#nikkiemms

  Emma arches a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Mary Margaret shakes her head, waving off Emma’s question. “Oh nothing, forget I said anything.”

  Emma crosses her arms over her chest, eyes shooting daggers at her sister-in-law. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Mary Margaret sighs in defeat and puts up her hands. “Okay, I could be wrong, but I think Henry has a little crush on Lily. You did not hear that from me. I made a pinky swear not to tell anyone.”

  Emma furrows her brows. “If you made a pinky swear then he must have told you.”

  Mary Margaret makes a motion with her fingers to zip her lips. “Sorry, I can’t say anymore.”

  “So Henry likes a girl? But he’s only seven.”

  “Oh please, you’re never too young to have a crush. How old were you when you started chasing boys?”

  “I never chased boys,” Emma says defensively. 

  Mary Margaret eyes her skittishly. “Sure, Emma, sure,” she smiles knowingly. 

  “Okay maybe one or two,” Emma admits with a coy smile and a sigh. 

  Thankfully, her sister-in-law drops the subject and heads inside the house to use the bathroom.

  “Liam! Lily!” Henry shouts and races across the yard as two other kids, a boy and a girl, run to meet him. The boy is carrying a gift bag that’s almost as big as he is and Henry takes it, dropping it off at the gift table before the three of them run off toward the jungle gym.

  “I guess their parents were too busy to join us?” Emma remarks to no one in particular.

  “Parent,” Regina corrects. “Their mother left when they were young. So now it’s just them and their father.”

  “Really?” Emma asks, her heart cracking for the two kids as she watches them play with Henry and the others. 

  Lily is a beautiful young girl with long, shimmering black hair and blue eyes, and Liam shares similar physical traits. In fact, they even look similar in age. “They look the same age. Are they twins?”

  “Yes, they are.”

  “Um… are we missing anyone?” Ashley asks, her voice edged with panic as she points at each child, counting them under her breath.

  Fear rises in Emma’s chest as she shoots up from her chair and scans the children, making sure everyone is there who’s supposed to be there. But no one appears to be missing. “Why do you say that?”

  “Oh, perhaps because of the policeman who just entered the backyard, carrying a children’s baseball cap,” Regina answers.

  Her statement sends the mothers into a fit of panic, all of them darting their eyes in search of the aforementioned cop.

  Emma takes one look at him as David and Robin head over to chat with him. Even the fathers are freaked out about having a cop in the backyard.

  Emma's heart stutters when she sees him.

  He’s wearing a badge and a uniform, but this is no ordinary cop. This man is freaking gorgeous. He’s tall and muscular with dark hair, his skin is moistened with sweat and bronzed from the sun. He’s so perfect he looks straight from a magazine. Do they have porn featuring men in uniforms because if not they really should. This man looks way too good to be real. 

  Emma’s been to jail before, taking the fall for her ex's crime, and she's never wished to go back, but right now she's wishing this man would take her away in handcuffs.

  When the policeman is laughing with the fathers and Emma realizes there is no present danger or missing kid, she is curious why he is here and wonders what her sister-in-law is up to. As soon as Mary Margaret returns to the porch, Emma narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Did you hire a stripper for a children’s party?”

  Mary Margaret wrinkles her brows in confusion. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

  Emma nods her head toward the gorgeous policeman. “What does he look like to you?”

  “Who?” Mary Margaret looks over Emma’s shoulder, her eyes lighting up with recognition. “Oh, you mean the firefighter? That’s Liam and Lily’s father.” She shoots up her hand and waves as she heads down the porch steps. “Hello, Killian!”

  “That’s Lily and Liam’s father?” Emma repeats to herself, staring at him with her mouth agape. 

  "You forgot your lucky hat," Killian calls to his son, holding up the baseball cap. 

  Holy Hell. He has an accent too? 

  Liam rushes over for the hat and a hug from his father, and Killian ruffles Liam’s hair before the small boy rushes away, putting the hat on his head. Lily runs over to say goodbye to her father, and after he scoops her up in his arms and plants a kiss on the crown of her head, she gives him a kiss on the cheek. Emma’s heart melts as she watches him interact with his daughter. “Have fun, princess,” he says sweetly and watches her run off to play with her friends. 

  “He can put out my fire with his big hose anytime,” one lady snickers, apparently reading Emma’s thoughts. 

  When Killian turns around, his eyes find Emma’s from across the lawn. And she can't breathe or even move her head to look away. Nor does she want to. 

  “Emma, come here,” Mary Margaret waves her over, and Emma reluctantly complies.

  She thought he looked good from afar, but boy, he looks so much better up close. His smoldering blue eyes and heartwarming smile as he regards her with intrigue take her breath away. 

  Now that she's much closer, she can see that the badge he wears is of a fireman emblem. 

  “Killian, this is Henry’s mother, Emma,” Mary Margaret introduces them.

  Just as he slips his hand in hers, she starts to shake it before realizing he has another idea in mind. 

  “Hello, love, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he says in a deep, husky voice as he lifts her hand to his luscious looking lips and kisses the back of her hand, his eyes still locked with her bewildered ones. 

  Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Emma is tempted to say, but bites her tongue to stop herself. Besides, she doesn’t know if she could speak, even if she had something appropriate to say, because her mouth goes completely dry. She tries to say something, anything, but nothing comes out. Apparently she forgot how to speak.

  This gorgeous firefighter is kissing her. Okay, he’s only kissing her hand but, holy hell Emma’s never been so turned on in her entire life, let alone from an innocent hand kiss. Then again, an innocent hand kiss has never seared her skin.

  “It’s nice to meet you too,” Emma rasps, somehow finding the words on her tongue.

  “Emma thought I hired you as a stripper,” Mary Margaret chortles, breaking their trance.

  Oh, God.  

  Emma peels her eyes away from the ridiculously handsome fireman to glare at her sister-in-law. Really, Mary Margaret?!

  Killian’s eyes are glinting with amusement as he finally removes his damn, surprisingly soft lips from her skin, a big grin spreading across his face. “Is that so?” 

  She hasn’t failed to notice he’s still holding her hand. Not that she’s complaining. His hand is so warm and strong and she’s dreaming up all the things he could do to her with that hand. With both hands.

  “Yes. Can you believe she thought I would hire a stripper at a children’s party?” she asks her husband.

  David shrugs. “You are best friends with Ruby.”

  That earns him a playful swat on the arm.

  “It was a joke,” Emma states defensively and offers Killian an apologetic smile, bashfully moving her eyes away. “Sorry.”

  He finally releases her hand to wave off her words, and she shivers from the loss, even under the blazing heat of the sun. “Please, don’t be. I’ve been called worse.” He leans in until he’s so close she can feel his breath on her skin as he murmurs in her ear. “Though if you wanted a lap dance, all you had to do was ask.”

  Emma’s breath hitches, her cheeks flushed with red. She doesn’t even know how to respond to that. “I’ll um... I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She looks over at Henry, trying to ignore how fast her heart is beating. When she sees Lily chasing him around the yard, both of them giggling cheerfully, she laughs. 

  Killian turns around to see what Emma’s laughing at. “Looks like my daughter has a crush,” he chuckles.

  “I think it’s mutual… well according to Mary Margaret.” Lily’s not the only person in this backyard with a crush. Definitely not. She turns to face Killian again. “I’m sorry again for the stripper joke.”

  He scratches behind his ear, his cheeks tinged with blush. “Like I said. I’ve been called worse. But if you feel the need to make it up to me, I wouldn’t argue,” he says, a slight smile tugging at his lips. 

  Emma crosses her arms over her chest and arches a brow, “And what would you suggest?”

  “You could go out to dinner with me?”

  Emma studies him for a moment, considering his proposition. It’s not like she’s opposed to having dinner with him, but she has other ideas in mind as to how she could make it up to him. Ones that involve a bedroom and maybe that lap dance he spoke of. She quickly shakes her thoughts away. “I suppose asking you to stay and offering you a hamburger and hotdog doesn’t count as dinner, does it?”

  He smiles. “It’s a start.”

  She sighs dramatically and shrugs. “And here I was hoping you’d say no. Oh, well.” She walks away from him and goes to the grill where David and Robin are plating the meat. 

  After helping her son get a plate of food, she gets a hamburger for herself and goes to the food table for a bun and condiments. She scoops some pasta salad and chips on her plate before joining the adults at the picnic table while Henry sits with the other children at the kiddy table. When Killian sits next to her, she's surprised he hasn’t brought a plate of food with him. He’d only helped his daughter fill her plate.

  “Not hungry?” Emma asks suspiciously.

  He leans in and murmurs, “I changed my mind. I’d rather take you out to dinner.”

  Damn her cheeks for warming with blush again as she gives into a slight smile. She scoots her plate in Killian’s direction. “Here, take this.” She gets up from her seat to make another plate so he can have hers. 

  “So does this mean I can’t take you out?” he asks, his eyes clouded with disappointment as he looks up at her.