Taming Emma (9 page)

Emma exhaled and looked away, nodding. “I get it.”

“What happened to you, what were you running from?” Celia asked. They hadn’t talked much last night. Between Nate’s reaction and Emma’s exhaustion, Celia had sent everyone to their corners until they’d calmed down.

Emma’s eyes filled with tears and she shrugged even as her fists clenched tight around the blankets on her lap.

“Talk to me,” Celia said.

“A stupid guy.”

“They’re all stupid, aren’t they?” Celia chuckled, but could see in Emma’s face that this specific “stupid guy” was different. “Tell me his name.”

“Luke. Luke Roark.”

Celia’s eyes grew wide. “You mean…?

Emma nodded.

“Does Nate know?”

“Apparently he does. He told Luke everything.”

“Oh.” Celia got up and searched the room for a box of tissues. When she found them, she returned, resuming her seat and setting the box on Emma’s lap. “And what did Luke do with this information that made you take a flight in the middle of the night?”

That made her stop and think. Good. Celia loved Emma and knew she was dealing with a lot, or maybe it was more accurate to say
not
dealing with a lot. Emma had used Nate’s overprotective behavior as her excuse to take off, but Celia knew she was running away from herself as much as from Nate.

“Sounds to me like Luke Roark may have been trying to help you.”
Like he might care about you
,
she thought but didn’t say.

Emma just looked at her as tears spilled down her face. After a few minutes, she blew her nose and eyed Celia’s belly. “How’s my little nephew?” she asked, attempting a smile.

“Busy,” Celia said, placing a hand over her swollen stomach. “He’s got a lot of energy.”

“Less than two months to go, not long. Are you ready?” Emma asked.

“Have you been counting along with me all this time?” Celia asked.

“My first nephew, what do you think?”

Celia smiled. “I’m ready. We’ve been wanting this for a long time and Nate’s excited. In fact, I don’t think he can wait. You should hear him talk to my belly.”

Emma laughed. “I can just imagine.”

“Hey, go have a shower, get changed. You’ll feel better. Your things are still here. We’ll all go out for lunch and talk. It’s time, Emma. You can’t keep running away from what happened.”

That brought fresh tears to Emma’s eyes.

“Besides, you have to be here for this little guy.” She patted her belly and stood. “I’m going to need your help.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Emma said, pushing the covers away. “I’ll be down in a little bit.”

“Good,” Celia said. “See you downstairs. I’m hungry, so don’t dawdle!” she said, smiling.

Nate was waiting for her in the kitchen, a cup of cold coffee in front of him, his expression worried. “Well?” he asked, pulling out a chair for her.

“She’s having a shower and then she’ll be down. Just take it easy with her, ok? You don’t want to push her farther away. She needs you now, Nate, but you’ve got to give her space. If you push, she’ll run again, you know that.”

“I know. I know, baby. What would I do without you?” he said, pulling her in a for a hug.

“What’s this about Luke Roark?” Celia asked when he picked up his coffee mug. She knew Luke and Nate’s history, but the past was the past as far as Nate was concerned. It had taken some time for them to work through what had happened, but they had and their friendship was strong, even if they only saw each other a few times a year. In fact, it was Nate who had taken extra steps to rebuild their relationship, pushing Luke when he’d been more distant.

“Somehow, she ended up at a club he was at with a guy he apparently knew.” Nate rolled his eyes here, shaking his head. “Typical Emma fashion, find some jerk to fuck you up even more than you already are.”

“Shhh. She might hear and anyway, that’s not fair. She’s had a lot of crap to deal with. Go on about Luke.”

“Well, you know I’d always suspected he had a thing for her and Emma never hid her feelings for him. They apparently got together. He took her home and she’d been there with him. I called him while you were up there to find out what the hell happened, but the line was bad. I haven’t been able to connect again.”

“Interesting. Are you ok with the Emma/Luke thing?”

He thought about it. “Yes,” he started. “What happened with Julie, that’s in the past and I’ve long since forgiven him. And I know he’s got his own crap to work through. Hell,” he shook his head again and sipped his coffee. “Maybe they’ll even be able to help each other.”

“I think it’s romantic,” she said, rummaging through the fridge for a snack. She’d gained forty pounds with the pregnancy already, but she seemed to be constantly hungry.

“You would,” Nate said. “Sit down, I’ll get you something.” He kissed the top of her head and gestured toward the living room.

* * *

Emma came downstairs half an hour later dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and flip-flops. Her hair hung in a ponytail and she wore no makeup besides lip gloss and mascara. Her eyes were still rimmed with pink, but she felt better. Like she was doing the right thing for the first time in a long time. Or at least starting to by talking to Nate again.

“Hey,” she said, turning the corner into the living room.

“Hey,” Nate answered, standing. She could see he had much more to say, but Celia’s hand on his arm checked his words.

“I’m starving! Let’s go,” Celia stood and, hooking her arm through Emma’s, headed toward the front door. “You coming, Nate? We need someone to pick up the bill.”

They both smiled and looked over at him.

“All I’m good for,” Nate joked and led the way.

Nate and Celia lived a few blocks from a busy shopping street in the heart of Miami. Apparently they frequented this little pizzeria because as soon as they walked in, a man who introduced himself as Giacomo greeted them loudly with hugs for Celia and handshakes and back patting for Nate. They introduced Emma and the three of them sat down.

“The usual?” Giacomo asked.

“Yes, but double the order, will you? My sister can eat from what I can remember,” Celia said, winking at Emma.

“You have an excellent memory, my dear,” Emma replied. Celia had always treated Emma more like a sister than a sister-in-law. It was warm and authentic, two qualities that endeared Emma to Celia in a way she didn’t have with anyone else.

“So,” Nate began. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” Emma answered. “But I’ve also been worse,” she said.

“Listen, Em,” Nate said. His using the abbreviated version of her name made her soften. He used to call her that when they were growing up. “I’m not going to apologize for wanting to protect you…”

She opened her mouth, but he put a hand up.

“Hear me out.”

“Ok,” she said.

“But I promise to try to not be so…”

“Bossy?” Emma filled in.

“Overbearing?” Celia added.

He glared at them. “Protective.”

Celia smiled, mouthing an apology.

“I just want to make sure you’re ok and I don’t think you are,” Nate continued. “I think you need to talk to someone about…what happened,” he said. “The disappearing has to stop. Now. And you’ve got to get your act together before you get hurt again. Luke told me about the guy…”

“What guy? And why did you tell Luke? I didn’t realize you were so close that you could trust him with your sister’s ugly little secret.” Anger flared again at the thought, but shame was on its heels.

“Hold on, Emma,” Celia interjected. “Let’s stay focused. I won’t have fighting; the baby gets crazy when he hears it.”

“Sorry,” Emma said, glaring at Nate. “Why did you tell him and exactly how much does he know?” she asked, trying hard to keep her voice level.

“Let’s back up for a minute,” Nate said. “Do you know how worried we’ve been about you for the last two months?” Now he was the one who raised his voice.

“I’m sorry about that. I should have called, and I’m truly sorry for making you both worry.”

“Apology accepted,” Celia said, gesturing for Nate to do the same. “Let’s try to move forward, not back.”

Nate nodded.

“I plan to stay in Miami, provided certain conditions are met.”

Nate’s face relaxed for the first time since she’d seen him. The food arrived as if on cue: two huge thin-crust pizzas and salads all around. Nate took a slice, watching her all along. Taking a bite, he smiled. “What are your conditions?”

“I need you to release my money to me,” she started.

“I’ll give you what you need.”

“No, you don’t get to decide what I need. That’s how we got into this whole stupid mess to begin with.”

“Truce. Both of you, not another word,” Celia said, putting her pizza down. “Let’s just take a breath.” She turned to Nate and nudged him, her eyes pleading. “She’s trying,” she whispered.

Nate exhaled, looked at his wife, then at his sister. “Ok, we can talk about the numbers later,” he said. “Enough to live on.”

Emma smiled. “And enough to pay my tuition.”

“Tuition?” Nate asked.

Celia’s smile grew wider. “Are you going back to school?”

Emma nodded.

“That’s really, really terrific, Em,” Nate said. “I’m ok with a set allowance, but I have one condition myself.”

“That is?” Here it was.

“You talk to someone.”

She knew exactly what he meant. “I’m not going to a shrink.”

“I didn’t say shrink. Just, look, we’ll figure something out, but you’ve got to talk to a counselor at the very least. You can’t do this alone and you know it. And to be honest, Celia and I are here for you, but we’re not professionals.”

“You’ve got to deal with this now, Emma. You can’t keep pushing it down, it doesn’t work that way,” Celia added.

“I know,” Emma said, pressing on the swell of emotion that was building in her belly. “I’ll think about it.”

“Not good enough,” Nate said.

“Give her space,” Celia said, touching Nate’s arm.

“He’s not very good at that,” Emma interjected.

“He’s trying, Emma. Aren’t you, Nate?” Celia asked.

Nate grunted, then nodded.

“Ok, that’s settled. Now to the more exciting part: tell me about Luke,” Celia said, shoving a huge chunk of pizza into her mouth and reaching for another slice. “When do I meet him?”

Emma rolled her eyes and bit into a forkful of her salad.

Chapter Nine

The walk home from the pizzeria was more relaxed than the walk to it had been.

“Maybe you can come with me to my appointment next week,” Celia said. “They’re going to do another ultrasound.”

“I have to work so it’s not a bad idea. If you want, Emma,” Nate said.

“Are you kidding? I’d love…” She stopped mid-sentence, her smile rapidly turning into something else. “Oh my God.”

Celia’s gaze followed Emma’s to the lone figure sitting on the front steps of the house. “What…” Celia asked.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Nate said.

“Is that…?” Celia asked.

“In the flesh,” Nate answered. “Guess you won’t have to wait long to meet Luke Roark after all.”

“Wow,” Celia said, obviously appreciating the man.

Nate gave her a look.

“What? He’s hot. Besides, raging pregnancy hormones…” Celia said.

Emma squared her shoulders and swallowed hard. Luke was walking toward them. He looked both relieved and, at the same time, like he wanted to kill her.

“What did you do to the man?” Nate whispered, a grin playing on his lips.

“Nate,” Luke said, extending his hand. His icy gaze softened just a little when he turned his attention to Nate. “We had a bad connection when we spoke on the phone,” he said.

“So you decided to fly out to finish the conversation?” Nate asked, shaking Luke’s hand.

“I suppose I did,” Luke smiled. “It’s been a long time, Nate.”

“It has. Good to see you again, friend.”

There was a moment of silence where the men studied one another, the old warmth of their friendship still there.

“This is my wife, Celia. Celia, this is the infamous Luke Roark.”

“Infamous?” Luke extended his hand, his smile disarming.

Celia greeted him warmly. “You sure are,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you, finally. We’ve been trying to get you out here for years now.”

“I know; my apologies. I have no excuse.”

“No worries. Come on, let’s go home. You’ve likely had a long day already.”

Luke nodded and waited for Nate and Celia to lead the way. When they were out of earshot, he took Emma by the elbow and turned her to him.

Goosebumps made her feel chilly in the warm Miami afternoon and Emma turned wide eyes to Luke. “I…” she started, not sure at all what to say, what he expected.

“You left,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Not good enough,” he said, his gaze cool. “I’ve come to collect what’s due me.”

“What do you mean?”

“The contract, Emma. I mean the contract.”

Was that all he wanted? “You said you wouldn’t hold me to it.” It was the only thing she could think to say.

“I changed my mind,” he said.

“Well, I’m not sure I have,” she said, tugging her arm away, or at least trying to. If all he wanted was sex, he was going to be disappointed.

“Not up to you, not anymore. We need to talk and if I have to hold you to your contract to do it, then I will. Let’s go, we’re being rude,” he said and started to walk toward the house Nate and Celia had disappeared into.

“Just a minute,” she said, pulling back until he had to stop.

He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. She could see it took all he had not to let loose on her here and now and she dreaded the moment they’d be alone.

“Yes?” he finally asked when she didn’t speak.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Haven’t decided yet,” he answered.

“I’m sorry I ran away. I just didn’t know what else to do, Luke. I’m sorry.”

“Glad to hear it,” he answered, his tone flat. He led the way into the house. His expression told her the conversation was over for now.

Although nervous about his potential plans, the only word to describe what she felt about his coming was happy.
Don’t be a fool
, her voice told her.
He didn’t come after you for any reason other than what he said: he wanted to get what he’d paid for.
He could have any woman he wanted and he’d paid a lot of money for her submission. He was probably just not used to a woman running out on him. A certain thrill filled her. She wouldn’t fight him over the contract. She’d take what she could get, even though she knew that at the end of their time together, she’d have to walk away. Alone.