by Nana Malone
“I came to see you,” she said softly, leaning against the doorjamb. “You look like hell.”
He let out a strangled laugh. “I feel like it.” She gave him a half smile and he felt it all the way to his groin. “You shouldn’t be here, Emma.”
“Shouldn’t as in you think you are protecting me?” she said, pushing away from the doorway and entering his office. “Or because you don’t want me here?”
Hell no it wasn’t because he didn’t want her here. He wanted her closer, in his arms where he could bury himself in her hair and forget the past few days. The up and down rollercoaster of what he should and should not do had nearly killed him, knowing that he shouldn’t contact Emma, though his thumb had hovered over her number a dozen times. Steven had confirmed that she was all right but that he would have to do a great deal of convincing her to get her back. “She’s stubborn,” Steven had concluded the night that he left to go back to the guard. “And for some godforsaken reason she wants you. I think you two are a match made in heaven or hell depending on which side of the tracks you’re on.” Zach had spent the rest of the night attempting to figure out what he needed to do to win Emma over, yet here she stood, asking him the question of a lifetime.
“Ems, I—”
She held up her hand. “Please don’t give me anything but the truth Zach. I’ve had enough of what I should do and what I shouldn’t do. Tell me who you are Zach.”
Zach swallowed, running a hand through his hair nervously. He didn’t want to tell Emma who he was. Of all the people in his life, Emma was the only one that he didn’t want to disappoint. Emma walked over and sat in one of the chairs before his desk, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m waiting.”
“Ems,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. She was slowly killing him. Fuck, there was no way out of this one unless he wanted her to walk away. “You want to know about me,” he said slowly, sinking back into his chair, his hands shaking. “Fine. I’m a nobody. A loser. My father was shit and treated me like it too. He never gave a damn about me and frankly, I hated him just as much as he hated me.”
He forced himself to look over at Emma, hating that she had tears in her eyes for him. Nobody cried over him these days. “Em, don’t cry.”
She wiped her eyes. “Go on.”
He sighed and looked away, his eyes focusing on the dark walls of the office. “I took off to London after graduation with nothing more than the pounds your family gave me for graduation and the rest that I was able to get for selling my shit.” He had come with nothing, not even a pot to piss in and barely enough money to survive a month in London. But he was free of his father, no longer under his thumb and if he died on the streets, it would be a better death than he would have experienced back home.
“I got lucky. I found a job promoting clubs in London, passing out flyers and moving people toward the clubs.” It had been a lucrative career and that was when he had found how much he liked business, even if it were a little seedy. “I found a guy willing to give me a chance and let me manage his club. I made him more than enough money in the first year.”
Emma was silent so Zach continued on, feeling lost in his words. “I started classes at the university, got a degree in business during the day and worked the clubs at night.” The owner of the club had shaken his head the day he had seen Zach studying for an exam. “You are fucking making me an arse load of money,” he had said. “The degree can’t replace the good business sense in your head Zach. Why torture yourself?” But he had pressed on, completing his degree and finding an outlet in investments with the money he was making from his job at the club. “Turns out I have a knack for numbers,” he said with a wry smile. “I tripled my money in six months and because of the connections I had made as a manager, I found a building and opened my first club at the end of that year.”
“Club Thames,” Emma said, supplying the name he was about to say. He turned toward her and she gave him a little shrug. “It was a good guess.”
He gave her a quick nod. “Club Trend was the last of four I’ve opened. I also own a bakery, a few car garages, and am about to invest in my first restaurant. I don’t know much about cooking, but the chef is a fucking genius.”
Emma looked at him and he could not detect any disdain or hate in her eyes. “Why didn’t you just tell me in the beginning?” she asked softly. “It sounds like you have made a life for yourself Zach, a great life.”
Zach blew out a breath, knowing this was going to be the reason she walked away. “Because I am responsible for the greatest pain in your life.”
29
Emma
Emma could hear the pain in Zach’s voice and her hands itched to touch him but she held back. She wanted to hear the entire story. “Tell me why you think you are responsible for my brother’s death,” she said.
He ran a hand through his hair, the grief etched on his face. “I let him go that night, Ems. He was at the club and he was so blitzed. I cut him off and he was belligerent. Ticked off that I dared not serve him. When he wasn’t looking, I knicked his keys so at least he wouldn’t drive home. I planned to take him home myself, but then I got distracted with work. I didn’t even realize he’d taken his keys back. I lost one of my best mates because I was busy lining my fucking pockets.”
Emma felt the same grief in her chest, her brother’s death never far from her mind. He would always be part of her life, but Ben had made his own choices in his life and unfortunately had lost it as well. Rising from the chair, she walked around the desk and stepped in front of Zach, his arms going around her waist and resting his head against her stomach. Her hands went into his hair and she held him there, her voice soft. “You’re not responsible for his death, Zach. Ben made that choice to drive drunk when he could have easily gotten a cab. No one holds you responsible. I don’t blame you nor would I ever blame you for his death.”
He shuddered against her as she ran her hands through his hair, wondering why on earth he would think he was responsible. Well, no more. Despite what happened to them, Zach could now let go of that guilt in his life. Zach let go of her and pushed away, standing. “I don’t deserve you.”
Emma let out a little laugh, dropping her arms at her side as she stared at his strong back. “Well I don’t deserve you either.”
He spun around and she could see the emotions in his eyes, his jaw clenched tightly. “What?”
Emma took a step forward, her hands on her hips. “You know you are right, Zach. I don’t deserve a kind, wonderful, devilishly handsome bloke like you. I don’t deserve someone who is passionate about his work, full of life, and a surprise at every turn.”
His jaw clenched tighter and Emma pressed on. “Most of all, I don’t deserve to love a man like that, but I do. I love him to distraction. He holds everything for me, my heart and my future.”
When he didn’t say anything, she dropped her arms, her heart hammering in her ears. “Tell me that he feels the same, please.”
“Ems,” he said brokenly, his eyes drifting away from hers. “I’m not that man you just described.”
Emma sucked in a deep breath, not realizing how much this would hurt. He wasn’t going to tell her. She had just poured out her heart and soul to him and he was going to let her walk away because he thought he wasn’t good enough for her. “Fine,” she forced out, tears gathering in her eyes as she gave herself one long look at him before turning away. “Then I can’t be with you.”
She walked to the doorframe before he grabbed her from behind, pressing her against his hard body. “But I am the man that loves you more than he loves anything in this world,” he said in her ear, his voice full of emotion. “I’m not perfect in any sort of way, but I can provide for you, ensure that you never want for anything in your entire life. I can love you for the rest of my days and beyond.” His breath shuddered in her ear. “I don’t deserve you, Ems, but I sure as hell am not going to lose you.”
“Zach,” she said as she turned in his arms, pressing
her face into his chest. His arms locked around her and he held her against him tightly, the pounding of his heart against her cheek. He wasn’t going to let her walk out. He loved her.
“Bloody hell Em don’t ever leave me again,” he said, pressing his lips into her hair. “I am fucking miserable without you.”
“Well don’t ever walk out on me again and I won’t,” she said, snuggling against his chest. “You know Steven approves of this relationship.”
Zach exhaled. “Yeah I know or we wouldn’t be standing here together.”
Emma grinned, pulling away so that she could look at Zach. This close up she could see the bruise just starting to shade on his jaw where Steven had hit him. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Ems,” he said, leaning down to brush her lips against his. Emma reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to deepen the kiss. She had missed him so much and now that all of their secrets were out in the open, it was time to do some making up. Zach growled into her mouth but he didn’t push her away, instead pulling her tightly against him to where she could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing against her stomach. “I need you,” he said against her lips. “So damn much.”
When he lifted her off the ground, she didn’t complain, instead pushing at his jacket in an effort to get it off him. He complied, his eyes feral and hot with need as he laid her down on his desk, his arm sweeping away the papers onto the floor. Emma grabbed at him, but Zach gave her a grin as he grasped both of her wrists, pulling them over her head. “No, it’s my turn.”
“Zach,” she said as he slid his hand down her body, still fully clothed but feeling as if she was lying here naked with the way he was touching her. When his hand touched her breast, she arched against his hold, gasping as his thumb found her erect nipple. “Please.”
“Please what?” he asked in a low voice, his hand tightening on her wrists. “What do you want, Emma?”
“I want you,” she said as his hand drifted lower, cupping her through her pants. “I want you, Zach.”
He leaned over and kissed her hard, his bulge pressing where his hand had just been. “I want you too,” he said against her lips. “But in my own time.”
Emma let out a half laugh, half gasp as he pulled away, her body tight with both needing and wanting to have him all over her. Zach chuckled as well as he tugged on her pants, pulling them down with one hand until they were pooling at her ankles. “Emma Welsh, where are your knickers?”
Emma blushed. “I—Well, I forgot to put them on today.” She hadn’t really, but had rather hoped something like this would be happening in her near future. Thank God she had been right.
“Naughty,” Zach said as he ran a finger down the center of her, already wet with anticipation. “What am I going to do with you?”
Emma closed her eyes and arched toward his hand. “Y—you’re going to love me.”
Zach leaned over her as he inserted a finger, nearly causing her to buck off the desk. “No, Emma. I am going to fuck you. Loving you has never been the problem.”
Her heart expanded as she heard his simple words. There was a part of her that had always loved him as well and now he was hers. She would spend a lifetime loving Zach. His finger drifted back up to her clit, rubbing it in a lazy circle. “You know I like you like this, submissive and allowing me to do whatever the bloody hell I want to.”
“D—don’t get used to it,” she said, her voice shaking as he did delicious things with his finger. “Oh God, I’m not going to last long, Zach.”
“I hope not,” he said, pressing against her swollen nub. “Come for me, Emma.”
She arched against his touch, her body crying with release now, the pressure building low in her belly. “Yes,” he said, urging her on as he inserted his finger once more, moving with her body. She squeezed around his finger and then sobbed as the orgasm took over, her body jerking from the force of it.
“Bloody hell,” she heard Zach say as he released her wrists, yanking at his own zipper on his trousers. Emma barely had time to react when he gripped her hips and slammed into her, compounding on an already fucking great orgasm. He was so big, stretching her deliciously and she wiggled against him, wanting all of him inside of her.
“God, you are so wet,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her. “Wrap your legs around me, darling.”
Emma gripped his waist with her ankles and pulled him in the rest of the way, her body quivering as she felt the fullness of his large cock within her. “Make love to me, Zach,” she said against his lips. “Please, I need you.”
Zach growled as his hands gripped her hips, starting the slow assault on her body as he moved in and out, the sound of their bodies slapping together the only sound in the room. Emma closed her eyes and concentrated on his movement, gripping the sides of the desk as her body moved with his. “Yes,” she said through her clenched teeth, the pressure starting to build. “Yes.”
“I fucking love you,” Zach said, his hands tight on her hips as he pounded into her. “Come for me Emma.”
Emma’s fingers dug into the sides of the desk as the wave crashed over her, screaming out as Zach picked up the pace, stiffening as he came with a roar, pumping into her before collapsing on top of her, his breath warm on her stomach.
Emma took a few deep breaths, the haze of her orgasm starting to fade as she reached down and stroked Zach’s wet hair. “Well I can scratch another unusual place to have sex off my list.”
Zach’s head rose and he kissed her stomach, a grin on his handsome face. “You have a list?”
Emma gave him a saucy grin of her own. “Maybe.”
He laughed and Emma felt her heart nearly combust with love for the man before her. He might not be perfect, but neither was she. The biggest thing was that he loved her and that was all she could hope for. Zach loved her. Everything else would fall into place.
Epilogue
Zach
One year, six months later
She was gorgeous. Zach watched as Emma walked across the stage to accept her diploma, beaming as she shook the dean’s hand. He let out a yell, taking snap after snap on his phone for later. She had finally done it. Emma had finished her master’s top of her class and had already been offered a permanent position at the gallery, now that Arse Wipe was leaving for the States. No, actually he and Gareth were cool now since Zach had staked his claim on Emma, but to him, he would always be Arse Wipe.
Emma walked off the stage and Zach lowered his phone, thumbing through the pictures like a proud boyfriend. He was proud. The last year and a half had been the fucking best months of his life with Emma living with him, making his flat more than just a place to crash at night. She had made it the only home he had ever known and just when he thought he couldn’t love her any more than he already did, she would go and do something that would make him fall in love with her all over again. Just yesterday, when she was preparing for the biggest day of her life, she had brought home food from his new favorite restaurant, never mind that he fucking owned the place, for them to share on the balcony as the snow was just starting to fall over the city. She never ceased to amaze him.
“You better hurry and finish your degree before she starts on her PhD,” Steven said next to him as they waited for the ceremony to wrap up. “You won’t be able to do anything with her then.”
Zach grinned, thinking going back to school had been one of the many things Emma had helped him do. At her urging, he was now taking classes to complete his master’s as well, this time in international business so he could broaden his investments. They already had a trip planned to America early next year to see what he could get into over there and Emma was already making plans to hit up as many galleries as she could while they were there.
She was putting a portfolio together for her first showing as well. And of course, she and Xander had differing opinions on what pieces.
The relationship with her parents was better. Steven was right. They never blamed him for
the death of their son. That was all cooked up in his brain to torture himself. But it had been hard for them to see him. But with he and Emma in love, they were happy. Her mother had even come to stay on several occasions to take advantage of London shopping.
He was excited just to see her so excited about doing exactly what she wanted. But that was Emma. It didn’t take much to make her happy, though Zach would throw all his money in the world at buying her whatever she wanted if she were that type of girl.
The clubs were a distant memory now, though he still remained a business adviser for Jason, who now had sole ownership of all but Club Trend, doing a damn fine job of running the places as he always had been. Emma wouldn’t let him get rid of Club Trend, citing that it was the place their love story had started. They rarely went out to places like that, but every once and a while he would take her there, dance with her on the club floor and marvel in the fact that they had come such a long way since that night where he had lost his heart all over again.
The ceremony finally ended and he walked to the spot where Emma had told them to meet her, her parents joining them, pride on their faces. After he and Emma had finished making up, they had gone home to tell her parents of their relationship. While Zach would have anticipated questions, they had readily accepted them as a couple, welcoming him into their family just as they had when he was younger. Now the only thing that was left was for him to make it official.
“There she is,” Steven said, pointing through the crowd. Zach’s heart clenched tightly in his chest as he watched her walk toward them, not believing she was his. He was a lucky bastard.
He hung back as her parents greeted her, both of them hugging her and getting Zach to take pictures with their own phones of their graduate before Steven butted in, wanting his own picture with Emma. Then it was Zach’s turn. His palms sweaty, he handed over his phone, reaching for her and pulling her into an embrace. “I’m so proud of you,” he said against her ear.
