed to back up. Or better yet, turn and walk away. That was the easy thing to do at this point. But did he ever take the easy route? Hell, no. The hard way was his only way, always, and he stepped close.
Her smile deepened, and his next thought was hell yeah, here it came, the thank you for his help. He’d shrug and say it’d been his pleasure, and she’d maybe move in for a hug, or better yet…
A kiss.
Yeah, a slow, hot, melting thank you kiss would suit him just fine, with lots of tongue and busy hands-
“So you’re afraid of needles
She wasn’t thanking him.
She was laughing at him.
Still laughing, she nodded. “Yeah.”
“That’s cruel, Emma. Very cruel.”
“Sorry.”
Sorry, his ass.
She wasn’t sorry, she wasn’t anywhere close to sorry. She was cracking up, and he should be annoyed. But she looked so damned sexy as she laughed at him.
“I thought you were going to pass out a few times,” she said.
“Well you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve never seen a vagina from that angle before.”
She only laughed harder and patted his arm like he was a four-year-old, before heading toward his truck in her fancy clothes now streaked with dirt, blood and other stuff he didn’t want to think about.
God, she was hot as hell.
They weren’t finished, not by a long shot, so he followed her. “For the record, I
She stopped at the hood of his truck on the passenger side. “You were, for which I’m most thankful. But seeing as you’re so weak-kneed and all, maybe I should drive.”
Yeah, she was sweet and gentle and soft, all right. Like a sleeping lion.
“We need to hurry.” She glanced at her watch. “I’m on a schedule here.”
He leaned toward her, his hands on the hood as he faced her. “What are you in such a hurry to go back to?”
“I have things to do.”
He had to laugh. “You ever slow down and smell the roses, Doc?”
“I’m not a roses kind of woman.”
“How about relaxing?” he asked, thinking he figured he knew the answer. She wasn’t much into that either.
“Relaxing bores me.”
“How about fun. Do you ever have fun?”
“Yes,” she said. “But not when I’m three thousand miles from home, in a town that pays in cholesterol-laden casseroles and looks at me like I’m an alien.”
An uptight, anal, sleeping lion, with
“Yes, but you don’t count.”
“Why don’t I count?”
She hesitated. “Because you look at me in a different way.”
“Like?”
“Like…” Interestingly enough, she blushed.
“Like I’m attracted to you?” he pressed, amused.
Her eyes met his. “Yes. Like that.”
“Because I am. Very much.”
She eyed him a long beat before hopping up into his truck without a word. Not exactly a glowing recommendation but she hadn’t slammed the door on that admitted attraction either, a fact he decided meant good things.
Or so he hoped.
Chapter 5
Emma’s dad had called her twice, and she’d missed both calls, so that night she hopped into his spare truck to go visit him.
His small, remote cabin was outside of town, about ten miles up a dirt road on the shores of Jackson Lake, where he spent his days rehabbing by fly-fishing to his heart’s content.
The problem wasn’t the dirt road, or the ten miles.
Okay, that was the problem. As was the fact that she drove like shit.
She didn’t drive in New York, though she did have her license. She actually liked to drive, but she didn’t have much opportunity to do so.
