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  A shiver racks my body. I know he feels it with his hands still on me. I can feel his hot breath against my lower belly as he begins to peel away the layers of fabric still covering my skin, peppering my skin with kisses and bites as he moves along. Once I’m standing before him, completely naked, he kisses my right hipbone before giving the same treatment to the left. I close my eyes in ecstasy, and I’m left unprepared for the feel of his hot tongue between my legs—so unprepared that my knees buckle.

  Rhett snakes his arm around my waist and stands so quickly I don’t register what’s happening. He backs me to the bed and reaches around me for something. He brings the blindfold between us and ties it on. I am immediately in the dark, my sense of touch and smell heightened. I can feel the heat radiating from his body. He lays me back on the bed and grabs my right hand. I can feel him tying the silk fabric snugly around my wrist before he pulls my arm up and secures it to something. He does the same thing to my left wrist and then he’s gone. I can hear him rustling with something, and then I hear the soft thud of his clothes hitting the floor. No sooner do I register the sound and he’s back, kissing his way up my body, spreading my legs wider to accommodate his large frame.

  My body is shaking full out. I need him. I am aching for him. He has to know it, yet he completely bypasses where I need him the most. Continuing his sweet torment up my stomach to my breasts, he grabs my left nipple with his callused hand. The friction makes me gasp. My right nipple is instantly covered by his mouth, sucking and biting. I try to close my thighs, rub them together, something to ease the ache between my legs, but his knees are between my thighs, keeping me spread wide. My wrists are pulling against the ties, but I don’t feel anything except the growing need for release.

  “Rhett, please!” I beg him.

  He releases my nipple with a pop and slides down my body. Finally!

  His mouth is hot and his tongue is wild as he licks me. I can feel myself reaching the top. It’s like my release is just out of reach. He groans, and I feel it all the way through my body. I am right…fucking…there…when he stops.

  “NO!” I cry out. I don’t know what else to do. I can feel my cheeks wet with my tears. Rhett shifts and grabs my ankles. With quick work, he has me flipped onto my stomach. My arms are crossed and the strength of the silk ties is tested. His hands are on my hips in an instant and he pulls me to my knees.

  Without warning, he slams into me.

  “FUCK!” he growls. He wastes no time pulling back and slamming into my body again. His hands grip my hips so tightly I can feel the pulse in his fingers. His pace is fierce, almost punishing. His right hand releases my hip. My mind is in such a haze of lust that it doesn’t register until I feel the sting of his palm against my ass. Nothing could stop the moan that rips from my body.

  He alternates between rubbing the sting from the right cheek and then the left. My body is completely lost to the pleasure that he’s bringing me. Every touch of his body against mine is amplified. I can hear the sounds of our flesh slapping together at a rapid pace and the grunts and growls that Rhett is making.

  Rhett slides his hand up my back and leans over me. Grabbing a handful of my hair, he tugs and turns my face to the side. His mouth is on mine. I can taste myself on his tongue. His grip tightens in my hair. When he bites my lower lip, I come apart. Throwing my head back, a scream tears from my throat.

  “Fuck yes,” Rhett growls before I feel him push into me again. He goes completely still, and I can feel his body tensing as he comes. My body is dead weight, and I drop my head onto the bed. Rhett slides out of me and shifts, grabbing my wrists to untie me. When my hands are free, he takes the blindfold off and throws it haphazardly.

  Pushing my hair back from my face, he looks at me. “Jesus Christ, M.”

  That’s all he says before he lies back, pulling me to him. My head rests on his chest and my legs tangle with his. He’s casually stroking my back as I lay across him, completely sated. My mind is mush. As much as I want to tell him how incredible that experience was, I can’t get the words to form on my tongue before I drift off to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rhett

  “Ahhhhh!” I scream, waking out of a deep sleep, pain pulsating through my back. I must have overdone it last night with M, but when the doc put me on light duty, I had assumed that didn’t include sex. I assumed wrong.

  “Fuuuuck me, Emma Grace, wake up,” I shout into the dark room, not able to turn my body to face her, all the while praying to God she hears me, because she sleeps like she’s in a damn coma. “Ahhhhhh,” I scream again as I feel another sharp pain in my back.

  “Rhett, oh my God. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” M shouts as she frantically reaches over to turn on the bedside lamp. “Where does it hurt, Rhett? Can you move? Oh my God, are you paralyzed?”

  “No, no, M. I’m not paralyzed, but I think last night was too much too soon for my damn back. I’m okay, just in a lot of pain,” I say, reaching up to rub her cheek.

  “This is all my fault,” she cries. “I should’ve never let you get so worked up. I should have been on top or something. Rhett—shit, my vagina broke you.”

  If I weren’t in so much pain, I would laugh. My poor girl is crying because she blames herself for my pain.

  “Hey, none of that. No crying. This wasn’t your fault, but I would appreciate it if you would call Micah and see if he’ll come over and get me to the truck. I need to get to the hospital, and there’s no way you’re going to be able to hold my weight and help me.”

  She nods her head and picks up her cell phone to call for help. After explaining everything to Micah and hanging up, she hops out of the bed and starts to get dressed. After a flash, she’s done. She’s never dressed that quickly. I know exactly how to get some pep in her step from now on, because Emma is not known for being on time…ever.

  “Rhett, just stop moving around. You’re making the pain worse. Stop being so damn stubborn,” M huffs in frustration.

  “I’m not trying to move, M. Shit. I can’t just lay here like a corpse. If you haven’t noticed, I’m very much alive.”

  “I’ve noticed that you’re very much an asshole when you’re in pain. So stop being a jackass to me,” M snarls—yes, snarls—at me.

  “You’re kind of cute when you’re pissed off at my stubborn ways.”

  “I’m always cute, you big jerk.”

  “That you are, M. That you are.”

  Micah bursts through my door, bringing me out of my thoughts and making Emma yelp in surprise.

  “Sorry, Emma. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just not used to knocking when I come in here. I’ll be more mindful next time.”

  “S’okay,” she says, holding her chest, probably trying to calm herself down.

  Micah nods his head and begins to survey the situation: clothes thrown everywhere and all the things we used laying in random places. Realization sets in behind his eyes as he registers what was going on earlier. Then his eyes settle on me.

  “Rhett, please, for the love of God, tell me that you’ve got on boxers under that blanket.”

  Then I remember that I don’t. This is about to get awkward. I shake my head and Micah closes his eyes and curses.

  “The shit that I do in the name of friendship. If either of you tell a soul about me helping you dress him, then I will unleash hell like you’ve never seen before,” Micah says, looking back and forth between Emma and me. “And dude, if your dick touches me, then you’re gonna have worse problems than back pain. Keep that fucker in check. I’ve lived my entire life only touching my own dick, and I plan to keep it that way. Are we clear?”

  “Ahhh,” I yell out again, and just like that, my best friend forgets all about my dick and focuses on helping me get to the hospital.

  Several hours and a morphine shot later, the pain is bearable. Turns out all it took was a wrong twist and I pushed in on the wrong nerve at the wrong time. I’m now sporting an awesome new back brace, and I’m
being put on leave for a month. I’m not real sure what I’m supposed to do for a whole month, but Doc assures me that if I take it easy like I’m supposed to, then I can go back on full duty. He says my stubborn nature is preventing me from healing the way I should.

  M still blames herself, even after the doc told her she wasn’t to blame, so I doubt I get any sex for the entire month. It almost makes me want to scream, but I know she’s not going to do anything that she thinks is hurting me, even if it’s something I need—for instance, her warm pussy. It has become something that I can’t live without. Right now she’s calling the shots, so I just have to suck it up and do what she says, even if I don’t want to.

  “It’s been a pleasure, really, but let’s blow this joint so I can get you two lovebirds home. I got way better shit that I need to be doing, like watching porn.”

  “Real nice, dude. We really wanted that visual.” I smirk.

  “Oh, like the visual I got after I saw your room looking like a kinky sex book? What’s the title again? Eighty shades of Rhett?” he says, returning my smirk.

  Just then, M bursts out laughing. A full-on belly laugh. It’s contagious, obviously, because Micah starts laughing just the same.

  “You’re such an idiot,” I say, trying not to laugh. “You win though. I’ll drop it.”

  “That’s what I thought, fucker. I gotta be honest though; I didn’t think you had it in you. I’m a proud man, Rhett. I did good by you,” Micah says as we head out to his truck.

  “Just get us home.”

  “Don’t have to ask me twice, brother.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Emma Grace

  “Okay, okay, okay. Seriously.” Cam is sitting at the bar, trying to reign in her laughter. “Tell me again how you broke him with your vagina.”

  She immediately starts cackling again. I flip around to face her, the knife I was using still in my hand.

  “Watch it, bitch-a-saurus, or I’m going to go all Psycho on you.” I shake my knife and wag my eyebrows before I turn back to the potatoes I was chopping. “I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. I swear.”

  “But you did just make that up. Bitch-a-saurus? Really?” I look at her and roll my eyes, and she keeps talking like she never asked a question. “Personally, I think the entire situation is hilarious. I mean, not that he was hurt, but in general, it’s laughable. I’m sure Micah got a kick out of the whole scene.”

  “Oh, he did. Especially when he had to help Rhett get dressed—sans underwear.” I can’t help the bubble of laughter that escapes, and apparently neither can Cam.

  “So, where is the dynamic duo?”

  “Rhett’s still sleeping off the pain medicine the hospital gave him, and Micah is at his house, moving the rest of his things in. What’s on deck for tonight?”

  “Meh. I don’t have any real plans. Oh! You know what we haven’t done in forever?” Cam’s level of excitement can only mean one thing….

  “GAME NIGHT!” we both shout in unison.

  It may not be the most popular thing for twenty-six-year-olds to do on a Saturday night, but Cam and I used to have the best time having game night with our friends back in Chicago.

  “Text everybody and let them know it’s BYOB and game!”

  “Already on it, pumpkin tits! Dibs on Apples to Apples!” she exclaims before I can claim my favorite game.

  “Fine. I’ve got Mad Gab.”

  “Deal.”

  We both go back to our respective duties, Cam texting about game night and me cutting up vegetables for our beef stew. My iPod is hooked up to our kitchen speaker and we’re alternately singing along to Nelly and Kelly Rowland’s duet. I reach over to crank it up while Cam sings to me about how much she loves me.

  I might not remember a thing I did yesterday, but I’ll be damned if I can’t sing every word to a song that came on the radio between 1990 and 2010.

  We dance and sing along at the top of our lungs. Cam makes her way to the fridge to get some Coke. She holds the door open with her hip and leans over into my space, using her glass as a microphone, dramatically laying out the last lyrics. And that’s when it happens.

  The thunderous clapping and booming “ENCORE” shocks Cam and me right out of our Grammy-performing stupor.

  “Ahhhhhhh!” Cam screeches and throws her glass. I hear it shatter against the counter about the same time I register the knife that was in my hand is landing straight up in the floor.

  “Holy shit!” I yell, realizing a moment too late that the intruders are none other than Meems and Pops.

  “Surprise.” Meems timidly peeks from behind Pops, who is standing slack-jawed.

  Cam and I are still trying to recover from our mild heart attack. My hand is holding my chest like I’m waiting for my heart to try and escape.

  “What the hell, Emma Grace? We try and surprise you and you start throwing knives!” Pops walks over and pulls the knife from where it has stabbed our linoleum floor. “Nice to see you too.”

  “Sorry! Oh my God. You guys just scared the living daylights out of us.” I wrap my arms around my adoptive father and squeeze him tight.

  “Couldn’t tell.” He snickers, hugging me back.

  “Hey, Pop!” Cam says, grabbing him up as soon as he releases me.

  “I didn’t think you guys were coming until next week,” I say as I make my way to Meems and kiss her cheek.

  “Well, we were able to get an earlier flight, and Pops wanted to surprise you. I made him get a hotel in town because we didn’t want to impose, but I figured any extra time I could get with you would be a good time.” Her smile is as sweet as ever, and it hits me how much I’ve really missed having them close.

  “No lies, Meems. We all know you just wanted to catch a glimpse of Emma’s new man as fast as possible,” Cam laughs as she greets Meems with a kiss.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Meems shrugs.

  “Well, you’re in luck. We just rallied everyone for a game night, so they’ll be here in a few hours. Do y’all want to settle in here or at the hotel? Either way is fine. I can camp out on the couch for a few weeks.” I make my way back to the kitchen to help Cam clean up the shattered glass.

  “Don’t you dare! We will be fine at the hotel. You girls have a great place! It’s so open—much better than the apartment in Chicago,” Meems says, looking around.

  “We love it,” Cam agrees.

  “I’ll show you both around,” I say, hugging them both again. “I’m so happy y’all are here.”

  I take some time showing them around our place. We make our way back to the living room and sit to catch up on things for a few minutes before they leave to check into their hotel with plans to be back in a few hours. As soon as the door clicks behind them, I shoot Cam a look.

  “What?” she questions me.

  “I’m just nervous. Rhett’s the first ‘guy’ they’ve ever met.”

  “Well, it’s not like you have any skeletons in your closet that he doesn’t already know about. And he’s going to be the one getting the Spanish Inquisition from Pops. Rhett’s the one that needs to be worried. Not you.”

  “Hell’s bells. You’re right. I should probably give him a heads up.” I snatch my cell phone up and make my way to my room.

  “‘Lo?” he answers on the third ring, sounding like he just woke up.

  “Hey, lazy bones. How are you feeling?”

  “Better now. What’s up, babe?”

  “Okay, so…remember how I told you about Meems and Pops coming down?”

  “Mmhmm.” He’s still groggy and only half paying attention to what I’m saying.

  “Well, I got a surprise this afternoon. They’re here.”

  “That’s great, M.”

  “No, babe. I don’t think you understand. When you show up at my house tonight, Meems and Pops will be here.”

  “Oh…wait. They’re already in town?” Ah. Now he gets it.

  “Yep.”

  “Okay. Alright. Well, good. I
mean, that’s great.” I can hear him straining as he tries to get out of bed.

  “You sure you’re feeling up to this, McCoy? You were in the hospital twelve hours ago. Maybe we should just cancel tonight and get together later in the week.”

  “First things first, Emma Grace. I’m not going to miss seeing you tonight. It sucked enough not waking up to you in my bed. Second, it’s going to be fine. I’m not worried. You shouldn’t be either. I promise to be on my best behavior.”

  “Ha! I’ve yet to see you on your best behavior.”

  “I didn’t see you complaining last night.”

  “And look where that got us, Casanova. Straight to the ER.”

  I hear Rhett’s deep laugh through the phone, and it settles my nerves just a fraction. I don’t know why I’m so stressed about them meeting. It’s not like I don’t think they’ll get along, but I can already feel my palms starting to sweat.

  “Everything is going to be okay, M&M.”

  “I know. You’re right. It just makes everything so…real.”

  “Newsflash, babe: we are real. Everything I feel about you is real. It’s just one more step in the next direction.”

  “What direction?”

  “Forever, M. I’ll see you in a few hours.” He hangs up the phone before I have a chance to respond. I take a deep breath and try to release my pent-up anxiety. Now, to get ready for tonight.

  I’m standing in the kitchen. Stalling. Everyone is together out on the back patio and I can hear the laughter and talking from them, but I can’t force myself to get it together and get out there.

  I don’t know what my problem is.

  The chatter gets louder as someone opens the patio door and comes inside. A small part of me is praying it isn’t Rhett. I don’t need him to see me like this.

  “Chica, what is up?” Cam questions me, rounding the corner.

  “I have no earthly idea, but I just can’t shake this…this…I don’t know, Cam. I’m just second-guessing everything. My mind is running a mile a minute and I feel like I’m about to have a freaking panic attack. Which, as you know, at this moment I absolutely do not need.”