Page 35

“Sophie, remember, no yelling.” Ember said, reminding her. “It’s time to settle down.”

“Please, Daddy!” Sophie cried, holding her hands together under her chin.

I glanced at Ember who was watching me and I sighed as I lifted Sophie up and took the corner of the couch, placing Sophie down between Ember and I. She went right to work spreading her blanket over the three of us while Ember reached for the remote on the table. As she leaned forward, her shirt rode up just enough to show a strip of skin above her pajama pants.

I averted my eyes. I shouldn’t have looked back because she caught me staring and the corner of her mouth twitched, her cheeks flushing.

We were halfway through the movie, and Sophie had faded off to sleep. Her head dropped against my arm, and she slowly slid down until she was lying across both our laps, her head on Ember’s thigh, her feet on mine.

The movie kept playing, but I wasn’t watching. I slid my hand across the back of the couch and gently caressed the side of Ember’s neck. She closed her eyes and went still, and then looked over at me as she reached behind her, taking hold of my hand.

When the movie ended, I carefully carried Sophie upstairs to bed and tucked her in. I stood in the doorway for a moment. I saw the small Halloween stickers on her headboard, the sparkly green monster socks folded on her dresser, and a new drawing pinned to her corkboard of three stick figures. A tall one, a small one, and a medium one.

She’d drawn a family.

I closed her door quietly and went to find Ember.

I was shocked to find her in my study with her feet up on my desk, her laptop open on her lap, biting the end of her pen.

“Making yourself comfortable, I see?” I said from the doorway.

She startled. “Sorry…your chair is better than the couch for my back. I really needed to get this scene down before I lost it…I hope…”

“Is it another one like page 147?”

Her cheeks went pink, then red, and the blush spread down her neck.

“It was an interesting scene,” I said, closing the door behind me and turning the lock. “Very detailed.”

“It’s fiction.”

“That male main character of yours, the one with gray eyes and silver temples…”

“A lot of men have gray eyes.”

“He’s six-two, runs a tech company, and he is working on an acquisition.”

Ember didn’t look at me; instead, she slowly closed her laptop. “It’s called creative license.”

I crossed the room, moving toward her. With each step I took, I could see her chest start to rise and fall faster, and then she looked up at me. I stopped in front of the chair and leaned down, my hands on the armrests, boxing her in.

“I loved the part you wrote. I felt his breath against my neck, his lips hovering over the skin below my ear, close enough I was sure I could feel his heat beating through his lips as every nerve in my body screamed.”

“Did I?”

“You did. I took notes,” I said, pointing to my temple.

“Notes?” she repeated, her voice cracking.

“My heart doesn’t beat through my lips, Ember. That’s anatomically impossible.”

“You’re giving me editorial feedback right now?”

“I told you I’d help you fact-check.”

I pressed my lips against hers, and she moaned against my mouth, sending a wave straight through me.

I pulled back to look at her. Her eyes were glassy, her lips parted.