“Not feeling well, today?” Jessi prodded when the salads were brought to the table, and we’d all started to eat.
I almost choked on a portion of lettuce and glared at her.
“Not really, no.” I gave her a pointed look.
“I hope you feel better soon.”
“What’s wrong, Emily?” Roxie asked, not immune to the nonverbal communication that had been going on.
“Nothing, just a tummy bug. I’ll be fine,” I lied, but I didn’t like it.
“Poor thing. I shouldn’t have teased you. I thought you had a hangover or something, or maybe a migraine. You’d left your sunglasses on, so I thought it must be one of those.”
“No, I haven’t had a migraine since—” I’d been about to say since I got pregnant but put the brakes on that. “Not in a while now.”
“Good. I hated seeing you in so much pain.”
We went back to eating, but before long Jessi and Roxie started to chat. Roxie told her about Elmo’s, about how she’d gotten into the business, and Jessi just gaped at her.
“You were dancing at clubs when you were sixteen?” Jessi hadn’t been raised in poverty, but she hadn’t had rich parents. However, she had been raised in my family’s house, and had been very sheltered for the longest time. Since she’d married Trent she’d seen a lot more of the world, but like me, she hadn’t been exposed to the darker side of life.
“My dad ran out on my mom, and Mom became an alcoholic. I had to make money somehow. A cousin of mine told me about it, and well, here I am. Still doing it all these years later.”
“You made something more out of it. That’s what Emily said. She’s so proud of you, you know?”
Roxie’s gaze flicked to me, and I saw something like tears sparkle in her blue eyes, but she blinked them away in an instant. “I only did what I had to do. I enjoy the art of it now. In the early days, it was a nightmare. Men are such sleezebags, but I got lucky and had a group of women who protected me. They kept the worst of the men away from me and showed me the ropes.”
“I’d like to see you perform,” Jessi shocked me by saying, and I gaped at her. “What? Art is art, and what she does is art.”
“I know, but, I just can’t picture you…” I sputtered. “You aren’t going with me with Dylan. I’m putting my foot down about that. Seriously, I’m not walking in that place with Trent in tow.”
“No, it’s not about that. I just want to appreciate what she does. I admire her ability, that’s all. You really do amaze me, you know?” Jessi turned to say to Roxie, who just smiled politely.
“What do you think?” I asked my friend.
“It’s fine with me. I don’t have any objections. You know me, I don’t make a lot of demands on anyone.”
“No, you don’t. I don’t want you to feel like an exhibit either.”
“Oh girl, stop! I’m an exhibitionist, obviously, or I wouldn’t do what I do. It’s not a problem. I promise. Don’t worry.”
“Well, if you’re sure?” I knew what she’d said, but I wanted to be really sure.
“Cool it, Emily. It’s fine. I’d be happy for you to bring Jessi. Your other sister-in-law, if she wants to come.”
“Laura? I’m not sure it’s her thing, but I’ll—” I paused when Jessi waved her hand at me.
“Oh, yeah, Laura wants to come too. She’s even more amazed than me.”
“Really?” Roxie and I asked at the same time.
“Indeed. She’s captivated by the grace of it all. I think she might start taking lessons or something. She’s fascinated.”
We both watched her, and she smiled. “I’m serious. She really likes it. Plus, she thinks Mason might get a kick out of it. You know she’s pregnant, and older than him, and well, I think she wants a confidence boost.”
“I can give her lessons. Gentle ones if she’s pregnant,” Roxie amended at the end, and I felt myself blanch. Roxie didn’t seem to notice, though, because she was ordering another drink.
“I guess it’s a plan then,” I said to cover up my silence and yawned.
“You should get home and rest until you feel better, Emily,” Roxie urged, but I shook my head.
“No, it’s doing me some good, being out of the office and in the sunlight. I get so cold in there sometimes.”
“I nearly froze to death when…” but Jessi didn’t finish because I kicked her under the table. “When I was working at the resorts.”
“Damn bugs are out already.”
“You were cold even with the ovens?” Roxie asked, confused. She knew Jessi was a baker before she married Trent.
“Yeah, sometimes that was the only thing that kept me warm.” She sipped at her drink and looked away.
I hated making her lie.
The moment sucked all of the fun out of the meeting. Jessi made it all better, though. She asked Roxie about the places she’d been to perform, and before long we were laughing all over again.
“I can’t imagine the life you’ve had. You’re really an amazing woman.”
“I’m just me, Jessi, that’s all I can be.” It wasn’t exactly a brush off of the compliment, but I knew Roxie hated them.
She was a proud woman, but she wasn’t one to seek compliments. Maybe that was odd for a woman who had excelled at a profession like exotic dancing, but it was true. She hated compliments.
Jessi took off the bright green cardigan she wore and fanned her face. “It’s so hot already.”
“It is. The tourists are starting to stream in,” Roxie pointed out.
“Traffic is going to be a nightmare soon,” I remarked, and they both groaned.
“Don’t remind me. I can’t stand it. I think I’ll have Trent send the kids and I back to Charlotte for a while,” Jessi said, offhand. “Or maybe we’ll find a place in the mountains.”
“Now that sounds nice,” Roxie said and leaned forward on the table. “Cool mountain shadows, cold springs to play in, and no tourists.”
“Sounds like heaven, doesn’t it?” I sighed. “Dylan needs me here, though. We’re opening next week. All the stupid little things that have caused delays are sorted, and we’re ready to accept guests, at last.”
Which was one more thing stressing Dylan out at the moment. Those final details, but I knew there was nothing he could do about most of it. Things would go wrong and would need to be sorted that first week, but really, that was what he had staff for.
“Maybe after the opening, in a month or two, when it’s really hot and super busy, you could get away?” Jessi asked, and I glanced at Roxie.
“Maybe we should all escape for a week, without the kids or the men, and just have a vacation to ourselves? You could get Laura to come too.”
“That sounds like a really good plan, actually,” Roxie agreed. “I can take the time off, and it would do me good.”
“Even with Nathan?” I asked, pointedly.
“It would do him good not to have me around for a week.” She had that smug look again. “Remind him of what he’d be missing if he walked away.”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Jessi muttered, and we all laughed.
“We can talk about it more later, but I guess we need to find a place first, don’t we? Everything might get booked up otherwise,” I prompted, and Jessi waved me off. “I know a place. I’ll call them later this afternoon.”
“Good. That settles that then.”
“August would be good,” Roxie said, and we all agreed. Right before the kids went back to school, and the last of the tourists were catching what sun they could before the fall came along. It would do us all good to miss that.
I’d be much bigger by then, but not too big. Just big enough for it to be noticeable. I could feel this emotion like excitement mixed with something sweet and happy, and looked at my friends. “I’m so lucky.”
“Fuck me, don’t start crying, Emily.” Roxie handed me a napkin. “I’ll cry with you, at this point.”
“As if you’d ever cry,”
I answered and wiped my nose.
“I don’t know. Nathan’s made me soft, I think. I cried over a movie the other night. So much ick.”
“Say it isn’t so?” I breathed out with mock drama.
“It is so, my dear. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Men make us do strange things,” Jessi butted in, and I nodded.
“You’re right, sister.” I raised my fist in solidarity with her, and we all laughed again.
It had been a pleasant lunch, and I was sad to see it end, but Jessi had to get back to let the babysitter go home, and Roxie had to get ready for work.
I stopped Roxie as she started to leave.
“I’m glad to see you happy, honey. I really am.”
“I know. It’s taken a long time, but I think he might be the one for me.” She put her bag down on the table and sat. “I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
“Oh, I get to meet him?”
“You have to. Until he gets your seal of approval, he’s on shaky ground.” She kissed my cheek and got up to leave. “I value your opinion, even if you aren’t as experienced as me.”
She flounced off with another wink then, and I couldn’t help but laugh. How had these women worked so much magic on me in such a little time? Maybe it was the sea air, but I had a feeling it was them.
I went back in to work and managed to get some work done. Dylan came in to check on me, his gait a little slower than it had been, but otherwise, you wouldn’t know he’d been unable to walk at all a couple of weeks ago.
“How are you darling? I know you aren’t feeling well.” He pulled me into his arms and had a look at me. “You look better than you did this morning, though.”
“I think lunch did me good.” I deflected and kissed him to distract him.
There was one thing that hadn’t changed since Dylan had become ill. Our passion hadn’t dimmed at all. Even with my morning sickness and the exhaustion I felt, I still craved his body and mind. His attention.
“You distract me so easily, woman. I came in to ask if you wanted to have dinner with Laura and Mason. He called me, but I think I’ll answer him later.”
I was a bit surprised my brother had called him, but Dylan distracted me as soon as he closed the door to my office and backed me up against it. I could be surprised later, I decided, and wrapped my arms around his neck.
Dylan
I went through a pile of work orders, invoices, and wished, for just a minute, that I’d given up on the idea of opening a new resort. I was tired, and all I wanted to do was soak in the hot tub with Emily. My back was sore, and my eyes were on fire.
It wasn’t my illness, it was just exhaustion. We were about to open, only a couple of more days to go, and the rooms had all been booked already. The problem was, little things kept being brought to my attention. I wanted everything to be perfect.
I knew it wouldn’t be, I wasn’t naïve, but I wanted it to be as near to perfect as it could be. I had invested my own money, and my name, into this venture. My adoptive father’s name too, so there was a lot of weight on my shoulders. Luckily, Emily was there for me.
She made sure I took my medicines on time, that I ate, that I stopped to exercise, and to rest. She’d be in shortly, if I knew her. It was like she had a schedule written up somewhere, or maybe it was a sixth sense. I didn’t know, I just knew she’d made all of this a lot more bearable.
She’d been quiet lately, and her stomach had given her a lot of problems too. I knew she was stressed, and it was my job to take care of her. I put the stack of papers down and called my PA.
“Have a car brought around for me. Make reservations for Emily and I at that new French place.” The PA agreed happily, and I went up to get Emily.
It was after five, so I knew she’d be up in the kitchen of our penthouse. I wasn’t surprised to find her there. “How about you change, and we go out for dinner? Let’s blow this joint for a little while.”
“Sounds like heaven. I’ll be five minutes.” She disappeared and true to her word, five minutes later she was back in the kitchen.
She had on a loose black silk dress that danced around her knees and a pair of flat black sandals. She looked romantic, sweet, and always sexy. “Beautiful as always, my sweet.”
“Thank you.” She pecked my lips, and we left the building. Dinner was a calm affair, but I was surprised at how much Ranch salad dressing she asked for. She gave me this guilty but totally unrepentant look, and I laughed.
“As long as you’re happy, darling.”
“I love this stuff. Can’t help it.” She poured the bowl into her salad, and the poor lettuce began to float. That didn’t look healthy at all, but she seemed to savor each bite.
When we got home, Emily took a shower, brushed her teeth, and put on a silky sheer nightgown. I found her in the bed ready for me when I came out of the shower myself. “Mm, that looks like dessert is being served.”
“It is. Come eat me all up, Dylan.” Her finger enticed me to draw nearer, and so I did.
I crawled over her and pressed my hips to hers. “I hope you aren’t too full.”
“On the contrary, I’m starving for what you have to give me.”
“Good, because I have plenty to give you.” It might be silly, but my first thought when I realized my legs had stopped working that night was the fact that my dick wouldn’t work if I was dead from the waist down. Then, I’d panicked about the rest, but that really had been my first thought.
Everything worked perfectly fine now, to my relief, and I nuzzled at Emily’s neck with sensual kisses. I felt her shiver beneath me, and my body grew warmer. Her responses to me always made me hot.
With slow, gentle ease I moved my lips down her neck, over her collarbone, and pushed the panel of the gown away from her left breast. Something looked different there, but I couldn’t decide what. Or why.
“Are your nipples darker than usual?” It wasn’t really a concern, I was just confused by it.
“I don’t know, are they?” She sounded as if she was holding her breath, but I had just licked her nipple.
“Doesn’t matter.” I took the bud between my lips and sucked at it with a deep tug. She moaned, and I felt her hips twitch against me.
I moved to the other one and made sure it was just as hard before I turned my attentions elsewhere. My need to subjugate her, once so strong within me, had settled over the last few weeks. Maybe it would come back, I didn’t know, but I didn’t miss it.
I’d been too busy, and Emily had shown me time after time that I didn’t need to be so angry about life. She’d shown me that there was a reason to smile. I knew I’d never totally lose the urge to be dominant, it was part of who I was now, but I no longer felt like I had to punish her.
I’d reacted badly to the news about who her family was, and for a while, I’d treated her as if she’d deserved to be subjugated. I hated that about myself, but I hadn’t been able to stop it. She hadn’t complained, she’d taken it until I’d seen that it didn’t matter how much I did, she’d take whatever I gave her. As long as she had me.
“You are too good for me, Emily,” I whispered as I moved down her tummy. It was a bit round, but she’d had a lot of salad with her dinner. A rather large amount, but she blamed hormones. I hadn’t questioned that and splayed my fingers over the roundness. It made me chuckle, knowing she’d eaten that much, and she squirmed.
“Don’t laugh at my salad belly!” she complained, and I laughed louder.
“Darling you ate about five pounds of salad, if I’m not mistaken.” My hand went lower and teased at her slit without opening her. Just enough to let her know I was there.
“I needed the nutrients, obviously. Don’t tease me, Dylan, it’s cruel.” She wiggled in my arms and tried to force my hand deeper.
“Don’t be so eager, madam. Enjoy the moment. We’ll be too busy in a couple of days to do this.”
“It’s going to be hell, isn’t it?” I heard her sigh though, just as my mouth mov
ed along the place where my fingers had been. I gathered her moisture on my tongue and savored her flavor. It seemed different, sweeter, but I noticed her flavor sometimes changed.
“It won’t be too bad,” I breathed out over her skin. “Maybe we can escape for a few trysts in between demanding guests and screaming staff.”
“How many do you think will quit that first week?” Her voice shook, but she got the words out, even though my fingers had just slid inside of her to open her up.
“A few, but not many. Some of the newbies, definitely. The ones who stay will be loyal.”
“Good. Now shut up and make me come please.” Her fingers came down on my head and held it still while she rocked her clit against my tongue. “Fuck, that feels incredible, Dylan. Don’t stop.”
I obliged and made sure she was wrung dry before I found my own pleasure inside of her. Fucking Emily had always been a pleasure, but now that I knew that pleasure could be stripped away without notice, I made an effort to savor each moment.
I would hate life if I could no longer have sex, but I would hate it even more if I had to impose that on Emily. I had plans for after the opening, things I wanted to talk to her about, choices we had to talk about, and hopefully a future to plan. I wanted to do so much, but I hesitated. I knew she wouldn’t complain if we couldn’t have sex anymore, there was more than one way to sexual gratification, but I knew she wanted kids one day. If I couldn’t give her that, and denied her sexual gratification at the same time, well, I would feel like a rather shit example of a man.
“So good,” she whispered, and I kissed her hot skin.
Her legs were over my shoulders, and I was on my knees, blissful as I slid into her over and over again. This was heaven, and I never wanted it to end. I felt her hand slide between our bodies, and my greedy little imp gasped as she found that spot that made her shiver so beautifully.
She took herself on another ride to the land of nothing, and this time I followed along behind her. I experienced each moment with a sense of wonder, afraid that it might be the last time and I’d forget what it had been like. Ever since that night, every moment with Emily was like that, but when I was inside of her, I made sure I memorized every second of the experience. I never wanted to forget what it felt like.
Dark Truth Page 11
