Chapter Fifty-Seven
Jake
The second I receive Emily’s text; I pull over to the side of the street and put the cruiser in park. The hairs on the back of my neck stand as I hit re-dial. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine. The baby is fine. I handled it. Everything is okay.”
“Em, you don’t ask for help, and you said please, so what’s going on?”
“Fine.” She gives a half-hearted laugh in response which eases a fraction of my anxiety. This is the woman who wears a cape around her neck and can do everything on her own. “When I came back to town, I saw Chad driving his car.”
“Thanks for the tip. I’ll be on the lookout for him.” This won’t get him off the streets, but it’ll give me another excuse to be in his business. Maybe I can annoy him into leaving town.
“That’s not everything.”
“Spill it.” Trying to get information out of this woman is like pulling teeth.
“He followed me.”
“Shit.” There goes my heart again. That piece of shit needs off the streets. “Where did he go after you pulled into your parking lot?”
“That’s the thing. He followed me into the parking lot.”
“Is he still there?” I grip the gearshift, prepared to do something I don’t ever do–talk on the phone while driving a cruiser.
“No. Well….” She pauses for a second and then says, “He’s gone. When I got out of the car, he came up and stopped me.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“You don’t have to. I’m fine. I just wanted you to know.”
I twist the knob to drive. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Now is not the time to tell her how much those words turn me on. “I’m getting off the phone. Call me if he shows up or anything happens between now and the time I knock on the door. Be sure to look into the peephole before answering.”
“I will.” The phone clicks in my ear.
The desire to go to his place and arrest him for being a dickhead is intense, but at this point, I don’t have anything on him.
And the need to check on Emily to ensure she’s truly fine and not feeding me full of shit overpowers every other instinct.
Just because she says she’s fine doesn’t mean anything.
After one block of going the speed limit, I flip on the siren and step on the gas. There are no signs of Chad or his vehicle as I race through the streets with one eye on the sidewalks and crosswalks, scanning for anything that might jump out in front of me.
Mira waves from her front porch and Dominic nods from his mother’s flowerbed with his trigger finger still activating the watering hose. I’ll apologize for blowing them off the next time I see them.
Four minutes and ten seconds later, I knock on Emily’s door.
“Just a second.” The sound of footsteps rushing across the floor is followed by a thump against the door. She’s looking through the peephole. Good girl.
“It’s me.”
Emily stands in the doorway with the baby at her shoulder, one hand holding the baby’s back and the other cupping her head as she glances around me in both directions, and my heart thuds to a stop. “He’s not here, is he?”
“No. I didn’t see him anywhere on my way here.”
“Good.” She shifts backward as I close the door with a snap. Her ponytail is limp, and her face is marred with exhaustion, but she still looks like the most beautiful woman in the world.
Unfortunately, I have more pressing things than telling her that she looks gorgeous with a baby in her arms.
“Tell me what happened.” The baby stirs, squishing its legs upward and roots against her as Emily softly murmurs to her. The baby’s perfect bow lips pucker in her sleep. Jesus. My heart clutches at the perfection of woman and child. “By the way, thank you for looking through the peep hole.”
“Chad is a total creep. I wasn’t about to open the door to him.”
I brace my hands on my hips as she relays how he followed her and subsequently stalked her to her apartment complex.
“The fucking asshole.” I yank off my hat with one hand and run my fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry, Em. I didn’t mean for you to get dragged in the middle of my feud with Chad. Or for my job to put you in danger.”
I was never in a relationship in Columbia, so no one was able to pressure me by threatening someone I loved. But now…. Now, anyone who knows me knows that Emily is my weakness. And Baby Doe. “I–”
“Don’t.” Emily’s eyes flash in anger. “The last thing I’ll ever do is let a bully change the direction of our lives.
I’m not about to let that happen.” She pats the baby’s back as she rocks from one foot to the other.
“And that’s part of the reason you became a police officer.
To keep people safe from the ass….” She glances down at the baby.
“Jerks who prey on others.” Her eyebrows arch upward. “Right?”
The flush on her face, combined with the fire in her eyes and her impassioned speech has my blood flowing straight to my dick. That same electric shock that zapped me when she said, ‘Yes, Sir,’ has me ready to take her against the wall. Again.
I stalk toward her, grasp the back of her neck, and lower my mouth to hers. “Thank you for the reminder of what a kickass girlfriend I have. Hearing you talk like this really turns me on.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend? Lover? Significant other? I don’t care what we call it, but you’re mine.” Her eyes darken as she inhales. “And I love how feisty you are.” My lips are on hers before she can utter another word.
She’s right. I’m not going to let him win. I’ve fought too hard to make my way back to Brookhaven and to win a second chance with Emily. I’m not giving her up for anything or anyone, and I’ll move heaven and earth to keep her and the baby safe.
She moans into my mouth as I brush my tongue along the seam of her lips. And then the baby whimpers and stirs between us. Well…. I pull back and look down at the scrunched-up face that’s bellowing a high-pitched wail. This is going to be a challenge.
Emily’s eyes dance as she pulls back. “Are you sure you want a girlfriend who’s a foster parent?”
“Yes.” I press my fingertips harder into her neck, smack my lips against hers in a quick kiss so that she doesn’t question my intentions, and step back. “Let me see her.”
As I hold her in front of me, my heart does that fluttering thing again. I ignore it by pressing it back deep inside of me. It had better not be a fucking heart attack. “Hello, baby girl.”
“They called her Grace at the hospital. I like it.”
“That’s a perfect name.” The baby’s eyes glaze over as she looks at me. “When will she have better focus?”
“Between six and eight weeks.”
“I can’t wait.”
Emily cringes at my words. Shit. Thirty days. Emily only has her for thirty days. The baby’s arms and hands dance around as if she’s testing the world around her. She’s so tiny. “Did they say she’s doing okay?”
“Yes.” Her voice is rough as if she’s not telling me everything.
“What?” My attention snaps to Emily.
“She’s lost weight due to her struggles to latch on the bottle and the withdrawal symptoms but the last couple of days they said she’s done much better. She took the bottle for me at the hospital.” Emily glances behind her at the diaper bag on the coffee table. “I should feed her again.”
“Go ahead and get everything ready. I’ve got her.”
“Thank you.” Emily gnaws on her bottom lip.
“What?” God, this woman’s going to drive me nuts. When will she realize she can say anything to me, and I’m not going to balk?
“It’s nothing.” She rubs her hand over her heart. “Just the sight of you holding a baby is giving me palpitations. I might need a nitro pill.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Save one for me. I thought I was having a heart attack a minute ago.”
“Jake?”
“Yes?”
Her hazel eyes meet mine. “I’m scared.”
The fear in her eyes makes my gut roll. It’s not about Chad. He’s a distant memory for her at this point. Even if she were thinking about him, she’d walk straight up to him and punch him in the gut. And it’s not about taking care of the baby. She could do that with her eyes closed.
This look of fear is about surviving when the baby goes to her forever home.
I cup her cheek. “I know, love. But you’re the strongest woman I know. And I’m here with you every step of the way.”
A tear slips down her cheek. “Thank you. I don’t think I could do this without you.”