CHAPTER11
They were out of the drugstore, prize in hand, before the store employee had finished tidying up the magazines Karl had knocked over, but Emmy knew that was the easy part. The hard part was—
Karl,her imagination helpfully supplied. Karl was definitely the hard part, in their equation. She was the soft squishy horny bunny part—
I am not horny,her rabbit said in offense.That’s a jackalope.
Emmy nearly screeched to a halt so she could gape at her rabbit.How do you even know what a jackalope is? They’re imaginary!
Her rabbit, who was not often arch or clever or snide, said,Says a girl who turns into a bunny?in a fairly arch, snide voice.
Are you telling me therearejackalopes?
The rabbit sniffed and settled back down, apparently not prepared to respond. Emmy couldn’t decide if that should be taken as a yes or a no on the whole jackalope front.
It really didn’t matter. What did matter was getting across Virtue’s vast town square without being stopped by forty different people who all wanted to chat ‘just for a moment.’That, she told both her imagination and her bunny, was the hard part. Emmy tried to find the balance between a purposeful stride and just being out for a pleasant Easter weekend stroll. She didn’t want tolooklike she was steamrolling her way through town to get home so she could get laid. She just wanted to…well, steamroll her way through town to get home so she could get laid.
It was a much harder line to balance on than she thought it would be. She considered grabbing Karl’s hand and going dashing across the square, but that would be so very, very obvious.
But she did put her hand in his, and it was big and warm and strong and comfortable around hers, making even the threat of being interrupted seem notsoterrible. They made it to the gazebo in the middle of the square without anybody interrupting them. The gazebo was festooned in pastel ribbons, and there were little spotlights set up around it that would, after nightfall, send a light show of Easter eggs, bunnies, and chicks dancing across its roof and pillars. There were currently a group of teenagers in it, and as they passed, Emmy heard them debating the merits of a skate park in the square, and how to best convince the town council it was a good idea.
Karl, also listening in, grinned. “The kids are all right, huh?”
“I think they usually are. And the square is big enough to hold a skate park without it overwhelming anything.”
“This square is big enough to hold the Super Bowl without it overwhelming anything.”
Emmy laughed. “The game, yes. On either side of the gazebo, in fact. But the crowds, not so much. There are only four or five thousand people in Virtue. I don’t know where we’d put seventy or eighty thousand more. Oh, veer left, I see Mr. Miller and he’ll keep us talking until the cows come home.” They veered left, and to Emmy’s astonishment, made it to the B&B without being interrupted or stopped.
Karl dropped his voice like they were on a secret mission. “Think we can get upstairs without being noticed?”
Emmy, with a flourish, produced the emergency door key. “Why yes, yes I do. I just have to get the code typed in before the entire house starts shrieking that someone’s opened the emergency door.”
“Oooh. She’s beautifulandsneaky. I never stood a chance.” They slipped around to the side door, which Emmy did manage to disarm with suddenly trembling fingers. It had been one thing to fall into the heat of the moment in the pasture, but this was so much more deliberate, and nervousness swept her. She went into Karl’s room like she’d never been there before, although she obviously had, hundreds of times. Still, it was different somehow.
Karl closed the door behind himself and locked it with a click, then leaned against it, watching her with a smile curling the corner of his mouth. “You really are beautiful. C’mere?”
She did, feeling oddly hesitant, although she relaxed almost instantly as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and nuzzled her hair. His strength was a reassurance, and so was his murmured, “Lord, you smell good. I could just hold you and breathe in your scent forever. Maybe that’s all we should do. Coming up the stairs, I thought man, we’re moving really fast. I don’t want it to be too fast.”
A shiver of joy tingled through Emmy. Against his chest, muffled, she said, “I was just thinking that too. I got nervous, when we got here. I wasn’t before.”
“Emmy.” Karl straightened a bit and touched a finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. The tiny smile still curved the edge of his mouth. “First, yeah, me too, on both counts. But also, nothing we don’t want to have happen is going to happen, okay? Nothingyoudon’t want is going to happen. Ever. I promise.”
The gentle touch of his hand at her jaw was enormously reassuring. Emmy closed her eyes briefly, then smiled up at him. “Know what I want right now?”
His eyebrows rose. “No. What?”
“I want you to kiss me.”
Karl’s smile crinkled more widely. “Well, isn’t that wonderful? Because I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
His mouth was soft and sweet on hers, brushing her lips with his own, then nuzzling as he’d done to her hair, like the pleasure of exploring her mouth was a playful joy. Heat sparked in Emmy’s core, then ignited as he deepened the kiss, his tongue probing her lips, tasting her before their mouths opened and they fell into each other eagerly. All of Emmy’s nervousness evaporated into warmth, and she whimpered as her body tightened with need, pleasurable ache that cried out to be touched.
Karl groaned at her whimper and skimmed his hands down her body, ghosting over her nipples with just enough sensation to make her gasp. His fingers gripped her hips a moment, and she rolled them toward him, but also felt his smile against her mouth as he lifted his hands to her breasts again, brushing his thumbs over her nipples. “Yeah?”
Even through her dress and bra, it felt sensational. Emmy whispered, “Yes,” and he smiled against her mouth a second time, close to laughter, then guided one of her hands to his nape so she could cling to him as he claimed her mouth with possessive hunger. His hands dropped to her waist, untying the wrap dress and pushing it away before sliding his palms up, cupping her breasts and catching her nipples through the thin fabric of her bra. Emmy made a liquid sound and Karl groaned again, then slid down the door, legs splayed around her, so he could take one nipple in his mouth and suckle it through the silk as he tightened his fingers on the other, tugging and rolling it with just enough strength to send waves of heat pounding between her thighs.
“Pretty bra,” he breathed against her breast. “I love lingerie. Garters. Stockings. Pretty bras. Makes me crazy. Good kind of crazy. This is pretty.”
