“It’s just something I’ve had turning around in my mind for a while. It’s going to be a bridal set, I think.” She sounded nervous and he realized he hadn’t spoken more than her name.
“I want it.”
“What?” she asked, uncertainty slipping to confusion.
“Sell it to me. Please,” he added almost as an afterthought. “Momma, Amanda would love it, wouldn’t she?” His sister was a climbing guide who rarely wore much jewelry, but the small pearl flowers gathered together felt like her. Beautiful, unique, genuine.
“She would,” said his mother, her eyes shiny. The emotion of the moment seemed to have caught them both off guard.
“I want to buy it for her as a wedding gift.” Gifts were supposed to be for both the bride and groom, but with as beautiful as Amanda would look wearing the necklace, her husband-to-be was already getting a gift. The fact Michael knew it was the thing that kept Emerson and Gabe from trying to chase the guy off. That and he made their sister ridiculously happy and she’d kick their collective asses if they tried to run her life.
“No,” said Sophie, pulling him out of his thoughts. “I can’t sell it to you.”
He opened his mouth to protest but she held her hand up, stopping him.
“It will be my gift to you. It’s not a fair trade for everything you’ve done for me but it’s a start.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You didn’t have to take me in.”
It wasn’t the same thing.There was no way he could know Sophie was in danger and not do everything in his power to keep her safe. That wasn’t something he needed to be paid for, but he saw the hopeful expression on her face and realized giving him the necklace would make her feel as good as it did him.
“Okay, it’s a deal, but then I don’t want you telling me what I can and can’t do where you’re concerned.” His mother made a startled voice and he realized how his words must have sounded. Sophie, on the other hand, hit him with a cat-and-canary grin. The predatory pleasure in her expression would have made him blush if he was prone to those kinds of things. “You know what I mean,” he said, letting the heat that was always just below the surface where she was concerned show in his eyes and pinning her with his gaze.
Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink and he had to work to keep his grin below the shit-eating possum level. He loved making Sophie blush. And if it made him wonder how she’d looked flushed from his lips, his hands, his body moving over her—well, that was his problem. One he’d figure out how to deal with.
“I better go,” said his mother. “Your father will be wondering where I disappeared to.”
Emerson turned to face her and caught her lips curving in an expression that could only be described as smug. It reminded him of his initial plan to become an only son. But when he saw the expression on Sophie’s face as she hurried to hug his mother, he decided to give Gabe a reprieve. She looked lighter, happier than before. Spending time with his mother had been good for her and he couldn’t begrudge either of them that, even if it gave his momma the wrong idea about what was going on between them. He could fix that part later, after Sophie was safe, back in her own space and his apartment was empty again. The thought made him irrationally sad, but he shoved the feelings away into the deep, dark recesses of his psyche where they belonged.
“Thank you so much for saving me from myself.” Sophie seemed reluctant to let go and he wondered how his mom always managed to do that—to connect with people in a way that made them want to open up to her.
“You need to set yourself an alarm while you’re working. There’s extra chili in the fridge. Two minutes and you can have something healthy to eat.” She turned, including Emerson in her instructions and he nodded, although he thought he’d done his part feeding Sophie with the trip to the grocery store and the note. Sarah Southerland’s expression said otherwise.
“Thanks for coming, Momma.” Emerson folded his mother in a hug and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
She cupped his face with her palm and for a moment he felt more like an uncertain boy than a man responsible for a building’s worth of employees and a roster of clients, a few of them household names.
She looked at him for a second as if she wanted to say something, to give him some kind of advice. In the end, she simply said, “I love you.”
He followed her to the door, fighting back a grin when Smithson’s eyes lit up. He was pretty sure his mother promised the man chili in the breakroom when his shift ended, but he wasn’t about to say anything about it.
“I like your Sophie,” she said as he punched the button for the elevator.
“She’s not my Sophie. We’re not dating.”
The door opened and she got into the elevator but not before she hit him with awhatever you say, dearlook that meant she didn’t believe a word coming out of his mouth. He’d seen her use the same look for years when he and his siblings had tried to get away with something.
“I mean it, Momma.” He wasn’t sure why the denial was so important to him or why it bothered him so much to make it.
“Just take good care of her. I don’t think she has anyone else.”
Which reminded him, his mother knew more about Sophie’s family—or lack of it—than he did.
“What did she tell you about her past?” He felt like a sneak, but if he was going to keep Sophie safe, he needed to know why someone was after her in the first place. His own attempts to get her to open up hadn’t yielded much of anything useful.
“That’s not for me to say. You’re going to have to get her to tell you herself,” she said, pushing the button for the garage level. “I love you.”
“Love you too.” He waited until the elevator door closed behind her before he turned back to his apartment and Sophie.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked when his gaze met the other man’s.
“Nothing, boss.” There was an incongruity in seeing a man as formidable as Smithson look sheepish.
“Nothing,” he repeated, shaking his head. He’d bet money his mom left cookies in the breakroom for his guys too.
