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AJAY PULLED THE JEEP into Copper Creek's parking lot, shut the engine down. "Maybe this isn't a good time to announce our engagement."
"What now?"
"We should talk to Nate privately. I don't want a big scene at your birthday party."
Emms stepped from the Jeep. She walked toward the restaurant. Her back to him, she waved him on. "Come on, ya big baby."
Big baby?
Her habit of emasculating him was getting a tad fucking irritating.
Fuck it.
He hopped over the door, sprinted. He flipped her over his shoulder and swatted her on the ass. Bouncing her, he gave her four more hard smacks. "Only fifteen to go."
"It's going to be worse if Nate sees you spanking me. And um....ow!"
"Bring it. This big baby can handle it."
"Okay. You made your point. Put me down."
He did not put her down.
Marched into Copper Creek.
Nate strode toward them. "Unhand my sister, you leech."
Ajay lowered Emms to her feet and stood behind her, his hands gripping her shoulders. "Hi Nate."
"What the hell are you grinning about?" Nate glanced to Emily. "What's going on?"
Jags approached. "Congratulations, buddy." He offered Ajay his hand.
Ajay accepted with a curt nod. "I thought you lost your gift."
"Some things are so transparent, I don't need my senses to see it." Jags scooped Emily under her arms and twirled her. He set her on her feet and kissed her forehead. "Welcome to the family Short Stuff."
Cam approached. "What's going on?"
"I'd like to know that too," Nate said.
Emms glanced to Ajay. "Rip off the bandage?" When he nodded, she jumped in place, clapping her hands. "We're getting married!"
Tilly sprinted toward Nate, placing herself between Ajay and her husband.
Nate reached around his wife, his hand aiming for Ajay's neck. "You got my sister pregnant!"
Ajay rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone think that?"
Cam widened his eyes and whispered, "Did you?"
"I'm a virgin!" Emily bellowed and stamped her foot.
Two elderly women gawked at Emily from a distant booth. Three teenage boys in a nearby booth began laughing.
She gasped and buried her head in Ajay's chest. "Did I just say that out loud?"
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. "You're so damn cute."
Using his cotton shirt, she wiped at her tears. "Why isn't anybody happy for me?" She sniffled. "For us?"
Ajay looked to Nate, giving him a tight smile, communicating his appeal for a truce, if for no other reason then for Emms.
More silence lingered before Nate offered his hand. "Hurt her and I'll kill you. I don't mean that facetiously. I will kill you dead."
Ajay shook Nate's hand.
Cam tapped Emms on the shoulder. "I'm happy for you both." He glanced to his brother. "Hurt her and I get second dibs."
Ajay gave him a side long look. "No lectures. No advice. No criticisms. Just . . . you're happy for us?"
Cam nodded.
"I love her."
"I believe you."
Star pushed her way through and hugged Emms. "I'm happy for you too."
Maggie shoved her way into the circle. "I get third dibs."
Jags wrapped his arms around Star and Cam. The group formed a football-type huddle. "Let's eat. I'm starving. But first . . ." He burst into a solo version of the Happy Birthday song. The crowd soon joined in. When they finished, Ajay scooped Emms into his arms and scooted them away from the crowd. He stood her on a booth cushion. "Kiss me sweet girl."
And she did.
––––––––
SITTING ON A STOOL, away from the crowd, Ajay could barely see Emms as she sat in a booth with gifts piled on the table in front of her.
Clothing.
Perfume.
Gift Cards.
She opened her last gift, frowned and looked at Ajay. A questioning look.
She was wondering if he had gotten her a gift, no doubt.
He pushed through the crowd of friends and family and grabbed her hand. Pulling her from the booth, he dropped to one knee and placed a small box in her hand. The box was wrapped in gold paper and topped with a small silver bow. "The guy at the store wrapped it for me."
Silently, she tore the wrapper and flipped open the gray velvet-covered box to reveal a diamond ring, marquise style, a center stone surrounded by a row of baguette side stones framed by a second row of graduated round stones.
Emily covered her gaped mouth.
"If you don't like it, the guy said we could take it back and you can pick—."
She threw herself into his arms. Tears streamed down her face.
"Emms. Is that a yes?"
She nodded, wiped her runny nose on her forearm.
"Say it."
A small laugh. "Yes. Yes. Yes! I'll marry you."
Maggie snatched the box. "Hold the phone." She plucked the ring from the box and held it up to the light. "This has to be two karats, at least."
Tilly snatched it from her and held it up. "Three easy."
"Four," Ajay said.
"You didn't have to," Emms said, "I don't need all this."
"You don't like it?"
Maggie snatched the ring back from Tilly. "Damn. I'll take it if she doesn't want it."
Tilly snatched it back. "I'm family and she likes me better than you."
When Emily gawked at them, they laughed. Maggie leaned over Emily's right shoulder. Tilly leaned over her left.
Emily took the ring and placed it on her finger. "I love it."
Ajay slid her across his lap. Uncaring of the people around them, he kissed her, a deep and heated kiss.
"It figures," Nate said, "Making the rest of us look bad. Damn. I hate that guy."
Cam smacked Ajay in the side of the head. "Get a room."
Groaning, Ajay slid Emily off his lap. He stood and walked toward the exit. He stopped feet from the door, sighed.
She followed him. "Why don't you kiss me like that anymore?"
"Don't you get it?"
Emms shook her head.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to stop."
She tucked herself under his arm and looked up at him. "Maybe I don't want you to."
"Stop."
"I want to be with you."
He framed her face with his hands. "I want to give you your fairy tale. Please don't make it any more difficult than it already is."
"We'll make it a short engagement."
He tapped his forehead against hers. "Really short."
She laughed. "I'll see what I can do."
When Emily left to go to the restroom Maggie slid in the booth across from Ajay.
He glared at her. "What?"
"I'm going to help you out."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You really do love her."
"Your point?"
Emily emerged from the bathroom.
Maggie slid from the booth, took Emily's hand and yanked her toward the double doors. "We need to talk."
"Wait for me." Tilly jogged after her best friend and sister-in-law. "This is going to be good." She looked over her shoulder at Star. "Come on. I have a feeling you won't want to miss this either."
Maggie opened the door to the office and the four women entered.
Carina sat at the desk counting money. She tucked the dollars into an envelope and slipped it into the slot in the safe. She headed toward the door.
Star touched her forearm. "Tye and me were never meant to be. I realize that now." She gestured to an empty seat. "Take a load off."
Smiling, Carina nodded.
Maggie guided Emily into a chair.
Emily's eyes narrowed. "You're not going to give me another lecture about Ajay are you?"
"Kind of. But it's not what you think." Maggie sat in the swivel chair and rolled toward her. "Ajay seem kind of tense lately?"
Emily grunted. "When is he not tense?"
"Good point. But I think if you thought about it you'd realize he's crested to a whole new level of tense."
"I guess."
"Guys are built different. There are certain needs that have to be met and when it comes to Ajay his needs are even more desperate than most others."
Tilly rubbed her hands together. "I knew this was going to be good."
Star rolled her eyes.
Emily frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Ajay needs something from you and I'm going to teach you how to give it to him." Maggie glanced to Star. "You could stand to listen to this too."
––––––––
AJAY MARCHED THROUGH the double doors and behind the line where Cam was checking ticket times. "What is your wife telling Emms?"
"She's corrupting her, if I had to take a guess."
"She better not be fucking things up for us."
Cam glanced at his brother. "Why would you think that?"
"It's no secret she hates me. Never wanted us together."
Cam pushed past Ajay and through the double doors toward the dining room.
Ajay followed.
"If Maggie is able to cause you and Emily grief than you guys weren't meant to be."
"You're starting to sound like Jags. Cut the shit."
––––––––
TILLY GASPED. "THAT really works."
Maggie nodded, a wicked smile on her face. "Oh yeah." She looked to Emily. "But don't try that your first time. Stick with the basics."
Star shrugged. "I'll give it a try."
"That a girl," Maggie said.
Until now, Carina had kept her silence, maintaining her usual shy self. "I have one better." When the other women looked at her, she said, "But you'll need an ice chip."
Again, Tilly rubbed her hands together. "Ooh. This I gotta hear."
––––––––
AJAY BANGED ON THE office door three hard whacks. "Emms!"
Emily popped from the swivel chair. "I better go. He sounds mad."
The door was barely creaked open when Ajay shoved through. Fury shot from his eyes, aimed directly at Maggie. He snatched Emily's wrist and dragged her from the office. "Whatever she said, it's not true."
Maggie peaked her head out the door. "You're welcome."
Ajay flipped her off and continued toward the dining room with Emily in tow. He grabbed the gifts that had been piled into a restaurant-size trash bag.
They strode toward the exit. She clumsily waved at her friends and family as Ajay yanked open the door and they started across the parking lot.
Silently, he packed all her gifts into the back of his Jeep. She tried to help but he just shooed her away.
Emily was beginning to see Maggie's point. Ajay was tense.
More intense than usual.
As he pulled on the highway, she asked, "How come I've never seen your house. I mean you bought it two months ago and you've never once invited me over. Shouldn't I see where I'm going to be living?"
He glanced at her briefly and looked back to the road. "I don't want to be alone with you. Try to understand."
"But you sleep with me every night. We're alone then."
"It's not the same thing. I'm not going to take your virginity with your father one door down. I'm a prick but even I have lines I won't cross."
She slid her hand along his jean-clad thigh.
"Emms. What are you doing?"
Leaning over the stick shift, she whispered, "I want to kiss it."
The tires on the Jeep smoked as he skidded to a stop on the side of the highway. He slammed the Jeep into park. "Fuck." He glared at her. "You're playing with fire. A fire neither of us may be able to extinguish once it is lit."
"I promise I won't let the fire get out of control."
The tires squealed again as he jumped on the gas and sped down the highway. Neither spoke for the seventeen minute ride to the country. The Jeep rolled down a long, curvy driveway. Maybe a quarter of a mile long, Emily guessed.
A quaint timber-frame home came into view. Three pastures surrounded the property, each fenced off with rotted posts and thin wire. About thirty feet from the house was a rundown three-sided barn.
Again, Ajay slammed the Jeep into park. Jumping over the door, he raced to the passenger side and scooped her from the vehicle. Following a pea gravel pathway, he carried her to the front door and over the threshold.
Emily squirmed out of his arms. He set her on her feet.
Ahead was a wooden staircase leading to the second floor. To the left was the living room. Dark paneling on the walls. Worn wood floors led to a masonry fireplace. A black leather sectional in one corner. A huge flat screen in the other.
"I love it."
"Something to drink?" Ajay led her down a narrow corridor and to the kitchen. He opened the fridge. The bottom two shelves were lined with bottled beer. Had to be at least two cases. On one door shelf was a half empty bottle of ketchup, a jar of dill pickles and a jar of jalapenos.
"I was planning on going grocery shopping tomorrow."
Typical bachelor, she thought.
A cigarette-yellowed shade dangled off a crooked hinge.
Good grief the place needed a woman's touch. But it had great potential.
Ajay slid a bottle of beer from the bottom shelf. His hungry gaze remain fixed on her as he guzzled the bottle half empty.
Emily ran her hand along the round, oak dining table. She strode down the corridor and to the bottom of the staircase.
Slowly, she ascended the stairs.
Behind her, the stairs creaked, no doubt with the steps of Ajay as he followed her.
She reached the top and strode to her soon-to-be bedroom and leaned against the door frame.
A black and cocoa comforter covered a queen-sized bed. A matching taffeta panel was hung over the window. The coffee colored walls finished the look, giving the room a warm and homey feel, contradictory to the intensity of the man who slept amongst these sedentary colors. "For a bachelor, you did pretty good."
Ajay walked past her, into his bedroom. He strode to the window and looked across his overgrown back yard and into the thick forest. "Are you sure?"
She took his hand, led him to the foot of the bed and pushed him onto his back. Crawling over him, she glanced up to find herself drowning in his heated gaze. She unclasped the button on his jeans and pulled down the zipper. When she reached for his waist band, he dug his heels into the bed lifting his body off the comforter and helped her shimmy his jeans and boxers down his legs.
Emily looked at his . . . thing.
Very erect and . . . thick and . . . long.
"Not what you expected" he asked.
It was exactly what she expected, how her romance novels described a man's . . . thing.
––––––––
AJAY LOOKED DOWN HIS body at the woman knelt between his legs. Emms stared at his cock as if gazing at a rare jewel. He supposed he should be flattered, but he wasn't. How could she be impressed when this was probably the first dick she'd laid eyes on? Most women were impressed with his eight inches, he could easily admit.
But Emms didn't look impressed. She looked . . . perplexed and maybe a little curious.
She shrugged. "Bottoms up."
No build up.
No warning.
No foreplay.
She swallowed his cock, deep-throating all of him.
Holy fuck!
––––––––
CAN'T BREATHE!
Gag!
She jolted to a sitting position, sucking in a well-needed breath.
Ajay propped himself on his forearms. "Good God, woman. You okay?"
She cleared her throat and gave him a reassuring smile. "Delay of game."
Now what was it Maggie had said? Oh yeah.
Deep-throating is overrated. Most of the sensitivity is in the head and the underside. Don't forget to use the tongue. All else fails, a little ball play goes a long way.
And the number one thing to remember. Can't swallow and breathe at the same time.
"Emms?"
She laughed, despite herself. Keeping her eyes on his face, she wrapped her fingers around the base and took the head of his . . . thing into her mouth. The skin around his shaft was softer than she'd imagined.
She turned her focus from his face and concentrated on his thing. Each time she bobbed, she forced herself a little further, a little deeper.
He groaned.
Low and deep.
Scrunching his fingers in her hair, he rocked his hips and she let him glide himself between her lips.
When she felt his thing graze the back of her throat, Emily concentrated on swallowing, not breathing. She took all of him in. But her throat constricted anyway. A slurpy gag lurched from her convulsing throat.
Her focus drifted to his face, expecting to see an expression of disgust at her very unladylike gurgle.
His chest moved up and down, his breaths came in pants. With parted lips, his tongue slid along his bottom lip. Eyes heavy with . . . dare she think it . . . lust.
Smiling around his . . . thing, she lifted her head, moving her focus to the tip. With tiny flicks, she tickled and circled and moaned. A salty substance coated her tongue.
His climax quickly approached, his body rigid. With his fingers knotted through her hair, back arched, he gritted, "Emms!"
She slowed her pace as his cock twitched with sensitivity.
When he slumped into the mattress, she crawled up his body and under his arm. Her head rising and lowering with his deep breaths, she asked, "I did good?"
Ajay swiped his palms along his watery eyes. "Not bad for a first time. You'll get there."
She punched him in the chest. "Jerk."
He laughed and kissed the top of her head. "You did real good, Emms." Grabbing a chunk of her hair, he yanked her head back to look at her, his brows lowered. "Did you swallow?"
"I thought I was supposed to."
"Damn, girl." He kissed the top of her head again. "I do love you."
Emily curled into his chest and closed her eyes. "Maggie wanted me to tell you she likes tulips."
"What the hell is a tulip?"
"It's a flower, ya big dummy."
"And tulips she shall get."