“Sam’s scanner,” Nick said, and he shook his eyes to clear them of the falling snow. “I owe that man free coffee for life.”
She fell quiet, but he could feel the tender thump of her heart even through his panicking chest. When they got to the site of the accident, Emma frowned deep, but he walked her past her SUV and placed her in his truck. He knew she was safe, and about to be warmed by his heater, but Nick stopped from rushing to the driver’s side.
Blinking, Emma looked up at him, and he tripped straight into her beautiful brown eyes. Nick cupped his hand to her cheek, his skin stinging from how cold it felt, and he leaned to her for a kiss. A shock of red stopped him.
“You’re…you’re bleeding,” he gasped. A trickle of blood clung to her forehead.
“From the crash,” she explained. “Guess my airbag doesn’t work.”
“I need to get you to a hospital.” Which was a good hour’s drive away on a sunny day. “Urgent care.” He ran so fast around the front of the truck, the grill snagged on his jeans’ pocket, but he kept going. “That needs to be checked out.”
He expected resistance as he leaped in, probably because he’d have argued it was fine and gone to sleep with a concussion. But Emma nodded meekly and placed her hands in her lap. She rubbed them together, then on her legs.
Nick started up the engine but didn’t take it out of park. Instead, he cranked the heater to blast and cupped his hands over hers. As he rubbed them vigorously, she looked over at him and a tiny smile rose on her lips.
“Thank you,” she said and the dam he’d been building cracked.
Fat tears rained down his cheeks as he kept running his hands over hers. “Don’t say that. I don’t deserve it. Not after what I…”
She slipped her hand out of his. He stopped warming her up, his head falling as he struggled to stop the damn crying when a cool palm fell against his cheek. Nick stared up into a tender and knowing look.
“I should have told you,” Emma said.
“I never wanted you to…”
“It scared me.”
He laughed. “It scared me too.” His gaze drifted to her SUV and the mess of footprints. “But losing you scared me more.”
He almost said it. The words were right there. They’d been screaming in his brain, leaping to his tongue, but at that moment, he froze. Instead of facing her, he stared at her SUV. Something about it was bothering him.
“There’s not much ground tore up for you getting turned a full one-eighty.”
Emma swiped at her defrosting nose and a whiffling breath slipped free. “That’s because I was coming back.”
She was…?“I don’t want you to leave, to leave Lake Holly, to leave the cafe…to leave me. Because, I think I love you.”
Her smile radiated warmer than the heater. “I think I love you too.” She glanced down and snickered. “I know, a week.”
“Not even that,” he had to admit. He’d been debating the same, so little time and so many feelings.
Do this right. No more damn half-measures. “I know that a tiny cafe in a tourist town like Lake Holly can’t compare to a fancy restaurant in a city, but I love what you do to me. To my coffee shop. To…everything in my life. You make me excited to wake up again, and I was a fool to let you leave.”
“Nick.” She cupped his cheek and drew her finger over his chin, playing with the stupid dimple. “I want to stay here. You’re the first person to believe in me, to give me a place to create. To…to make me feel like I can do anything. Chef whites are nothing to a barista apron and a brown hat.”
“I love you,” he said. She smiled with tears in her eyes, and he held her face, guiding himself to gently touch her lips. Tenderly, sweetly, Nick kissed Emma with his whole heart, and she kissed him back.
As he pulled back, taking in her smiling face even through the tears, Nick shook off the rosy glasses. “I should get you to a doctor. Because I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“My protector,” she said, clinging to his hand.
He smiled. “Always.” As he turned to the road, a metal tube clanged against his foot. He reached under to unearth a thermos. “Oh, I brought coffee in case you might need it to warm up. Here.”
Emma screwed open the top and smelled the brew. “Did you add…?”
“Cream and sugar, exactly as you like it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
