by Vi Keeland
I sat upright, my mouth forming a small o, but I wasn’t surprised. “And it wasn’t good?”
“No!” she wailed. “That’s the problem. It was amazing. It was agonizing. It was everything those movies make it out to be.”
“So what’s the problem? Unless he didn’t…”
“We did it twice, Emma.” She turned to me, eyes still watering and her lip shaking. “I want to do it again, that’s the problem. I want to do it till the cows come home, but he said thank you. He said thank you! Can you believe that? Thank. You.” Her mouth stretched in irritation. “Thank you, like I’m some maid that cleaned his couch. Thank you. My ass, thank you. And then he suggested we go to the gym together. The gym!”
“I’m sorry, Theresa.”
“Leave the girl alone about our sex life. She’s got bigger problems to deal with than us,” Noah barked from the doorway.
She sucked in her breath and surged to her feet. “That was a private conversation.”
“Not real private when I can hear every damn word. Stop whining, Theresa. I have every intention of bending you over tonight.”
Her mouth dropped and she wavered on her feet before she squeaked out, “You do?”
“Yes.” His eyes sparkled from annoyance, and he pulled out his tie to toss on a table. “Finish your drink, get another one, and come out here to dance with me.”
When he went back outside, Theresa’s hand gripped mine and squeezed. “I know I shouldn’t be excited by that. I know it’s against women’s lib and all that, but I’m going to have sex with that man. I’m going to have sex with him tonight and every night after this, at least that’s what I’m hoping.”
I chuckled and swatted her on the booty. “Go for it, Theresa. Show him who’s the man.”
“I’m the man.”
“Go tell him that.”
Her smile was dazzling and she embraced me, holding me tight for a second. “Thank you, Emma. I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to know you. You have no idea. I don’t make friends that easily and we clicked so well right off the bat.”
I hugged her back, patting her at the same time. “Me too.” But as she pulled away with an excited bounce in her step and joined Noah on the private dance floor, I lost the slight enjoyment I had for the evening. I had other friends. Two of them were very near and dear to my heart and I had abandoned them.
“What’s wrong?”
I whirled around, and there was Carter. He was dressed in a black sweatshirt with a black shirt underneath. His pants were black as well. I had never been one to critique his wardrobe, but I knew enough to know that he hadn’t come from the office. My throat had gone dry. “Where were you?”
His eyes switched from concern to an intense perusal.
I flinched underneath his scrutiny now, knowing he was doing what he always did. He was searching inside of me, trying to read what was wrong with me. His head tilted to the side, his wolf eyes narrowed with thoughtfulness, and his lips thinned. “You’re mad I didn’t come to you?”
His hand reached for my arm, but I flicked it away. “I’m disappointed you didn’t come to me. I’m mad because there are some things we need to discuss, things you’ve been keeping from me.”
He stepped close to me, enough so he brushed against me and didn’t move back. His hand circled to rest on my back, urging me even closer to him. A dizzying wave swept over me. It was always like this, the second he came into contact with me. Lust, pleasure, and so many other emotions blinded me until I only felt one emotion. Need. It was overtaking me again and my eyes closed when I felt his head bend towards mine. His lips brushed over mine, so softly, as he murmured, “I’m sure there are, but right now,” his hand cupped the back of my neck, “we’re here to celebrate you and your promotion.”
My body melted into his. “I haven’t been told the official news.”
His lips pressed against my mouth, taking my breath away. His hand found mine. He interlaced our fingers before he whispered against my lips, “Then let’s make it official.” He turned to the dance floor and called, “Noah.”
“Yeah?” He was leading Theresa inside by her hand. Both looked as if they’d thoroughly been kissed. When my eyes caught hers, she gave me a sloppy smile that told me two things. One, she was happy and two, she was indeed drunk.
Carter curved an arm around my back and pulled me close. He held a hand out—a drink immediately appeared in it thanks to an efficient employee—and he handed it to me before a second one appeared. He held that one in the air. “To a great new product for The Richmond Hotel and to Emma, who received news today…” He lingered as he gave Noah a pointed look.
“Oh, yeah.” Noah lifted his drink higher. “You’ve been promoted, Emma, but these two already broke the news. Congratulations! You’re now the Head of Project Promotions and you’re partnering with the Head of Innovative Projects right here.” His arm squeezed around Theresa. “Congratulations to you both.”
Theresa giggled as she raised her drink. “Congratulations to both of us!”
“Thanks, guys.” I watched as Theresa and Noah clinked their glasses together before taking a sip. She reached up for a kiss, but he batted her away. When her lips formed into a pout, he frowned, but yanked her back out onto the dance floor for privacy.
Carter and I watched through the glass walls as they kissed in celebration.
I chuckled, “Do they know we can see them?”
Carter pulled me to face him and bent his head down. His lips lingered on the base of my neck as he murmured, “I don’t care. As long as we have some privacy.” His hands gripped my hips, and he held me against him, anchored in place as his lips started to explore my neck.
I closed my eyes as a feeling settled in my gut. It wasn’t one that I was used to, but it wasn’t one that I would reject. It was peace. In his arms, surrounded by two new friends, I was happy.
Carter stayed by my side most of the time. He left for phone calls or when an employee would poke their head inside the office, but for the most part it was just the four of us. Noah’s sister came a few hours later. She was a slim girl with platinum hair and twinkling blue eyes. There was a kinship between her and Theresa. As I watched them laugh together, their years of history were obvious and a small prick of envy came to me. When I watched the younger girl interact with her brother, that envy grew into jealousy.
I missed AJ. I missed the hugs. I missed the hair tussles. I missed how he told me what to do and I would ignore him. And I missed the time we never got. AJ died so long ago that I rarely thought of him, but I did that evening. When a few tears came to me, I let them fall freely. They were healing tears, ones that I wasn’t embarrassed to show.
Theresa mouthed to me across the room, “Are you okay?”
I nodded. I was. I really was.
Carter returned from another call and saw everything. He took my hand, pulling me into one of the back bedrooms. When he flipped a switch, the lighting was soft and low, but I saw that it wasn’t a bedroom. Two large couches were set up along with a sectional in the other corner. The wall was covered with a large flat-screen television. He turned it on, but muted the sound. It was of the club downstairs. Every minute the screen would change to another room in Octave.
Then he turned and studied me. The multi-colors from the television flashed over him, casting him in a changing canvas of shadows. It made him seem more alluring and dangerous. He asked, “What happened?”
I sighed. He always knew. “Nothing.”
“Emma.”
“Nothing,” my voice rose.
He took my arm and pulled me close. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” His hand tightened, but I didn’t feel it. His touches were becoming a second skin to me. “It’s seeing them out there.”
“Did they do something?”
“No, it’s their love for each other, and Theresa grew up with them. It’s—”
“AJ.”
At that one word, the dam broke in me. I had kno
wn that I missed him, but those earlier emotions were nothing compared to the storm that took over me now. I fell to the couch and Carter went with me. He lifted me into his lap and pressed a kiss to my forehead. He brushed my hair back and continued to do so. His touch was tender and soothing, but he was right. It was AJ. I missed my brother.
“I miss him too.” Carter gave me a smile, but it was haunted. “We don’t talk about AJ that much, but I loved him. I don’t protect you because of him, though. I know you think that, but that’s not why. I protect you because of you, because…”
My heart pounded and my eyes grew wide. Was he going to say what I thought he was going to say…? I waited, my breath held, but a guarded look came over him.
He started to look away, but I grabbed his chin. I held him in place. “Carter.”
The guarded look slid away. “Yes?”
My hand tightened. “What were you going to say?”
“When?”
I moved so I was straddling him. His hand gripped the back of my hips. I was pressed against him, my chest to his, eye to eye and I lingered with my lips just above his. I whispered to him, “What were you going to say to me?”
His chest lifted and I felt the air that he drew in. My eyes closed. My breath went with him, into him.
He still didn’t say it.
“Please,” I wrenched out.
“Why?”
“Because I think I know.” I hoped I knew. Every nerve in my body was stretched with want. I wanted to hear those words. The need was blossoming in my chest, ready to explode. “Tell me.”
He grinned. “Tell you what? That I care about you? You already know that.”
“Stop teasing me.”
His smile slipped and his eyes dropped. They lingered on my lips, where I was teasing him. Then he said it, “I love you.” Everything fell away in that moment.
My eyes caught and held his. My hand fell to his chest, and it stayed there, feeling his heart. He tilted my head back and pressed a kiss underneath my chin as he murmured, “I have always loved you.” Another kiss. “I will always love you, Emma. There’s been no other for me.” His hand slid to the back of my neck and his lips moved back to mine. “Now, do you love me?”
I grinned against him, unable to hold it in. “You know I do.”
His hand tightened behind me. “Say it.”
“I love you.” My body melted to his. I became one with him as I said those words. Then I said it again, because I could, “I love you. I always have.”
His lips opened over mine, demanding his entrance. I gave it, because I needed all of him, as much as I could get.
TWENTY
The rest of the night was spent in a mix of anticipation, agony, and adrenalin. I was addicted to Carter and we couldn’t go long without a touch or a look between the two of us. Theresa noticed something was different when we came back to the main dance floor. Her eyebrows went high and she crossed the room to grab my hand. “What happened?”
“What do you mean?” I was breathless. My body was still tingling with the knowledge that Carter loved me. He loved me. A new set of sensations rushed through me.
“Emma, I might be drunk, but I’m not stupid. You’re glowing.” Her mouth dropped. “Did you guys get it on in there?”
“No!”
She shrugged. “A bit kinky, but we are at Octave.” She glanced at Carter as Noah handed him a drink. “And he’s the owner. You could do it on the main dance floor if you wanted.” She cringed. “Make sure it’s clean, though, huh?”
“We didn’t get it on.” We had come close.
“Why not? I would if he were mine.” Her voice dipped low to a seductive drawl.
Carter looked over. His eyes lingered on Theresa and narrowed before he turned back to Noah.
She barked out a laugh. “God, how many times does he get hit on? I was giving him the bedroom eyes, a lip quiver and everything and nothing. He’s loyal, I can tell.”
I stiffened. Should I get pissed about that?
Then she sighed, “I was wrong with all my rants before about him. Noah always said I didn’t know what I was talking about and I should’ve listened to him.” She gave me a wide smile. “I hope you have hot and dirty sex tonight, do it for me.”
I glanced towards my boss. “I don’t think I need to. I think you’re going to be having your own tonight.”
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I love Brianna, but she freaked out when she saw us flirting. Look at her over there now.”
The petite blonde stood close to both men. When one of her hands lifted, as if to rest on Carter’s chest, a bolt of possessiveness went through me. He was mine. Carter caught my look, curved the ends of his mouth up, and moved out of her reach. The hand fell back to her hip, but she stiffened and her head straightened upwards. He shot me a smoldering look as if to reassure me, but I blinked rapidly and shook my head to clear the need to go over there and drag the little girl away. It was primal, setting off the ache between my legs again.
Theresa sipped her drink and murmured, “Holy woman, another hot look from him.”
“So his sister doesn’t approve of the two of you?”
She grinned at me. “Nice subject change, but I’ll take the bait.” She took a deep breath before sipping on her drink again. “Brianna is the princess in Noah’s family. Everybody dotes on her and she’s here, trying to prove that she can make it on her own. Of course, she’s doing it so she can get their grandfather’s inheritance. He made a stipulation that she had to keep a full-time job for so many years before she could touch that money. So this is her, trying to prove to everybody she can make it.”
“You guys seemed fond of each other.”
“We are. I love her like a little sister, which is probably why she freaked out when she saw me and Noah dancing together.” A sad tone rose in her voice. “And if little sister isn’t okay with it, then big brother won’t do it. Heavens that Brianna might be disturbed by something. She’s been through so much since their grandfather died ten years ago.” Her sarcasm was thick at the end.
“So everybody does what she wants?”
“Yeah,” she finished her drink and moved to the bar for another. “When their grandfather died, she had been with him. The next year was hard on her. She couldn’t sleep. She was barely eating. She started drinking, doing drugs, all of it. Unprotected sex. To say that she put that family through a second wringer after losing their grandfather is an understatement. Noah will not do anything to jeopardize her health in any way.”
“They’re okay with her working here?”
“Are you kidding me?” She shook her head. “After the initial shock, they love it. She loves it. That’s all that matters. They don’t care as long as she goes somewhere and makes money. Plus, she got that promotion.” When the bartender handed her the drink, she took a big gulp before setting it down roughly. “I know your man did that as a favor to Noah, but it didn’t help her. Now she’s got it in her head that the boss wants her. Look at her.”
She had edged close to Carter again. Her head was tipped back, her long hair cascaded down her back, and her lips were pursed in an adorable pout. I gritted my teeth and tried to keep my fingers from shattering my glass.
“I’m sorry,” Theresa groaned. “I love her. I’m just a bit sore because the night I wanted with Noah isn’t going to happen now. I don’t think it’ll ever happen.”
“She can’t have that much say over your life.”
“She does and she will.” Her eyes darkened. “And I know Noah. He is overprotective to the extreme. If there’s a slight chance that it would send her into the tailspin like before, he won’t chance it. He hasn’t even looked at me since she got here. And he won’t. We’re back to pretending we don’t know each other and I’m only his employee.”
I remembered their small argument the first night at her apartment. “That’s what it was before?”
“Yeah. His mother is great. She always includes me with their family event
s, but I’m not their family, not really. Noah doesn’t want me around his family. Brianna does, but not in the way I want to be there.”
“With him?”
“Exactly.”
“That sounds lonely.” It sounded like me. Carter had been my family, and then it was gone when AJ died. I destroyed my second family as well.
“I’m fine.” A hard edge was in her voice as she tossed back the rest of her drink. When she placed the glass back on the bar, she swayed to the side. I caught her, steadying her, but her head hung down. “Maybe I should go home.”
“It’s close to closing. Maybe we should all go.”
Her hand found mine that was on her arm. She squeezed it. “Thanks, Emma. I can already tell that you’re a good friend. Some days I think that’s the only thing I’ll get, good friends.”
My voice was gruff. “Friends can be the best family sometimes.”
“I know.”
“What are you two talking about over here?” A sweet voice came from behind.
Theresa stiffened. “Nothing, Brianna. How’s your night?”
Up close, her bright blue eyes were dazzling. With a small nose, the perfect tiny mouth, Noah’s little sister resembled a pixie. Cute and adorable, but the feigned innocence in her depths shifted as she met my gaze. She let something dark slip for a second before her blinding smile rose a notch and excitement filtered through to cover it. The black staff shirt of Octave was tight on her, allowing a few inches to showcase the golden tan of her stomach. The uniform stipulated black shirt and black pants, and Brianna’s black pants stuck to every curve she had. She stuck a hand out. “We haven’t formally met, though Noah filled me in.”
“Brianna, this is Emma. Emma, Brianna.” Theresa waved her hand between the two of us.
When my hand took hers in the handshake, she held on a second longer than necessary. The warning was given. When my eyes narrowed, she let go. The smile never slipped a notch. “And you know Carter as well?”