Bottle It Up: (A Between the Pines Novel)

by Lisa Shelby

  “Max—”

  “I’m glad he liked you,” he interrupts me but doesn’t elaborate.

  “I really like him too.”

  He squeezes me a little tighter into his side. I take a sip of my wine and then go to lean forward and put it on the table in front of us, but he takes it from me and sets it on the side table next to him.

  He places a kiss on the top of my head that feels almost defeated. “I could get used to this.”

  I should be overcome with joy to hear him say this, yet I can not only hear the underlying frustration that this can’t be our new normal but I can also feel it.

  And it hurts.

  My chin begins to tremble, but before I let my emotions get the best of me, I take control and change the mood.

  Twisting out from under his arm, I sit up and maneuver myself onto his lap. I take his glass from him, and when I rise up to set it next to mine, I purposely make sure my chest is mere centimeters from his face. This is all it takes, and much to my pleasure, his big hands glide up my thighs under my dress to my ass.

  “Whatcha doin’, Emmett?”

  Wine glass in place, I sit back down on his lap and take his handsome face in my hands. His eyes close in contentment for the briefest of moments, and when they open the golds and greens of his hazel eyes shine back at me with want. Or maybe it’s need?

  “I’m taking advantage of the moment.”

  His hands move over my backside and land on my hips with a firm grip.

  “And what is it you’d like to do?”

  “Well, if I had my way, we’d make out here on the couch like a couple of school kids and then you’d carry me to your bedroom and make love to me all night long. Then I’d fall asleep in your arms and you’d wake me in the morning when you crawled on top of me to do it all again. But since I can’t stay the night, the make out on the couch and then the trip to your bedroom will have to do.”

  Before I’ve gotten my last word out, one of his hands is back on my ass and the other is out from under my dress and tangled in my hair as he sits up, colliding his mouth with mine. Within seconds, I’m moaning, he’s growling, and our hands are all over each other. I’ve desperately untucked his pressed shirt and am trying to undo the buttons while he rips my lace panties from my body in one hard tug.

  He rolls me onto my back, and my legs wrap around his waist, but before he continues, he surprises me by pulling back just before our lips are about to come back together. His eyes search mine for something, but what I’m not sure?

  “I didn’t bring you here tonight for this.” I try to speak, but as he usually does, he keeps speaking without giving me the opportunity. “I just wanted you here with me. I needed time alone when I could hold you in my arms and call you mine.”

  His words hold so much love and respect and make me want him all that much more.

  “I am yours.”

  “You sure the hell are.” His voice is gruff. “I just wish the rest of the world knew that.”

  I hate that our situation is hurting him. He’s the last person on earth I want to make feel anything more than joy. I too want the world to know that he’s mine, but it’s out of my hands. All it took was one signature, and our fate was sealed.

  “Max, please kiss me.” My hands wrap around his neck, urging him forward so I can feel his beautiful lips on mine. “Claim me.”

  “Emmett, I’m not sure I can hold back tonight. Are you sure?”

  “I’ve been sure for weeks, Max. Please, don’t make me wait any longer.”

  Much to my surprise, he stands up with me still wrapped around him. “Sorry, but we’re gonna have to cut the make-out session on the couch short. I need you in my bed.”

  As we start walking out of the room, I vaguely hear the sound of Molly following behind us, but all I see is Max. All I feel is the scorching of my skin every time it connects with his.

  His hands are under my now bare backside—since he decimated my panties—and I’m trailing kisses up his neck. When I reach his ear, there’s no feigning my heated breath when I beg him to take me.

  In a flash, my back is pressed against the wall, and the weight of his body holds me in place as his hands stroke up and down my thighs and find their way back to my ass. He pulls back just enough for one hand to caress my hot, wet center, and my body trembles from his touch.

  After a few short strokes, he removes his fingers and sucks them clean. I nearly orgasm from the vision.

  “Emmett, do you know how it makes me feel to know I did this to you? That the woman I dream about every night could be even remotely as hot for me as I am for her?”

  My answer is to attack his mouth with mine while I circle my hips against him, letting him know I’m more than hot for him. I’m ready.

  “Bedroom,” he says against my lips and continues our journey down the hall.

  He’s only taken a few steps when I feel his pants vibrating. “Is that a phone in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

  “Shit.” He walks us into a dark room and sets me on the bed.

  He pulls the phone from his pocket, his face aglow from the bright screen, and his brow furrows.

  “Sorry,” he says with a look that says I wouldn’t take this if I didn’t have to.

  “Of course,” I say as though I’m not bothered but inside hating to lose the heat of his body against mine.

  “Hey, buddy. What’s up?”

  He sits down next to me, and I can hear Nick on the other end.

  “Dad, it’s happening. I knew it would, but it’s really happening now.”

  “Slow down, Son. What’s happening?”

  “Randall is gonna ask Mom to marry him. He just asked my permission.”

  “I thought you liked Randall?”

  “Well, I do, but I don’t want to live with him.”

  “Buddy, he’s a good guy. He treats you and Mom well, right?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “What is it?”

  “I have a dad. I don’t want another dad,” Nick confesses with a whimper.

  Max reaches for my hand, and we sit in the dark listening to his whole heart on the other end of the phone. He’s confused and scared and doesn’t want his dad to think he would ever betray him.

  My heart breaks for both of them.

  “Nick, Randall won’t be your dad, but he can still be an important person in your life. And, buddy, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Is court still next week?”

  “It is, but I don’t want you to worry about that. That’s something your mom and I will take care of. You don’t need to lose any sleep over it.”

  He’s such a good dad.

  “Dad, if it’s okay with Mom, can you come get me? I kinda just wanna sleep at your place tonight.”

  “Bud, I’m working tonight, and it’s already nine o’clock.”

  “Does that mean you’re with Emmett at Josh West’s house?”

  Holding my breath, I wonder how Max will answer.

  “It does.”

  “Cool, she’s awesome! I don’t mind hanging out with her again.”

  The smile on my face is almost painful, and I bounce in my spot on the bed with the knowledge that the most important person in Max’s life finds me awesome!

  “Hang on, Bud.”

  He puts the phone down and looks at me, but I whisper my order before he can say a word.

  “You’re taking me home right now, and you’re going to go get your boy. He needs you.”

  “Thank you for understanding.”

  “There’s nothing to understand. Now, I’m gonna go find what's left of my panties, and I’ll be ready to go,” I whisper in his ear before kissing him on the cheek.

  Leaving him to talk in private, I make my way down the stark hall that needs a woman’s touch. The front room is manly yet, homey and full of things he loves. It’s perfect. I have no idea what the bedroom looks like, but he needs some life on the walls in the hallway. Of course, the blank space
gave him the room to seduce me mere moments ago, so maybe the bare walls should stay.

  When he joins me in the living room, my shoes are on, but I’m digging through the couch cushions in search of my underwear.

  “Looking for these?”

  Spinning around, I find Max headed in my direction with my destroyed lace dangling from his finger. He’s lost his hot and bothered look, but his eyes still smolder.

  “As a matter of fact, I was.”

  “Well, I’ll buy you a new pair because these are mine.” He shoves them in his pants pocket. “I’m really sorry the night is ending this way.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Nick needs you, and it’s kind of hot seeing you as a dad.” I meet him in the middle of the room and take his hand in mine as we walk to the door leading to the garage with Molly on our heels. “Did Lauryn say it was okay for him to come stay with you?”

  “She did. I think she’s so wrapped up with Randall that she will take all the time alone with him that she can. Nick’s been at my place more and more lately. And I love it, but I need it to be permanent and not just because Lauryn needs a babysitter. I want it in writing. Signed by a judge.”

  Once we’re in the garage, he opens my door for me but takes me tightly in his arms and kisses me long and hard.

  “When I finally do make love to you, it’s gonna be a beautiful thing. Until then, I’ll have to hold on to tonight's taste of you to get me through.”

  Chapter 22

  “Earth to Emmy.” Amelia waves her hand in front of my face.

  “Sorry. What was that?”

  We’re at Tell Me About It getting our holiday manicures before our hands are on display at the annual Eastlyn Holiday Festival Dance tomorrow night. My parents talked Amelia and me into working at the raffle table. It always amazes me to see how much people will spend on raffle tickets to win prize packages from local businesses and amateur bakers. It’s one of the biggest fundraisers for the Eastlyn 4H Club every year. We decided if we were stuck at the table most of the night, then we, at the very least, deserved to treat ourselves to manicures.

  “Where were you?”

  “Right here, I heard you.”

  “Oh, really? Then who did Cara just say got engaged last night?”

  Shit.

  When I don’t reply, Cara giggles, and Amelia gives me a look that says I know who you were daydreaming about. She can’t disguise the pity in her eyes, and I hate it.

  “Okay, I lied. I was off in my head somewhere. Who’s getting married?”

  “Well, it feels like everyone these days with Miles and Mason and you and Josh. Now we can add Scheanna and Adam to that list. He proposed last night, and of course, she said yes,” Cara chirps.

  The pity in Amelia's eyes intensifies with the mention of my engagement to Josh.

  “Aw, that’s great news. I’m happy for them,” I say sincerely.

  I’m actually jealous, truth be told.

  I see Max every weekday and some weekends, but I can’t even touch him. Every night when he and Molly leave, I fall into such a deep well of self-pity. Wishing I could have kissed him goodbye or even better, that I could have left with him. What I wouldn’t give to go home with them every night. Josh’s place is great, fabulous even, but I’d rather live in a tent with Max than have to stay away from him. It’s shocking how attached I became so quickly. I guess when you meet the right person, this is how it’s supposed to feel.

  Yes, we have our moments in the security room during the day when we’re alone, but it’s not nearly enough. Smith is a nice guy, but every night when he arrives and signals it’s time for Max and Molly to leave, I have an unwarranted desire to throat punch him. With Josh gone these past couple of weeks, I spend most of my time sulking in my bedroom once they leave.

  “Speaking of weddings, do you and Josh have a date picked out yet?” Cara asks.

  “Nope, he’s been way too busy to even think about it.”

  “So, what had you off in a faraway land then, if not planning the wedding of the decade?”

  “Oh, um...I was thinking about getting a puppy. My security guy brings his French Bulldog to the house on the days I don’t have anything planned, and it’s so nice having a dog around. With Josh gone so much, I think I might get a dog.”

  Amelia saves me and changes the subject from my wedding that’s never going to happen to puppies. She’s the best kind of friend.

  It’s not a lie. I was thinking about Max and how sweet he is with Molly when I wasn’t thinking about being pressed against his wall while he sucked his fingers dry. There are constant flashes of sweet and sexy flickering through my head day and night.

  His adorable pup spends her days going back and forth between the two of us. I have a bed in my office for her now, and I got one for Max to have near his perch in the kitchen. She spends time with him, then she’ll visit me in my office, and then she’ll go back to her daddy. She does this all day long, and I love it. I do have to kick her out when I have meetings. Her snoring is so loud that one of my employees commented on it one day during a conference call. Since then, I take her out to her daddy when I have calls. Every time I drop her off, he picks her up and sets her on his lap like she’s a toddler and gives her a belly rub.

  She’s spoiled rotten.

  But it’s adorable.

  My moments of watching him with Molly are just one of the many I keep bottled up and take sips of when I’m missing him. Like I am today.

  When Miles and his dad built Eastlyn Brewing Company, they not only built the brewery but they also created a place where everyone in town could celebrate all the events of their lives in one place. There is a restaurant, a bar, meeting and event rooms, and the banquet hall we’re using tonight for the final event of the season. The Eastlyn Holiday Festival Dance.

  The Dance, as it’s more commonly referred to, takes place every year on Christmas Eve. When you’re from a small community, the people of your town are like family. Sure, some are that drunk uncle who you hope you don’t get seated next to at dinner, but he’s still family, and you love him. Some are the sweet grandmothers always squeezing your cheeks and telling you to eat more. And there are always the little cousins running around screaming. All of those family members—blood members or not—come to the Dance every year. It doesn’t go too late, so kids are home in time to get tucked in, and parents can put together those big gifts from Santa without staying up all night.

  Nights like tonight couldn’t be more small town, and I love every second of it.

  I’ve always loved knowing I had Eastlyn to come home to, but now I wonder how that will work out with Max and Nick back in Los Angeles. Not sure why I’m thinking about that just yet when there is still so much time on my contract. Who knows if Max will really wait that long? Tonight, I need to push that aside and remind myself how excited I am to be home for Christmas and for the big Dance.

  Growing up, the Dance took place at the rotary club, and I couldn’t wait to get dressed up for it every year. Now that it takes place at EBC, it may be a little more modern, have a bit more space, and a staff of people assisting, but it still has that hometown feel. There’s still a big table full of home-baked desserts, and all the raffle prizes are from business people in the community and put together in fancy baskets. Miles insists that it still decorated like it always had been with homemade, simple decorations.

  Nobody loves this town as much as Miles Montgomery, and it’s never more evident than on nights like tonight. He takes such pride in being able to provide for his community while keeping things as close to how they’ve always been as he can. You could almost call him the unofficial mayor of Eastlyn, but don’t say that around Mayor Sheeran. She takes her job very seriously, and you can see her bristle when Eastlyners go to Miles for help instead of her. She loves Miles, and what his family has brought to the community, everyone does, but I think she’s waiting for the day that the townsfolk ask her to step down so he can take her job.

  It’s a sh
ame Josh isn’t here for the dance, but he does change the atmosphere when he is. No matter how everyone here at home likes to pretend having a famous world-renown star from Eastlyn isn’t a big deal, they still can’t help but get excited when he comes home. It’s sweet but also a little sad. Eastlyn is the one place he should be able to be himself, but you can always see the star-struck emotion lying just under the surface when people outside of The Crew and his parents talk to him.

  Josh left to resume shooting a couple of weeks ago, and he was supposed to be home today. I told him to meet me here, but he hasn’t shown yet. I’m just about to text him when Margie Brown, the widow of our beloved barber, Mel Brown, approaches the table. I haven’t seen her since she lost the love of her life just two short months ago, and I rise to meet her in front of the table.

  “Oh, Margie. I’m so sorry for your loss. We all loved Mel so much.”

  She squeezes me tight. “Thanks, darlin’.”

  It’s her first Christmas without him, and I can’t imagine how hard it must be on her. just as I release her from our hug, her kids walk through the door, and I’m glad to see her support system is here. She may have the entire town behind her, but it’s nice her immediate family is here tonight too since they haven’t stayed in Eastlyn.

  Pulling back from our hug, I stand with my arm around her shoulders while Amelia lightens the mood. “The shop's raffle prize is pretty great this year. You guys went all out.”

  “It was fun to put together. Not sure Mel would have approved of throwing in the six free cuts, but I thought it was a nice addition.”

  “You’re right. He wouldn’t have approved of the free cuts”—Amelia laughs—“but I know the lucky winner will.”

  “How’s the shop doing, Margie? Everything okay? Do you need anything?” I ask, trying not to change the conversation back to Mel but wanting to make sure she’s doing well.

  “You’re sweet, but things are going fine. Miles made sure of it. That friend of yours sure does have a big heart.”

  “That he does,” I agree.

  “It’s nice to see he’s found someone he can share it with. You too, honey. I’m real happy for you and Josh.”