Emma's Treasures

by Rebecca Joyce

  Emma felt Tate place his hands on her shoulders and begin to rub gently. She always did love when he did that. It was like he knew she needed the attention to relax. Moaning into the massage, she let her head fall back against his chest, enjoying how he was kneading the tension from her body.

  Her moans were pleasure to his ears as he remembered their first time together. She was so sweet, gentle, loving. Trusting, that was what he remembered the most. She trusted him. She gave herself willingly to him.

  Slowly rubbing her shoulders, Tate was lost in her moans when his hands began to slowly move down her arms, and before he knew what he was going, he was fondling her breasts, kneading them gently, reverently, as if they were the most precious things to him. Emma moaned louder, turning her body to allow him better access. The moment her mouth was in range, Tate gently took her lips, caressing them, reacquainting himself with her taste. Her soft, supple lips were an aphrodisiac to his soul.

  Emma deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth. It was Tate’s turn to moan, and he did just that. Slowly getting to her knees, Emma never broke the kiss as she removed the robe. Pushing Tate back, Emma laid herself on top of him as she devoured his mouth.

  Tate groaned as Emma sucked his tongue into her mouth, swirling her tongue around his mouth, over his teeth, his lips. Straddling him, Emma began to grind her pelvis into him, as the passion from her kiss began to quickly heat his body to the point of boiling. Tate wrapped his arms around her, and quickly maneuvered her under him. Coming up for breath, he removed his shirt, never saying a word. He helped Emma out of her shirt, leaving them both naked from above the waist.

  Tate slowly lowered his mouth to hers once again, kissing her gently, slowly trailing kisses down her neck and shoulders, ending at her breasts. Holding them gently in his hands, he brought them to his mouth and began to suckle her tiny nipples. She arched into him, moaning as he nipped her pert nipples between his teeth. Taking his time with her, like he did all things, paying special attention to every detail, he moved slowly down her body, kissing her stomach and hips. When he reached her panties, he hooked his fingers in them and slid them slowly off of her body. Spreading her legs, Tate lowered his mouth to her wet pussy.

  She thrust her breast and hips up, as Tate’s mouth connected with her clit. She cried out when he sucked her nub into his mouth, tickling it with his tongue. Her pussy clinched and within seconds began to pour. Tate took his time, licking up every juicy morsel, still nipping at her clit every chance he could get.

  Raising his head up from her delicious pussy, Tate could see the passion and hunger in Emma’s eyes, and it was all for him, just him. Standing, he slowly unbuttoned his jeans, letting them fall from hips to the floor. Crawling back onto the bed, he stopped to kiss her stomach one more time before her laid himself over her. With one hand on his cock and his lips on her mouth, Tate gently entered her warm, wet sheath.

  Her cry of pleasure was just the poison he needed. Moving within her, Tate loved Emma the only way he knew how—with his body.

  * * * *

  Emma was on fire. She wanted Tate, and he was slowly killing her with his attentiveness. She couldn’t contain her arousal anymore than she could control the seasons. Emma felt pleasure from her head to the tips of her toes. Holding onto to Tate as he took his time making love to her was what she needed. She felt loved. She needed him so badly she thought her heart was about to burst. He took his time, as he always did, sliding his cock in and out of her, extracting pleasure from her body in places she never knew existed. His mouth never left hers as he loved her. She began to feel the ripples of pleasure reach her pussy once again, as he continued to stretch her with his soft plunges. Groaning into his mouth, Emma raised her legs, allowing him better access, and Tate took advantage, holding her leg high on his hip as he used hips to slowly circle her dripping pussy. Her moans became louder, as Tate continued his assault on her senses.

  Emma heard Tate grinding his teeth as he pleasured her with his body.

  Tate felt her pussy ripple along the length of his hard cock. Moving a little faster, Emma released him from the long kiss and panted, and her walls clamped down on his buried flesh as he continued to plunge himself deeper and deeper. When his throbbing cock pushed in one more time, Emma could feel his pulses of cum shoot into her hot pussy, extracting her own climax as she milked him of every last drop.

  Tate was panting as he fell onto on Emma, as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him closely to her heart.

  Her breathing finally returning to normal, she felt bereft when Tate rolled from her body. Turning to look at him, he just smiled, grabbed the comforter, pulled her close, and turned the light off.

  “I love you, Emma. I never stopped,” he whispered into the dark room, leaving her speechless.

  * * * *

  The boys kept a close eye on Emma over the next couple of days until Kelly arrived. Even though Emma wasn’t too thrilled with having Kelly underfoot, she accepted the fact that the boys firmly believed she needed the help, and it would also help Kelly with her externship with the doc. So, Emma relented and accepted the help.

  Hours turned into days, and before they knew it, a few weeks had passed without any transgressions from Emma. For all intents and purposes, it was like nothing had happened. She still hadn’t talked about what was going on in Denver. Actually, it was like she had wiped it from her mind. But still, every now and then, each of the boys or Kelly would see Emma jump from odd sounds, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was following.

  Soon, Emma and Kelly had worked themselves into a routine, and before they knew it, it seemed Emma was looking forward to Kelly’s visits.

  “Yo, Ems! I’m here,” Kelly shouted as she walked through the front door.

  “In the kitchen,” Emma shouted back.

  Kelly set her bags down on the table and observed as Emma prepared dinner. She had done everything the doc had requested from her, but yet was unable to get Emma to open up about what was causing her trauma.

  It only took Kelly two weeks to agree with the doc that Emma was suffering from posttraumatic shock. The problem was trying to figure out what was causing it. Since arriving here at the ranch, Kelly had tried everything she could think of to get Emma to open up, from talking about her past, to talking about dreams. The only thing Kelly was able to find out was that Emma didn’t dream, and when the word “nightmare” was brought up, Emma would tense up. So, for the time being, she agreed with the doc, and decided to allow things to happen naturally.

  “So, what’s on the agenda today?” Emma asked as she was cutting up vegetables.

  “Oh, not much. After I get done here, I get to head over to see Kevin Morris. His unit was released from Walter Reed two weeks ago, and they are finally here in Treasure. Half of the boys are staying out at the Morris’s, and the rest are with Doc out at his parents’ place. The Town is working hard to find them all a place where they can recover in peace.

  “It must be so hard for them. I will talk with the boys and see what we can do.”

  “Any help will help.”

  “So how is Kevin? I haven’t seen him since fifth grade. He was such loner back then.”

  “He is doing okay, but needs some help and someone to listen. That’s where I come in. Plus, I get to see all of his friends, and that’s a major plus for me!” Kelly said, smiling.

  “Girl, you are so bad. I thought you were not allowed to date your patients?”

  “Ah, but I’m not a doctor. I am just helping out the doc, and plus I have a good ear. So, while I am there, I talk with Kevin and the rest of them, and if Daniel Meyer just happens to show up…Yeah me!”

  “Ah…” Emma whispered.

  For the last couple of weeks, all Kelly could talk about was the incredibly handsome but shy Daniel Meyer. When Kevin returned home, he had brought the remaining members of his squad with him, since apparently none of them had anywhere else to go. Within days
of their return, the town had adopted all of them, and all were doing everything they could to make them all functional members of society once again.

  Emma continued chopping vegetables and preparing dinner, when Tabitha ran into the house, laughing and squealing gleefully.

  “Whoa there, Calamity Jane, where are you running to?” Kelly asked, snagging Tabitha and sitting her on her lap.

  “I gotta git! Daddy’s gonna find me and he said when he does, he’s gonna throwed me in the pond,” Tabitha said quickly, trying to get out of Kelly’s lap.

  “Now, why would your daddy want to ‘throwed’ you in the pond?” Kelly laughed.

  “Because he saw me swimmin’ in the pond, after he told me not to.”

  “Ah. Well then, proceed,” Kelly said, letting Tabitha go, watching her take off like a bullet out the front door and down the steps.

  She turned her attention back to Emma and noticed that she had stopped moving. Her back was ramrod straight, and the whites of her knuckles were firmly gripping the sharp knife. Standing slowly, she moved a step closer to Emma, and speaking in a very calm voice, she said, “Emma, are you okay?”

  Emma never moved. Her breathing was erratic, and her protective stance was still very firm. The moment Kelly took another step, Tucker ran through the back door calling for Tabby, letting the door slam. Emma instantly turned with knife in hand and froze, never feeling the slice of the cold metal across her palm.

  “Emma! You’re bleeding,” Tucker said, moving toward her, but was stopped when Kelly shouted, “Do not move, Tucker!”

  “What the hell, Kelly, she’s bleeding.”

  “I know, but Emma is not herself right now. I need you to walk behind me and go find your brothers and get someone to watch over Tabby. I will be fine here with Miss Emma. Isn’t that right, Emma? You and I are going to sit and have ourselves a nice little conversation,” Kelly said, looking directly at Emma.

  Kelly moved and pulled out a chair for Emma to sit. When Emma didn’t move, Kelly slowly walked over to her. “Okay, Emma, I am going to touch your arm and help you over to that chair. Then we are going to sit down, okay?”

  The moment Kelly touched Emma’s elbow, Emma snapped out of her daze and blinked, dropping the knife on the floor. The instant pain from the cut on her palm grabbed her attention, and Emma turned to run her bleeding hand under water. She didn’t stop Kelly when she wrapped a towel around her hand and guided her to the table. When they both were seated, Emma looked up at Kelly as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I did it again, didn’t I?”

  “It’s okay, Emma, we just need to figure out why, and we will, just as soon as you open up and start talking. Till then, don’t worry. I’ve got your back,” Kelly said, wrapping her arms around Emma as she cried.

  Neither woman noticed the three men standing off to the side in the kitchen, watching the scene unfold.

  * * * *

  Travis sat in the living room with his brothers, listening to Kelly reassure Emma that everything was going to be okay, but he just wasn’t so sure himself. Things had gotten way out of hand fast and it was time for them to take action. They wanted Emma safe, but as long as someone was after her, she never would be.

  They didn’t know who was after her, nor did they really care. They all just wanted the asshole gone. Since the last episode with Doc, where Emma took off, nothing had been resolved. Sure, Kelly came by every day. What the girls talked about, he had no clue, but there was no new information. It was grating his nerves. He felt like shaking the information out of Emma. Every time he would try and bring it up, Emma would say nothing, saying she couldn’t remember. Something had to be done. He was literally tired of this shit. Everyone was on pins and needles. Anybody coming to the ranch was a suspect and over the last few days it had gotten so bad that the boys were all sleeping with guns in their rooms, just waiting for any kind of noise. If someone didn’t take charge soon, this was going to end badly.

  “I have had it with this shit,” Tate whispered.

  “We can’t do anything till she tells us who is after her,” Tucker replied, standing near the window, watching the road.

  “This sitting around and waiting is for the birds,” Tate said angrily. “Why won’t she say who is after her?”

  “She will when she is ready,” advised Tucker.

  “Fuck that. She has more to answer for. We need to find out where she has been for the last seven years, and then maybe we can start to put this mystery together,” Travis said, getting to his feet.

  “That’s all good and fine, Travis, but if ya haven’t noticed, she ain’t talkin’!” Tate said. “I have tried and so has Tuck…She refuses to tell us. But if you want to give it a go, go right ahead.”

  Travis looked at his brothers and knew what he had to do. Dialing the number, he listened to the phone ring until someone said, “Hello.”

  “It’s Travis. I need a favor.”

  Chapter Six

  Following dinner that night, after Tabitha went to bed, the boys thought it would be best to put behind them why Emma never told them of their daughter. They needed to understand, and possibly get a lead on who was after Emma.

  Emma and Tucker were laughing as they walked out of the hallway into the spacious living room. Travis knew Emma loved this room, with its cream-colored walls and soft leather furniture. The room was warm and inviting. She curled up next to Tate, like she did every night since her last traumatic episode. Travis and Tucker watched as Tate lovingly kissed the top of Emma’s head, as she snuggled closer into him.

  Travis hadn’t been with Emma once since her return. He was still angry with her and needed answers. He joked around with Emma on a daily basis, but for some reason, he still could not bring himself to forgive her. Oh, he thought about it every waking minute, but something just wasn’t right with her. She was still holding back. He didn’t know if it was him, but if it was, he couldn’t move on till all was settled.

  Emma looked at him then, smiling beautifully as always. Travis returned the smile, but it did not reach his eyes, and Emma knew that.

  “Come sit by me, Travis,” Emma said softly as she reached her hand out to him. Unable to deny her anything, Travis took her hand and sat on the opposite side of Tate, pulling Emma back against his chest. “What’s wrong?” she asked, tilting her head back to look at him.

  Travis looked at his brothers, and then back at Emma. “It’s time you tell us why you kept Tabitha from us, Emma. We need to know,” he said and watched the color drain from her lovely face.

  * * * *

  Emma looked at Tate and then Tucker, who came to sit on the coffee table in front of her, conclusively blocking her in. There was no escape. The time had come. She only prayed they understood. Taking a deep breath, she began, “After the fire that killed Daddy, Momma and I left. We went to Nebraska to stay with Aunt Margaret, till Momma could get back on her feet. She was so distraught over Daddy’s death, we didn’t think she was ever gonna snap out of it. Then one morning, I started getting sick. I thought I had the flu, ’cause I would get sick damn near every hour. But as the week went by, everyone got worried, and after three days of vomiting, Aunt Margaret rushed me to the hospital. It didn’t take long for the test to come back, and then I knew.

  “I was pregnant. Aunt Margaret held my hand the whole way home, and she made me tell Momma right away. I was so scared when I told her, but she listened and eventually hugged me, telling me that everything was going to be all right. When she asked me who the father was, I didn’t think twice. I told her I didn’t know. When I mentioned your names, Momma freaked out. Started cursing, and throwing things. Aunt Margaret had to literally hold her as she soon came after me. She was calling me all these horrible names, and then before I knew it, she told me to get my stuff and get out. So I did.

  “I had no money, no car, nowhere to stay. All I had was my backpack and a baby on the way. I don’t know how long I walked for, it felt like hours, till a c
ar came up behind me and the driver asked if I wanted a ride. With no place to go, and my feet hurting, I said sure. That was the first time I had ever hitchhiked.”

  Emma stopped to wipe her eyes. Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and Travis just held her tighter, giving her the support she needed to finish.

  “Go on, Emma. What happened after that?” Tucker coaxed, handing her a tissue.

  “Well, Kyle, the guy who gave me a ride, he was nice. We talked and talked. I found out that he was a police officer in Denver. He asked if I had anywhere to go, and when I said no, he offered me a place to stay till I got back on my feet. Well, days turned into months, and before I knew it, I was in the delivery room.

  “He was there when I delivered Tabitha. He was there walking the floors with me when she had colic. When Tabitha was about eight months old, he asked me to marry him, but I said no. I couldn’t do that to him. He knew I loved someone else, and God knows he tried relentlessly to get me to name the father, but I never did. Then one night, I was getting ready to put Tabitha down to bed, when a knock at the door surprised me. I was shocked to see his partner there. Only it wasn’t a social visit. His partner came to tell me that Kyle was missing. They believed he was taken hostage and later killed after a failed drug bust, but they were never able to recover his body. I was once again alone and on my own.

  “After a while I was notified that the police station had received a photo of Kyle with a bullet hole in his head, after that, they considered him dead. Everything was crazy. There was the funeral, and people saying how sorry they were. Then there was this attorney who told me that Kyle had left everything to me, the house, his pension, everything. Even in death, he took care of me and Tabitha.