“Like I give a fuck,” I said, and her chest went splotchy.
“Harlan,” she scolded me.
“Liam go home?” I asked, almost to her side.
“Yes, but?—”
“Good,” I said, shoving her toward the storage galley we’d frequented so many times before.
“Miguel,” she warned me.
“I don’t care,” I said before I pinned us together and sent my mouth crashing down on hers.
Emma pressed herself up into me, pulling me tighter.
“You smell terrible,” she managed between kisses.
“I think what you meant to say, brat,” I said with a harsh bite to her lower lip, “is congratulations.”
She pulled out of our kisses and linked her hands behind my neck, gorgeous doe eyes glowing up at me. “Congratulations, Daddy. Thanks for getting us into the playoffs. And what a nice, sexy shutout that was.”
“That’s more like it.” I paused, all the hormones surging through me since the win catching up to me. Everything was justgood: the other men in her life approving of me, the win, the playoffs, the fucking shutout. And now, those brown eyes were shining up at me. I wanted to share one last good thing that had been echoing through me for weeks. “Em, I think I’m falling for you.”
Her eyes lit up even more. “Yeah?”
I nodded, a little sweat from my hair dripping onto her forehead. “Sorry.” I swiped it away. “Yes.”
She coughed out a laugh and her cheeks turned pink, but her smile spread as wide as I’d ever seen it. “Okay. Do you want to not be secret?”
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“Soon,” she said. “I don’t want to mess with your playoffs mojo.”
“God, that’s hot,” I said, and we both laughed until we were kissing again.
I was just starting to squeeze her ass when footsteps drew nearer, to just feet away from us. We stopped kissing long enough to look up and find Miguel, wide-eyed and mouth agape.
I put my fingers to my lips, and he rushed to put his hands over first his ears, then his eyes, then his mouth. He spun on his heel. “I didn’t see shit,” he said on his way out.
“Fuck,” Emma said, putting her hand on her forehead.
“It’ll be fine,” I said, then leaned outside the doorframe to make sure no one was close. “Meet me at my car in twenty?”
“What for?” she asked carefully.
“Celebrate with me.”
THIRTY-TWO
EMMA
APRIL
HARLAN
I’m waiting.
I sniffed a shaky breath,schooling my features into my best “casual” look.