That’s what you get for being too busy to party for, oooh, months now.
“Let me walk you to your door,” Emerson offered, clearly noticing that I wasn’t very steady on my feet.
He put his hand against my back, and I couldn’t help but lean into it. I felt his fingers flex against my skin, and I wanted to feel them everywhere. I wanted to touch him too, and strip off that perfect black suit to see what else he had been hiding from me.
We got to my front door, and I somehow managed to get the key into the lock. But before I turned it, I glanced over my shoulder. He was standing there, looking extremely delicious, and I couldn’t help myself. Before I could convince myself that it was a bad idea, I had my arms wrapped around his neck and I was pulling his mouth down to mine.
The moment our lips touched, it was electric. Just like it had been the first time. His lips were soft and firm, surprised at first, but the surprise didn’t last. His hands came up to my hips, pulling me close against him. I dragged my tongue along the seam of his lips until he deepened the kiss, our tongues tangling together, the taste of salt and beer overwhelming my senses. Everything about him overwhelmed me.
I reached for the door, about to open it and pull him inside with me so I could have my naughty way with him, but before I could, he pulled away. He looked as dazed as I felt, which is why I didn’t understand why he was letting go of me.
“I should go,” he said, his voice husky.
“No.” I wrapped my hand around his tie. “You should stay.”
He shook his head. “Raincheck,” he told me. “When we haven’t had this much to drink.”
He wasn’t drunk at all, I could tell, but there was something sweet about his insistence in being a gentleman. Sweet, but annoying too.
“OK,” I told him, trying not to feel rejected.
“Next time,” he promised, kissing me on the cheek. “I promise.”
I sincerely hoped it was a promise he intended to keep.
8
Alex
At least I felt that way until I woke up the next morning and remembered all the reasons I couldn’t get involved with Emerson. The main one being that I didn’t have time to date. I barely had time for sex—with or without another person present. And I really couldn’t afford to be distracted, which is how I felt all morning.
Luckily, I had the perfect solution for my distraction—yoga and brunch with my two besties. There was nothing in the world that couldn’t be solved by some downward facing dogs followed by bottomless mimosas.
Decked out in yoga pants and a ratty T-shirt, I headed downstairs, hoping that I wouldn’t run into Emerson on my way to meet Kelsey and Jenna.
Instead, I ran into someone else familiar.
“Are you Alex?” The petite brunette from the other night practically ran out of the bar.
“Hi,” I greeted her, trying to remember her name. “Hayley, right?”
She beamed at me. “Emerson told me all about you,” she said. She was very pretty, in her early twenties, with her brother’s dark brown hair and dark eyes. But she was much shorter than he was, curvy as well as petite, and had a smattering of freckles across her cheeks that made her look younger than she probably was.
“I hope he’s told you good things,” I teased.
Her eyes widened. “Oh yes, definitely. He thinks you’re great.”
I couldn’t help blushing.
“You live upstairs?” Hayley asked. “Is it horribly noisy?”
“It’s not quiet,” I confirmed. “But it hasn’t been so bad.”
“You should get a broom or something and bang on the floor when they get too loud.”
I laughed. “I don’t know if it would be effective, unfortunately.”
She twisted her face into a frown. “No, I guess you’re right.” She brightened. “Emerson’s apartment is really quiet. Really nice too.”
If I had been drinking something, I would have spit it out. Hayley was bold. Clearly she hoped something was going on between her brother and me.
“We’re just friends,” I told her.
“Uh huh,” she said, giving me a knowing wink.
I shook my head, amused.
“I should go,” I told her. “But I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
“You will,” she confirmed, and she disappeared back into the restaurant.
I felt a little like I had been run over by a truck. Hayley was clearly someone who did what she wanted, and didn’t seem to have any self-consciousness about it. I could learn a thing or two.
I headed to yoga, where Jenna and Kelsey were waiting for me outside.
Yoga was Jenna’s favorite way to spend a morning. I was more interested in the mimosas that were coming afterwards, but I wanted to spend time with my friends, and I could probably use some quiet time to focus on myself.
“Kelsey told me you went on a date last night!” Jenna gave me a hug, smelling—as she always did—of incense.
She was a bit of a health nut and very much into the world of alternative medical practices—everything from crystals to cupping to reiki. I could only imagine what the people I worked with would think of someone like her with her wild hair and multi-colored nails and an excess of scarves.
“It wasn’t a date,” I objected, even though it’d had all the trappings of a date, including a very hot good-night kiss. Just thinking about it made me blush.
“Oh my God!” Kelsey let out a little shriek. “Something happened!”
I couldn’t keep much from them, so as we headed inside, I confessed to the kiss. Not just last night’s kiss, but the first kiss, the one in the ATM vestibule. They stared at me, slack-jawed, as I told them everything. Both of their reactions were entirely predictable.
Kelsey clutched her hands to her chest, her expression dreamy.
“That is so romantic,” she sighed. “Like it was meant to be.”
I rolled my eyes at my aggressively romantic friend.
“Maybe I should try to get myself locked in an ATM vestibule with Justin,” she mused, her attention always going back to her clueless CEO.
“You should pursue this!” Jenna told me. “Sex is good for relaxation. And you, my friend, need to relax.”
“I thought that’s what yoga was for,” I reminded them, as the rest of our class assembled inside.
“Yoga is great for relaxing,” Jenna admitted. “But sex is better. Much, much better.”
Jenna didn’t need to tell me that, though it had been a long time since I’d had sex half as satisfying as a single kiss from Emerson had been.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to talk or think about it for the next hour, as we sweated and stretched next to each other. By the time class was over, I was more than ready for a mimosa. And to talk about anything but Emerson.
Unfortunately, Emerson was the only thing that Jenna and Kelsey wanted to talk about.
“You should find out his birthday,” Jenna told me as we sat down to brunch. “That way I can get his horoscope and see if you guys are compatible before it goes too far.”
“It’s not going any further than it already has,” I argued. “Besides, he’s not my type.”
Kelsey gave me a look. “Since when is tall, dark, and handsome not your type? He’s gorgeous—he’s everyone’s type!”
“I don’t have time to date,” I tried. “Work is crazy right now, you both know that.”
“There’s always time for sex,” Jenna suggested. “Just use him to get your stress levels down. That will be good for work.”
I sighed and put my head on the table.
“Your aura is very stressed,” Jenna noted.
“You should definitely sleep with him,” Kelsey added.
I ignored both of them and ordered another mimosa.
Hours later, I headed home. There was still a steady flow of noise and construction coming out of Rascals, which was my excuse for pausing in front of the building. Then, before I could think of a good excuse not to, I headed inside.
I found Emerson in his office, head bowed over stacks of paperwork, exactly what I should have been doing at the moment. But instead, I stood there, mesmerized by the sight of him working. It was hot. But then again, I found everything he did to be hot, so why should it be a surprise that I was getting all tingly and bothered over the sight of him crunching numbers?
I rapped my knuckles on the door jamb. He glanced up, and a slow, sexy smile spread over his handsome face.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself,” I commented, realizing that I probably should have showered before coming to see him. After all, I was wearing my yoga gear and my hair was up in a messy ponytail. Not exactly my best look.
But Emerson didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to be mentally undressing me much in the same way he had done last night when I had been wearing my black dress. Again, I had the sudden impulse to tell him what color underwear I was wearing. A blue thong this time.
“I just wanted to stop by and thank you again for last night.” I came over to his desk.
“What part of last night?” he asked, showing me that dimple of his.
I blushed. “All of it,” I admitted. “Though the last part was pretty great.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It really was.”
“Too bad you had to go,” I said, unable to believe the flirtatious words that were coming out of my mouth. What was I doing? Hadn’t I just spent the last several hours detailing to Kelsey and Jenna all the reasons nothing could happen between me and Emerson?
“I really wanted to stay.” Emerson stood, his hands flat on the desk. “You were very, very tempting.”
“But you were a gentleman,” I stated.
“Spent the rest of the night wishing I wasn’t,” he told me.
My skin got hot. “Yeah?” I asked, my voice low and husky.
“Spent a long time in a cold shower wishing I wasn’t,” he said, sending a thrill through me.