Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Emmy shook her head, shifted so she could lean down and gently press a kiss to his lips.
“I’m not leaving without you, Will,” she whispered, her face still close to his.
“If I’m given that choice, if I’m not just ripped out of your world as abruptly as I was ripped out of mine, I’ll choose to stay rather than abandon you.
You’re not going to be able to convince me to do anything else. ”
“Emmy,” he said softly. Emotion stole his voice for a moment. He swallowed, then spoke again. “I don’t want you to leave everything you love behind for me.”
“Do you think I could live with myself not knowing if I’d ended your existence? No, listen,” she insisted when he started to speak. “I meant it when I said you’re real. I believe it with everything I am. I won’t risk ending you. I can’t.”
“Your sister. Your parents. Your best friend.”
He was right, and she knew it. She thought of her sister, her parents, Sarah. Her life. Her job. Her reality. She couldn’t stay in the book forever, but she didn’t need forever. All they had to do was find a way out.
Taking a breath, Emmy rubbed her hands over his shoulders, down his arms, in a brief caress.
“I’m not saying I’ll stop looking for a way out.
I know I need to get back to my life and my family.
Just… don’t give up yet. I believe there’s a way for us to get out together.
We’ll think of something. I’m willing to dedicate every waking moment to brainstorming a solution, because God knows I want to go home, but I want you with me. I need you with me.”
He still looked doubtful. There were shadows in his eyes. She wished she knew the right words to convince him that everything was going to be alright, but she didn’t have those words.
Sighing, she smiled sadly. “Will?”
“Yeah?”
“Toile wa doko desuka.”
He furrowed his brow. “Is that more Japanese? What does it mean?”
“It means ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ I forgot how to say, ‘I won’t give up until I find a way for both of us to get out of this cursed book,’ so you’ll have to take what you can get.”
Will expelled his breath on a surprised laugh and shook his head. “You are something else.” He reached up to cup her cheek in his hand, ran his thumb over her skin. “You meant it, huh? You believe I’m real?”
“Absolutely,” she whispered. “No doubt in my mind.”
“Okay. Then this is real, too.”
He gave her a gentle tug, pulling her toward him, and took her mouth in a kiss that went straight to her heart.
She couldn’t pull back from this, not now.
He needed her in this moment, needed her to be unguarded and open to him, so she ran her fingers through his hair and held on.
His lips lingered, not demanding more than she was ready to give, just giving her a taste of what she could have if she gave herself over to her feelings for him.
Then, with one light nip at her lower lip, he pulled back.
Will took a second to catch his breath. He wanted more from her, but this was the wrong time.
Maybe the kiss had been a test at first, just seeing what she would do, if she would put her money where her mouth was.
But he’d lost that initial motivation in a wave of need for her.
The problem was, his conscience wouldn’t let him go further.
“I’m emotionally stirred up right now,” he said, hoping Emmy would understand he wasn’t rejecting her. He let out a half laugh and said, “Physically, too, obviously. But I think we should wait to… if you want to…”
“Will.” She waited until he met her gaze. “I want to have sex with you. But I appreciate that you want to level out before we do that.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” A teasing look came into her eye that he couldn’t explain until she added, “You are going to be really good at sex.”
“Wow… uh… thank you?”
She laughed. “You’re the male lead in a romance novel, Will. You have sexual superpowers.”
“I thought you said I was real and human.”
“You’re that, too. But you can’t forget your roots,” she said with a smirk. “I might be trying to take the man out of the romance novel, but you can’t take the romance novel out of the man.”
“Stop.”
“I’m just saying, my quivering flower can’t wait for your thick, pulsing, turgid… kielbasa.”
“That’s it!”
She squealed as he leaped at her, scooping her over his shoulder and giving her a quick, disorienting spin. The next thing she knew, he’d brought her into the living room and dumped her on the couch. Before she could catch her breath, he began to tickle her mercilessly.
“I’ll kielbasa you,” he growled over her giggles.
“Okay, okay! I yield!”
When he leaned over her, smiling and shaking his head, she reached up and pulled him down to her.
This kiss was deeper. He took his time with her, coaxing her to respond, teasing her mouth with the tip of his tongue until she opened for him.
Nothing had ever felt more right, more perfect, than her lips against his.
With a groan, Will pulled back. “You’re making it hard for me to remember my reasons for not stripping you naked here and now.”
“Emotional turmoil,” she reminded him. “Very sad and broody.”
“Right. Sad and broody.” But he didn’t feel that way with her. Not anymore. She had whisked away his bad mood with strategic genitalia jokes. “If we’re not going to introduce my kielbasa to your flower, how do you want to pass the afternoon?”
“Scrabble picnic?”
“What is a scrabble picnic?”
She pushed herself up until she was sitting. “It’s what it sounds like. We used to do it all the time when I was younger. We played Scrabble in the park while we ate a picnic lunch.”
“I don’t own Scrabble.”
“What? How?”
“Because I live alone and, until recently, I regularly worked more hours than was healthy.”
“We need to fix this,” Emmy said resolutely. “Is there a Target around here? Do you guys have Target? Or maybe we can borrow something from Bright. You think she has like… vagina Scrabble?”
“What is it with you and genitals?”
Emmy did her best to look affronted. “Me? She’s the one selling boob paperweights and beer bottle penises.”
“Yeah, fair enough.” He reached out and helped her to her feet. “Anyway, the nearest Target is in Springfield. We can just go to Grabby’s.”
“Grabby’s?”
“Yeah, it’s one of those secondhand stores where there’s just a bunch of shit lying around and you can buy it. Books and games, outdated candy… no, that’s not the word. What is it? Obsolete? Extinct?”
Emmy giggled as they headed for the door. “I think you mean discontinued.”
“Yes! That’s it. Anyway, if Grabby’s doesn’t have Scrabble, no one in town will.”
“Sounds like a plan. Added bonus—we can get some dinosaur candy for our picnic.”
Will rolled his eyes as he took his keys off the hook. “Misspeak one time and she busts your balls for life,” he grumbled.