She was going to strangle Emilio. “I’m going to have to talk to Casey about hiring help that actually keeps the weirdos out.”
“You don’t work here anymore,” Emmett said. “You don’t need to talk to Casey about anything.” His fists were wrapped around the horizontal bar of the costume rack so his arms caged her in. “You’re coming home with me. Now.”
Her hormones tried to sit up and take notice of the caveman act. She had to admit it was damn sexy to have Emmett this worked up over her. But he was worked up because he thought he had some kind of claim on her, and he didn’t approve of where she chose to spend her time. That was not sexy.
“You wish. I’m not going anywhere. I’m filling in, tonight.” She tried to duck under his arm, but he stopped her by stabbing his boot into the shoe rack. His raised knee cradled her thigh. Jeez, the guy smelled good, like pine and sunshine and coffee.
That warm thread of connection she’d felt in his room came back with a vengeance. Despite how judgmental he was being, she liked being near him. He felt like he belonged to her.
Ridiculous. They could not be married. She would remember, damn it. And if she dared believe it could be true, she would just set herself up for a broken heart. Emmett didn’t love her. How could he when he was Mr. Good Christian and she was Ms. Take It Off?
She redirected her insecurity into anger at herself. How dare she give him enough power to make her feel judged and vulnerable? When she’d moved into Grandma Nina’s house, she’d sworn she was done letting men make her feel vulnerable. It reinforced her decision to get away from him. If she ran from what he made her feel, she wouldn’t be vulnerable anymore.
“Get out of my way,” she told him, determined to go on at nine and dance away the pain that came along with turning her back on the one decent guy who had ever given her the time of day.
“Not until I have my say,” he said.
Here it came. He was going to forbid her to go on stage. Like he had any right. She started to tell him to put a sock in it, but he brought up a fist, and she flinched, realizing too late he was only counting off fingers.
“One,” he said, “I’m not going to stop you from doing anything you want to do. You want to go out there and dance, fine. But here’s number two.” He raised his second finger. “I’m not going to watch. What I will do is go out that door-” He gestured with his two fingers to the fire door with the exit sign. “Kneel in whatever filth is in that alley, and pray for patience, because knowing other men are looking at what’s mine is going to make me batshit crazy. Three. The second you’re done, you’re in my truck and I’m taking you home, because-” He had four fingers up now. “Here’s number four. Are you listening, Jade, because this one’s important. I love you, and we belong together. I’ve known it from the second I laid eyes on you, and all I did this morning was make it official.”
He took his now open hand and cupped her cheek. The rawness in his voice and the gentleness in his touch stunned her. She couldn’t have moved if her life depended on it.
“As many times as you run, sweetheart, I’ll run after you and bring you home. Your house, my house, it doesn’t matter. Long as we’re together. And one day, you’ll learn you don’t need to run from me. One day, you’ll understand I’m the one you can run to. I’ll always be the one you can run to.”
Run from…run to… She did a slow blink, and in the span of that single second, her memory unfurled.
When you are frightened or upset, where do you run?
…away from whatever hurts me. I run away.
But that wasn’t really true. Joshua had known. She’d met Mr. Shadow, and he’d turned out to be an angel. Not only had he saved her life, but he’d made her see it was worth saving.
Run to him, Joshua had said. To Emmett. And she had.
She remembered everything. Draonius and Mercy, the abyss, Emmett’s bumbling proposal followed by the best words she’d ever heard in a proposal so heartfelt, she’d melted for him and rushed to repeat the vows that would marry them in body and spirit. She didn’t do it to save her skin, but because Joshua had helped her see how tired she was of running, so tired she’d welcomed death. Marriage had seemed like just another thing to run from, but Joshua had helped her realize Emmett was the one she could run to. He was the one she longed to run to. He always would be. Because she loved him.
She’d worried Emmett was judging her and that he’d only married her out of pity, but she remembered when Mercy had been in control and Emmett had told her he loved her. He wasn’t judging her. He’d never judged her. Neither had Nick or Chiboza. All that was in her head. She let it all go and felt a million times lighter. All that mattered was that she loved Emmett, and he loved her, and they were going to spend the rest of their lives together for all the right reasons.
He stepped back, his eyes fixed on hers. Since he’d burst through the dressing room door, he’d never once looked lower than her eyes. He was giving her more respect than any other man she’d ever known.
“Decision’s yours,” he said. “Either way, I love you, and I always will.”
She threw herself at him. “I remember,” she said, kissing all over his face, streaking him with True-Red and laughing because his eyes flew wide, and he almost lost his balance under her onslaught.
After a second, he was kissing her back, hungrily. She wrapped her legs around his hips, and he cupped her bottom to hold her there. Then they were going at it like horny teenagers, pulling each other closer, breathing each other in. It felt so right she wondered how she could have ever doubted they were bonded.
“Get a room, you two,” Maxi said, and her palm connected sharply with Emmett’s ass.
He broke the kiss, gasping. His pupils were dilated, and she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anyone or anything.
“I love you,” she said as he let her feet to the floor. “Take me home.”
His shirt was off before she finished taking her next breath. He slipped it over her head and started crowding her toward the fire exit.
She smacked his arm. “Hey, I need my clothes and purse.” Plus, she didn’t want Casey calling her to ream her out for stealing a costume.
“Hurry,” he said.
She did, but took time to give Maxi a big hug. “Sorry to bail. But there’s somewhere else I need to be.”
“If I had somewhere hot as that to be, I’d be there, too,” Maxi said. “You take care of that hunk of sunshine.”
Jade promised she would.
Five minutes later, she had on the jeans and tank top she’d worn to the Palace. She tossed Emmett his long-sleeved tee and nodded at his bare and very impressive tan chest. “Walk around this part of town like that, and we’ll never make it out of here. Every club owner in Boston will be offering you dancing gigs.”
Smirking, he shoved his arms into the sleeves and poked his head through. “Maybe I should do it. I’ve definitely got the moves.” He pulled her into a close, grinding dance that perfectly matched the thumping base out on the floor.
She remembered dirty dancing with him at Billy Bob’s and felt a rush of heat swirl in her belly. “You definitely have the moves. You’d be a fave for sure. But I’m not ready to share you. I catch anyone looking at you with lust in their eyes, my claws’ll come out.”
“Know that feeling, babe. Know it well,” he said as they walked out The Palace’s back door. He spun his keys around his finger. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
She liked the sound of that. Liked it a lot.
Chapter Thirty Three
Night-dark pines and reflective freeway signs flew past as Emmett sped home on I-91. Jade was curled up in the passenger seat of his truck, fast asleep with her head resting on a sweatshirt balled up against the window. One of her fake lashes had fallen off and was stuck to her cheek. She was the most adorable thing he’d ever seen.
She’d tried to talk him into letting her follow him home with her car, but he’d nixed that. He wasn’t letting her out of his
sight for a good long while. The car could wait. He couldn’t. He needed his girl. His wife. With him. Forever.
It was midnight when they made it back to his place. Calculating how many hours he’d been up had helped keep him alert on the road. Forty-three, he concluded. He should be ready to crash, but when he cut the engine and saw Jade stir and smile at him, every part of his body jumped to attention, one part in particular.
He got out of the car and came around to help her out. When he lifted her in his arms and carried her inside, she didn’t protest, just traced delicate patterns over the shell of his ear with her finger while she grinned at him.
Hot damn. He was going to make love to his wife. Every cell in his body wanted to worship her the way she deserved. He needed to love her with his hands and mouth and his virgin dick that was throbbing in his jeans and more than excited about the current plan.
But when he carried her up the stairs and laid her on the bed, she said, “We’re not having sex tonight.”
He heard his blood rushing in his ears in the ensuing silence. “We’re not?”
She rocked her head on his pillow and bit her lower lip. She looked incredibly fuckable. “Not until we get our marriage license. I want everything to be completely legal so there’s no doubt you kept your vow.”
Guilt clouded his lust. Last night, he’d been on this bed with her-no, not her, Mercy-making a mockery of his vow.
Jade touched his face. “Hey, don’t do that.”
“How did I not know?” he asked, hating himself for what she’d been through because of him. Pain ripped at his heart as he thought back to how lost he’d been to temptation. “It was you, wasn’t it, when you said to stop and remember my vow?” He swallowed a sickening lump. “You were in there that whole time, weren’t you?”
She looked away and nodded once.
He wanted to kick his own ass.
She deserved so much better than a horn dog like him. She deserved so much better than a fly-by-night marriage. He didn’t even have a ring for her.
He sat up, pulling her into his arms. “I’m going to make this right,” he promised.
“Emmett, don’t do this. Please. It’s over. Let’s just move on.” She attempted a smile. “We’re married. I can’t believe it. I always thought Jilly would be my bridesmaid when I got married.” She sniffed. “But I’m happy. So happy to be with you. Thank you for fighting for me. You saved me, Emmett.”
Suddenly he knew how to make it better. He was going to give Jade what she wanted, what she deserved, a wedding. And God help him, he was going to keep it in his pants until their honeymoon.
*****
“You do know I’m not ordained yet,” Nick said as his fiancée, Ali, straightened his tie.
Jade had met Ali half an hour ago when they’d all arrived at the church, a little stone building in Quechee with a babbling brook carving a shining ribbon through its grounds. One of Vermont’s quaint covered bridges spanned the brook. That’s where they were now, in the shade of a purple oak by the bridge.
“We know. We’re already married,” Emmett said for the third time. “We don’t need you to be legit. Just do the ceremony. Think of it as practice for when you’re the real deal.” He patted Nick’s cheek and turned to Jade.
He grinned at her in his nicely-cut suit, and her heart went pitter patter. When he held out his hand and said, “It’s time, hon,” she practically melted in her off-the-rack Vera Wang. Maxi had found the gown in a thrift store last weekend. The floor-length hem had been dingy with water stains, but Maxi had transformed it into a knee-length masterpiece perfect for an outdoor wedding.
She stepped up to take Emmett’s hand, and Maxi fluffed the sweeping bustle she’d created from the former train. Another hand appeared in front of her. She turned to smile at Jilly, who held out her hand for the bouquet of orange lilies Maxi had thrown together that morning. Her little sister had returned from Peru two days ago and had been tirelessly helping her and Maxi pull this wedding out of their butts ever since.
It was September 3rd, nine loooong days since what she and Emmett referred to as “the unpleasantness,” and just eighteen days since she’d met him. He surrounded both her hands with his as they took their places in front of a fidgeting Nick.
Jilly and Maxi flanked her, Jilly as her maid of honor and Maxi as her bridesmaid. Theo, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Maxi since he’d arrived, stood by Emmett as his groomsman. Nick was the unofficial officiator as well as the best man. Ali fluttered around taking pictures and casting adoring looks at Nick.
Emmett’s mom had come with her new husband, and his dad stood a few feet away with Lisa and her husband Rob. Lisa had an arm in a sling, but otherwise looked like a tanned and lean goddess in a coral sundress. Rob had a military buzz cut and looked hot and lethal in a patrol uniform complete with standard-issue gun-toting utility belt. He was technically on duty, but Emmett’s dad had approved his stopping by for the ceremony, and seeing as Montgomery Herald was chief of police, no one was going to argue with his call.
Best of all, Grandma Nina was in a wheelchair beside Betty and Joe McIntyre. Her grandmother and Betty were both beaming at her. Joe was adjusting his tie.
Some of the smiles aimed their way were more cautious than euphoric, but Jade didn’t mind. She was just glad everyone most important to them had been able to make it given such short notice. It was as close to perfect as she could have asked for under the speedy circumstances.
Nick cleared his throat and got them started with a minimum of verbal stumbling. When it was time to say their vows, he nodded at her, letting her know it was time for her little speech. She and Emmett had agreed they would each say a little something they came up with themselves before Nick took them through the traditional vows-minus the obey part, which was just stupid, in her opinion, and something she could never hold to even if she wanted to.
She felt the gazes of their attendants and guests settle on her like a weight of expectation. For some reason, that made her feel a million times more vulnerable than when she took off her clothes for strangers.
The urge to hyperventilate tightened her rib cage, but Emmett winked and whispered, “No pressure, babe. It’s only the most important speech you’ll ever make.” The twinkle in his eye told her he was rooting for her, despite his teasing words.
He thumbed the sparkling diamond on her left hand while she gathered her courage and took a cleansing breath. She could do this. She’d been working on her vows since Emmett’s romantic second proposal a week ago today. She knew the words inside and out, because she felt them inside and out.
Squeezing his fingers, she began. “If you’d asked me eighteen days ago, if I’d be married to the guy who sweeps my street by the end of the summer, I’d have said, ‘No freaking way.’ If you’d asked me if I thought he was cute, that’s another story. I’d have said, ‘Oh, yeah, baby.’”
Everyone laughed on cue.
Emmett’s eyes crinkled. He rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles.
She grinned at him. “Because you’d have to be blind not to think this guy is a complete knockout.”
Behind Emmett, Theo slid his sunglasses on and put his hands out in his best Stevie Wonder impression. That got another round of laughs.
“But contrary to what my former coworkers think-” She cleared her throat and shot a playful glare Maxi’s way. “I’m not doing this for the great view. I’m doing it for the free lawn care. Just kidding, just kidding,” she asserted over more laughter.
Emmett laughed too, throwing his head back and letting it rip.
As the chuckles faded, she captured Emmett’s gaze and spoke just to him. “I’m doing it for love. I’ve spent my life running from things that hurt me or scare me, and a friend helped me see that even though I haven’t known you long, you’re the one I can always run to. You’re the one who will always have my back. Being with you, I never have to be afraid again, because if life gets hard, you’re going to face it with me. You’re a
good man. Good to the core.” She sneaked a look at Grandma Nina, who winked. “So, I’m grabbing on, and I’m not letting go. I love you, Emmett, and I’m so glad I can finally stop running and just…be. With you. Forever.”
His eyes sobered as she spoke, and his gaze touched hers with exquisite softness. His face reflected back the love she felt times a hundred. Her heart felt so full.
It was Emmett’s turn. He cleared his throat with a thick sound that revealed how touched he was. “My whole life, I’ve been looking for the one girl I’d be able to love forever, the one person I could be best friends with and do life with and never get tired of. I was focused on who she’d be, how she’d make me feel, how she’d fit into my life, and how much I’d love her. And I was scared to death that when I found her she wouldn’t be enough for me. It took meeting you to realize my focus was in the wrong place.”
He squeezed her hands. “I met you and all of a sudden, I saw it’s not about finding The One. It’s about being The One. I met you, and I found myself wanting to be the guy you needed. I wanted to fit into your life. I wanted to be the one you’d want to do life with and the one you’d never get tired of.” He took a breath that shook a little. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever met who makes me wish I were a better man.”
She wanted to interrupt him and tell him he was the best man she knew, and she’d known it from the moment she met him, but he didn’t give her the chance.
“I met you, and suddenly the spotlight was on me, and it revealed there was some work to be done. But you loved me anyway. And because of that, I gave you my heart. Completely. For the first time, I’m not afraid of what the future holds.” He grinned at her. “With you, I know I can make my own future.” She recognized the words from when he’d proposed to her the first time, when she’d been nothing but a shadow in an angel’s custody. She started to tear up. She didn’t know how he’d done it, but Joshua had found a way for her to remember all that had happened when she’d been nothing but essence in the abyss. Those memories were such a gift. “I’m not afraid to promise my love to you,” Emmett went on. “You’re a part of me. Now and always. I love you.”
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 169