by Joss Wood
“I like Matt, far more than I like Nico but, as per Falling Brook gossip,” Gina told her, keeping her voice low, “Matt got the CEO job Nico wanted and he’s still bitter about it.”
“That was years ago.”
“Nico is also very well-known for holding a grudge. Like, it’s his thing,” Gina whispered. “And he never backs down from a challenge. So, did you piss him off or challenge him, Em?”
Emily darted a look a Nico before lifting and dropping her hands. “We went on a couple of dates—I told him I wasn’t going to sleep with him and that there wasn’t any chemistry. That he wasn’t my type.”
Gina clicked her fingers and pointed her index finger at Emily’s chest. “Apparently he thinks he’s everybody’s type and he likes to be the one to break it off. So, there you go, a motive for the current madness. And when you add Matt to the madness...”
Emily scowled at her. “What does that mean?”
“Oh, please, the sparks fly when you two are together. I feel like I need to wear a fire-retardant suit,” Gina scoffed.
“He’s a good-looking guy,” Emily said, keeping her tone neutral.
“Honey, that’s like calling a NASA space shuttle a toy rocket. The man is superfine.” Gina twisted her lips. “Though admittedly, as much as I like him, it is weird that he’s back in your life as soon as you get engaged.”
“Temporarily engaged,” Emily corrected her. And yes, the thought about Matt’s timing had occurred. Like Gina, she didn’t know what to make of Matt’s attention.
Emily noticed that Nico was now on his feet and she leaned back, putting a polite look on her face. She subtly gestured to Gina to end their conversation.
Gina frowned at her. “For God’s sake, Em, get yourself out of this mess.”
“I’m trying,” Emily retorted, her voice low enough for only Gina to hear. As Nico approached, Gina stood up, draped her bag over her shoulder and sent Nico the fakest of fake smiles.
“My date has just arrived. And he’s quite cute...”
Gina walked away before she had to interact with Nico. When Nico reached the table and sat down, he picked up the leather folder the waiter left earlier with the bill tucked inside and handed it to Emily. “Your turn to pay, my dear.”
Emily opened her mouth to argue but caught Nico’s narrow-eyed gaze. He was waiting for her to disagree, hoping she’d argue. Emily pulled a smile on her face and quickly nodded.
“Sure.”
She opened the folder and winced when she saw that the bill for his potential client had been added to their bill. She picked it up and handed it to Nico. “They’ve charged us for their meals and drinks.”
“I’m going to meet them in Chicago next week when I attend the weeklong investment conference. To say thank you, I offered to pay for their meal,” Nico replied.
But why did she have to pay for it? On what planet was that fair?
“Is there a problem, Emily?” Nico asked, his voice silky smooth.
Emily opened her mouth to reply but held back the words. If she started, they’d be here all night.
* * *
Midmorning on Monday, Emily looked up at the sound of a light rap on her door and saw Matt standing in her open doorway, his shoulder against the frame, dressed in fawn-colored chinos, a sky blue shirt and a nut-brown jacket.
She loved his style; he always looked good and never gave the impression he’d spent hours in front of a mirror planning his outfit.
Emily gave herself a moment to enjoy the view of a tall, masculine, hot guy standing in her doorway. But she knew she was playing with fire; if Nico found out that Matt was making unscheduled appearances at her office, he’d lose it.
It made her throat sting and her stomach cramp but she needed to keep Nico, for the time being at least, happy.
Fear, and the fact that Matt caused her skin to tingle and her heart rate to climb, made Emily’s voice sharper and harder than she intended. “Why are you here? And I thought I employed a PA to guard my door.”
Matt straightened, stepped into her office and closed the door behind him. After walking over to her desk, he placed his hands on the surface and leaned toward her, his expression intense.
“Are you okay?”
No, she was exhausted and stressed and anxiety was eating a hole in her stomach. No one but him had noticed and Emily lifted her hands in a gesture of confusion. Why did he keep seeing what she most wanted to keep hidden?
“What’s wrong, imp?”
Emily desperately wished he was someone she could confide in but she couldn’t afford to. She was on her own here. “Nothing is wrong—I’m just busy and you’re interrupting my morning.”
“Liar,” Matt whipped back. “The shadows are deeper under your eyes and your fingers are trembling.”
Emily looked down at her hands and yep, he was right, her fingers were bouncing up and down. And she hadn’t slept or eaten much in the last thirty-six hours.
Dealing with Nico was like fighting a particularly nasty virus.
How wonderful it would be just to hand this over to Matt or even to talk through her options with him but she couldn’t. Nico was too volatile and she didn’t know Matt well enough to trust that he’d keep her secret. She’d trusted people before—her Mom to stay, her dad to connect with her—and they’d all, in one way or another, let her down.
The stakes were too high for her to take a gamble on Matt Velez.
No, she was on her own.
Emily gestured to the monitor on her desk. “I’m busy, Matt. What do you want?”
Matt straightened before moving around to sit on her side of the desk. He stretched out his long legs, folded his arms across his chest and his biceps strained the seams of the expensive fabric.
So hot... Concentrate, Emily.
Matt raked a frustrated hand through his hair and sighed. “For someone who looks like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, you are more stubborn than a pack of mules. As for why I’m here...do you remember I gave Davy my cell number on Saturday?”
“Yeah?”
“He called me about forty minutes ago...and he’s fine, Em.”
Words to cool her blood. Emily shot to her feet, terror galloping through her system. “What happened? Where is he? Is he hurt?”
Matt placed both his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back into her chair. “He’s fine. He was well enough to call me, remember?”
“What. Happened?”
“He got into a fight.”
Emily shot to her feet again. “What the actual hell?”
A small smile touched Matt’s face. “When I say fight, it was more of a scuffle, with minor injuries. Davy has a split lip. The other guy has a bloody nose. I think he was quite proud of his injuries and that’s why he called me.”
What was happening in her life? Her brother didn’t get into fights, she wasn’t sexually frustrated, normality didn’t include being blackmailed into marriage and her brother didn’t call virtual strangers when he got into trouble, he called her!
“Breathe, Em,” Matt told her, pulling her to stand between his spread legs, his hands resting lightly on her waist.
Emily pulled in some air, held it for a couple of beats and pushed it out. She repeated the action a few times before her head stopped whirling. When she felt a little calmer, she placed her hands on Matt’s biceps and looked up into his surprisingly gentle eyes. He grounded her, she realized. Just being next to him made her feel calmer and stronger and more resilient. He filled her up...
Pity she couldn’t explore these new and strange feelings and the attraction bubbling and boiling between them.
Matt placed his hand on her cheek and swiped his thumb across her cheekbone. “Better?”
Emily nodded. “Davy got into a fight?” She couldn’t believe it.
Matt nodde
d. “According to a staff member, some new guy was teasing another guy, Davy told him to knock it off, he wouldn’t. Davy pushed him, new guy punched Davy, Davy smacked him back and the staff intervened.”
Holy crap.
“He didn’t want you fussing and it wasn’t that big a deal. It was just a little scuffle.” Matt moved his hand down her cheek to her neck and her shoulders, his strong fingers digging into the tight muscles of her shoulders. “Honey, you’re so tense. You’ve got to learn to relax...”
“Relax? Are you kidding me? I have an absent mother, a father who is addicted to his work, a brother who is getting into fights and a fiancé who is bla—”
Emily snapped her jaw closed, horrified that she’d nearly let her secret slip. Oh God, she was so tired and so stressed and she didn’t know if she could take much more. It was all too much.
Emily tried to swallow down her tears but they welled and she softly cursed when a couple rolled down her cheeks. Dammit, if she didn’t manage to get herself under control, she might just throw herself on Matt’s chest and weep for days.
Emily waved her hands in front of her face to dry her wet eyes. “Sorry. I’m a mess.”
Matt captured a tear on his thumb. “You are.”
Emily snorted. “Thanks.” Leaning past him, she grabbed a tissue from the box on her desk and dabbed her eyes, hoping her mascara lived up to its claim of being waterproof. Looking like a raccoon would just be a step too far.
Emily pulled in a deep breath, then another. “Okay, better.”
Stepping out from between Matt’s legs, she picked up her bag and placed it on the table. Talking to herself, she pulled out her sunglasses, her car keys and tapped her keyboard to shut down her computer. “Gina can cancel my appointments for the rest of the day and I’ll spend the afternoon with Davy at Brook Village.”
Matt plucked her car keys out of her hand. “I’ll drive you. Davy asked me to swing by so we’ll go together.”
It wasn’t a good idea and Nico might find out. Emily shook her head and held out her hand for her keys. She had to do this alone...
Matt kept her keys in his hand. “What’s the problem, Em?”
Humiliation washed over her. “Nico...” She couldn’t say more, couldn’t explain. She wanted to be with Matt but she was terrified Nico would find out. She was acting like a woman having an affair and she didn’t like it but what choice did she have?
“Morris left for Chicago this morning so, unless he has a GPS tracker on your phone or car, he won’t be able to track your movements,” Matt briskly told her. Before she could ask how he knew what Nico’s movements were, he took her hand and interlinked their fingers.
“Let’s go, imp, daylight’s wasting.”
* * *
Matt knew Morris was in Chicago because he followed him on Instagram under a fake name and the D-bag had posted a selfie of himself checking into the hotel where the conference was being held. Like Nico, Matt registered to attend, booked his room and his flight and canceled none of his arrangements.
He needed Nico to think that he was in Chicago, somewhere amongst the two thousand delegates. It gave him a little room to move, some time to persuade Emily to trust him.
Years ago he’d said she was a guppy amongst sharks, but this time around she was swimming with a great white and Matt was terrified she was going to be eaten alive.
Matt looked at Emily sitting in the passenger seat of his low-to-the-ground Roadster. He’d bundled her into his car, telling her that he’d drive and, to his surprise, she hadn’t put up much of an argument, telling him exactly how stressed she was. Matt looked at her profile again, thinking that she looked younger than her years today and utterly exhausted. She needed a break and he intended to give her one.
It took another ten minutes for Emily to realize that they weren’t on the right road to Brook Village. “Why are we heading toward the freeway?” she demanded. “We’re supposed to be going to Brook Village.”
“Not happening,” Matt replied, sending her a lazy smile.
“I am going to see my brother,” Emily stated, sounding pissed. “Turn this car around.”
Matt patted her thigh and felt her stiffen. She didn’t like being ordered about and he liked that she wasn’t a pushover. He couldn’t abide women who didn’t push back.
And that was why he knew that something was very wrong with her engagement to Morris; he was the ultimate control freak and possessive as hell. Emily didn’t like being told what to do and control was Nico’s favorite thing so there had to be another reason why they were together...
Their engagement wasn’t about affection or love. And, judging by the way she’d kissed him, it wasn’t about passion either. Something else was making her act out of character. And he desperately wanted to know what that was but, until she opened up, he couldn’t help her.
And that pissed him off.
Jealously and envy might’ve been his initial motivation when he’d first found out about her engagement; he couldn’t tolerate the thought of Morris having someone he so desperately wanted. Matt felt a wave of shame; he wasn’t proud he’d let his ego override his mind.
But, lately, he’d come to sense, to know, that something was very wrong with this scenario and he was becoming increasingly worried about Emily. He felt protective and concerned and, along with craving her constantly, was desperate for her to confide in him.
But the more he pushed, the further she retreated.
“Your brother doesn’t need you rushing to check on his injuries. He’s embarrassed and remorseful—he needs time to work through what he did and the implications of his actions by himself, for himself,” Matt gently suggested. “Give the guy some space, Em.”
“You don’t understand, Matt, he’s—”
“He’s a guy, and he still has his pride. Give him some space, a little time. Later this evening, give him a call but don’t harp on what happened. The staff has it in hand.”
Matt knew that Emily wanted to disagree with him and that she was trying to find something to say to counter his argument. When she released a sharp huff, he knew that he’d won this round.
“So, if we’re not going to Brook Village then you might as well take me back to the office.”
Ding, ding, ding, there went the bell to commence round two. “Nope. You need a break and you’ve already canceled your appointments for the day, as have I, and we’re going to play hooky. When last did you do something unexpected?”
He’d bet today’s profits, and they’d been substantial, that Emily didn’t take time off from her responsibilities, which were heavier than he’d imagined.
She needed some time away, a few hours of down time, and he was going to make sure she relaxed. Of course, he knew of one or two other activities that would take her mind off her problems but the chances of getting her naked were minuscule.
Less than that...
Sadly.
“Matt...”
“Em,” Matt replied, humor in his voice. Approaching a traffic light, he braked as the light changed and when he brought the Roadster to a stop, he turned to look into her obstinate, adorable face.
“Imp, just let go, okay? Davy is fine—he doesn’t need or want you around today. On our way back in, I’ll check on him.” When Emily started to speak, Matt shook his head. “It’s a beautiful day so I thought we’d drive to Montauk. You can walk barefoot in the sand, listen to the waves—I won’t even talk if you don’t want me to.”
Emily raised a skeptical eyebrow and Matt grinned.
“I’ll try not to talk,” Matt amended. He lifted his hand and squeezed her shoulder, her muscles tight beneath his fingertips. “You need a day to unwind, to de-stress. The world won’t stop if you take some downtime.”
“It might,” Emily stated, sounding grumpy.
“I promise it won’t.” Matt noticed the
light changing and accelerated away. “We’re about to hit the highway—do you want to go back or should I keep driving?”
If she said she wanted to return to work he’d take her, of course he would. Unlike her fiancé, he didn’t back women into corners, bully or coerce them into a course of action.
He was an alpha male, bossy as hell, but not, he hoped, a jerk.
“Drive on, Velez. I don’t have the energy to argue with you.”
Matt grinned, smart enough to take her grumpy statement for the capitulation it was.
Six
Matt, returning from the bathroom at the beachfront restaurant, looked across the near empty eatery on the outskirts of Montauk to see Emily sitting at their small table outside, her chin in the palm of her hand and her eyes on a ship sitting on the horizon.
Longing whispered through him and his normally unflappable heart bounced off his ribcage. He was gut-wrenchingly, toe-curlingly attracted to Emily, on a deep and fundamental level. Sure, she was beautiful; it was hard to miss that but, strangely, her looks weren’t that big a deal anymore. His attraction to her went deeper than the surface and, while her beauty still gut punched him occasionally, it was the little things about her that now intrigued him.
The three freckles in perfect alignment on the side of her neck; her preposterously long and dark eyelashes; her elegant fingers he longed to feel sliding over his skin.
He’d also started to look past her outer layer into what made Emily and he liked what he saw. She was a little sassy, smart and, occasionally, funny.
And yeah, his attraction to Emily no longer had anything to do with wanting what he thought Nico had.
No, his need and desire for Emily was a living, breathing entity.
It simply was. Hot, demanding, hard to ignore.
Matt resumed his walk and stepped onto the deck. When he reached their table, he placed his hand on the back of her head and dropped his lips to hers, unable to resist taking a quick taste, to hear that sharp intake of breath, to feel her lips soften under his.
