I was turning into a pussy. This was the third time I’d checked my cell phone this morning. Nothing. Twelve hours had passed.
After making chocolate chip pancakes that were more chip than cake, I’d asked Beck what he wanted to do. His answer was always the same: ice skating. The boy was obsessed with hockey. So I bundled the little monster up in three layers, tied the laces of our skates together, and flung a pair over each shoulder before we took off.
We made it to the lobby, and I told Beck I needed to make a quick pit stop in my office. Having still not heard from Emerie, I was starting to wonder if maybe I should worry instead of getting pissed off at what she could have been doing.
Inside my office suite, faint music was playing. It was an instrumental of some sort, and my heart sped up knowing Emerie was just down the hall. I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or anger, but I heard the blood swishing through my ears as I got to her office.
The door was half open, but she didn’t seem to have heard me come in, so I knocked, not wanting to scare her. Considering she jumped onto her chair, I’d say I didn’t succeed.
Instinct had me raising my hands in surrender to her. Again. “It’s just me.”
“You scared the shit out of me.”
With that, Beck, who had been standing behind me, popped out from behind my legs.
Emerie covered her mouth. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. My language.”
Beck answered for me. “My dad says a lot worse.”
I smiled and mussed his hair, but I needed to remember to have a conversation with him later about spilling my secrets.
Emerie climbed off her chair, walked over, and leaned down, offering her hand. “You must be Beck.”
“Beckett Archer Jagger.”
Emerie’s lip quirked, and she glanced up at me. I shrugged.
“Well, nice to meet you, Beckett Archer Jagger. I’m Emerie Rose.”
“Is Rose your middle name or your last?”
Emerie smiled and laughed. It was the same question I’d asked when we first met. “It’s my last name. I don’t have a middle name.”
Beckett seemed to ponder that for a minute, so I cut in.
“Didn’t mean to scare you. Beck and I are going ice skating. Was just worried when you didn’t respond to my text last night.” I locked eyes with Emerie.
She turned around and walked to her desk, lifting her broken cell phone and dangling it between her thumb and pointer. “Dropped it last night. I just picked up a new one, and I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to restore my contacts from the cloud. I don’t know anyone’s numbers anymore.”
I let out a breath. She wasn’t blowing me off. It really had been eating at me. Probably a fuck of a lot more than it should’ve been.
Normally, if I was interested in a woman and she didn’t respond…next. Plenty of fish in the sea. Only with Emerie, not only had it made me anxious that she hadn’t texted back, the thought of browsing my phonebook for another number didn’t appeal to me at all.
“You want help with that? I break a phone every month.”
She eyed the skates on my shoulders. “I don’t want to keep you guys when you’re on the way out for some fun.”
“Beck doesn’t mind. Right, buddy?”
My son was so easygoing. He shrugged. “Nope. Can I go draw at your desk, Dad?”
“Of course. Bottom right-hand drawer.”
Beck took off running. He loved to sit at my big desk and draw. He could do it for hours.
I walked to the other side of Emerie’s desk.
“He’s adorable,” she said.
“Thank you. He’s a good kid.” I pulled out her chair. “Sit. I’ll show you how to load your new phone.”
Of course, I could have sat down and done it for her in two seconds, but I preferred to lean over her shoulder and have her trapped between the desk and my body. I intentionally spoke low and let my breath tickle her neck.
“You click this folder.” I put my hand over hers on the mouse and clicked. “Then this. And then use the drop-down up here and hit restore.”
Watching her skin prickle with goosebumps, I leaned my head closer to her ear. “You cold?”
“No. I’m good.”
I smiled to myself as I clicked through a few more screens. Then her new phone, which was already plugged into her laptop, lit up and began to restore from the cloud.
“Wow. I’ve been trying to figure that out for an hour now.”
“How’d you break it anyway?”
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh.”
“But I can still make fun of you?”
“No. You can’t do that either.”
I stood. “Then what’s the fun in hearing the story?”
Emerie laughed. “How was your trip to Atlanta, jackass?”
“Flight was delayed a few hours for weather. But it was fine. At least Alexa didn’t give me a hard time.”