“I’ll bet. Fenn once shot me with one of those. Burned like hell. I couldn’t sit down for a week.”
Sophie giggled at the mental image of Emery as a boy wincing as he sat down, only to hop back up again.
“I wish you could have known Rachel.” Her best friend would have loved him, and she knew deep down that somewhere deep inside herself, that part of Rachel was still there, smiling at the thought.
“Me too.”
“She would have liked you, too.”
“Sophie, I have something I would like to ask of you.”
A little laugh escaped her. “Ask me? Since when, oh Master Emery, do you ask anything of me? I seem to recall you like giving me orders.”
“Only in bed, my heart. Only in bed.” His chuckle vibrated her body but he turned serious. “I know you like your job as a journalist.” He didn’t wait for her to disagree. She did love her job. It had become a driving force, a crusade she wanted to fight for the rest of her life. Saving people had become second nature to her.
“I’ve spoken to my father.” He hesitated now, his words a little short, a sign of his nervousness.
“Yes?” She focused on him completely, trying to hide her intense curiosity.
“Well, some of the devices Lockwood Industries have been developing over the last few years are ideal for law enforcement. I was thinking of working out several private contractor deals with police forces and the FBI in order to supply them with these devices. We could help them. You know, like the small GPS devices. They could plant them on ransom money to track down kidnappers. There are a dozen other devices I’ve got that would help them. I want to help you save people in whatever way I can.”
He waited for her reaction, and she saw the fear of rejection in his gaze. Her big, intense dom was afraid she wouldn’t like his idea. But she did, oh she did. It was wonderful, it was…perfect.
She curled her arms around his neck and gazed deeply into his eyes. “That’s a wonderful idea, Emery. You will help save lives. I know it. I have contacts for departments all over the country and could help you arrange those contracts with law enforcement.”
“You don’t mind my helping?” he asked.
She shook her head vehemently. “Don’t mind? Emery, I love it. Iloveyou. We can do this together.”
Emery wrapped his good arm around her and kissed the crown of her hair. “I figured if we work together, there will be fewer victims.”
She blinked away tears, trying not to let her sadness at missing Rachel ruin such a wonderful moment. “Are you excited to see Fenn after all these years?”
He nuzzled her cheek. “I can only imagine what Fenn is like. I wonder how changed he is…if he’s like me at all or…” Emery’s face reddened and he let his words trail off.
She wrinkled her nose and then smiled. “Cody didn’t tell you? Apparently, he’s a professional bull rider.”
Emery stiffened. “A bull rider? No, he left that part out. That…no…God, I’m not crazy after all.”
Sophie raised her head, watching his eyes and the myriad emotions that flitted across his face. “What do you mean?”
“You remember me telling you about those hallucinations I get sometimes?”
“Yes.” Sophie raised herself up on one elbow and bit her lip against the pain.
“My connection to Fenn wasn’t totally lost. I’ve been feeling him and seeing through his eyes for years. I just didn’t realize it until last night. I think he was thrown from a bull the night we faced Antonio. I’ll call Wes as soon as I can and ask him to check it out.”
“What’s he like? Fenn, I mean?”
“Seems like he’s desperate…and wild.”
Sophie leaned forward and kissed him before replying. “Sounds a lot like you.”
Emery’s gaze softened. “I’m not desperate anymore.”
This time when their lips met it was both sweet and potent, like a love spell. He leisurely parted her lips and thrust his tongue inside her mouth in a slow deliberate rhythm. Her body flushed and her brain short-circuited, just like it had the first time she’d seen him in the Gilded Cuff. But now she knew every part of him and loved him with a depth she’d never dreamt possible. That was the beauty of living a dream. Emery was a living, breathing dream, and he was all hers, every wicked, dominating inch of him.
“What’s that smile for?” He ran a fingertip down the length of her nose and tapped the tip. Her grin simply widened.
