Collide (Collide, #1)(50)

“Get to the point.”

“Shit, Emily, I’m trying to.”

She let out a sigh, and he continued.

“He flew in from Japan last night and is only out here for the next two days. He asked to meet with me personally. I got the call early this morning from my boss, telling me to come out here.” He answered a question directed at him from someone else in the background while Emily waited patiently. “Babe, I have to go. I’m sorry, but this account is huge.”

Again, Emily said nothing.

“Come on,” he breathed. “We’ll do it another day.”

“I know; it’s just that I took off from work, and I was really looking forward to—”

“Emily, stop trying to make me feel bad,” he let out, his tone clearly annoyed. “This is important to me. I’ll be at your place by six.” With that, the line went dead.

After the shock of him abruptly hanging up on her wore off, Emily rose to her feet and reluctantly started packing up what was supposed to be their little romantic getaway. As she tucked the sheet into her backpack, she straightened at the sound of her name being called out from a distance. Before she even turned to see the face, a familiar tingle traveled up her spine. She knew who it was. When she finally spun around, Gavin was jogging across the park, smiling, with his niece and nephew at his side. The backpack slipped through her fingertips as she took in his casual attire—a white V-neck T-shirt, cream-colored cargo shorts, and a blue New York Yankees cap. Emily tried to gather her racing thoughts as he approached.

It wasn’t just that his presence pulsed through her. It wasn’t that his masculine scent lingered on her senses, burning in her mind and plaguing her every dream. It wasn’t even that damn kiss. It was his unwavering charm, bold confidence, insane sexiness, and the undeniable male dominance he exuded. Every bit of it seeped from his pores. All of those things—a truly lethal cocktail—scared and fascinated her at the same time. It was as if a twisted paradox occurred whenever she was around him. As much as she seriously felt the need to flee from him at that very moment, she also felt irreparably drawn to him. Suddenly, she became aware of the heightened charge in the air. A tense kind of feeling seemed to press in on her lungs, making her feel breathless. To top it all off with a heavy dose of whipped cream, seeing him now flooded her psyche with their last encounter two weeks ago.

Breathe, Emily…

“Emm-mi-me!” Theresa squealed, running toward her.

Kneeling down to hug her, Emily looked up to Gavin. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked as nonchalantly as humanly possible, considering the circumstances.

Gavin hunched over and propped his hands on his thighs, trying to catch a decent breath. He then stood straight up and smiled. “I’m babysitting for a while and decided to take these two squirts here to play some soccer.”

Timothy wrapped his arms around Emily’s leg. “Uncle Gaffin took us to feed the duckies, too.”

Gavin swished his hand through Timothy’s hair. “Yep, we had a certified feeding fest with Donald and Daisy.”

“Very cool,” Emily replied with a smile. “A business mogul and a nanny all in one.”

“Add it to my resume,” he laughed.

“I can’t believe you spotted me here,” Emily said.

“Well, I actually didn’t see you; these two did.”

“Uncle Gaffin told us to say we saw you first, Emm-mi-me,” Theresa confessed, curling her finger through Emily’s hair. “But he did saw you first and said to come wif him to say hi to you.”

Drawing up a brow, Emily watched Gavin’s face turn a light shade of crimson. “Using children to tell a fib, huh?”

He shook his head and smiled. “Damn, you caught me. Add that to my resume as well.” Emily laughed at his response. “What are you doing here?”

“Dillon was supposed to meet me, but he got called into New Jersey.” She lifted her backpack from the ground. “I was actually getting ready to go home.”

Theresa pouted her lips. “Can you stay and play soccer wif us, Emm-mi-me?”

“Umm,” she replied, her eyes flicking up to Gavin. “I’m not sure. Maybe another time?”

Theresa frowned.

“You won’t have to endure the torture of being around me too long,” Gavin laughed, a smart-ass smile molding over his face. “Colton and Melanie should be here in ten minutes to come get them.”

Emily smiled coyly, almost challenging him. “Okay, fine. I think I can handle fifteen minutes of grief.” She placed her backpack down. “Can you handle it?”

“Mmm, I can handle it and handle it very well,” he smirked. “Can you play soccer?”

“I’m a quick learner.”

“And I’m an excellent teacher.”

He dropped the ball to the ground, giving it a quick kick. Theresa and Timothy ran after it.

“And being around you is not torture, Gavin,” Emily said, jogging away from him after the kids.

He caught up to her side. “Right, you made it clear that it’s only grief. But, no worries, I really do take that as a compliment.”

Emily simply shook her head and laughed.

Over the next fifteen minutes, although he did partake in the game a little, Gavin mostly hung back a bit and watched Emily play with the kids. Taking a seat on top of a picnic table, his senses reeled at everything about her. His eyes swept over her body, ultimately settling on her face as he admired her smile. His ears listened to the way she laughed while his mind tried to wrap itself around the way his niece and nephew clung to her. He knew children had a keen sense of the aura that surrounded people, so it only justified what his heart already knew—her presence was magnetic. It consumed others, swallowing them whole, and left no room for regret.