Page 48 of Family Bonds- Emma & Warren

“Don’t you want to know how many people I’ve murdered?” she asked, laughing.

“I know. I feel like a dick even asking that question, let alone thinking it. But I’m a guy who is very attracted to you and maybe I’ve got to worry about not keeping up with the men in these books. Jesus, that’s a lot.”

She started to laugh. “I have been told before that I’ve got high expectations of my men because I write them the way I want.”

Exactly what he didn’t want to hear.

“So I do have to worry,” he said.

“Nope. You’re in good shape. You’ll be fine and be able to keep up.”

She was torturing him. “You’re cruel.”

“I hadn’t planned on calling to have sexy video flirting, but I can pivot. My mother told me to have an open mind with you so I’m following orders.”

“You told your mother about me?” he asked. He hadn’t told anyone in his family yet. Why bother when he didn’t know where things might go?

Which wasn’t true since his mother did know that he went back to find Emma, but then he hadn’t filled her in on anything else.

She wasn’t the type to ask either, figuring he’d let her know if there was something to report.

“I did. It was bound to get back to her. She put me in my place on a few levels. My family knows my flaws and how I keep to myself.”

“Hence the reason she told you to have an open mind?” he asked.

“Yep, but I’m positive she didn’t mean it this way. What are you wearing? Stand up and let me see.”

He laughed and put his laptop down and angled it so that she could see him in his T-shirt and shorts.

“Your turn,” he said.

She lifted it and had it scanning her sitting in her chair, her shorts rising fairly high into her crotch. They looked like athletic shorts. The running ones though he knew she didn’t do that.

“This great guy I know showed me some exercises so I celebrated the end of my book by doing them for twenty minutes. My legs hurt now. I even got sweaty. I need a shower.”

He was trying to find any sign of sweat on her, but her navy shirt was baggy again that he could see.

“Do you use your hands in the shower or a washcloth?”

“Oh boy,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “This is getting dope. Give me a second to adjust. My juices are flowing.”

He groaned. “You’re going to be good at this, aren’t you?”

“You have read some of my more intimate scenes. What do you think?”

“I think I’m doomed in more ways than one. We have to stop now. My mother will be here in about thirty minutes. I don’t need to be embarrassed.”

“I’m sure your mother knows you’ve had sex, and since she’s got three kids, she knows what a worked-up penis looks like.”

“Ewww, Emma. We are talking about my mother.”

“See, you’re not turned on any longer, are you?”

“You did that on purpose?”

“I did,” she said. “And since you do have to go soon, I just wanted to let you know that I do miss seeing you in person.”

Warren felt a flutter in his chest over that confession. “The same,” he said. He saw a gray tail pop up in the camera blocking Emma from view, her hands reaching out to snag the creature he hadn’t seen full on yet.