“What was that?” she asked before freezing again. “Open the door.”
“What?” I asked, stepping in front of it.
She pushed me out of the way. “Don’t you hear that?”
I moved to the side, ready to protect her from herself as she opened the door and I stepped into the opening. There’s no way Rex found us already, but I also wasn’t taking chances as I slipped past her.
What the hell? I stopped and stared at our dangerous threat. “It’s a cat.”
“I know,” Emerson said as she moved me to the side. “Didn’t you hear the meow?”
I guess I missed that while mentally preparing to take on a sex trafficker. “Don’t go around opening doors.”
“It’s wet and storming, Knox. We’re saving her,” she said, with the gray tabby already clutched to her chest.
I scowled. “It’s a cat, and you don’t know where he’s been.”
“She’s been through the storm. Move,” she demanded as she pushed me out of the way again to reenter the cabin. “You’re okay, sweetheart.”
The lights flickered right before another explosion of lightning. That couldn’t be good. Emerson stopped whispering sweet nothings to the cat. When the pop of thunder hit, the cat hissed and jumped from her arms.
“Crap,” she said, bringing her hand to her mouth.
I grabbed it first. “Here, let me see.”
A deep scratch across the side of her hand was already welling up with blood. “This is why you don’t take in wildlife.”
She shook her head and pulled her hand back toward her chest. “She was just scared.”
The cabin shook, and the front door blew open, hitting Emerson in the side. She screamed as I jumped in front of her, wrapping her in my arms. “Hey, I got you.”
I slammed the door shut with my back and used my free hand to set the latch as the wind battered it on the other side.
“Thanks,” Emerson whispered. She tipped her head up, meeting my gaze.
Right then, my life flashed before my eyes. Her waking up in my bed, her eating breakfast on the other side of my kitchen table, her laughing as she threw a snowball at my head while I shoveled the porch. My god. This woman was my future everything.
“What?” she whispered, her plump pink lips staring at me, begging me.
I grabbed her close until we were chest to chest, her heart beating against mine. “Make your next adventure moving to Alaska with me.”
Her lips parted, but I didn’t wait for a response.
My lips crashed against hers. Her summer scents wrapped me in a warm blanket. I breathed her in along with the rest of my life.
6
*EMERSON*
My back foot raised as Knox pulled me close. The wind battered the door behind him, but Knox held it closed. His tongue swept against my lips, and I opened, giving him access. As the storm raged outside, Knox raged in my chest.
“Alaska?” he asked as he pulled away.
I sucked in a breath and let out a nervous chuckle. “Alaska?”
Was he serious with that question? I thought it was a moment of passion? If that were true, why did it sound my heart thumping against my chest? And why did the idea not sound that crazy to me?
Knox had his mouth open, either ready to kiss me again or provide more Alaska information—I was okay with either—when a terrible creak came from outside the cabin.
