Obession by Design (13 page)

Liane
gave him a long, searching look. It would be so easy right now to tell him she
loved him, and it seemed like the perfect
segue
, but
then he moved her off his lap. “Let’s not waste this great food.”

She
took her seat again. “Are you all right? Is there anything else you need to
tell me?”

“I’m
okay now. Anything else I could tell you is simply more of the same. I was
ignored most of my life. My friends were online, not in real life, until I
began meeting the other Weathermen. We all have similar backgrounds and bonded
over that, and now look at us. We’ve each made something of ourselves and just
might save the planet on top of all that.”

“Yes,
you might at that. I’m honored you’ve chosen me to be part of it.”

He
leaned over and kissed her. “You’ve earned it. Your work is amazing.”

It
seemed too easy. Was there something else he needed to tell her? She watched
him eat, his face and manner as carefree as ever, but she had the irrational
feeling that something lurked under the surface, ready to pull the rug out from
under her.

Chapter
Thirteen

Emmett
wiped small beads of sweat off his forehead, which he blamed on the food.
Telling her about his parents had been the easy part. They were finished
eating, including dessert this time, and they’d polished off an entire bottle
of wine. He had no more excuses. “Let’s sit out on the patio.” He needed fake
fresh air and a fake night sky for this conversation.

Once
they were seated, he turned to face Liane. “Have you heard of the Hochdorf
burial in Germany?”

Her
eyes widened.
“Of course.
Why?”

“Do
you remember hearing how it was ransacked and the items disappeared?”

She
nodded, her gaze turning wary. She was a mind reader herself at times, although
he doubted she was aware of it.

“One
of the daggers has supposedly turned up above ground in what used to be
Tennessee.” He recapped Dominic’s conversation, leaving out the part for now
about how he wanted to go and find it.

“How
do you know this man actually has it?” Her tone of voice left no doubt she
already suspected he’d asked.

“I
contacted him. He sent me proof it’s there with him.”

“Why
does he live above ground?”

“He’s
an ex-Storm Trooper who retired two years ago. He lives in a shelter he built himself
that
includes
an underground bunker.”

She
nodded slowly. “So you believe him.”

“Yes.
We have his name and background in our files.” Technically, each of them
employed several teams of Storm Troopers, so no one would be able to fake that
kind of a past.

She
stared at him for a long time, and Emmett was afraid he’d pushed it too far.
“You want to go and get it, don’t you?”

“For you.
I want to retrieve it for you.
It’s so damn rare, Liane. Think about it. You told me this was exactly the kind
of item you’d go above ground for.”

“I
know what I said.”

“I’ve
done this dozens of times, baby. I know what I’m doing.”

“I
know that, too.”

He
reached over and pulled her onto his lap. “Liane, it’s so damn close! I can
travel to the north side of
SouthEast
and access the
surface there. It’s the closest viaduct to George’s place. The trip above
ground won’t take more than a day, tops.”

She
said nothing, and he couldn’t interpret her expression.

“I’ll
be fine. I’ve made trips that have taken me away for months.”

“You
probably will be fine, but can you even try to imagine what it will be like for
me while you’re gone, even for such a short time?”

“Yes.
Yes, I can. You’re afraid you’ll lose me just like you lost Keith and Molly.
Just like you lost your entire family.”

She
looked at him with so much pain on her face that he nearly decided the hell
with it. He’d send a team out to get the damn thing.

“I
can’t lose you, Emmett. I love you.”

He
blinked a few times. Had he heard her correctly?

“Did
you hear what I said? I’m in love with you. I can’t lose you, too. I can’t do
it.”

He
wiped the tears that fell from her face. “You won’t, baby. You won’t. I love
you, too. Oh, Liane … I never thought this would happen for me.
Never.
But it has, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I am
fucking head over heels crazy about you.”

Her
breath came out in a loud gasp, and then she wrapped her arms around him and
held him so tightly it was actually painful. They stayed that way for long
moments, and then Emmett kissed her. He tangled his fingers in her hair, and
then strayed down to her dress. She hadn’t worn a bra, so he simply slipped his
hand inside and fondled her full breast.

She
sighed into his open mouth and moved so he could reach the other one, too. How
could he help but love this extraordinary woman? Emmett had no clue if they
could be seen this high
up,
and right now he didn’t
give a shit. He released her mouth and laid her on the wicker sofa so he could
open her dress and suck those incredible tits.

Liane
writhed and moaned under his touch. He’d never get enough of her.
Never.
He had her dress off within minutes, and then she
reached up to take his dick out of his pants. “Fuck me, Emmett. Right here
outside. Just take me. I need you. I need so badly right now.”

He
groaned loudly. What man in his right mind could say no to that? Emmett sank
his cock into her waiting wetness and pounded into her like he might never do
it again. She cried out loudly as her pussy contracted around his dick, and it
was all he could do to hold on until she finished.

He
pulled out and flipped her over. He loved fucking her from behind like this.
Her ass now bore a constant array of healing bruises, and she was so damn proud
of them. They turned him on like nothing else did, and she knew it. Liane was
the perfect woman for him. No one could take her place.
No
one.

When
he finally came, he made sure to squeeze out every last drop, and then he
pulled her into his arms and held her.
The hell with the
mess.
They could clean it up later. These precious moments with her were
all that he wanted now for the rest of his life.

If
she didn’t want him to go to the surface and retrieve the dagger, he wouldn’t
go. It wasn’t worth knowing how worried and afraid she’d be the entire time he
was gone. He’d send a team.

Fuck
it. The only adrenaline rush he needed was right here, in his arms.

****

Liane
was working in Emmett’s office around midnight on Friday. She’d woken from a
nightmare in which Emmett had been swept away in a massive flood above ground.
She hadn’t wanted to bother him, so instead she crawled out of bed and decided
to get some work done, in the hopes it would distract her enough that she could
return to sleep in a bit.

A
video call came through on his computer, and it was Dominic.
“Hi
there.
Emmett is sleeping.”

“Did
you wear him out this early? It’s not even midnight where you are.”

Liane’s
face burned with embarrassment. “We had an early night, but I woke up from a
bad dream.”

Dominic’s
dark eyes gleamed. “Then he didn’t do something right. I guess I’ll need to travel
across the country and show him how to keep a woman happy and in his bed.”

He
winked, and she laughed. “Should I wake him up for you?”

“No.
Just tell him if he wants that dagger, he needs to get a team together and go
soon. The ex-Storm Trooper who has it is getting itchy fingers and starting to
tell everyone about it. Emmett’s going to find himself out-maneuvered on this
one if he doesn’t hurry.”

The
hair on the back of her neck prickled. “Okay. I’ll let him know.”

“You
know he lives for this shit. I swear it’s in his blood.”

“I
know.” She had to hold her emotions in check because Dominic could see her.

“Don’t
you
worry.
He’s had some close calls but nothing he
wasn’t able to handle. He’s good at this. Hell, if I needed something from the
surface, there’s no one I’d trust more to retrieve it for me.”

“Even above the teams who do
this?”
She
tried to keep her voice casual and hoped it fooled him. Inside, she was ready
to scream and cry. Sweat broke out along her hairline.

“Absolutely,
and that’s nothing against Addison or his teams. But Emmett is the best. Tell
him to call me if he wants more details on what I’ve heard George saying about
the dagger.”

“Will do.
Thank you, Dominic.”

When
the call ended, Liane wrapped her arms around her body and curled her legs
underneath. She couldn’t tell him not to go. Dominic was right, and she knew
that. Emmett lived for this. She recalled the excitement on his face and in his
voice the first time he’d talked about it with her. She couldn’t ask him to not
be someone he was.

It
was the same scenario as the way he made love, and in the play he loved so
much. Those things were part of him, and she couldn’t change that. If she
tried, she’d be forcing him to be less of a man than he was, and that wasn’t
right.

She
sat straight up as a thought came to her. He’d never go for it, would he? Even
if he did, could she handle it? What if that was exactly what she needed to be
free of her past once and for all? She’d thought she was free, but when Emmett
said he was going to the surface again to find the dagger, all the same
physical symptoms she’d lived with for six years had come rushing back. Then
she’d had that horrible nightmare … so clearly she was
not
over it completely.

Her
Uncle Mack had fought overseas in two wars. She remembered asking him once,
before he died when she was ten, how he handled the memories. He gave her a
piece of advice she’d never forgotten, but had rarely followed. He told her,
Liane, you don’t get over something by
sitting around thinking about it. You face it head on, look it square in the
face, and deal with it.

That’s
what she needed to do. She had to go with Emmett above ground and face whatever
came their way. It was the only way to truly put this behind her once and for
all. Then she could completely embrace who he was. Liane wanted to do that
because she loved Emmett with her entire heart and soul, and that meant loving
all of him, including the man who needed those kinds of thrills.

He
hadn’t asked her to change anything about herself for him, so she wasn’t about
to ask him to change for her. She loved him just the way he was.

She
walked into his bedroom and crawled next to him, smiling down at his sleeping
form. He was so damn beautiful, but especially like this. There was a
vulnerability to him when he was asleep that didn’t show once his eyes were
open and that brilliant mind raced at breakneck speed.

Liane
stroked his arm with one fingertip until he opened his eyes. He grinned up at
her, making her wish this wasn’t so urgent. She could think of about a million
things she’d rather do with him right now than have this conversation.

“Dominic
called.”

His
grin faded.
“Oh yeah?
What did he want? Did he hit on
you?”

“Yes.
A lot.
But that’s not why he called. He was looking
for you.” She told him what Dominic said, and watched the trepidation creep
into his eyes. “Don’t worry. You’re going.”

“I
am?”

“Yes.
And I’m going with you.”

He
sat up and regarded her like he suspected she might have been drinking for a
couple of hours. “Is that so?”

“Yes,
it is.” Liane told him what she’d concluded. This was the only way for her to
face her fears once and for all. “I’m not going to ask you give up who you are
and what you love to do.”

“That’s
a very noble and well-thought out plan, but there is no fucking way I’m taking
you above ground with us.”

“Why not?
Don’t you think I can handle
it?”

“You’re
not trained in survival skills.”

She
took several deep breaths. She knew what he meant, but one didn’t need formal
training to learn how to survive. “Forgive me for stating the obvious, but what
do you call losing your entire family and having to barter your body for sex to
get help with their burials, and a mountain of legal bullshit?” She kept her
voice quiet and never broke eye contact. “If that’s not survival training, I don’t
know what the hell is.”

Emmett
opened his mouth, and she knew what he was going to say. That it wasn’t the
same thing. But then she watched understanding dawn in his beautiful eyes, and
resisted the urge to pump her fist in the air. He nodded slowly. “You’re right.
I can’t argue with that. You are absolutely correct. But, Liane … seriously …
have you thought about this?”

“Yes,
I have. I’m going with you. We won’t be alone, right?”

“No,
we won’t. We’ll have a team with us that
does
this all
the time, and the man who has the dagger is a former Storm Trooper.”

“Then
I’ll have plenty of people around who can help me if I need it. It’s only one
day. You said so.”

“One
day can turn into a week if storms come up.”

“Then
I’ll just have to deal with that, won’t I?”

He
shook his head, but it wasn’t a gesture of dismissal. “You’re insane.
Beautiful and sexy, but totally nuts.”

“That’s
what your employees say about you.”

His
soft chuckle warmed her heart.
“Yeah.
I’ll bet they
do. Okay then, but you have to do one thing before we go.”

“Name
it.”

“I
have articles I need you to read. It won’t take you long, but they contain
vital information you need to commit to memory.”