Dinner was over now, and she and Emmitt were taking a winter stroll around the grounds. She was holding hands with him—one of her new favorite pastimes since their game night. A chill rocked over her as she nudged in closer to him.
“You warm enough?” he asked, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her into his side.
Mmm, he smelled good. She loved the spicy, masculine scent of his cologne.
“I am now,” she said, slowing their pace as they strode between the streetlamps. It was darker in this spot, and private too. It might just be the perfect spot to do something she’d really been wanting to do.
She rested her cheek against Emmitt’s soft sweater and wrapped her arms fully around his strong, heated form. “I really love your family,” she said in a whisper.
He chuckled under his breath. “I’m glad. They’re pretty crazy about you too.”
She inhaled a deep breath, paused to enjoy the rapid beating of Emmitt’s heart against the side of her face, and then exhaled, long and slow. She could do this.
“Emmitt?”
“Yes?” he rasped, the sound of it echoing down his chest and against her cheek.
“I like you.” The words seemed to drift from her lips and linger in the air like a confession. Was it too soon? Would he worry that she was moving too fast?
Emmitt tucked a finger beneath her chin, encouraging her to meet his gaze in the low light. She glanced up, blinking until her eyes met his. Yellowed light from the nearest streetlamp fell across one side of his face, accenting the look of desire she saw there.
Heat zipped through her tummy as his gaze drifted to her lips, then back to her eyes. “I like you too.”
Sloane gulped. “You do?”
He nodded, face still serious. “Ilikelike you.”
The tummy heat flared hotter, fanning waves of delight through her entire form. “Good,” she said, “because I feel the same.”
He held her gaze for a blink, seeming to remind her, with his heated look alone, of what came next. Sloane hadn’t forgotten. She’d been waiting to sample his lips since she’d dreamt of it.
Emmitt cradled her face, his hand strong and gentle all at once, and lowered his head until his lips grazed hers.
Mmm.Yes.
He teased her with a feathery touch, back and forth. Softly. Gently. Wonderfully.
Sloane gripped a fistful of his sweater, ready for more.
At last, Emmitt pressed his full mouth to hers in a long, glorious kiss.
So good it made her whimper.
He tilted his head, encouraging her lips to part with his own as he came in for more—a heated series of long, lingering kisses.
A rush of pleasure rippled through her body. His lips were satin-soft, fire-hot, and skilled in ways she’d never experienced.
To add to the bliss, Emmitt’s hand slid down around her waist where he squeezed her softly, encouraging her even closer. His muscular chest warm and firm against hers. No wonder the ladies were grappling for his phone after he’d kissed them at the club. They wanted more ofthis.
A sigh slipped from her lips as he brought the kiss to a reluctant end. He straightened, looked down at her while rubbing a thumb over her cheek, and then leaned in to press a kiss to the tip of her nose.
“One step away from the altar,” he said, only this time there was no teasing in the sentiment.
Sloane moved in and rested her face against his sweater once more, wondering how she’d gotten herself in so deep in a matter of weeks.
Perhaps thingswerehappening all too quickly. She still had a job to do. And though she felt safe to rule out any foul play on the part of Emmitt’s family—at least the family that she’d met so far—Sloane couldn’t be sure they weren’t harboring a fugitive, perhaps under a false pretense of some sort.
Determining whether this case was a dead end or a live wire was a dilemma in itself. But if Sloane were honest, a new issue had taken the lead. She was falling fast and hard for Emmitt Duran, and she didn’t know how to stop it.
