She is standing at the doorway of her bedroom dressed in a slinky black dress and very high heels. She is at least three inches taller than normal. Her shoulders are bare except for thin straps. The dress is not tight, but every curve of her body is on display. I think of all the men who will look at her and feel a tightening in my gut. I squash it down. They can look, but I’ll be the one taking her home and fucking her senseless.
“Wow,” I exclaim softly.
“Now, you’re just exaggerating,” she retorts, making a face. This time, she sounds as nervous as I feel.
“You know me better than that. I never exaggerate,” My heart is thumping in my chest.
She smiles. “Yeah. You’re not one for exaggerating.”
“That’s right.” I stand and walk over to her. “Are you mine, Jade Emerson?”
She looks up at me. Her eyes shiny and enormous. Her plump lips part. “Yes.”
“No flirting with other men?” I murmur.
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Only me?”
“Only you,” she confirms softly.
“Good. Because I don’t want to punch anyone tonight.”
A slow smile spreads across her face and her voice is teasing and playful. “So, you’re saying we’re like, together?”
An unfamiliar feeling of affection radiates from my chest making me feel wonderful. A smile forms unbidden on my face. “Is that what you want?” I ask.
She shrugs, but humor dances in her eyes. “Hey, you’re the one talking about me not flirting with other men. Your words, not mine.”
I test the waters. “I can take it back if that’s what you want.”
“You better not,” she says seriously. “I belong to you, remember?”
I nod. Satisfaction fills me at her response. I’m not used to feeling this way. It’s new but good. So much for not being impulsive.
I lightly brush my lips with hers and her perfume fills my nostrils. God, she is intoxicating. If I stand here a moment longer, we’re going nowhere. “Let’s go.”
Downstairs, we leave the great glass door and the balmy tropical night envelopes us like a long-lost friend. There is excitement in the hot air. My blood drums in my ears as I watch Jade climb into the waiting limo.
Chapter 16
Luke
It is lovely and cool inside the limo. I uncork a mini bottle of champagne and pour it into a pair of fluted glasses. She watches me from beneath her lashes. Her thigh is touching mine. I hand her a glass.
“We’re like what, ten minutes in?” she asks. “And you’re already trying to get me drunk?” She shrugs. “It works, I guess.” Her laughter bubbles up like the champagne in her glass, and it’s just as intoxicating.
“I don’t need to get you drunk. Behold last night and this morning,” I counter, grinning at her.
“Touché.” Tipping her head back, she slams the whole thing.
I take a sip and watch her. I’m trying to understand why she gets under my skin the way she does. Why her?
She opens a lidded container. It has little canapes. She bites into it delicately. “Mmm…lemon grass and chicken.”
“Let me taste,” I urge.
“Get your own. I’m not sharing.”
“I don’t like to share, either,” I say, my voice low.
She knows exactly what I mean, and I watch a smile cross her face. I can tell she might just like me as much as I like her.
We get to the restaurant, and I help her out of the limo. Inside, a hostess in traditional costume puts her palms together and leads us to a table. There are palm fronds all around us. Every head turns to look at us. We must look good together.
The wine list is not the best I’ve seen, but I order a light Muscadet to go with our high spiced food.
“To us,” I say, lifting my wine glass.
“To us,” she echoes.
The delicate way she sips her wine is driving me crazy. Everything she does is sexy to me. She could snort when she laughs, and I would still find it charming as hell. “You’re fucking sexy, you know.”
“Oh please,” she says with a laugh, but then she licks the rim of her wine glass.
It’s something that many a woman have done to tantalize me, but when she does it, it pierces right to the heart of me, sending desire surging through my veins. I want her bad. And I want her right now.
I picture ripping her dress off and sucking on her gorgeous tits right in the middle of the restaurant. Laying her on the table and eating her out for dinner and dessert. My cock stirs in my pants.
“What?” she asks, a single, delicate eyebrow raised.
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me,” she prompts.
“What if I don’t want to?” I tease.
“Well then, I guess we won’t be having sex anymore,” she says,
I stare at her. Surrounded by ferns and greenery she is like a seductive nymph. “Why is that?”
“If you can’t tell me what you’re thinking, then I can’t let you into my pants.” She shoots me a seductive smile.
This girl is killing me, and I’m loving every second of it. I’m starting to think that this thing between us might just work out after all. The food arrives and it is delicious. I do that thing I never do. I spear a morsel of food on the end of my fork and hold it out for her.
She takes it between her lips. Her eyes watching me. Oh, sexy.
Then she flutters her eyelashes comically and laughs at herself.
I laugh too.
We have so much fun together, and for the first time, I want more of that in my life. Fun. But not just any kind of fun. Fun with her. Fun where we go back and forth, teasing each other. Fun that makes everything we do together exciting and new, even if it’s not the first time we’ve done it. Her stockinged foot slides up my leg.
God, I want this woman.
I excuse myself from the table and go to the restroom. I’ve got to adjust myself because the conversations we were having, the thoughts I’ve been thinking, and her wandering leg, have given me a painful erection. This is definitely not the sort of place for me to be showing it off.
As I re-enter the dining area, I run into a business associate from way back, Matt. We weren’t close or anything, but we’ve hung out outside of work before. I haven’t seen him for years, and I almost didn’t recognize him.
“Luke-fucking-Remington,” he says loudly, clapping his meaty hand on arm.
“Hey, man,” I reply, surprised to meet him in Bangkok of all places.
“How the hell are you?”
Alcohol fumes hit me in the face and I lean back slightly. “I’m good. Really good, in fact. What are you doing here?”
He grins broadly. “Business, of course. Like there’s anything else? What about you? Is this business or pleasure?”
I shrug. “Business, mostly.”
He gives me a skeptical look. “I didn’t recognize you from the back before, but if you’re with that hot chick over there, I guessing she’s the eager little assistant, and you’re dipping your pen in the company ink, huh? You dirty dog, you.” He laughs at his own joke and slides his eyes over to where Jade is sitting. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t mind a bit of that ass myself.”
I’m not laughing. My stomach is churning. I hate the way he’s talking about Jade. As if she’s nothing. A piece of meat. And like I’m hanging around her just to get laid.
My whole life, I’ve had issues with relationships because my dad cheated on my mom with his bimbo secretary. It broke up the family, my mom never got over it and I hated my dad for it. It’s been weighing heavily on my mind ever since I saw Jade in that towel, but I’ve pushed the thought away more than once when she and I are together.
But to have someone else echo my own doubts, even as a joke, is like getting hit in the balls with a speeding baseball. I’ve spent my whole career making sure I didn’t get involved with anyone I worked with and what do I end up doing? Exactly what my father did. I’
m banging my secretary. Worse, I’m imagining all kinds of feelings to camouflage the fact that I’m just like my dad. Weak and without real principles. All my great protestations were only good while there wasn’t real temptation. As soon as there was one, I fell for it hook, line and sinker.
I scowl at Matt.
Even though he’s hammered, he senses the shift in my mood. “Hey, I was only kidding, dude. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Whatever, man,” I say, pushing past him. I make my way back to the table. I’m done with him, and I’m done with this dinner. And I’m done with Jade. It’s not just about my own reputation, although that is a serious issue for me. It’s about hers too. Everyone will look at her the way Matt just did. They’ll think of her as slutty and cheap, when she is anything but those things. I like her too much to let people treat her that way. I can’t do this with her. I’ve been fooling myself. We’re away. In a hot country. We’re both attractive and we just lost our head. But the fun clearly has to end, for her sake and mine.
I walk up to the table. “We need to go.” I hate the cold sound of my voice, but it’s the only way I can get through this.
A flicker of surprise crosses her face. She doesn’t ask why. She simply sets her glass of wine down and stands up, so we can leave.
I don’t blame her for the confused expression on her face. I didn’t really explain to her what caused my sudden mood shift. I don’t want to explain it. And I don’t need to.
I’m coming off like an asshole, but my run in with Matt has me shaken up. He made it impossible for me to carry on pretending that what I’m doing is okay. Why the fuck did I have to run into him tonight? It ruined my good evening, and now, possibly even ruined things with Jade forever. I’ll never be able to look at this situation the same way again.
“Is something wrong?” she asks, as we walk out of the restaurant.
“No,” I say, trying not to snap at her. It isn’t her fault that I’m upset. I’m the bad guy here. I’m the fool who let things get this far. I have rules in place to avoid situations like this, but I stupidly broke those rules for Jade. My father must be laughing in his grave. Wait until you are in my shoes, then let’s see if you can walk away, he told me once when I begged him to come back to Mom. I spat in his face and told him I’d never be like him. Never.
Well, Dad…
She is my assistant. And I made a mistake. She’s beautiful and I got carried away. But I’m not going to carry on letting my dick decide my life. I’m not you. Not now. Not ever. I won’t let that happen. I’m better than you.
I know I’m hurting her, but in the long run, this will be for the best for her too. She deserves better. I’ll just end up breaking her heart and almost certainly hurting her career if I keep going with this. I could never live with myself if I did that.
I’m aware she wants to know what’s going on. Jade has a baffled expression on her face. I just can’t be with her. It’s not right for either of us. I just hope I can make her see that without tearing her heart to pieces like mine is right now.
Chapter 17
Jade
The limo pulls up to the curb five minutes after Luke calls the driver. Five minutes that seems like five hours of uncomfortable silence. I feel embarrassed by the way he rushed us out of there. Like I’m a child who threw a hissy fit in a grocery store and had to be yanked out by an adult.
The driver opens the door up for us. I get in first while Luke stands waiting for me. I’m surprised he does something so gentlemanly, considering his clearly agitated state. He gets in after me, and we pull away from the curb.
We sit in the limo, drowning in silence. There’s no laughing or playful banter. It’s completely different than the ride to the restaurant. It’s as if a different person is now in the limo with me. Someone cold and distant. Someone I really don’t know at all. Something is seriously wrong. He was fine until he went to the toilet. Did he get a phone call when he was in the bathroom? Was it business related? I want him to tell me what’s going on. He’s hiding something.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him. It’s the third time I’ve asked, but I can’t help it. I won’t just settle for ‘nothing’. It’s tearing me apart that he won’t just tell me what’s happening.
“Nothing,” he repeats. There’s a bitter tinge to his voice.
This is driving me crazy. Tonight, I felt myself get ready to take a ride on cloud nine. Now, I don’t know if things between us are heating up or cooling down. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll have to quit my job and move away. I’ll have to start all over.
“Please, Luke. Just talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.” I’m not trying to sound like I’m begging or anything, but desperation creeps into my voice. He’s totally shutting me out, and I don’t know what to say to get through to him.
“It’s really nothing, okay?” he says, staring out of the window.
I’m getting more and more upset with him. Is it too much to want to know what the hell is going on? One moment everything is hunky dory and the next, he has become this cold stranger. My mind goes into overdrive. Maybe he went to the restroom because he was having second thoughts about me. Or he suddenly realized he didn’t actually like me, after all. Maybe this is what all the women in his life get when he is done with them. Maybe it was all in my head. I was always just another notch on his bedpost.
This last thought hurts, and the pain motivates me to keep pressing him.
“Can you please tell me what the hell is going on?”
Luke ignores me. He just stares out the window, avoiding my gaze. Like this is just some fling he’s had, and he desperately wants me to go away. This is bullshit, and I want to call him out on it. I want to tell him he’s being a complete asshole, and I don’t deserve this shit. Not from him. Not from anybody. Maybe I just shouldn’t care. Maybe I should turn cold and distant like he is. But I do care, dammit.
Plus, the way he spoke to me really bothers me. I turn my head to look out the window, puzzled and hurt. I just want to get back to the hotel and not have to deal with any of this.
I feel his hand on my leg, and whirl my head around to look at him.
“I’m sorry,” he says softly. “It’s a long story, and one I have never shared with anybody. It has to do with my father.”
This issue, whatever it is, is clearly personal and painful. I want to place my hand on his to comfort him, but I don’t because my feelings are still hurt. I don’t want him to feel like I’m pressuring him, but I do want to know. I want to know what his father has to do with me. “Will you tell me?”
Luke winces, then looks out the window, like he can’t face me. “When I was little, I looked up to my father. He ran his own business like I do now. It was nowhere near as big as mine, but it was a respectable size, and he was respected in our community. Then, he had an affair with his secretary and when my mom confronted him, he simply ran off with her.” He shakes his head bitterly at the memory. “What my father did was awful. It tore my mom apart. It tore our family apart. When people found out, they treated my mother like a joke. Like it was somehow her fault. And they treated him like a joke. He was that cliché fucking businessman chasing skirts at the office and banging his secretary. Ever since then, I’ve had my rule about not dating people who work with me. I refuse to follow in his footsteps.”
I take a deep breath, as I try to process it all. I’m glad he opened up, but I’m not really sure what else to say to him. Even if he is having some kind of internal crisis, the way he’s treating me still isn’t fair. So, he has some issues from his past with his father? I don’t understand what this has to do with me, or why he feels the need to treat me this way. None of this is making any sense to me.
“Because I never wanted to repeat the sins of my father.”
I’m not really sure how he expects me to take this. It feels like a knife to the back. I don’t really know what to do. It’s easily the most hurtful thing I have ever heard in my life. And possibly, the most heartbre
aking.
“Fuck, this sucks so bad. I don’t know what to do with these feelings I’m having.”
Pride comes to the rescue. “Pleeeeease, don’t uproot your principles for my sake,” I say sarcastically, and scoot myself away from him. I stare out the window, picturing how the night could have gone had he not freaked out like this. We could be sharing dessert right now, or getting ready to leave. We could be headed for a stroll, or just headed back to the hotel to screw each other’s brains out.
Instead, we’re sitting here in this icy silence. So now, for the first time since we got here, I feel homesick. I feel ready to go home. But we still have two more days here. Two more God-awful days. Neither of us speak for the rest of the ride back to the hotel. When we get there, we walk inside and ride the elevator together in silence. I stare at the lighted floor numbers. What is there left to say? Obviously, he’s made up his mind and I’m not going to beg.
I can feel him staring at me. His gaze is boring into me. I try to ignore it and focus on the elevator passing each floor.
Only four more to go until ours.
I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life. I hate every second of the ride.
Three more floors.
I just want out of here. I don’t want to be standing next to him any longer.
Two more floors.
Hurry up, I silently urge. We’re almost there, then I can be away from him.
Just one more floor.
Evading his look, I pull my cardkey out of my purse. As soon as we reach our floor, I step out of the elevator and go to our suite. I shove the key into the slot as fast as I can and open the door. I get inside, dash across to my bedroom, and close it quickly.
I lean against the door feeling so hurt, so angry. He led me up the garden path, with his bullshit about being his. He made a fool of me. Tonight, he actually made me think we could be together. That he might actually be falling for me. If he has such a big problem being with me, he should have never let things get this far. He should never have allowed this to start in the first place. I hear his footsteps move to his bedroom and his door shut.
Too hot to handle: A curvy girl romance Page 38
