Free Dirty Secrets by Karen Rose

lower lip pulled between her teeth. “Where are you staying?”
    “The Don CeSar,” she murmured.
    No other words were exchanged until he pulled in front of the St. Pete landmark hotel where uniformed doormen waited to assist the guests. “Not yet,” Christopher barked when one of them tried to open her door. He gentled his voice. “Emma. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that when I promised to give you time.”
    Her smile was rueful. “I wanted it as much as you did, Christopher. Which is why I can’t ask you to come up.”
    He ignored the spear of disappointment. “I understand. Can I see you tomorrow?”
    Her smile faltered. “My flight leaves at seven thirty in the morning.”
    His heart stopped. “You’re leaving? You can’t.”
    “I didn’t plan to stay, Christopher. I’d planned to come, say my piece, and leave.”
    He gritted his teeth. “Emma, I just got you back after seventeen fucking years. You’re not leaving me again.”
    She sighed. “Tonight was so much more than I ever expected.
You’re
so much more than I expected.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I need to cool down. So do you. Let me go home and sort this out in my mind. I’ll come back. I promise.” She leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips. “Thank you, Christopher Walker. For making me feel alive again.” Then she was gone before he could say good-bye.

Chapter 5
    Cincinnati, Sunday, February 28, 9:00 a.m.
    Emma stood on the airport escalator, her palm vibrating as she gripped the heavy black rubber handrail. What a difference a week made. No longer did she dread the airport, the city. The house.
    She still felt a sharp pang of loss when she glanced up to the place where Will had always waited with a single red rose. But it wasn’t
as
sharp, and the realization was a comfort in and of itself. The next time she came through it would be a little less sharp still. Until one day she’d be able to look up with a smile and think,
that’s where Will used to wait for me
. Christopher had been right. She’d known the road to acceptance all along, she’d just been overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the trip.
    She glanced down at the handful of wildflowers she’d gripped all the way from Florida with a wistful smile. He’d been waiting for her in the lobby of her hotel this morning at six a.m., the wildflowers in his hand, and her heart had jumped for joy even as her mind screamed caution. He couldn’t let her go without saying good-bye, he’d said, so sweetly. Plus, she hadn’t given him her address and phone number. So he’d come back, early, and waited for her to come down.
    Then driven her to the airport where he’d said his good-bye, a lusty kiss with his tongue in her mouth and his hand in her hair. Then he’d pressed a heavy manila envelope into her hand that wasn’t grasping the remaining life out of the wildflowers he’d picked in his own garden. “Read it when you’re alone,” he whispered, then kissed her again, leaving her knees weak and her heart racing.
    She hadn’t read it yet. She would when she got home. Anxious to get there, she sailed past the poor souls that had checked luggage, her overnight bag over her shoulder, to where Kate waited outside with her car.
    “Well, how did it go?” she asked when Emma hopped in.
    Emma slanted her a wary look. “Fine.”
    Kate’s lips twitched. “Nice flowers.”
    Emma chuckled. “Drive me home and I’ll tell you all about it.”
    * * *
    St. Pete, Sunday, February 28, 9:15 a.m.
    The lights were on in the lab and the yellow police tape no longer blocked the door. Pulling on a pair of protective goggles, Christopher ran his key card through the slot and pushed the door open, finding all three of his students hard at work putting the lab back to rights. “I guess Harris called you guys, too.” He’d found the detective’s message on his home answering machine when he’d returned from taking Emma to the airport.
    Ian looked