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Cynthia Yander wasn’t far from the two of them, definitely eavesdropping. It was the only reason, well, perhaps not the only one but the main one, that she kept the snark inside.
“Interesting,” she said. Seconds later, her expression changed from calculating to flirtatious.
Emma knew Linc was around. Not just because of Mrs. Stevenson’s change of demeanor but because of her own body’s reaction.
“Ladies,” he said as he strode up.
The second he slid an arm around her and pressed his lips to her cheek, she wanted to preen.
“Hello, Freckles.”
Unable to find words, she reached up and patted his cheek and hoped she didn’t look like she was about to pass gas, like some babies did when people thought they were smiling.
Linc guided her into the office and blocked her view of the women outside the door. He shut them out without even glancing at them.
“What’s wrong?” He crossed his arms as he held her gaze.
“Nothing.” She wasn’t going to make him suffer because of her own numerous insecurities.
“Did she say something to you?”
“Did who say something?” She backed up to the desk and edged around it to his chair, all without taking her eyes off him.
“Mrs. Stevenson.”
“Nothing I’ve not heard before.” Emma gave him a small smile. “I’m fine, Linc.”
He strode closer, not even slowing as he went around the desk until he was right in front of her. When he dragged the backs of his fingertips down her cheek, her breath slipped away.
“I miss you.” His dark gaze heated. “Did you sleep okay?”
Her belly flip-flopped. “You miss me? It’s not even been eight hours since you saw me last.”
“Keeping track of the hours we’re apart. This is good.” He moved closer, pushing one of his thighs between her legs. She sank her teeth into her lower lip and he clucked his tongue. Thumb against that same lip, he rolled it free of her bite. “None of that, it makes me want to lick it and then kiss you.”
He really shouldn’t say things like that to her. She was going to start believing him.
“You should believe me, Emma. I want to lick, bite, and taste you.”
“Kids,” she blurted out.
His eyes smoldered. “Yes, please. I would love some smaller siblings for Greer to play with.” He grinned. “Keep looking at me like that, and we’ll get started on them right away.”
A wink and a kiss, then he was gone, leaving her lightheaded and grateful the chair was there to catch her.
Her morning flew by as she worked on finishing up the plans he’d done for the rink. Her final task before lunch was a packet he wanted put together for the dinner tonight with Mr. Stevenson. As she finished up the last bit of that, the door to the office opened.
“Mama?”
She looked up with a smile that dropped away the second she saw Greer’s face. “What happened?” Panic surged as her hands grew sweaty and acid burned in her throat.
Her daughter had some butterfly stitches on her head.
Greer touched the injury and gave a half grin, which for her little girl was a fucking million-watt smile.
She rushed to Greer’s side and gripped her chin, tipping her head. “Did someone hit you?” She was going to lose her shit if someone hurt her little girl.
“Baseball.” Her daughter’s response was muffled given she currently had her face smooshed and pinched in her hand.
“Who did it?”
“I’m fine, Mama. They are already scared that if I get hurt, Linc will kick them out.” She took a deep breath. “I like playing, Mama.”
That’s all it took to soothe the angry mama bear who longed to go find the kid who dared injure her baby. Taking in the bandage job, she made sure it was to her standards and brushed a kiss over her forehead.
“Linc won’t make the other kid leave. It was an accident.” A pause. “Right?”
Greer blinked her long pale gold lashes that stood out against the color of her eyes, their flecks of fire-opal red offsetting the crystalline emerald green. “Yes, I didn’t get my glove up fast enough.”
Making sure she was smiling when she looked at her daughter again, Emma nodded. She barely saw anything of Greer’s father in her, which was odd because she didn’t see herself either. But those eyes, they were all him.
“Will it happen again?”
Greer crumpled up her expression. “I hope not. It hurt.”
“I’m about done. Want to wait while I finish up and we can grab something to eat?”
Her daughter’s response was to scamper into the desk chair and climb up. After digging into her bag, Emma passed along a book she always carried for her daughter as a backup read in case she finished the ones she had in her own pack.
“Thank you.” She took it from her mother and opened it, making sure not to crack the spine.
