Chapter 3
“Oh, thank you so much dear for dropping these off to me.” Mrs. Latham reached into her purse and handed over several bills to Emma.
“It’s no problem, I promise. I love getting to step out of the shop and get some fresh air every now and then. Besides, Melissa is there today, being an absolute angel.” Mrs. Latham had recommended the teen after a particularly frazzled day on Emma’s part. There may have been powdered sugar and strawberry coulis all over her as the sweet older woman mentioned Melissa was looking for a part-time job and had been baking treats for their church over the past few years.”
“That girl is as sweet as they come. I’m glad her helping is working out well for you. And I just know all the women at bridge this afternoon are going to go wild for your treats. I’ll tell Marge to put an order in with you for next week’s game, too.”
“You are too good to me, Mrs. Latham. I’m looking forward to hearing how much you win this week.” Emma smiled and waved goodbye to the sweet woman who was Bell Ridge’s only seamstress.
Although it was still early spring, the air was heating up, and Emma was grateful that she’d worn a loose, short sleeved shirt to work that day.
The walk back to the shop was nice, and gave Emma a moment to appreciate everything she loved about her little town. There were workers at the town’s gazebo, switching the decorations from snowflakes and icicles to big floral wreaths and white fluffy bunnies. People were sitting out on the patio at Stan’s, already enjoying an early lunch. The sun warmed her skin and the breeze at her back reminded her just how lucky she was to live in such a beautiful, friendly place.
She crossed the street a few shops down from her own. That familiar prickle of someone watching her flipped her stomach, and she planted her feet on the sidewalk, looking around to find the set of eyes on her. There was nothing out of the ordinary that she could see, though, and that unsettled her even more.
“Get it together, Em. You’re being paranoid,” she huffed under her breath as she forced her body to move towards the bakery.
Her eyes skimmed over the exterior of the building that was slowly changing into Montgomery Equities. She’d always loved the old brick department store, and couldn’t help but wonder what Sebastian was doing to the inside. Memories from the day before of her fiery exchange with the gray-eyed, certifiable grade-A hunk flooded her mind. Not to mention that X-rated dream she’d had about the former SEAL all soaped up and naked in her shower. She tried to convince herself that she wasn’t waiting all morning to see him walk across the street, but the sinking feeling in her stomach when Natalie walked in to grab his order instead told the truth. God, she needed a distraction from him, and fast. Her hormones were out of control lately!
Feeling the heat of a blush blooming across her face, Emma raised her hand to wave at Natalie, who was on the phone standing outside Montgomery Equities. The woman smiled brightly at her and returned the wave before turning back towards the building.
Screeching tires caught Emma’s attention. She was only four or five doors down from the bakery, and the speed limit on all of Main Street in Bell Ridge was low, for the safety of anyone walking from shop to shop. There was absolutely no reason why a car should be speeding down the road at that time of the day.
“WATCH OUT!” Natalie’s shrill voice from across the street had Emma looking around, just in time to see a gray sedan jump the curb and come barreling towards her. Adrenaline dumped into her body and every muscle froze in place, even as her mind begged her body to move. She closed her eyes and braced for the car to hit.
There was an immediate force of impact that threw her to the ground. She’d expected it to hurt worse. Or maybe, it didn’t hurt yet because of all the adrenaline in her system. What she did know was that there was now a warmth spreading through her body and a softness to where her head lay.
The faint sound of tires squealing off into the distance landed in her mind as more and more footsteps came closer.
“Someone call 9-1-1!”
“Oh my gosh, are you guys okay?”
“Did anyone get any details on that vehicle?”
“It’s Emma! They almost hit Emma. Oh goodness.”
All the voices around her jumbled in her mind. Was she in shock? Had she been so badly injured from the impact that her brain was having a hard time putting things in place?
“Sprinkles? Hey, honey, open your eyes for me, okay?” That gravelly voice she knew. She’d dreamed of it just the night before, but why would he be there?
“Sebastian?” Clearing her throat, her eyes shot open with dismay at the concerned voice calling her such a tender term of endearment. “I’m not your honey.”
Honey. The sweet name slipped from his lips like he had called her that a million times. Warmth washed over her as the word dripped over her heart, sticking to her soul. Why was fighting her attraction to him so tough?
“Thank fuck, you’re okay,” he blew out a long sigh. “Does anything hurt? I’m sorry I slammed into you so hard.”
“I think I’d rather have been hit by the car.”
Seb chuckled. “Couldn’t let that happen, Sprinkles. After all, who would make me my snobby cortado every morning? Can’t let the owner of the only place to get a decent cup of coffee in Bell Ridge get hurt, now can I?” He moved away from her, taking his warmth too. Damn. She shouldn’t miss that feeling as much as she did. Emma tried to sit up but winced as something in her side pulled. “Here, let me help.”
“I’m fine, honestly,” she slapped away his hand. Sirens rang out loudly as a sheriff’s vehicle and ambulance pulled up in front of the bakery.
“What the hell?” The door slammed as Hank made his way over to the scene. “You okay, Emma?”
“I-I think so.”
“I was able to get to her before the car. Gray sedan by the way. I wasn’t able to see the plate.”
“Okay, well, you’ve got quite the audience around here. Hopefully someone saw something. Em,” Hank turned from Sebastian towards her, reaching his hand down to help her up. She looked as Seb and smiled as she accepted help from Hank. “Go over to the ambulance and just get checked out, okay?”
“I’m totally fine, Hank. I don’t need to get checked out.”
“That abrasion on your arm says otherwise. You’re dripping blood all over the place.”
Her stomach dropped and the world wobbled. She brought up her right arm, where the burning sensation she’d barely registered before was now throbbing, and saw that Hank was right. She swallowed thickly, willing her anxiety to wait for just a few minutes until she was alone.
“Whoa, what’s going on, Sprinkles? You don’t look so good.”
“I d-don’t…the blood.” The whooshing noise in her ears was growing louder as the nausea built in her stomach. Her hands and feet felt so damn cold, and Emma knew what would happen next. “Oh—” was all she managed to whisper as the world around her faded to black.
* * *
“…Sprinkles? You don’t look so good.” Sebastian didn’t like the way Emma’s face had completely drained of color as soon as she’d seen the blood on her arm. He wanted to pull her into his chest and apologize again, knowing the way he brought her to the ground had been the reason she was hurt.
It didn’t make sense why she affected him so much. When he’d seen the way that car was recklessly driving, and how Emma was in it’s path, he didn’t think. He just ran. His knee was throbbing with pain, knowing he’d tweaked the old injury that had taken months of rehab just to feel slightly normal. But it was worth it. He’d gotten her out of the way of the car. But not without injury.
“Oh—” Emma’s strained voice pulled him back into the present moment, and that was a good thing, because as he watched her eyes roll into the back of her head and her knees buckle, Seb knew he’d need to catch her.
“Sprinkles?” He tried to softly shake her as he swept her up into his arms. “Damn…she’s totally out of it. What the hell happened?”
“Bring her over to the ambulance,” Hank ordered. “I forgot she hates the sight of blood. Daisy’s going to kick my ass.” He mumbled the last part and Seb fought back a smile. It didn’t take long once in Bell Ridge to see how much the sheriff loved his wife, and Seb knew she often took joy in putting Hank in his place.
A small part of his heart clenched as he set Emma down on the gurney and watched the EMTs start their evaluations.
“Blood pressure’s still on the low side,” he heard one of the EMTs say.
“Is that why she isn’t waking up?” Seb asked.
“Maybe it’s because I don’t want you here,” Emma grumbled as her eyes fluttered open.
“Sprinkles, could you maybe not give me a heart attack when I’m trying to play hero? I feel like it’s the least that you could do when I saved your very perky ass from getting squashed like a bug a few minutes ago.”
“Oh sorry, yeah, I forgot, I’m the rude one here.” Her eyes landed on Sebastian, but he didn’t see the fire and sass that normally filled them. No, he saw worry, and pain. What he wouldn’t give to take that away for her.
“Hey. It’s okay. You’re going to be fine.” He slipped his hand over her leg and gave her thigh a reassuring squeeze. For a moment, he saw the shadow of a smile fall over her lips before she promptly froze her face in a scowl.
“I know I will be. Can you take your hand off my leg, please?”
Sebastian pulled his hand back. “Listen, I better go talk with Hank, let him know what I saw.”
Emma’s eyes flew back to his. “Please ask him not to say anything to Daisy. Just tell him I’m fine and I’ll fill her in on what happened when I see her.”
“Uh, yeah, okay. I can do that.”
Sebastian stepped out of the ambulance and scanned the scene in front of him. More people from around town had arrived, apparently with nothing better to do in their day than gawk and gossip.
“Mr. Montgomery! Is Emma okay?” Natalie rushed towards him.
“She will be. She’s got a pretty nasty scrape down her arm from when I got to her and threw her out of the way of the car.”
“I don’t know how it all even happened. I was talking to my husband on the phone and just happened to see the car driving right towards her. My heart nearly stopped!”
“I need you to contact Gage Walker and send him all the security footage from outside the building over the past six hours. He should be able to find something we can hand over to the sheriff’s department.”
Sebastian winced as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
“Are you alright, Mr. Montgomery?”
“Yeah, just tweaked an old injury. I’m not as young as I once was.”
Natalie smiled and even let out a little laugh. “I totally understand that. Addie is running circles around me lately and all I want to do is nap. Oh! It looks like Emma is okay.” Natalie waved and Seb turned to see Emma getting out of the ambulance, a white bandage now covering a large part of her arm. “Do you want to see one of the EMTs about your leg?”
“No. There’s nothing they can do.” He turned to walk towards Emma. “Have Gage send me what he finds, okay?”
“Of course, Mr. Montgomery.” Natalie walked back across the street to Montgomery Equities as Sebastian found Emma talking with Hank.
“I’m honestly fine. Look, I’m not sure what happened with that driver, but I’ve got a bunch of orders I need to get ready for this weekend and I’d like to finish some time before midnight so I can get some sleep.”
“Why don’t you close up the shop for today?” Seb interrupted.
The scowl on Emma’s face could have burned through solid stone. “Oh, is that how you made your billions? Just closed up shop whenever a little inconvenience came up?”
“No. My brothers made my billions for me while I was off at war, sending them money to invest in their startup. But that’s besides the point. I don’t think you being almost hit by a car and then passing out because you saw blood is a little inconvenience. Jesus, Sprinkles, just learn when enough is enough.”
“Enough is enough, Sebastian. Thank you for saving me, but please, go back to your business and leave me to mine.” Emma turned to Hank, pointed her finger at his chest and said, “Don’t you dare breathe a word of this to your wife,” before walking back towards her bakery.
“She can be real stubborn when she’s scared.” Hank’s hand landed on Sebastian’s shoulder. “Thank you for keeping her safe.”
“I would have done it for anyone,” Sebastian replied. And he meant that, he really did. But he also knew it was more with Emma. He wasn’t just being a good citizen. And he hadn’t wanted to let her out of his arms once he’d known she was safe.