Chapter 12
Doc looked over at Ember and knew he had the goofiest smile on his face. He’d already thought she was hardworking, passionate, determined, beautiful, smart, and strong as fuck. But now he could add adorable to that list.
She was drunk.
Smashed.
Hammered.
The women had decided that they wanted to go out after they’d finished all the tequila at Oz’s house.
Brain and Oz had stayed at the house to watch the kids, Grover had headed home, and Trigger, Lefty, Lucky, and Doc had accompanied the six women to a bar and kept watch over them as they got to know Ember and had a rip-roaring good time.
Now Doc couldn’t stop smiling. He’d been pressing water on her for the last hour, in the hopes it would combat the hangover she was sure to have when she woke up, but she was still as drunk as a skunk.
At first the women had made the guys sit at a separate table, but as the alcohol flowed, Gillian, Kinley, Devyn, and Ember had invited their men to join them.
Aspen and Riley were the first to bail, probably not liking that their men weren’t there and because they missed their kids.
Trigger and Gillian had driven them back to Oz’s house.
Lefty and Kinley had left next.
Then Lucky and Devyn had called it a night, leaving Ember and Doc to fend for themselves at the bar.
When Ember sat on his lap and inched her hand under his shirt, Doc was done.
As much as he loved her hands on him, that wasn’t the time or place.
He’d had to practically carry her to his SUV, but so far he was glad to see she didn’t seem to be in danger of puking all over his car.
“Craig?” she asked with a small smile.
“Yeah, Em?”
“I really really like your friends.”
“I’m glad.”
“No, seriously. They’re so nice.”
Doc chuckled. “They are.”
“When that guy took my picture…Aspen marched right over to him and demanded he give her his phone. And he thought she was hitting on him! But instead, she deleted the picture he’d taken.
Then she wagged her finger in his face and told him how rude he was, and that if he ever wanted a girl to look at him twice, he needed to stop that shit. ” Ember giggled. “That was awesome!”
Doc let her babble. He’d been there. He’d seen what Aspen had done—and he and Lucky had been standing behind her, making sure the guy knew better than to do anything stupid. He hadn’t, and Aspen had walked back to the other women smiling like a Cheshire cat.
They’d all danced, laughed, and if he didn’t know better, Doc would’ve thought the women had been friends forever.
“Glad you had a good time, sweetheart,” Doc told her.
“I did. I really did. And no one even shot up the place.”
Doc frowned in confusion. “What? Why would you say that?”
“Because we’re in Texas. Everyone has a gun. I expected there to be a shootout.”
Doc chuckled. “I’m guessing there are more guns per capita than in a lot of the States, but we don’t have shootouts in public bars.”
She pouted. “Doesn’t seem fair. I bet I could outshoot everyone.”
“You probably could,” Doc agreed. He’d seen her shooting ability firsthand in Korea. “But it’s probably not a good idea to encourage drunk people to pull out their weapons in a crowded bar.”
“True,” she agreed. “Craig?”
Doc’s grin widened. “Still right here, Em.”
“Do you think your family will like me? Will they be surprised that you’re dating a Black woman?”
“They’re gonna love you. How could they not? And honestly, Mama Luisa is just going to be excited that I’m dating anyone. I think they despaired of me ever settling down.”
“Are you settling down?” Ember asked.
“Oh, yeah.”
“With me?”
Doc laughed. “Yeah, babe. With you.”
“Good. Because I’m not leaving. Are you gonna be sad if my parents aren’t as happy that I’m dating you?”
“Because I’m white?” Doc asked, genuinely curious.
Ember shook her head. “I think it’s more that they’re snobs. They’ve lived in Beverly Hills too long. They wanted me to marry someone rich. From their country club.”
“You’re always gonna have more money than me,” Doc said. “Does that bother you?”
Ember waved her hand in the air drunkenly.
“Pbsshaw. No. I’d rather live in a rundown house in a crappy part of town and be with someone who loves me, and I love back, than be trapped in a huge mansion with a fancy car and a million bucks in the bank with someone who’s only with me because of what I can give him. ”
“You already have a fancy car and a million bucks in the bank,” Doc couldn’t help but point out.
“Yeah, but I don’t have the love part,” Ember pouted.
Doc pulled into his driveway and waited for the garage door to rise.
He pulled in and shut off the engine. He wasn’t sure Ember even realized that he hadn’t brought her back to her apartment.
There was no way he was going to leave her alone when she was as drunk as she was.
It wasn’t exactly how he’d envisioned the night ending, but he was still with Ember, so he couldn’t complain.
He reached out and palmed the side of her neck. Ember immediately tilted her head and gave him the weight of her head. “You have the love part,” he said quietly.
She looked confused for a moment, then her eyes closed and her lips quirked up in a small smile.
“Come on, let’s get you inside before you pass out in my car.” Doc ran his thumb along the underside of her jaw, then said, “Stay put. I’ll come around.”
“’Kay. Your car is spinning too fast for me to stand up anyway,” Ember mumbled with her eyes still shut.
Doc hopped out and hurried around to her side. He opened the door and laughed out loud when Ember jerked in surprise. “Come on, sleeping beauty, let’s get you inside. Can you walk?”
“Of course I can walk!” she said indignantly, then promptly tripped over her feet. She would’ve sprawled to the floor of the garage if Doc hadn’t been there to catch her. This time he didn’t bother letting her try to walk; he put one arm under her knees and the other around her back and lifted her.
Ember immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. “I like this,” she said.
“Me too,” Doc admitted. He had a little trouble opening the door to the house, but eventually managed to turn the knob and get them inside without dropping her.
He’d made it to the bottom of the stairs when he felt Ember’s lips close around his earlobe. Doc shivered.
Fuck…his ears were so sensitive! He hadn’t realized that about himself, as no other woman had taken the time to kiss him there, but Ember was sucking on his ear as if it was his cock. Using her teeth to nip it, then sucking on the small piece of flesh almost aggressively.
“Em?” he asked.
“Hmmm?” she mumbled.
“You need to stop.” His cock was as hard as steel and throbbed in his pants. He’d gone from slightly aroused—he was always that way around her—to being ready to fuck in two-point-three seconds. All it took was her mouth on him and he was a goner.
“No,” she said, then licked the side of his neck before latching onto his earlobe once more.
Doc groaned and tightened his hold on Ember as he headed up the stairs. One of her arms stayed around his neck and the other moved down to knead his chest. Fuck, he loved her touching him.
He practically ran into his bedroom and leaned over his bed, dumping Ember onto her back on his sheets. But she didn’t even miss a beat, sitting up quickly, her hands under his shirt before he could stop her. Her fingernails lightly scored his stomach, making his cock twitch in impatience.
Then she surprised him again by rising to her knees and whipping her shirt over her head.
Her hair was mussed and even curlier than he’d seen before.
She’d worn it down tonight, and he loved how full it was.
The white bra she wore contrasted beautifully with her dark copper skin.
And even though she was in better shape than the majority of women, she still had the tiniest pooch of a belly.
Her arms were muscular and firm…but Doc had a hard time taking his eyes off her stomach.
His hands itched to touch her there. To see how soft and silky her skin was.
To nuzzle his way down to her pussy, see if she tasted as good as he’d imagined in his dreams.
“Fuck me,” she said softly.
Doc’s hands had moved to the waistband of his pants as soon as she’d uttered the second word.
But when she swayed and almost fell over, he froze.
Ember tried to push his hands out of the way and take over undoing his pants, but he resisted.
As much as he wanted this woman, craved her, he wouldn’t make love to her for the first time when she was three sheets to the wind.
He wasn’t that kind of guy. As painful as it was, he swallowed hard and turned away from her.
Walking over to his drawers, Doc took deep breaths, trying to tamp down his libido a couple notches.
He pulled out one of his workout Army T-shirts and turned to Ember once more.
She’d managed to push her pants down and was doing her best to undo her bra.
But she was uncoordinated and clumsy, the alcohol wrecking her fine motor ability.
Fuck, she was so damn beautiful.
Doing his best to ignore all that creamy skin, he walked back over to her.
“I can’t reach it,” Ember said with a pout. “Help me?” she asked coyly.
Doc knew he should put his shirt over her head, then undo her bra…
but he couldn’t resist getting a glimpse of her perky tits, teasing him from behind the cups of her bra.
He was doing his best to be a gentleman, but that was too tempting even for him to pass up.
He wanted to be good, but he’d reached his limit.
Putting his arms around her to reach the clasp of her bra, Doc jerked in surprise when Ember latched onto his neck, sucking hard.
“Fuck, are you giving me a hickey?” he muttered, putting a hand on the back of her head and holding her to him, instead of jerking away.