New Adult Romance Box Set

by Emme Rollins, Julia Kent, Anna Antonia, Helena Newbury, Aubrey Rose

  “It’s a different experience.”

  “You’re prevaricating, Emma.”

  I didn’t really care for the taste of alcohol but took a sip to buy some time. If I really told Gabriel the truth that I didn’t like the crowds or noise, he’d rightfully feel I was an ungrateful person. I didn’t want that but he obviously didn’t care for my hedging. What to do?

  “I like being here with you.” My truthful answer pleased him if the crinkling in the corners of his eyes was any indication.

  “Nice sidestep there. I’ll take it.”

  I smiled, feeling absurdly thrilled that I’d made him happy. “Do you go to these things often?”

  “All the time.”

  “I guess it keeps you busy.”

  “Yes, you’ll get plenty of practice to get used to them just like I have.”

  I felt myself beaming like a fool. God, this man had me in his palm! “How do you figure?”

  “Well, now that I’ve come here with you, I can’t imagine going to another one without you. It will simply be impossible. Sorry, Emma, but that’s just how it is.”

  “Impossible. Really?”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you, would I?” His impish grin made me think of a child crossing his fingers behind his back. “So how about it? I’ll buy you a dress for every occasion.”

  Had he already forgotten our little struggle from earlier? “Mmm, we’ll see.”

  “Too ambiguous. How about this, Emma? Why don’t I hire you and then you’ll get to choose where we go?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Why are you so fixated in having me work for you?”

  He took my champagne flute and took a leisurely sip from it. “Why are you so fixated in denying me?”

  “I’m not fixated. I just happen to like where I work.”

  Gabriel nodded, mouth twisted into an adorable pout. “Yes, but my company is better. For one, the cubicles are much, much larger. It’s at least the size of two, three of yours.”

  “Are we really back on that again? The cubicle sizes are industry standard and I’m still not convinced you know how big yours are. How much time do you actually spend in one?”

  “Fine. I provide better benefits.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “You don’t know that I don’t.”

  I took my glass back from him. “Tell me true, Gabriel. Why should go work for you?”

  “Because I’ll get to see you everyday.”

  I don’t have to explain how wonderful those words were to my ear. Gabriel was entirely too charming for his own good because I came really close to believing him.

  “You could see me everyday now.”

  “Yes, but it’s not the same.”

  “How come?”

  “I can only see you during lunch.”

  “Free time is typically during lunch and after work.”

  “Yes, but only because I’m not the owner and boss of you.”

  “Rephrase that for me please.”

  “If I must but I’d rather not.”

  “Thank you.”

  “If you work for me, you could have free time whenever you wanted.”

  “Then I really wouldn’t be working, would I? I’d only be pretend working.”

  “Very well. Then you could be paid to sit in my office. It’s a comfortable office, Emma. You’d like it. Plenty of windows and bookshelves filled from top to bottom with books. And not just for show either.”

  “That does sound nice.”

  “So when will you start?”

  “I didn’t say I would.” I really shouldn’t encourage Gabriel, but it was so much fun. “Now, in what capacity would I operate in your office? As your assistant?”

  “I already have Rick. No, you would be my muse.”

  “Why would you need a muse?”

  “Why is the sky blue? The grass green? It just is. Emma Adams is my muse and you should be employed as such.”

  “What does a muse do?”

  “Whatever she wishes. Emma, you’d have your own couch and entertainment area. You could spend your whole day in leisure, never having to do anything you don’t want to.” Gabriel smiled brilliantly. “I could talk to you whenever I wanted. We could eat lunch everyday and go out to dinner each night. It would be divine.”

  He captured me against my will. It did sound divine. I saw myself reclining on a crimson fainting couch in his office, draped in something white and airy. My gaze pinned on his fine form, watching him work and do the things that powerful men like him did. Gabriel looked up in my mind’s eye, backlit and perfect hair gleaming like a halo. He crooked a finger at me.

  It was so vivid. I was in trouble.

  “Being your muse wouldn’t go well on my resume, Gabriel.”

  “You wouldn’t need one because I’d never fire you.”

  “I’d be bored lying on a couch all day.”

  “Then it would be my job to entertain you.”

  “And how would you do that while running Gordon Industries?”

  “I’m quite talented, Emma. I could do both.”

  I tapped my chin with one finger, gaze slanted towards the ceiling as if seriously considering his ridiculous offer. “It’s tempting…”

  “Yes?”

  “But I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”

  Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “Emma, Emma.”

  “Gabriel, Gabriel.”

  “You’re ruthless, you know?”

  “Not ruthless. Determined.”

  “Determined to drive me crazy.” He plucked the flute from my fingers and again took another sip.

  “You know there are servers with champagne, right?”

  “Yes, but that champagne isn’t as good as yours and so I won’t be able to drink it.”

  “What makes it better? Is it the kind of champagne?” I rose on my tip-toes, trying to peer down over the top of the glass to see if there was something I could discern to make it different.

  Gabriel nodded solemnly. “It’s a special blend actually.”

  “Do they save it just for you?”

  “You can say that.”

  “So no one else can drink it?”

  “No.”

  “Well, that’s hardly fair, Gabriel.”

  He shrugged, completely unrepentant. “I don’t like to share.”

  I hummed low in my throat. I wasn’t surprised.

  Gabriel lowered his voice to a confidential tone. “Do you want to know what makes it special?”

  “What is it?” I asked, wide-eyed and curious, still on tip-toe.

  Gabriel crooked his finger. My breath caught in my throat. I wildly wondered if he somehow had special mind-reading abilities.

  “Closer, Emma. Closer.” I leaned into him until the flute was all that kept my body from touching his. “It’s special because it’s yours.”

  My heels sank back down. I couldn’t believe he got me! “You’re so sneaky and spoiled, Gabriel.”

  His eyes lit up with laughter. “Not spoiled enough yet, but I’ll get there. And feel free to hurry that process up along.”

  I smacked him on the arm. “You totally tricked me!”

  “Did not!”

  “Did too!”

  “Did not! It’s a true fact that which belongs to you is naturally better.”

  “Okay. Let’s test it.” I saw a white coated server winding his way near us. I slipped out from behind the column and took a glass when he passed close enough. “Here,” I said when I handed it to Gabriel. “I want to see if your theory works as well as you say it does.”

  He took the glass and held it. After a few moments I reached for it. Gabriel lifted it up out of my reach. “It hasn’t had enough time to mature.”

  “You or the drink?”

  “Ha, ha. The champagne, Emma, the champagne.”

  “You’re holding onto it longer than I held onto mine.”

  “Naturally. I want you to have the best, Emma. Patience, my girl. Patience.”
<
br />   I’d long forgotten about the rest of the room as I played with one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. Apparently the world hadn’t forgotten me. Or rather him.

  Just as I was going to make another move for his drink, I heard a soft voice say, “Gabriel, I didn’t expect to find you here.”

  His smile froze. The light in his eyes extinguished. He became a Gabriel copy. “Embry.”

  I looked over his shoulder to see a statuesque blond dressed in white standing there, diamonds flashing around her slim throat and on her delicate wrist.

  I smiled warmly at her in greeting, thinking she was an acquaintance or business associate. The glance she deigned to give me frosted my politeness. I knew the look. Clenched jaw, squared shoulders, and the overly-bright eyes animating a body that burned in agony. The walking heart-dead, unable to rest out of yearning for this blue-eyed, blond-haired angel.

  Lovely.

  Who says you can’t go home again?

  My pleasure evaporated. I immediately wanted out. I should’ve known better that this was going too well.

  Gabriel gracefully turned around after handing me his champagne glass. “Don’t drink yet, Emma.” His free hand slid to rest on my lower back while his thigh brushed mine. “How are you, Embry?”

  “As can be expected.”

  Brittle didn’t begin to describe the expression on Embry’s patrician features. I suspected the hollows beneath her cheeks were a recent acquirement as were the prominent collarbones.

  Gabriel simple reply didn’t allow for lengthy discussion. “Embry, this is Emma. Emma, this is Embry Milford.”

  Her lips moved, barely uttering a “Hello” before her attention swung higher, back to the man who’d apparently reached inside her chest and taken whatever he found.

  “You’re looking well…Gabriel.”

  Embry’s pause made me wonder if she’d been about to call him a pet name. Either that or asshole.

  Anger burned. I couldn’t believe that this was happening again. Was I so stupid to have believed that Gabriel wasn’t anything more than a smooth-talking womanizer?

  “So trust me for a little bit. Just look at me like a normal man. Please.”

  Did he ask that of me because he knew he’d be seeing her again?

  “I’m glad to see you’re looking well, Embry.”

  She stared him down for a moment before dropping her gaze. “I’ll leave you two to enjoy the rest of your night. Goodbye.”

  Embry moved away, but not nearly far enough for my comfort. My feet decided to remedy the situation. I veered away from the main door. Gabriel walked with me, silent and tense. For once, his glorious smile didn’t make an appearance.

  We left the atrium and entered the darkened dining hall. A small dance floor lay in the center. A lively band encouraged us all to walk on sunshine. I would’ve liked to try it. Too bad tonight wasn’t going to be that kind of night.

  Might as well get this over with.

  I stopped and beckoned for him to come closer so that I wouldn’t have to shout and risk having our conversation overheard. “Who was she?”

  Gabriel’s pleasant expression tightened. “Someone I was involved with for a period of time.”

  “That’s a mouthful for ‘ex-girlfriend’.”

  “I suppose it was.”

  I sipped my drink, resisting the urge to turn and look over my shoulder. I don’t know how I knew, but somehow I knew Embry had made her way into the hall as well. Perhaps it was the energy of killing intensity I’d become familiar with during those weeks of Gabriel’s first courting. I’d made way more enemies with the female population than I could ever hope to overcome. Hopefully tonight would stick with just the one.

  “Did it end well?”

  “Do these kinds of things ever?”

  “I guess not when it comes to you.”

  “True. I have a gift for misery.” He didn’t attempt to ease the sting of his words with a smile or devilish grin.

  I wasn’t going to argue. “How long ago did you break things off?”

  “It ended long before it actually did.”

  “Ah, it must’ve been recent then.” All the pleasure I’d had evaporated as the cold specter of Gabriel’s past hovered across the dance floor. Her gaze bored holes into us. I imagined I’d probably drop dead if her stare stayed on me for too long. “No wonder she looked upset.”

  Gabriel exhaled sharply. “I’m sorry, Emma. I didn’t think she’d come up to us.”

  “So you saw her?”

  “No.”

  “But you knew she was going to be here.”

  He cleared his throat and asked, “It’s just like high school again, isn’t it?”

  “Worse.”

  “How?”

  “Because it’s not high school anymore.” I drifted along the edge of the parquet floor, watching the couples dip and sway to fun 1980s dance music. Gabriel stayed close by my side as if he were afraid I’d take off. His instincts were right because I was seconds away from bolting.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I didn’t reply, choosing instead to focus on an elderly couple dancing with enviable abandonment.

  What else was new? You’re sorry. I’m sorry. Embry’s sorry. We’re all just sorry.

  Bending close to my ear, Gabriel made himself heard above the music. “You’re angry with me.”

  “No.” More than he could ever guess.

  “Disappointed?”

  “No.” Yes.

  “Frustrated?”

  “No.” Absolutely.

  “Then what?”

  I stopped. Aware of the people surrounding us, and unable to shake the habit of concealing my emotions, I regarded Gabriel as if he were anyone else in the crowd. “Did you invite me because you knew Embry was going to be here? Did you use me to hurt her, Gabriel?”

  “I invited you because I wanted a reason to see you tonight.”

  That was a sidestep if there ever was one. “And you didn’t think that maybe you should’ve told me that we were going to run into a furious ex-girlfriend?”

  Gabriel straightened. His somber expression didn’t fit. I didn’t have to hear the words to know them. “You wouldn’t have come.”

  Anger buried itself like a splinter. Annoying, painful. “I see.” I knocked back Gabriel’s champagne. He was right. It did taste better to take something from someone else.

  Fuck it.

  I stood on tip-toe and yelled in his ear, “I’m not staying. Bye.”

  I didn’t feel guilty. Not one bit. Not even a tiny bit. Though I left him standing there, alone in sight of the fixated, glamour queen Embry, I refused to feel sorry for Gabriel.

  Or me.

  I was grateful for the clutch in my hand and the foresight I had to put my ID, ATM card, and keys inside. I wasn’t going to be stuck on the side of the road with a busted pumpkin. Cinderellie was going to go home, shuck off her clothes, and take a long bath.

  Gabriel reached me in no time. His hand clamped around my wrist and he led us to another column, further in the back and farther away from the door. “Where were you trying to go?”

  “Away.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “That’s not necessary. I can get home on my home. I’m sure it’ll be no problem to get a cab over here.”

  The mulish set of his jaw told me Gabriel had no intention of turning around and going back inside the dining hall. Although the crowd had thinned out, there were still several couples milling about. A few looked in his direction, a pleasant smile of recognition forming on their faces. He ignored everybody and focused solely on me.

  “You promised you wouldn’t run away, Emma.”

  “I’m not. It’s just that I have no interest in living this again.”

  “What?”

  “This! This life where you’re never free to just be a normal guy with me. There’s always someone else in the background, waiting for her turn. There’s always some girl who is begging for another c
hance. I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder and see yet another ex-girlfriend of yours. I don’t want that and I don’t need that in my life.”

  “I don’t want that either.”

  “But it’s your life, Gabriel. You create it when you keep going from girl to girl!” I tried to keep my voice low but I could see the curious stares we received. “Look, I don’t want to draw anymore attention to you than I already have.”

  “Fuck them. Let them look. I really don’t care.”

  “Gabriel, this is your world and I don’t belong here.”

  “Fraudulent happiness.”

  “What?”

  “It’s what people like me have. You wanted to know why I asked you here, but most importantly you wanted to know why I’m here with you and not with Embry.”

  I flushed. I didn’t want to hear about his relationship with the beautiful, broken-hearted woman. “Gabriel, what happened between you two is none of my business.”

  “It is, Emma, more than you know. Fraudulent happiness occurs when everything is handed to someone. The world is manufactured just so, created in the likeness of something that never should’ve existed in the first place.”

  I didn’t understand him, but I found myself really wanting to.

  “I could go to the committee head and have them command the band to not play “Funkytown” because I felt like being a bastard. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and no one would call me on it. No one except you, Emma.”

  “I don’t mean to call you out, Gabriel.”

  “You can’t help yourself, I know. You hate my money. You hate the social class I belong. You hate everything I stand for.”

  I couldn’t deny it but I could deny the unspoken. “I never hated you, Gabriel.”

  “Why? When you dislike my world so much, why do you even tolerate me?”

  His questions shook my foundation. I wanted to throw out something easy to satisfy, but couldn’t. “I don’t know. I can’t help myself because there’s something there, Gabriel, something worth knowing.”

  “And there it is.” He closed his eyes briefly as if he’d just savored something exquisite. “Fraudulent happiness can’t exist when I’m with you. It’s impossible.” Gabriel reached and held onto my arms. His lips barely moved, but I heard him loud and clear.

  “Emma, you’ve broken my heart, ripped me to shreds, and made me question my self-worth. I sometimes hated you for it but I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”