But watching Fletch with her, Emily wouldn’t have guessed he’d gotten up at four-thirty to do PT, after being awake until two making love to her. The man was a robot. He was able to do it all. And Emily was falling in love with him.
No. She was in love with him.
The thought should’ve scared her, but strangely it didn’t. People always said that when you found your soul mate, you just knew. And Emily knew.
“Mommy! Look at me!” Annie called out as they skated past.
“You’re doing great, baby!” Emily dutifully responded, waving.
Fletch smiled lazily at her, but didn’t say anything.
“They’re really cute,” a woman next to Emily noted.
“Oh, thanks. Yeah.”
“Looks like she’s got her daddy wrapped around her little finger.”
Emily opened her mouth to explain that Fletch wasn’t her father, but closed it, nodding instead. “Yes, she does.”
“Lucky,” the other woman observed. “Have fun.” She ambled away.
She hadn’t corrected the stranger, one, because it just seemed too complicated, and two, because it felt good to have someone think that Fletch was hers. It was juvenile and stupid, but there it was.
After what seemed like another fifty laps, Annie had finally had enough. She and Fletch skated over to where Emily was waiting. Fletch helped her step over the wooden lip of the rink and smiled at Emily as Annie talked nonstop.
“Did you see me, Mommy? That was so fun! At first I couldn’t do it good but Fletch helped me keep my balance. Did you see that he could go backwards? I wish I could do that, but Fletch says that if I keep pracmacing that I’ll be doing it in no time. And then he let go but he was still right there. Did you see that? I did it by myself! It’s like when you taught me to ride my bike. I was scared, but you were there holding the bike until I could do it on my own. When can we come again?”
Emily let Annie prattle on and looked over at Fletch. The love inside her seemed to grow when he mouthed, “Thank you,” and his lips turned upward in a smile bigger than she’d ever seen on his face before.
She grinned back and mouthed, “Lucky tonight,” and pointed to herself, then to Fletch.
Emily didn’t think it was possible, but his smile got even bigger.
The cab of the truck was silent and dark as they headed back home after dinner. Fletch had drawn the line at Chuck E. Cheese’s, refusing to step foot in the notorious restaurant, finally winning Annie over by telling her that all good soldiers needed to keep their protein intake up by eating a nice large steak at least once a week.
Emily should’ve been concerned at how good Fletch was getting at manipulating Annie into doing what was best for her, but she wasn’t. It was nice to share the responsibility for raising her daughter for once. Very nice.
“Mommy said I could wear combat boots when you get married,” Annie announced when they were on I-35 headed home.
Emily almost choked. Good Lord. She opened her mouth to say something, she wasn’t sure what, when Fletch beat her to it.
“I’m okay with that.”
“Fletch,” Emily hissed. “Don’t encourage her.”
He looked over at her and said in a serious voice, “Why not?”
“Want to watch your movie?” Emily asked Annie, ignoring Fletch and the entire conversation.
“Small Soldiers!” Annie yelled, happy to be distracted by her favorite movie. She knew every word in it and could recite it anywhere, anytime.
Emily got it cued up and handed her daughter the headphones and tablet, provided by Fletch, to watch. Within ten minutes, Annie was out.
“I think she had a good time,” Emily told Fletch dryly, glancing in the backseat at her daughter, who was sleeping the sleep of the exhausted in her booster seat. The tablet still clutched in her hands, the light from the video flickering over her lightly flushed cheeks.
“I did too,” Fletch said softly. “Thank you for letting me take you both out.”
“We had fun. But you know,” Emily said hesitantly, “you shouldn’t encourage her.”
“What do you mean?”
“The wedding thing. She’s at that stage where she gets fixated on stuff. I don’t want to set her up for disappointment.”
“What if I’m not?”
“Not what?”
“Setting her up for disappointment.” Fletch’s tone was low and urgent. “I like you, Emily. A lot. I’m not dating you just so I can have sex. I have every intention of following through with this relationship. All the way.”
“Fletch—”
“I know, it’s still early. But I want you to know, I’m not messing with the two of you. Okay?”
“Okay.” There was more Emily wanted to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to mention any of it.
Fletch put his hand on Emily’s leg as they continued the rest of the way home in a comfortable silence.
When they pulled up back at the house, Annie was still sound asleep. Fletch turned to Emily. “Will you let me help you put her to bed?”
“Of course.”
“Then you’ll let me put you to bed?”
Emily smiled and leaned toward Fletch, brushing her lips against his softly. “I did say you were getting lucky tonight, didn’t I?”
“You did,” he confirmed with a smile, keeping his hands on the steering wheel.
“Then you can put me to bed afterward.”
The look of lust in his eyes made Emily squirm in her seat. Lord, she wanted this man. Her nipples got tight under her shirt and she wanted nothing more than to straddle him right there in his truck and have her way with him.
“Are we home?” Annie’s sleepy voice asked from the backseat.
“Yeah, sprite. We’re home,” Fletch affirmed, emphasizing the word “home” without breaking eye contact with Emily.
“Good. I’m hungry.”
Emily laughed at the look of surprise in Fletch’s eyes. As much as she wanted to go straight to bed, now that Annie was awake, and apparently hungry, they’d both have to wait a bit longer.
“Soon,” Emily told Fletch softly as she reached for her seatbelt.
“Soon,” Fletch agreed as he climbed out of his side of the truck.
Several hours later, Emily lay in Fletch’s arms, replete and satisfied.
“Best day ever,” she stated resolutely.
“Best day ever,” Fletch agreed, hugging Emily’s naked body to his even tighter. “But, I plan on every day from here on out being the best ever.”
“Knock yourself out, soldier,” Emily teased. “I won’t stop you.”
Fletch kissed Emily lightly on the forehead, then settled himself back down on the mattress. “You’ll never know hunger again. You and Annie are safe with me. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure Jacks never gets near you.”
His words were somewhat out of left field, but Emily went with it. She was getting used to how Fletch’s mind worked. “What he did wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes and no. We’ve talked about this,” Fletch argued. “He got to you once. He’s still out there. I won’t let him get to you again.”
“You’re not God, Fletch. You don’t know what will happen.”
“I know I’m not. But I promise, you and Annie are protected.”
“Okay,” Emily agreed. She knew in her heart that there was no way he could guarantee their safety. Heck, the shooting at Annie’s school showed her that. People were responsible for their own actions, and unless Fletch was around them twenty-four/seven, he couldn’t guarantee anything.
“Okay,” Fletch repeated. “Go to sleep, Em.”
“Good night, Fletch. Thanks for an awesome day. For me and Annie.”
“You’re welcome. We’ll do it again soon.”
“Yay.”
Fletch smiled against Emily’s hair as she fell asleep in his arms. He tightened his hold.
His. She and Annie were his.
He fell asleep, content in the knowledge that the two most important females in his life were safe under his roof.
Want to read more about Emily, Annie and Fletch? Check out Rescuing Emily, Book 2 in the Delta Force Heroes Series. Each book in the series can be read as a stand-alone.