Delayed, Nathan Kingsly [read aloud txt] 📗

it has me asking myself if she’s thinking the same thing. Leaning in closer, it would be easy to find out. Her breath is warm and tinged with alcohol. Only another inch, my racing heart is drumming in my chest.

The bartender decides that moment to ask if we need anything else. We straighten, and our moment is severed. There's no way he can misinterpret my scowl.

Emma, on the other hand, isn't as hostile. She smiles at him and shakes her head. Why does that irritate me? Why should I care if she smiles like that for everyone?

When he's gone, she looks back, "What were we saying?"

"I asked how you survived with four brothers."

“Oh right, I have tricks of my own, but if I’m honest, it’s due to my brothers being overbearing protectors." She takes a sip of her drink, some type of fruity cocktail that's as bright as an orange.

“I can see that.” My reply fell flat.

Pursing her lips, she tilts her head as she gives me a cursory glance. “You can, can you? What gives me away?” She looks herself up and down, and I can’t resist the temptation to do the same. What is it about this woman? Well, she’s anything but passive.

“You wear confidence like you’ve got people on call to come defend you even when you’re wrong.”

“Oh.” She moves her straw in the drink, and I notice her chipping blue nail polish. “I do, so play nice.” She shifts in her chair, uncrossing and re-crossing her legs.

“I’ll think about it, but I have tricks of my own.” Leaning back in my seat, I give her a smile. When her eyes linger on my lips, I don’t fight the urge to bring attention to them as I bite them, and I enjoy her cheeks flush.

“I’m discovering that.” She breathes, and her throat works as she swallows.

“So.” I tilt my head, some of my hair falling onto my forehead. “Where are you headed?”

She laughs, and I’m starting to love the sound.

My phone chooses that moment to go off in my pocket. Pulling it out, and seeing Mia’s name flash on the screen, I press the side button. I assuage the guilt by deciding to re-book my flight after this storm clears; she must know about it by now. Setting my phone on the bar beside my drink, I wait to hear Emma’s response.

She straightens in her chair, and her fingers rub at the base of her throat. “A wedding, for one of my aforementioned brothers.” Her eyes wander and point to my phone. “Do you need to get that?”

Looking down, I shake my head and push the side button again. This time, flipping the phone on its face, but not before seeing the icon flash on the screen that a voicemail waits for me. I’ll check it in a minute.

“No, sorry about that. So, your brother is getting married? Let me guess; you don't like the bride?”

Her expression morphs into how I likely looked when I started to drink my lime spiked alcohol. "He could have chosen better."

"Why do you think that?" I finish off my drink and push the glass towards the inner edge.

"I don't have to think, I know. An off-and-on-again girlfriend is not the woman you spend your life with."

"Good point."

"Tell my brother that…" Her sentence drifts, but her gaze doesn’t. She studies me so intensely that I’m sure she’s planning on taking something from the inside. Why aren’t my warning bells firing?

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Rubbing my face down,  it comes back clean.

When I look back, she's shaking her head. A shock goes through my body as her warm hand brushes against my forearm.

"Nothing, I'm sorry, I was just thinking." Her hand is gone too soon, waving between us as if to clear the thoughts from the air before it grips her straw again.

Swallowing hard, I can’t shake the feeling of her touch. It lingers under my skin. Every time Emma touches me, it doesn't seem to know how to stay on the surface. It burrows and swims in my veins, making my heart skip a beat in my chest. She’s dangerous. The kind of danger I’m not sure I should risk, but equally unsure if I can allow her to be another haunting ‘what if’ in my life.

"Bar’s closing," the bartender starts. "So, drink what you have left, and get somewhere safe before this thing hits."

Emma looks back at me and brushes an escaped hair behind one ear. "Do you have a place to stay?"

I shake my head. "Not yet." Fuck, I didn’t check any of the nearby hotels. Grabbing my phone, I put in my pin and pull up a browser.

"The airline got me a room across the street.” I look back to find her chin dipped submissively, her eyes peering through her dark lashes. My erection grows against my zipper. Fuck, what I wouldn't do to see her wearing that expression and nothing else. “I bet it will be a nightmare trying to find a place. So, you can have the couch in my room, if you'd like?"

Her offer surprises me as if she's read my mind. Could she be hoping, like I am, that this day turns around with a lot less clothing? When she bites her lip and her tongue peeks out to soothe it, I’m not sure I have a choice anymore, and right now, I could use a distraction.

Knowing my mom is as safe as she can be, and Mia locked in her house with the best security system I could afford to get her, I will allow myself one night.

“Thanks. Let’s get out of here.”

We leave with her glass half empty and hail a cab. It’s not until we are pulling up to the hotel that it comes into focus in this downpour. When she gets out of the cab, she says something, and though I’m right behind her, it’s drowned out by the rain. The wind is causing it to slash