by Ellie Hall
My heart rate calmed down at his reassuring words. “Am I showing it that much?” I asked.
“No, not really, but the fact that you chose to live in a warmer part of the country tells me you did sacrifice a bit to come out here.”
“Well you were adamant that we live in Oregon,” I said, reminding him that this wasn’t my idea.
“How about we watch a movie?” he said, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on quickly.
I smiled at his avoidance of the topic. I let it slide. There was no use in bringing up something that could cause an argument so early on in our marriage.
He flipped it to a movie channel then pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. I snuggled into him. The fact that it seemed very natural wasn’t lost on me. Normally I wouldn’t get this close to a stranger so quickly. It made me realize that my feelings were accurate. This had been a good decision. Even if there were still some of the fundamentals we needed to work out, this marriage would likely last a very long time. I wasn’t right very often, but I was glad I had been right this time.
5
Zach
Emma bolted upright. “Oh my goodness, we slept together.”
I tried not to laugh at her comment. Technically we did sleep together, but not in the way she made it sound. She tilted her head back and forth, getting the kinks out.
I didn’t get very much sleep last night but I couldn’t bring myself to wake her up. She would have gone to her own room, and I would have missed the opportunity to spend the night with her. Was I living all of my teenage fantasies? Yes, probably. But I had already made this commitment. I was going to do everything in my power to get as close to Emma as I could without crossing any of her lines. We didn’t have very much time until I told her the truth and I wanted to see if this connection we had was real.
She looked at me, then quickly placed her hand over her mouth.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Morning breath,” she said, popping up and moving towards her bedroom.
“You hardly said two words to me,” I reminded her.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said before disappearing into her room.
I shook my head then went into my own makeshift bedroom to get changed for the day, thankful I had given Emma Brandon’s room because it had the en suite. I was sure women cared more about that than men did.
I would need to pretend that I had pulled some of the clothes from Brandon’s bedroom. I was already digging myself into a hole I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get myself out of, but I ignored my apprehension and went into the bathroom next to the guestroom to take a shower.
As I got out of the shower, I wiped the steam from the mirror to give myself a pep talk. If I thought about this too much, I was going to go crazy.
“You can do this,” I said, staring at myself as my hair flipped in front of my forehead. I shook out the water then combed it back with my fingers, cinching the towel around my waist.
I slipped out of the bathroom to quickly move into my bedroom. Before I could make it two steps, I heard an “Oh,” at my side.
I whipped my head around to see a shocked Emma staring at me. Her cheeks quickly turned a shade of pink that looked good on her.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry, I forgot to bring my clothes into the bathroom.”
“No, that’s fine,” she said quickly, and I couldn’t help but smile at her reaction. “I mean—” she stuttered. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Relax. You’re my wife. This doesn’t matter.”
She cleared her throat again before turning around and shutting me out of her room. I held in my chuckle and continued into the guest bedroom. Emma promptly knocked on my door. I didn’t hesitate in opening the door back open for her. It might be shallow of me, but I was ready to start this marriage. Sharing the couch with her taught me that lesson quickly.
“Come in,” I said.
She stood where she was, handing me some clothing. “I brought you a change of clothes.”
“Why?”
“I assumed the reason you didn’t bring any clothes into the bathroom was because I took over your bedroom. Now would be a good time to switch,” she said.
I took the offered clothes slowly which only made her back away. I winked at her as her mouth popped open.
As she gulped, I figured it was enough teasing for the day. “See you in a minute.”
She nodded before I closed the door on her. Maybe this hadn’t been a bad idea after all. I looked down at my toned chest. Taking up weightlifting had been a very good idea. Apparently, I was full of good ideas.
I tossed my brother’s clothing onto the bed then put on one of my own outfits. Brandon and I were pretty close in size, his clothes would probably fit me, but I was not going to go that far. I didn’t need to blur more lines.
I followed a sound into the kitchen to see Emma making breakfast for me. I could definitely get used to this.
She stopped to look at me again. “Why aren’t you wearing the clothes I gave you?”
“I liked this outfit better.” I looked down at the clothes I had chosen.
“Oh,” she said as her face turned pink again.
I slid the bowl of cereal in front of me.
“That was mine— never mind.” She turned around and pulled out another bowl.
Apparently she wasn’t making me breakfast.
She sat next to me, pouring her cereal into her new bowl. “Did you want to leave right away for the store?”
I looked at her long sleeve shirt. “If you’re sure that’s how you want to spend the morning.”
“Yes.” She focused on her breakfast in silence.
Hopefully the rest of the day wouldn’t be this awkward.
“This is my last long sleeve shirt,” she said, pushing the bowl away from her.
I smiled. “Shopping it is.”
“What are you doing?” I asked as I watched Emma holding the door open for a string of strangers.
It had probably been a minute already, and she was still holding the door as people piled through one by one.
She just smiled at me, waiting for everyone, then quickly passed through before another group came in.
“You’re very polite,” I said.
She shrugged. “No one stopped to take the doors. What was I supposed to do?”
“I have been duly chastised,” I said.
“I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Where do you want to go first?” I asked.
“Let’s wander around and see what they have.”
I took her arm, trickling in and out of stores.
With my arms full of bags, I followed Emma out of the mall. “Where to next?” I asked.
“We can drop my clothes back at home.”
“Sounds good. Then maybe we can do a romantic candlelight dinner?” I asked, wanting to get as close to Emma as possible in the least amount of time.
She stopped to look at me. “Why do you seem so attached to me already?” she asked.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” I was a little confused at her reaction. Wasn’t this what she was going for? Getting married and having a happily ever after?
“It’s not a bad thing, I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“How long did you think it would take to warm up to me?” I asked, genuinely curious about what her expectations had been going into this.
She shrugged. “A couple of weeks at least. And I expected it to be much more—awkward? than it has been, to be honest.”
I thought there had been many awkward moments, but I wasn’t going to argue if she had less reservations than me.
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Emma Carter liked me. By the sound of it, a lot. “Do you find me attractive?” I asked bluntly, craving her approval.
“Will I get in trouble if I say yes?”
“Absolutely not. That’s the right answer,” I said.
She smiled.
“Don’t y
ou want to know if I find you attractive?” I asked as she started walking again.
I stepped in front of her.
“You don’t need to tell me. I know you do,” she said.
I dropped her packages and pulled her close. “How could you tell?”
She cleared her throat and averted her eyes, but I held her firm, bending to whisper into her ear, “I find you incredibly attractive.”
I felt her shiver in my arms before I released her to pick up the packages again. Playing with Emma was much more fun than I had imagined it would be.
I walked forward, expecting Emma to step next to me. When I couldn’t hear her near, I turned around. She was still in the same spot I’d left her.
“Now you’re playing hard to get?” I asked.
She cleared her throat before shaking her head and walking past me, ignoring my question.
I smiled at how I was able to ruffle her feathers. I would have to tease Emma more often. Seeing her affected by me was much more intoxicating than I had ever imagined.
I followed her and placed the packages in the trunk before helping her into the car.
When I slipped into the driver’s seat, she was too quiet. Had I gone too far?
“What’s up?” I asked, my voice gentle.
“If you had seen me in a club, would you have come talk to me?” she asked.
“Of course. I thought we already confirmed I was attracted to you.”
She turned to look out the window. “What if it’s just attraction?”
“What do you mean?” I asked slowly.
“What if all we have going for us is how attracted we are to each other? You can’t have a marriage based solely on attraction.”
“Emma, look at me.”
She reluctantly did.
“There’s more to us then attraction. Trust me.”
“How do you know?”
I smiled. “Computers don’t lie.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m too attracted to you though.”
I pulled her hand into mine. I couldn’t help it. Her saying she was extremely attracted to me was like a drug. I needed more. “Trust me when I say this is more than just skin deep. I’ll prove it to you over time.”
She nodded, seeming to relax at my words. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better then.”
“Me too,” I said under my breath. And I meant it.
Even though I felt like I already knew Emma inside and out, I was looking forward to getting to know this more mature Emma. This Emma I didn’t know. This Emma that I was far more attracted to than I ever had been in high school.
6
Emma
“I can’t stand this thing,” I said, tapping my finger on the mouse pad of my laptop, my frustration mounting at having to search for a job when there didn’t seem to be one available.
To top it off, my laptop was so hard to use it made the difficult task of finding a job unbearable. I stood up, pushing my laptop away and moved to the desktop that was sitting in the corner. I wiggled the mouse, and it woke up instantly.
“Zach, what’s the password to this computer,” I yelled.
Zach appeared as if by magic. “What’s the problem?” he asked.
“I can’t get anything done on that laptop. It’s irritating me. And there doesn’t seem to be any job in the area that I’m qualified for.” My irritation was showing through at the tone of my voice. “I think it will be easier if I have a real computer.”
A panicked look crossed his features for a split second. “This computer isn’t working all that well.”
I pushed away from the computer, irritated. “Are you sure? Anything is going to be better than what I have to work with now,” I said, trying to not get angry to the point of wanting to hit something. I was afraid I was getting close. Who knew finding a job would be this difficult?
“Here,” he said, unattaching the cord from the mouse and the keyboard and moving them to the coffee table. He plugged them into my laptop and made a little station for me.
“This will act as a regular computer now. We can move it to the kitchen table if you’d like.”
I shook my head. “No, this should work.” I sat down with my legs crossed together and started playing with the mouse to get my computer to wake up again. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?
Zach sat on the couch behind me and started rubbing my shoulders. I relaxed instantly.
“I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time finding a job.”
I shook my head and leaned my elbow on the table, placing my hand on my forehead, letting him rub away all my stress from the day of job searching.
“I didn’t think it would be this difficult to find a job,” I admitted.
“Don’t stress about it. You don’t need to support yourself right now.”
I sighed. “I know, but you’re going to be going back to work soon and I’m not going to have anything to do here all by myself.”
“I can give you a credit card so you can go shopping.”
I turned my body around to look at him. “Do you really think I’m the kind of woman who wants to shop all day, living off her husband?”
“Don’t all women like to shop?”
I reluctantly had to agree. “I like shopping, but I can’t go shopping every day.”
He wove his fingers through mine, kissing the back of my hand. “We can turn this into a real honeymoon. It might work in our favor and give you something to do in say, nine months.”
I pulled my hand out of his quickly. “Are you really ready to go that far?”
“Yes,” he said hastily.
I laughed. “Typical guy response. But have you thought of the consequences thoroughly?”
“It’s not like we aren’t married.”
“Yes, but you want a child already?”
He paused, looking at me then cleared his throat. “I guess not.”
My heart fell. I actually did want kids right away, but it wasn’t something we had talked about in depth. I knew he wanted kids, we’d just never talked about the timeline. It was one of those awkward conversations that shouldn’t be awkward considering we were married.
I sighed, placing my hand on my forehead again.
“There’s just a couple things I need to tweak, and then I’ll be ready. I promise,” he said.
“To have children?” I clarified.
“As long as they’re with you, I want a dozen. Right away.”
I laughed out loud. “I don’t think I could handle a dozen.”
“Okay, a baker’s dozen.”
“That’s more than a dozen,” I said.
“Fine, half a dozen, but no less.”
I shook my head. He couldn’t be serious. “Let’s start out with one at a time and go from there. For someone who isn’t ready to have children, you sound awfully excited about the prospect of having a box full of doughnuts.”
“Who said they had to be of the doughnut variety?”
I shrugged. “Doughnuts are better than eggs and they come by the dozens.” We were quickly getting off track here.
He laughed. “Okay, okay. How about you forget about your job search, and I take you out to dinner?”
“Where do you want to eat? I don’t necessarily trust your taste in restaurants,” I said, making a light jab at him.
He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. I startled at his intimate action. He liked to place little kisses everywhere except my lips. I wished he would migrate a little to the west with his kisses.
“I will have you know I did a search for the best restaurants in town. I won’t make the same mistake twice.” He winked at me.
“Good to know you’re teachable,” I said, closing the laptop and stretching my arms in the air.
“Or we could stay in,” he said, leaning down to place another kiss on my cheek.
I turned my head slightly so I could catch his lips, taking him off guard. It was a little peck but the shock in his eyes made it worth
it.
I giggled. “I won’t do that if you don’t want me to,” I said, trying to make myself believe it.
His smile stretched. “I was trying to be respectful of you but if you’re ready for this,” he said, leaning closer to me, so that our lips were almost touching again.
I pulled away, afraid of where it might lead. My body was saying yes, but I didn’t want to do things on impulse just because it felt good.
“Show me the list of restaurants and I’ll pick one,” I said, holding my hand up.
He leaned over me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders so I was wrapped in his embrace from behind.
“You don’t have the list on your cell phone?” I asked.
“Just a sec. I left it in my bedroom,” he said, letting go of me to grab his phone.
He came back, handing me the phone that was already open to a list of restaurants. I scanned them and picked a restaurant on the beach.
He lifted his eyebrows. “Seafood?”
I shrugged. “It’s always a good choice, right?” referring to one of our first conversations.
“Considering you’re not allergic, I guess so.” He pocketed his phone before helping me up. “Go get changed.”
“This isn’t good enough for you?” I asked.
“It’s good enough for me but I’m not sure if it’ll be good enough for the restaurant. It seems a little fancier than the Chinese restaurant.”
I smiled. “You’re probably right.” I ducked into my bedroom to get changed, coming back out wearing my spaghetti strap red dress with strappy sandals and a jacket draped over my arm.
One look at me and Zach gulped. “You clean up nicely.”
“So do you.”
I eyed his dress shirt and slacks.
“So this is all it takes to make you happy?” he asked.
“Among other things,” I said, referring to our first peck because let’s face it, I couldn’t call it a real kiss.
He chuckled. “You ready?”
I nodded as he pulled me out the door, our hands interlocked together as if we had done this many times in a long relationship. I was almost fooled myself. If I didn’t know any better, I would think we were already an old married couple.