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EMMA:Took the kids out for ice cream in the new car. As you can see, they’re over the moon.
EMMA:Josh showed us his basketball enrollment form. The girls think he has a fairy godmother and now, I’m imagining you with a wand and a sparkly halo. :laughing face:
EMMA:All I can say is—thank you! I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I’m crossing multiple lines with the texts, not to mention the picture, but I have to saysomething.He needs to know how much this means to us. Toallof us.
So I take a deep breath and press send.
36
RUSLAN
I unlock my phone the moment I sit down at my desk. It opens to the picture that Emma sent me last evening.
Those four smiling faces stare back at me and I’m struck by how happy they all seem. And for what?
A ten-minute drive?
A little ice cream?
Basketball?
I considered them small gestures on my part, so inconsequential as to be damn near meaningless—but those messages from Emma make me feel like I’ve transformed their lives somehow.
All I can say is—thank you! I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I don’t know what the fuck to call the way that makes me feel.
It’s only 8:20 A.M. when Emma arrives at the office. Not that I should be surprised she’s here so early; I gave her a car citing that specific reason. She slips into my office and walks right around my desk.
I can barely compute what’s happening when she sits herself down right on my lap and wraps her arms around me. Despite my shock, I’m struck by two things right off the bat.
One: this is definitely breaking a rule.
Two: it feels so damn natural. Seamless.
My fingers twitch as they curl around the small of her back. Why the hell is my chest suddenly more alive than my cock?
A little voice at the back of my head laughs at me.Because this is not sexual. It’s something completely different.
That alone should make me want to push her the hell off. But the mere thought only makes my hand clutch tighter around her.
She drapes an arm around my shoulders. “The kids and I want to thank you properly for yesterday.”
I frown. “There’s no—”
“You’re invited to dinner tonight at the apartment.”
I stop short. Dinner? At her place? The last time I was there, I had the distinct impression that she was uncomfortable with me in her space.
Which is why, even though I should be turning her down, I find myself nodding.
It’s just curiosity.I want to see into her life. I want to know more. We’ll call it “research.” And honestly, we’ve already broken so many rules already.
What’s one more?
* * *
