Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Emma tipped her head to the side and he knew she was weighing her words. She did the same with her daughter before she gave a response. “But you don’t need him.”
“No, I don’t.” Appeasing the monster inside him, he took another section of her hair and played with it, feeding the need for touch he had when it came to this woman.
“Then what is making you go through this farce about having a fiancée?”
Linc held her gaze as he debated whether he should tell her his truth. She didn’t rush him, just watched him in return.
“Do you remember a young girl named Howie from when we were in school? She was in your grade, I think.”
He watched her expression as she thought about it. Eventually she nodded.
“I think so. Didn’t have a lot of friends. Much like myself.”
Note to file away and focus on later. “She went missing.”
“What?” Emma sat up straighter, brow furrowed. The move pulled most of her hair from his fingers. “She went missing? Why did no one say anything? What happened?”
Acid churned, rising up in his throat. Linc swallowed. “She was taken. And no one said anything about it, because she was just another child in a long line of troubled kids who the adults didn’t have time to care about.”
Linc watched her as she digested that piece of news, nibbling her lower lip in the left corner before giving him a nod that he should continue.
“When my father told me, the guys and I tried to see if we could find her. But we came up with nothing. We were stonewalled at every turn. No one would tell us anything.” His throat was dry and he cleared it. “She was almost like a sister to me. She’d been staying in our house, my dad feeding her. And then she was just gone.” That last word ripped from his chest, violently and painfully.
Damn it, tears blurred his vision. He pressed on.
“I realized then, had she a place to go—a safe place, a spot where adults would listen to kids when they came with a problem, maybe, maybe, she’d still be here. Still alive and with us in Rock Falls.”
“Linc,” Emma whispered, her voice as tortured as he felt.
“That,” he forced the word out, fingers flexing as if he tried to reach something so close but slightly out of reach, “that’s why this center is so important to me. So kids from all over the county can feel safe. Where they can get the help they need, even if they don’t realize they do. Also a place to teach them how to look out for their fellow humans. To not turn a blind eye, but ask questions. Raise their voices when someone isn’t around any longer. Maybe I can keep one person safe now when I couldn’t then. And I need more money to do it right.”
There it was. His heart, ripped out and spilled for her to see all of it.
“Linc, look at me.”
He lifted his gaze to find her much closer. As he watched her, she bunched up her skirt over her knees and straddled his lap, settling against his groin, reminding him how very attracted he was to her.
Not that he’d forgotten.
“You can’t blame yourself for Howie. You looked for her.”
“I didn’t find her.”
Emma held his face in her hands, her skin soft with a few callouses. She gave a shake of her head. “No, but you did everything you could at your age. You tried, which was more than many did. Cut yourself some slack, Linc. You were a child.”
Same thing his father had told him. It didn’t feel any better now than it had then. “It doesn’t seem like enough.”
“Maybe you should go easier on yourself. Look at what you have done. What you’ve gotten started.” She canted her head to the side, swiped her tongue along her lower lip, and took a sharp breath. “You want this to go national, don’t you?”
How the hell had she figured that out? He’d not even told his best friends that part yet.
“I wouldn’t say no.” He shrugged.
“There you are,” she murmured, her thumbs skimming along his jaw.
“What?”
Her gaze became molten and it wasn’t just with desire. It had something else in it, he couldn’t pinpoint it at the moment, but he wanted to see it more often. To figure out what exactly it was. Then keep it solely for himself to enjoy.
“The man you were when you were playing ball. That spark in your eyes. It’s been missing. Until now. I’m in.”
He had been focused on her mouth. “You’re in?” What does she mean by the man I’d been when playing ball?
The smile she gave blinded him. “Yep. Consider me the fake fiancée at your service. For as long as you need me.”
“Working for me, too?”