Layers Crossed (21 page)

“Good, now
we’re getting somewhere.”

I took in her
casual tone, asking, “You knew about this?”

She raised a
brow.

“Yeah, you’re
a PI.”

“Eric, I want
to help you, but I cannot if you keep things from me. I’ve seen so
many lies and secrets in my life destroy relationships, and believe
me, they don’t stay hidden. And when they’re exposed, they usually
tear couples apart. Only the few strong ones make it through.”

“Emma, I
promise that I wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how. Part of
me will always want you to stay clear of Huntz.” I shook my head.
“I’m sorry I’m not the man you thought I was.”

“That’s
because you’re way more than I thought,” she said, leaning over and
gently kissing my lips, taking me aback. How did I deserve this?
How could I tell her that the biggest lie was still brewing inside
me, and if she knew the truth she’d leave me and wouldn’t look
back? As her mouth opened, I was certain that she hadn’t figured
out my connection to Reeve and her just yet. If she had, she
wouldn’t have been giving herself to me now.

Emma pulled
away, saying, “I’m here for you. And I promise not to leave until
my job is done, so you don’t need to worry about Huntz
anymore.”

Suddenly my
need for justice didn’t seem as important. If Emma found Huntz,
dead or alive, it would mean that she would go back to New York.
She’d leave Ogden behind and never look back again. Or worse, he
could go after her.

“You don’t
have to fear that I’ll tell anyone about the ranch either, Eric.
There’s no need for me to say anything to anyone. It’s your
family’s business what you do with it. I would never betray your
trust.” She paused for a moment smoothing her finger over my brow.
“What’s wrong, Eric?”

“Nothing. It’s
just that I never imagined you’d be so quick to forgive. I promised
to give you all the information I had, but didn’t.”

“You don’t
give yourself enough credit, Cowboy.” Her hand slid down to my
thigh and ran up to my crotch, lifting my mood, among other
things.

I shook off my
guilt, giving in to the pleasure her touch brought to my body.

“And you
surprise me every minute.” I kissed her again, feeling her need
grow in the swell of her breasts.

“I. Want.
You,” she whispered, taking a pause between each word to kiss me,
fondling my sack through my jeans with her other hand, and I was
gone. Everything I wanted to tell her, about Reeve and how I came
to find Cross Enterprises, simply evaporated. I untied the knot
holding her shirt together, sliding it off her shoulders, taking in
the sexiest red bra I had ever seen, one which didn’t leave much to
the imagination and made my cock strain. Emma quickly tugged down
my already unbuttoned jeans as I took care of her shorts.

I flipped her
onto her back and smoothed the stray hair off her forehead.

“You can have
me any time, sweetheart,” I said, feeling her juices with my hand,
unable to wait until I felt her warm pussy around me. I loved when
she submitted to me, unknowingly giving me the strength I
needed.

“No.” She
stopped me, pushing herself up on her elbows and forcing me back.
“I want to taste you, Eric.”

The grunt that
left my chest surprised me as I sat back holding her gaze. The
connection between us sizzled with electricity as she licked her
lips, her focus darting from my eyes down to my pulsing cock. And
when she lowered her head down, already stroking me with her hand,
pulling my slippery skin up and down my length, I was lost.

“Fuck, Emma!”
I breathed, as her lips touched my crown and her tongue slowly
pulled underneath my rim.

I leaned back,
clutching at the grass beside me. Emma cupped my balls in her other
hand, adding pressure underneath, lifting them and fondling them as
her mouth slowly tormented me, taking me in deeper. I felt my ass
tighten when it hit the back of her throat and she made her way
back up. There was no way I could take this for long. Not like
this, not in her mouth and between her warm lips.

She sucked
with each bop of her head, moaning, driving me crazy. I wanted to
touch her perfect tits and to grasp her ass and feel her cream for
me, but I couldn’t move. Emma had me ready to explode within
minutes. Her tempo quickened, and I felt the first sign of my
release in the bottom of my spine, making its way toward my sack.
The sounds of enjoyment coming out from Emma’s mouth between her
slurps rocketed through my body, contracting my balls, jetting my
essence right into her beautiful mouth. She didn’t let go until the
last drop of my strength found her lips, finally lifting her head
and wiping her mouth with her wrist, smiling.

“You’re
unbelievable.” I pulled her onto me, kissing her slightly salted
lips.

“I take it you
enjoyed that?”

I lay back on
the grass, holding her half-dressed body against mine, wanting
desperately to reciprocate but failing to find the strength to do
so. If I had to bet, I’d say that Emma had just robbed me of all
the fluids in my body. She lay down on my chest, playing with the
piercing in my nipple.

“Are there any
females with claws I should be watching out for at the dance?” she
asked.

I stilled for
a moment, thinking about the one hazard Emma could potentially run
into. “I’m sure you can handle yourself Emma.”

“Aha, so there
is.”

Why the fuck
did I forget that she was a PI every time I spoke? I breathed out,
trying to take Emma’s advice of honesty and no secrets.

“It’s more
than likely that my ex-girlfriend will be there.”

“Claire?” she
asked.

I felt my brow
lift on its own. I didn’t even want to know how she knew about
Claire already.

“Missy told
me,” she explained, without me prompting.

“Yeah, Claire.
She had a tough time letting go when we broke up.”

“Why did you
break up?” She asked.

“It’s a long
story. She wanted kids and a family, and I wasn’t ready to give
that to her. I wasn’t ready for the commitment she sought.”

“Is that
something you fear, Eric? A family?”

Emma’s
question didn’t shock me or scare me the way it would have if it
had come from someone else’s mouth. It wasn’t something I’d given
much thought to before, simply because I didn’t feel the need to,
or because I’d never found anyone whom I’d consider as a good
mother. But now, imagining a bunch of blond-haired toddlers running
around the front yard put a smile on my face.

“No, I
definitely want a family. A big one.”

She bit her
lip, obviously pleased with my answer. I reached down between her
legs, trying to feel whether she was still as ready for me as she
had been before, but Emma pushed my hand away asking.

“Were there
other girls beside Claire?”

I wanted to
seem like the kind of a guy who was so much more, but I couldn’t
lie any longer. With my failed past, I’d always stayed away from
anyone whom I thought I could fail, including the herds of town
girls that had advanced my way. Claire had been one of the few I’d
taken, and I was sure it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been
handing me beer after beer at a dance.

“Does it make
me sound like a douche if I tell you not many?”

“It makes you
sound like the gentleman I know you are, Eric.”

“C’m here,” I
said, sliding my hands down to her hips, wanting to taste her
sweetness on my fingers, feeling my need for her revive. I didn’t
want Emma jealous of anyone else. I needed her to know that she was
the one who was important to me. I wanted her comfortable and
without doubts because there was no other woman in my life more
important than she was.

She grasped my
hand again, pushing it away. “Am I good enough to go to the barn
now?” she asked unexpectedly.

“Is that how
it’s gonna be, baby? You’ll only put out for me in the barn?”

“I want you to
pop my cherry in the barn, Eric.”

Had I not
explained the meaning of it to her yet? Taking her there meant
commitment. It meant protecting her for the rest of my life, her
being mine and only mine from now on; it meant having no secrets,
none. Wasn’t that what I’d wanted anyway? I wanted to give her an
honest life before taking her there.

I rolled over
on top of her and took her mouth into mine, forcing my tongue
through her lips, claiming them as my own, swallowing the moan that
left her breath.

“I will, Emma,
but not yet. Not until we’re ready.”

And I pressed
myself to her again, her body finally yielding to my need as I
promised myself to give her everything she’d ever wanted, including
my barn. But most of all I needed to give her what she didn’t know
I still could, and
that
was my full honesty.

As I lowered
Emma’s red panties and finally dipped inside her, all my reason
left and I gave into the lust I’d had for this woman since the day
I saw her.

C
HAPTER
20

Emma

It had been
almost two weeks since I arrived at Eric’s ranch. My laptop had
been burning up as I emailed back and forth with my assistant at my
New York office. Working behind the scene, Luke created a tracking
app for me to alert me each time Huntz made a credit purchase.
Since he seemed to be active only every few months, I wasn’t
expecting to get a notification any time soon.

Eric had been
busy in the stables helping George to clean the horses since early
morning. He’d left me a note on my bed, along with a languorous
kiss on my lips. Waking up next to him after a night of
mind-blowing sex was better than eating a box of Swiss chocolates
catered specifically to my taste buds. Our bodies remained
connected the entire night, his leg resting on top of mine and his
arm never letting go of my mid section. Through the night, Eric
cupped my boob, gently squeezing as he slept.

The peace I
saw on his face when I woke up at night to go to the washroom was
nothing I could ever find during the day. It seemed there was
always a worry or concern in the lines underneath his eyes and in
the creases of his forehead. The only time he let go was when he
lost himself inside me. And I gave him as much of my body as he
needed, never denying what he wanted or the way he wanted it.

Eric was
broken, hurt by his past, and blamed himself for events in life he
couldn’t have controlled. I wanted nothing more than to fix him. I
needed to glue together the pieces of Eric’s life that had been
falling apart, making him doubt himself, making him feel like he’d
failed Annabelle and his mother, and all those who died at the
camp, when he himself was a victim. Putting his past behind him
wouldn’t be easy, but I hoped I could help. I could only pray he
could one day look toward a happy future. Men like him, who
admitted failure and fought to overcome life’s adversities, were
scarce and I wanted him to realize that he was one of the most
selfless people I had ever met. He was a man who wanted to please
everyone around him, yet failed to see that he already had.

And what would
happen once my job was done? Would Eric give everything up for me?
Was that what I wanted? Eric leaving his ranch to follow me to New
York? One man had already done that, and I lost him. Could I help
Eric without somehow hurting him and his family, the way I’d hurt
David’s?

When I finally
called Grace late morning she nearly squealed when she heard my
voice. “I want all the details,” she said.

“Well, the
case is slow, and I’m going to town today to talk to the Sheriff
some more.”

“I mean the
Cowboy, Emma. Tell me about the Cowboy!”

“He’s… he’s
everything, Grace. I don’t think I’ve met anyone after David who
was so good to me.”

“How
good?”

“Really,
really good.” I bit my lip, my thoughts running away into the
memories of our tangled limbs, smell of delicious sweat and long
nights of endless pleasure.

“You slept
with him!”

“‘Slept with’
is the understatement of the century, Grace.”

“This sounds
serious, Emma.”

“It can’t be.
I mean, I’m from New York, and he lives so far away.”

“Coming from a
girl who dated a man living in Europe, Emma? I wish I was there so
I could slap your face to wake you up. Do you want it to get
serious?”

“I think it
did the moment I saw him. I don’t know how to broach the subject,
Grace, because I can’t exactly ask him to leave everything behind.
One man already did, and look what happened. Besides, it’s only
been a little over two weeks.”

“When you find
the one
, time does not matter, Em. You should know that.
Look at your brother Tristan. And David’s death wasn’t your fault,
Emma. Just see where it goes first, and then you two can figure the
details later. So, you’re keeping safe and everything?”

“We used
condoms.”

“Eewww, Emma.
Safe as in with the case. Hunter is all over me asking about you.
It’s weird.”

I felt my
brows scrunch together. Why would Hunter care? I mean, he did work
for Cross Enterprises. Had my brothers asked him to get information
through Grace?

“Yes, I’m
safe. The threat is nowhere near me.”

“Then take it
easy, Em. It’s about time you found some happiness.”

“Thank you,
Grace. I miss you.”

“I miss you,
too. Don’t worry. Everything will work out.”

I felt better
after we hung up. I twisted a five-part loose braid at the side of
my head and jumped into my Converse sneakers. Outside, Eric was
filling buckets of water. His back turned to me and shirtless, his
muscles bunched up as he carried the pails to the horses. I admired
the lean posture, mesmerized.

“Hey, Cowboy!”
I finally yelled out.