Unbroken

so much as touched me yet—not on purpose anyway.
    My heart twists with fear. Is he having second thoughts? Was our storage closet hookup enough to sate his curiosity and lust? Maybe without that desire blinding him, he’s decided dredging up the past is a bad idea.
    “How was work?” I blurt, desperate to fill the silence. “Everything OK?”
    Emerson ignores the babbling questions and finally turns to me. “It’s good to see you back in here.” His eyes lock onto mine, shadowed in the dark. “I always loved watching you. In your element.”
    I blink, my breath catching in my throat. Suddenly, I remember Emerson up behind me as I bent over the work bench, his hands roving, teasing across my body until I couldn’t take it anymore, and abandoned my prints for the sweet, hot rush of his lips on mine. Here, in this very shed, I gave myself to him completely for the first time. No fear, just a hunger I didn’t think could ever be satisfied until I was pressed beneath the weight of him, feeling him deep inside.
    I can see from the flash in his eyes, he remembers too.
    Emerson takes a half-step towards me, and touches one finger to my lips. His gaze sears into mine, magnetic, and I can’t help but part my lips in a silent gasp, reaching to taste his fingertip with my tongue.
    Emerson lets out a ragged breath, then gently pushes deeper into my mouth. It’s unbearably erotic. I shudder, feeling a rush of heat pool between my thighs, but I don’t look away. I close my lips around his finger and suck.
    He lets out a groan. “Fuck, Jules.”
    I can’t wait any longer. I reach for him, pulling his face down and kissing him hard and hot and hungry. Emerson staggers back against the bench, his arms coming tight around me, his body slamming against mine in a delicious wall of muscle. I moan into his mouth, taking greedy handfuls of his hair, sliding my hands down the hard planes of his shoulders. I’m already wet and ready, screaming out to deliver on the promise our bodies made earlier today—hell, the promise my body has been waiting on for four long years now, laying in bed alone at night, imagining my fingers are his, that he’s inside me, claiming me for his own.
    I reach for his fly, but Emerson suddenly pushes me away. “Woah,” he gasps, struggling for air. “Hold up.” He puts me aside and takes a few steps away, as far as he can get from me in the tiny shed.
    I’m left alone and panting, nothing but empty air where his body was.
    “We should…” Emerson gestures outside, like he can’t wait to get away from me.
    A hot rush of shame floods through me. He doesn’t want me.
    “I… I’m sorry,” I stutter. I want to die—for the ground to open and swallow me up. Oh God, what was I thinking? I practically stripped him naked and threw him on the floor. He must think I’m a dog in heat, that I haven’t been laid in years! “I.. I thought… That you…”
    Fuck. I sink back against the bench, humiliated. Just kill me now.
    “Just go.” I say quietly, turning away. “You don’t want me. Forget this ever happened.”
    “What? No, that’s not what I meant.” In an instant, Emerson is at my side. “Jules, look at me.” He takes my face between his thumb and forefinger, and gently turns my head so I have no choice but to look at him. “It’s not that I don’t want you. Damn, all I’ve been able to think about for days is ripping your clothes off and fucking you senseless.”
    “So what’s stopping you?” I blink back at him. “I don’t understand.”
    Emerson grins gently. “You thought I was just going to walk in here and slam you up against the bench?”
    “Well, yes!” I exclaim, embarrassed.
    He laughs. “I came here tonight to take you out.”
    I stare. “Like, on a date?”
    “Yeah.” Now it’s Emerson’s turn to look embarrassed. “You said we needed to talk, and… I didn’t want you thinking I only want you for sex.”
    “No, that’s my move.” I say, flushing hot again.
    He gives me a daring grin. “Believe me, baby, it’s taking everything I have not to get you naked right now. But, I made plans. So if you can hold off driving me wild until after your surprise…”
    “I can try,” I tell him, smiling as relief washes through me. It’s all OK. I haven’t screwed this up. “But no promises.”
    “Good enough.” Emerson opens the door and then holds it open, gesturing me to go through it. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

CHAPTER