“Yup. And then later, Parker was like, dude, I think we might be on to something here. We’d been going back and forth about what to do with our lives at that point. Jack wanted to open a security company, but there’s already like a million of those on the West Coast, so we were on the fence about it.” Dean grinned. “Parker pointed out that the West Coast also has a million clueless men who have no idea how to be romantic, and that was a market we could definitely tap into. So we opened DreamMakers.”
“And turned it into a big success, according to Suz.”
He nodded. “We’re doing pretty well. I never expected it to take off, but sometimes life surprises you.”
Ha. Understatement of the year. Eleven years ago, she’d been poking needles into a voodoo doll of Dean Colter, and today she was out on a morning run with him.
Life was chock-full of surprises, all right.
She was so fucking beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. Emma had always been gorgeous, though. The combination of her Native American and Chinese heritage had created an exquisite package that had captivated Dean from the moment Emma’s family had moved to town when she was thirteen. He’d lusted over her since the age of fourteen, and clearly nothing had changed, because his body was responding to grown-up Emma as much as it had to the younger one.
Jogging with a semi hard-on was difficult as hell. He hoped his jeans were hiding the evidence of his arousal, because the last thing he wanted to do was scare Emma off. Not when they were actually connecting.
At the half-mile mark, her reluctance to engage in conversation had all but faded away. When they hit a mile, she even started talking back instead of just listening. She told him about her time abroad, while he regaled her with funny DreamMakers stories that brought more than one gorgeous smile to her lips.
She was warming up, and damned if that didn’t make his heart do crazy dolphin flips. Every time she laughed, his chest squeezed because it had been so long since he’d heard that melodic sound, so long since he’d seen her brown eyes shine with humor.
By the time they got back to the hotel, he could no longer deny the truth: he’d missed her. Emma was the only girl he’d ever opened up to—about his family, his fears, his dreams. After their relationship had ended, he’d played the field—and played it hard—but no woman had been able to keep his attention the way Emma had. No woman had ever made him…feel anything.
“Can we do this again?”
He blurted out the question before he could stop himself, cutting Emma off mid-sentence as she was telling him about the first time she’d visited Dubai.
She blinked, and just like that, the ease of her body language dissolved into tension. “Dean…” She trailed off warily, pausing near a potted plant outside the hotel doors.
“Come on, Em, you can’t tell me you haven’t been enjoying this,” he said, trying not to cringe at the pleading note in his voice.
Reluctance creased her forehead. “I…okay, fine, I won’t lie. It’s been nice catching up, nicer than I expected, but…”
“But nothing,” he said firmly. “There’s so much more I want to know about you, and your life, and…” He swallowed, wondering where his game had gone. Usually he had an endless well of charm, but with Emma, he felt like a nervous teenager all over again. “It doesn’t have to be a date or anything. We’ll just hang out as friends. Grab a coffee, or maybe go for a run again…”
Those bottomless dark eyes flickered with hesitation. “Friends,” she echoed, as if she were testing the word out for size. “I don’t know…”
But he could see her resistance crumbling, and when a slight smile curved her lips, he knew he’d won her over.
“I guess that wouldn’t be so bad,” she admitted. “Maybe you, me, and Suz could have dinner one night or something.”
He quickly masked his disappointment. Had no choice, really, since he was the one who’d dropped the F-word. Friends. Which meant he wasn’t allowed to be upset that she wanted Suz to come along. Besides, start small, right? They could hang out with Suz a hundred times if that’s what Emma wanted, but eventually there’d come a time when Suz was busy, and then the two of them could…
Could what? Fuck? Get back together? He had no idea what he even wanted from Emma. Her forgiveness, definitely. Sex, well, sure, he wouldn’t run screaming if by some miracle she wanted to get naked with him. But what was most important was convincing her that he wasn’t a heartless bastard.
He didn’t care what other people thought about him except for a select few whose opinions mattered deeply. Parker. Jack. Suz.
And Emma.
He wanted her to know…no, he needed her to know that he’d changed. He didn’t run away from his problems anymore. He didn’t hurt the people he cared about, and hurting her was the biggest regret of his life.
“I would love that,” he said. “I’ll call Suz and see when she’s free, and the three of us could—”
“Dean Colter!”
A shrill female voice interrupted him, and Dean barely had time to blink before a blonde tornado flew up—and slapped him in the face.