One More Taste (One and Only Texas #2)(67)

He propped a hand behind his head and rewarded her with a rakish grin. “Guess we’ll find out.”

It took Emily a second to register the jiggle of the front door lock. Even then, she wasn’t quick enough to do more than utter, “Oh, shit!” before the door swung open.

Haylie yelped and put her back to the room, even as she clamped her hands over her eyes. Knox grabbed a pillow and jammed it in front of him. “Haylie? What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t see anything,” Haylie said. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Emily said I could come over any time I needed to, but I didn’t know that she was … that you two were…” She groaned. “I’m leaving now.”

Emily leapt from the bed and grabbed the bathrobe hanging on the wall. Her only concern was for Haylie. She wouldn’t have come to Emily’s apartment without ample reason. Pulling the robe on, she rushed to Haylie’s side. “No. Don’t go. Are you all right? What did he do to you?”

Haylie stepped away from Emily and hugged herself. Was she favoring her left arm? Was she in pain? Emily couldn’t tell.

“I’m fine. He…” Haylie shook her head, then tipped her face in Knox’s direction, though she didn’t chance a look. “I thought you’d be at work. I needed a place to—” Another tip of her head toward Knox. “To be.”

Emily whirled to face Knox, wondering what she could say to make him leave. Haylie’s need for a safe haven trumped everything else.

Knox was already on his feet, dressed, though his clothes were disheveled and his shirt unbuttoned. His focus shifted from Haylie to Emily, and in his eyes, she saw dawning understanding. “Uh, I was on my way out.”

Emily could have kissed him for that. “Yes, you were. Okay. Good. Haylie, come on in.”

“No, please,” Haylie said. “I’ll go. I’m so sorry I interrupted. I was just looking for a place to be alone. It’s silly of me, honestly. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Emily all but threw herself in front of the door. “No, Knox is right. Actually, we were both leaving.”

Haylie eyed them both warily. “You’re not just saying that?”

“Nope,” Knox and Emily said at the same time. “We’ve got to get back to the resort. Too much to do,” Knox added.

Haylie inched farther into the room. “If you’re sure.”

“Absolutely. Stay as long as you want. All night if you want. I’ll be working late. And after work, I might be, um, busy.” With Knox. At his place. Lord, was that even a possibility? Could he want that, too? Her hunger for him wasn’t even close to being sated. She put her hand on the doorknob but found Knox’s hand already there. “Oops. Okay. We’re out of here. Call if you need anything.”

Emily preceded Knox out the door. She didn’t realize until she was on the landing halfway down the stairs, that she was only dressed in a semi-sheer bathrobe. “Oh my God, I forgot clothes.”

Just as panic set in, Knox showed her the bundle of fabric in his hands. Her clothes. “I think I grabbed them all.”

“Well, that’s about the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to me. Thank you.”

“Besides the part where you actually got lucky a few minutes ago, you mean?” He extricated her black thong from the pile and dangled it in front of her face. “Here.”

He made careful work of watching her slip into it. “What’s going on with Haylie?”

What could Emily do but shake her head? Anything more would be talking out of turn. From the clothes pile, she pulled her jeans. “I can’t tell you that.”

But Knox would not be deterred. “She’s the friend you were telling me about, isn’t she? The one in the abusive relationship.” His mouth screwed up as though he’d eaten a slice of lemon. “Wendell’s hurting her.”

“Knox, come on. It’s not my place to say. It’s really not.”

Rather than hand her the bra, he held out the straps so she could slip right into it. “I’m already keeping some of your secrets. What’s one more? Especially if it helps Haylie.”

He had a point. There had to be a line in which Haylie’s safety trumped her privacy. No one had ever crossed that line for Emily. Who knows what might have changed in her life if they had?

She shrugged out of the robe, then slipped her arms into the bra and adjusted the cups as she turned so Knox could latch it closed. That accomplished, she turned to face him again, modulating her voice on the off-chance that Haylie might be listening in on the other side of the door. “You’re right. He hurts her. I wasn’t sure until yesterday. I’ve always thought he was emotionally abusive, which is bad enough, but it’s so much worse. Haylie’s done an ace job of covering it up so her dad won’t find out. Carina, too. She’s known for a while.

“They’re both afraid Ty would kill Wendell if he found out, and they’re probably right. Carina and I have been trying to get Haylie out of that situation since his true colors showed themselves right after they eloped, but she’s…” Frustration choked out Emily’s remaining words.

Knox wrapped his arms around her, offering his strength so she could finish her thought.

“It doesn’t take long for a battered woman to stop believing she’s strong enough or valuable enough to save herself.” She heard the edge of personal testimony in her voice and knew he heard it, too, but she no longer minded him seeing her at her most vulnerable.