Hard to Come By by Laura Kaye Page A

stowed her laptop in the trunk and double-checked that everything was locked up. “Ready.”
    “Great,” he said. “Where would you like to go? What’s your favorite place? Or a place you’ve been dying to try?”
    “Well, you’re the guest here. I feel like we should go somewhere you’d—”
    “Nope. This is all about you.”
    Emilie hugged herself, loving what he’d said but alsofeeling a little bit like she wanted to squirm. She wasn’t used to putting herself first. “But . . . why?”
    “Because when you said yes, you gave me what I wanted. So I’ll be happy anywhere.” He shrugged as if it were just fact.
    Heat crawled up her face, and she wasn’t usually a blusher. She’d never met a man who just put what he was feeling out there as directly as Derek. It was freaking refreshing. “Well, uh, okay,” she said, unable to resist him. He’d been right—resistance was futile. At least where Derek was concerned. “There’s a great seafood restaurant right across the water. A water taxi runs from City Dock to the restaurant every couple of minutes. How does that sound?”
    “The girl, a great dinner, and a boat ride all in one night? Sounds fantastic.” He winked and offered his arm.
    Emilie laughed, realizing she did that a lot around him. It was almost like she couldn’t be in his presence and not feel good. He just had a great energy about him. She looped her arm around his, bringing them closer and making it even more clear that he had a good six inches on her. Nothing like a big man to make a woman feel feminine.
    “Lead the way,” he said.
    They walked across campus and into town, and all the while Emilie couldn’t wrap her head around how her evening had gone from lonely dinner for one to fairy tale in ten minutes flat. Well, as close as she was getting to a fairy tale, anyway.
    “Have you lived in Annapolis all your life?” Derek asked. “Seems like a cool place to live.”
    “Oh, it definitely is. I couldn’t have been more excited when I got the job here. But I grew up in NorthernVirginia, over in Fairfax. Still have family over there,” she said. “How ’bout you?”
    “Oh,” he said, looking down the street. She would’ve sworn something uncomfortable flashed across his face, but then it was gone again and she wasn’t sure. “I grew up in Ohio, but I haven’t been back in years.”
    “No family left there?” she said, looking up at him.
    He shook his head. “Never had a family.”
    Emilie’s sandal snagged on an uneven brick and she stumbled, but Derek caught her against his chest.
    She peered up at him, her heart quickening. “Thanks,” she said.
    “You okay?”
    She nodded. “No family?”
    Still holding her against him, Derek shook his head again. “Nope. Mother abandoned me when I was five. We’d been living with one of her friends and one night she didn’t come home. Left a note saying she couldn’t deal. Sure my mother would change her mind, her friend kept me around for a few weeks, but when my mother never returned, she turned me over to the cops who dumped me into the system. Mostly group homes after that.”
    “Oh,” she said, the word so insignificant compared to what she felt and what he’d been through. The man was a stranger, but her heart still broke for him. Who did that to a child? And what must it have been like to grow up without . . . anyone? Emilie’s mother was one of six siblings, so between her brother and all her aunts and uncles and cousins, her family was huge and loud and in each other’s business all the freaking time. But she wouldn’t want it any other way. Because the alternative—what Derek had experienced—must’ve been lonely and quiet and so, so solitary.
    His dark eyes searched hers and scanned her face. “Yeah, so, it’s just me,” he said, his gaze landing on her lips.
    Emilie swallowed and suddenly became aware of just how close they were. Her breast pressed against his chest. Her hand gripped his arm. Her