EMMA
I wake up pinned under something heavy. I twist around in the blankets until I realize that my fortress of safety--every spare pillow I could find in the cabin--has all slid to the floor. The long, muscled, tattooed leg of Thatcher Stag is slung over my hip.
I roll over to look at him, trying to move his leg without waking him up. He's half on his side, sleeping in just a pair of shorts, and holy shit. I had forgotten the glorious sight that is his chest. His tattoos stop midway down his pecs, leaving his abs fresh and begging to be licked. Stop it, I tell myself. This is a work weekend. You cannot mess up this arrangement with sex.
The rational, journalist side of my brain who is just here to get information is struggling to overpower the aroused half of my brain who wants to run my nails down Thatcher's leg. My lizard brain keeps my eyes traveling straight down his abs to the huge bulge in his shorts. So it wasn't my imagination last night in the lake. Thatcher is packing a serious sword in his scabbard. I snort at my own joke, still trying to figure out what to do about being trapped under the long limb of this gorgeous, untouchable man.
Thankfully, I'm saved by the other Stags. Tim starts pounding on the door, yelling, "Thatcher! Get your ass up! We're going running in five minutes." He pounds a few more times for good measure, and I see Thatcher crack open one eye. He smiles at me, and I would probably fall over if I weren't already lying down. His grey eyes and dimples are dazzling, and I know he knows it. He looks damn good.
"Guess that's my cue," he says, rising from the bed and stretching. He faces away from me, so I'm forced to stare at his back muscles. The long hours of physical work shaping glass have done him a lot of favors--his body is exquisite. I'm staring, slack-jawed, until he bends over to put on his sneakers and socks, and walks out the door without looking back. "Coming, coming. You assholes better not leave without me!" he yells down the hall, and the Stag Brothers are gone.
I make my way to the kitchen, where Alice has set out an entire restaurant's worth of food. "Hey, Emma!" she sings, dancing her way between a griddle and a mixing bowl. "I'm making waffles. And eggs. And bacon."
"Gosh, Alice. Do you need help?" My eyes are wide, looking at the heaps of fresh herbs and vegetables, the little crock of fresh maple syrup she's set out on the table.
"Nope! Absolutely not," she says, sliding a mug of coffee down the counter toward me. "At work, I do all of this for about 50 people and I usually have Petey asking me 75 questions per minute while I'm trying to concentrate. You sit and tell me about working at the Pittsburgh Post."
It's so easy to talk to Alice. When she asks questions, she really cares about the answer. She'd make a great reporter, and she blushes when I tell her so. I start to wonder what's going to happen after Ty and Juniper's wedding, when Thatcher and I are supposed to break up. It hadn't occurred to me that I would enjoy spending time with his family, and then feel sad saying goodbye to them. When he first told me he was fighting with them and blurted the lie about a fiancé, I assumed they were all stuffy jerks like my parents.
I can see how Tim is uptight, but I decide to ask Alice if she knows more about the fight that led to the ultimate deception. "This coffee is amazing," I tell her, breaking the silence as she stirs and chops.
She nods. "The guys at Zeke's roast the beans right in the city. I get a delivery at the office once a week. Hey." She looks up at me and brushes some of her wild curls out of her face. "Let me know if I get boring talking about food and farmers. Tim says people don't want to hear allll the details, but I get excited!"
I laugh and assure her I'll let her know if I ever get bored. "I'm a curious person," I tell her. "I wouldn't be a good reporter if I cut people off when they're on a roll!" We talk a bit more about her work, and I start to jot some notes in my phone for the piece about the childcare they have on site. When we get to a natural pause in the conversation, I decide to just dive into the hard question. "What happened with Tim and Thatcher?"
Alice pauses and sighs. "You know," she says, "I'm not really sure. Tim was mighty angry that Thatcher was late to Petey's birthday party, and I think they just started to bring up a lot of years of held-in quarrels."
"I know Tim's opinion really, really matters to Thatcher. About everything," I tell her, looking out the window to make sure the guys aren't back yet. I see Juniper making her way up the steps to the back deck. She's wearing running tights and a sports bra and I nearly gasp when I see how fit she is. Her abs have abs.
She bursts into the kitchen and grabs a glass of water, chugging it down before she greets us. "Hey," she says, finally, heaving a bit. "I ran separately so the boys could bond and fight out all their shit."
Alice nods. "They really need to do that."
I look back and forth between them, puzzled. Juniper chugs some more water and continues, "They still haven't finished whatever they were getting into at the birthday party, and Ty thinks Thatcher is hiding something." She winks. "He hopes I'm going to get you to spill your guts today."
I frown, remembering that Thatcher had seen their father when he was waiting for me to change at the hospital. I guess he hasn't told his family about that yet. Well, I'm not going to be the one to bring that up. That's a hurt that runs years deeper than any of our involvement with this family. Then, of course, I realize that Thatcher is also hiding from them the fact that our relationship is pretend. I flush, realizing I'm part of this divide that's plaguing the Stag brothers.
"No worries, Emma," Juniper says, clapping me on the back. "Hey, anyone want to jump in the hot tub with me before the guys get back?" I tell her I'm going to stick to the house and Alice agrees to let me set the table at least. When the guys haven't returned an hour later, the three of us decide to dig in without them, and Juniper, fully at ease after her hot tub, really opens up to all of my questions.