But she was slowly starting to realize that she couldn’t be anyone else. She was Emma Clemson, and she had to figure out what that meant.
“Please,” Jess said, scoffing. “Look at you. You look so amazing. He’s going to lose his mind.”
“You think so?” Emma looked down at her shoes again, still unsure about them.
“Yes, now come on. I left him in the front room.” Jess linked her arm through Emma’s, and they walked into the front room together.
Ted had sat down on the couch, and he sprang to his feet, the bouquet of flowers in his hand obviously picked from somewhere out on the ranch, and his smile just as brilliant as before. “Hey.”
“Here she is,” Jess said. “You two have fun.” She made a hasty exit, and Emma had never been more grateful for Jess.
“Hey,” she said, accepting the flowers from him. “Thank you, Teddy. These are beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice catching on the last syllable. He cleared his throat. “And I guess I’m going to have three people who call me Teddy, because I kinda like it when you say it.”
Emma leaned down and inhaled the flowers. “If it’s okay with you,” she said.
“It is.”
“Do you want to wait while I put these in water, or should we go?”
“Oh, I just picked them from along the river,” he said. “You don’t need to put them in water.”
“You looked like you had a great time with your mom.” Emma looked at him, a new level of vulnerability entering her system. She was sure he’d be able to see it in her eyes, and sure enough, he paused.
“It was a great day,” he said, letting his hand come close to hers. His fingers trailed over hers. “Do you see your family a lot?”
“Hardly ever,” Emma said. “I’m going to put these in some water.” She turned to go into the kitchen, but Jess appeared in the doorway, and she held a vase. Emma handed her the flowers with a murmured, “Thank you,” and turned back to Ted. She reached for his hand, and he secured hers in his.
She enjoyed the warmth of his skin, the strength in his fingers, and the thrilling zing that went up her arm and across her shoulders. “Ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He reached up with his free hand and slid it along the side of her face and around the back of her neck. “Well, almost.” He leaned down, hesitating.
She met his eyes, and she found fear in his. It pounded in her veins too. “I haven’t dated anyone in a decade,” she blurted.
“Neither have I,” he whispered. “But I really want to kiss you.”
Emma let her gaze drop to his mouth, and oh, she wondered what that beard would feel like against her face. What his lips would feel like against hers. She let go of his hand and slid it up his arm.
“Kiss me, then,” she said, and she smiled at him.
His lips curved up too, and he pulled in a long breath. Then he kissed her, matching his mouth to hers perfectly, as if he’d done it countless times before.
Emma had never been kissed with the level of care and tenderness with which Ted kissed her, and she felt herself being reborn.
Chapter Thirteen
Ted could literally not remember the last woman he’d kissed. And it didn’t matter who she was, because as he kissed Emma, he never wanted to kiss anyone else. He seemed to know what he was doing, because she broke the kiss for a moment, took a breath, and kissed him again.
He threaded his fingers through her hair, and then cradled her face in his hands. He simply couldn’t get enough of her, and he knew it wasn’t because he craved the human touch. He’d spent the day with his family, and he’d hugged his mother at least a dozen times. He’d strolled around the ranch hand-in-hand with his nieces. His sister had linked arms with him while he took them out to the river in the trees.
He’d gotten his fill of the human touch he’d been deprived of for so long.
This was something else. Ted wasn’t sure what, but it felt like something good.
He finally had the good sense to pull away, and he struggled to breathe as his pulse bounced in his chest. Emma sighed and fell back a step, finally opening her eyes. He looked at her, unsure of what to say to a woman after he’d kissed her.
“Is she still here?” Ginger asked, and not a moment later, she entered the front room. “Oh, good, Emma. I need to talk to you for just a second.”
Emma held Ted’s gaze for another moment and then she turned back to Ginger. “Yeah?”
Ginger glanced over her shoulder to Ted. “Sorry, Ted, it’ll just be a moment, I swear.”
“Take your time,” he said, moving over to the couch he’d sat on before. It was comfortable enough, but this whole room smelled like dust. The women obviously didn’t use it much, and a vein of stupidity moved through him for coming to the front door to pick up Emma as if their relationship was traditional.
It wasn’t, and he knew that.
He’d wanted to ask her about her time in college, and if that was when she’d met Robert Knight, but he’d been enjoying their morning and evening strolls so much, and he didn’t want to put tension between them or add to her stress level.
So he hadn’t brought it up. You can tonight, he told himself as the moment stretched into a minute.
Emma returned a couple of minutes later, an apology on her lips.
“No problem,” he said, taking her hand and leading her out the front door. She’d drive them to town, because Ted didn’t actually have a driver’s license or a vehicle.
“So,” he said as he buckled his seat belt. “Where did you go to college?”
She whipped her head toward him, and Ted saw the nerves in
