A Kiss For You

“Will you let me know how it goes?” Morgan asked.

I nodded briskly and then pulled out of the garage. Before I had a second thought, I was already barreling across town. The logical explanation was that Emery was at home. She’d wanted to check on Kimber to make sure everything was all right. They were probably up late, talking, or maybe they had gone to sleep.

Except I didn’t believe that.

I didn’t know why.

But I just had this feeling. A gut instinct.

I wanted to shake it, but I wouldn’t until I saw for myself that she was there. I careened down Milwaukee Avenue, out toward her sister’s house. Pent-up tension and energy coursed through me. I felt on edge about her lack of response to my messages.

I parked my truck across the street and killed the engine. Shoving my hands in my pockets against the cold, I dashed across the street and up to the front door. I went to ring the doorbell and then shook my head. I couldn’t ring the doorbell because Lilyanne could be asleep. That would be a real dick move. I didn’t want to wake her up. They probably had a crazy routine to even get her to sleep in the first place. Instead, I knocked on the door and hoped someone was up to hear it.

After about a minute, the door cracked open, and Kimber’s face appeared. “Jensen?” she asked in surprise.

“Hey, Kimber. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Oh, you didn’t. It’s almost time, and it makes it kind of hard to sleep.” She placed her hand on her belly and gave me a genuine smile. “Can I help you?”

“I was hoping to talk to Emery.”

Kimber frowned. “She went out hours ago to meet Heidi. She hasn’t come home yet.”

“Oh,” I said slowly. “I see.”

“Have you tried her cell?”

“A couple of times.”

“Heidi is a bit of a bad influence. Love the girl to death and back, but they’re trouble together. I can’t even tell you what they went through in high school.”

“I believe it.”

“Do you want me to give her a call and see where she is? I didn’t even check before she left.”

“Uh, no. That’s all right.”

“Just come on inside. It will only be a minute,” Kimber said with a kind smile.

I ducked inside without another protest.

She shuffled over to her phone and then smiled. “I have a text here. Looks like Emery is on her way home. She should be here soon, I guess.”

I clenched my jaw and then released it. Emery was responding to Kimber’s messages but not mine? What the fuck?

Something was wrong here. I could feel it. I could sense it. But I didn’t know what was happening.

“You can stay and wait if you want?” Kimber offered.

“Oh no,” I said immediately, backing away. “Uh, no. I’ll check in with her tomorrow. If she’s safe, then that’s fine by me.”

Kimber tilted her head in worry. “Are you sure?”

“Completely,” I said.

Then, I exited the house and hurried back to my truck. The reasonable and rational thing to do would be to wait until Emery got home. I wanted to talk to her about Landon—the things that had been said and the things that I suspected about Landon. I needed to clear the air. I needed to figure out why they had broken up and what Landon had meant about me not knowing her.

But maybe tonight really wasn’t the best night for it. Maybe we should have that conversation when I was in a better headspace.

I shook my head at my own frustrations and then put the truck into gear. I touched the accelerator and hurried down the road. I was almost out of the neighborhood when my eyes cut to the car that was passing me—a black Mercedes.

There was nothing special about it. Nothing to draw my eye at all. It was a plain, standard black Mercedes. It should have been completely unidentifiable. Any number of people could have the same car in this neighborhood where wealth was on display.

But my instincts told me it didn’t belong to just anyone.

My instincts told me that it belonged to me.

I waited until the car passed me before making my decision. I did a U-turn in the middle of the street and slowly drove back to Emery’s house. When I turned onto her street, I cut my lights and parked two houses down the street. My stomach cramped, and tension bottled in my shoulders. My hands were white on the steering wheel. Of all the scenarios I had concocted in my head, this had never been one of them.

The Mercedes was parked at Emery’s house. The Mercedes that Landon had driven off in earlier that day. He always had access to my cars when he was in town. I’d never cared what he drove or when. Getting a rental when I had a garage full of cars seemed ridiculous. Now, I couldn’t believe that he was using my car to come here.