by Stella Rhys
Till now.
“Emmett…” I started weakly, but he cut me off.
“It’s okay, Aly.”
I looked up to see Emmett wearing a look so earnest it almost hurt even more.
“No… it’s not. You messaged me on Facebook that week, and I didn’t even answer,” I murmured, feeling gut-checked by that memory. It had resurfaced out of nowhere to shame me so hard I shuddered. Fuck. “Emmett, I’m so sorry. Regardless of what happened between us, we were always like family, so that was the worst time I could have possibly ignored you.”
“It’s fine, Aly. We were kids and we were both in the eye of our own storm,” Emmett said. When I cocked my head at the expression, he smiled sheepishly. “Oh, that was just what my mom said back then. She said however bad I was feeling, it didn’t mean that you didn’t have pain of your own to deal with. Everyone’s got their own lives to live. And honestly, it was better for me to learn that sooner rather than later.”
I nodded, overwhelmed by the mix of emotions. Guilt aside, I was amazed that Emmett’s mom had been able to sympathize with me. I was also kind of heartbroken to know that Emmett had even talked to his mom about my absence at the funeral. I had always imagined that he was just happy-go-lucky Emmett, and no problem ever stuck to him for that long.
But that clearly wasn’t the case.
“Thank you for being so understanding,” I finally said, my voice small. “Like your mom explained, I was just… going through such a hard time because of that whole thing between us and – ”
“About that – ”
“No.” I looked up at Emmett and shook my head fast. “Let’s not,” I decided. “Right? I mean it’s our first time having dinner together as adults, so shouldn’t we just… try to enjoy our night instead of talking about the past?” I rambled my question.
There was a conflicted look on Emmett’s face but I had a feeling he could read the desperation in mine, so after a good three seconds of silence, he nodded.
“We can talk about whatever you want to talk about,” he murmured, prompting me to exhale in gratitude. I even managed a laugh because of how ridiculously breathless and flustered I’d gotten. “Easy. Drink some water,” Emmett smirked, handing me my glass.
“Thank you,” I snorted, taking a drink and a breath. It probably wasn’t healthy for me to have damn near a panic attack at the mere thought of discussing the past with Emmett, but that was just what it was. Maybe someday, it would change.
Maybe.
“Breathe, Aly. You good now?” Emmett teased when I finished my water and switched back to my champagne. His blue eyes glimmered as he grinned at me, somehow putting me at ease. But just as I finally caught my breath and found my bearings, a sharp voice rang out behind me.
“Oh my God – Seafood Girl? Is that you?”
Fuck.
Seriously?
I winced at the nickname because one, I hated it and two, the only person who addressed me with it was a loud, demanding socialite who I pretty much never enjoyed seeing.
Looking over my shoulder, I found myself staring at Britt Heatherton, one of my regulars at Stanton Family Market. She had a notoriously sharp voice and a less-than-favorable reputation among the wait staff. She usually came by for power lunches dressed head-to-toe in Tory Burch, but tonight she was wearing a gorgeous mint green dress that reminded me that I’d come here in faded denim and a T-shirt with my café’s lobster logo on the breast.
“Oh my God, so hilarious to see you here of all places,” Britt crowed, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “Are you catering some event? Did you meet my bestie Emmett Hoult? Isn’t he just dee-vine?” she asked, dancing around to his side of the table.
My eyes fluttered as Britt ran her hand all over Emmett’s chest, like she was showcasing a prize on a game show.
Dammit, Britt, I thought as Britt’s creepy stroking drew my eyes back to Emmett’s body. I had a twelve-minute streak of not looking at it since getting out of the car, but now it was hard for me not to stare at how sinfully good he looked in that white shirt. It was fitted to show off the perfectly tapered V of his torso, and every time he moved his arms, the sleeves hugged his biceps tight.
Ugh. Pretty much every inch of Emmett’s body was a breathtaking view, and it made me feel suddenly and shamefully possessive. It made me want to snatch Britt’s hands right off of Emmett’s body and reclaim it as mine.
Not that it was mine.
I definitely wasn’t supposed to want it to be. I was supposed to be answering some question Britt asked me forever ago, but now I couldn’t even remember what she said. Lucky for me, Emmett cut in.
“Actually, Britt, Aly here is one of my oldest friends. She’s the only person I’ve pretty much known since I was born,” he said, prompting Britt’s smile to tighten.
“Oh. Is that right? So she’s known you longer than I have?” Britt cocked her head then turned to me with a proud look on her face. “I’ve been BFF with Emmett for like, ten years now. I interned at the events place that did his fraternity’s Black and White ball, and I guess we pretty much hit it off from there, right?” she asked, her bejeweled hand squeezing his shoulder as she beamed down at him.
Emmett flashed me a deliberately awkward smile as he answered her. “Yes, Britt. I guess we did.”
“Mm-hm. And – oh! Speaking of events, I happen to be planning the party for Emmett’s big fundraiser next month,” Britt told me, glowing with pride. “I’m not even exaggerating when I say it’s going to be the event of the summer, so you should totally come.” Her big smile became half-cringe as she pointed at my shirt. “But definitely don’t wear that. Right?” she giggled, giving Emmett’s shoulder another squeeze.
“Don’t worry. Aly’s got some pretty killer dresses in her arsenal.”
My heart gave one loud thump as he referenced the dress he’d peeled halfway off my body the other night. But before I could react, Britt cooed again.
“Oop! Looks like my date’s here!” she said, holding her tanned arm out to a gorgeous but noticeably sullen redhead who made a show of sulking over in her heels. She rolled her eyes elsewhere as Britt said, “Emmett, you know Natalie.”
“Of course. How have you been, Natalie?” Emmett asked, though Natalie refused to make eye contact let alone answer. All she did was whip out her phone and type furiously as we all kind of stared.
When she angrily hit send with her thumb, Emmett’s phone dinged on the table, its screen glowing with a new text.
The drama. It felt like I was watching a reality show.
“Ookay. Maybe go a lil’ subtler next time, babe,” Britt snorted before flashing us her favorite cringe-smile again. “Guess I’ll escort her away. But talk soon, both of you! Have a good evening!” she sang before hustling a glaring Natalie to their table.
Once they were gone, I couldn’t help directing a bewildered but thoroughly amused look at Emmett. I knew he sensed it because he was laughing to himself, reluctant to look back at me.
“What?” he finally asked.
“That was actually going to be my question because what the heck was that?”
Emmett played dumb. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the girl you apparently pissed off so bad she can only yell at you via text,” I snorted. “Something tells me she’s a particularly scorned ex of yours.”
“She’s not. I’m not sure you can call any of the women I’ve been with exes.”
“Why? You’re still actively sleeping with all of them?”
“No. More like I don’t sleep with anyone for long enough to become a boyfriend,” Emmett said.
“Well, how long were you with Natalie for?”
“I was never with her – we spent a little more than a week hooking up. And I did tell her before we started that I don’t do relationships.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “You really don’t?”
“You seem surprised.”
“Well, the fact that you
give official disclaimers before even hooking up with someone is pretty serious,” I snorted. “Plus, you’ve just always been the kind of guy who likes having someone take care of you. That was definitely the case in high school at least.”
I could still vividly recall how Emmett jumped from relationship to relationship back then. He definitely had his weeks of being single and hooking up with random hot girls or, to piss me off, my closest friends. But outside those lulls, he was usually elbows-deep in a relationship. He pretty much always had a devoted girlfriend doing things like bringing him lunch, cleaning his locker and recording videos of his football practice to text to his mom. Emmett was notoriously spoiled and pampered, and he loved the perks of having a girlfriend, so I couldn’t help being surprised that he no longer did even the short-term relationship thing.
“Yeah, well, I’ve learned how to take care of myself since high school,” Emmett said as our first course of seared scallops arrived. “That’s just a part of being an adult.”
“So is learning how to commit to someone, isn’t it?”
“I don’t have the time.”
“Yeah, what with the grueling nine-to-five you don’t have,” I teased. “I can’t imagine that your mom doesn’t give you a hard time about this.”
“She does, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have much more important priorities than being in a relationship.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Nothing I feel the need to talk about, Aly,” Emmett said, the sudden steeliness in his tone scaring me out of any follow-up questions. Completely thrown off, I blinked.
“Oh. Okay. That’s cool,” I nodded lamely, trying to sound casual despite feeling suddenly embarrassed. I thought we’d been joking around since that was all Emmett ever knew how to do, but apparently, he was more than capable of being serious now. Come on, Aly, I cursed myself, reaching nervously for my champagne when I realized I found Angry Emmett kind of hot.
And by kind of, I meant extremely.
“Well…” I started, thoroughly flustered now and way too eager to break the silence. “I’m totally with you on the no relationship thing anyway,” I said hastily, swigging my drink. Emmett cocked his eyebrow.
“Yeah? And why is that?”
“Because like you said, bigger priorities exist,” I said. “I’ve got a restaurant to run, you’ve got… whatever your job is. So fuck relationships. Who needs ‘em? Right?”
Maybe I was tipsy, but I actually felt strongly about my words. And I felt even stronger about them when Emmett raised his water glass and agreed.
“Yeah. Fuck relationships,” he smirked. “Sex will do in the meantime. Right?”
I nearly choked on my champagne but luckily, our food arrived on cue and spared me from having to answer the question. And thanks to our waiter’s long descriptions of each special appetizer – as well as how insanely fucking good each dish was – the topic was swiftly forgotten.
And for the rest of the night, much to my pleasured surprise, the conversation remained strictly platonic.
8
EMMETT
When Monday came, I canceled plans with Drew and his agent-slash-my business partner, Iain. Plain and simple, I had spent way less time with Aly than I’d expected in my first week of living with her, and I just wanted the chance to be near her tonight.
Of course, Drew wasn’t having any of it.
“For Christ’s sake, E, she goes to bed at 10PM every night,” he said as I leaned on the kitchen counter. The phone was sandwiched between my shoulder and my ear as I scarfed down today’s post-workout meal of roasted salmon and sweet potatoes. “Are you really going to miss out on Iain’s birthday party that I planned just to spend an hour asking this girl about her day?” Drew demanded.
He was on speaker with Iain at Iain’s rental house next to the beach. I did my best to weed out the sounds in the background, but I was still wincing every ten or so seconds thanks to Iain’s girlfriend yelling crazy loud in the background.
“Look, if you’re not fucking her, you’re not allowed to stay home for her. That’s just the rule. I don’t care how hot she is,” Drew said. But then he paused. “Wait. Actually that’s not true – I do. Are you ever going to show me a damned picture? Send it now.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll just have to meet her.”
My mouth was full as I laughed. “Yeah, I’m never going to let you go anywhere near – ”
“Hey.”
I cut off when Aly walked into the kitchen and greeted me with a smile.
“Ooh, shit, was that her?” Drew audibly grinned as I walked over to the window, standing at a distance in case Aly could hear his voice on the phone.
“No,” I lied as Drew laughed.
“Fuck you. Put her on the phone. I need to talk to her.”
“Yeah, never,” I said distractedly, watching Aly grab milk from the fridge then open the cupboard to reach for the tray of teabags. I had to suppress my amusement because even on her tiptoes, she was nowhere near reaching the top shelf. And while my instinct was to help, I was also enjoying the hell out of my view.
She was wearing her usual outfit at home – a big, boxy T-shirt and black leggings instead of shorts. I had a feeling she went with that because she thought it made me less likely to notice her body, but she was all kinds of wrong on that one.
Especially now.
She looked so fucking cute reaching up for the shelf. Her arms were outstretched and her back was arched taut in a way that had me staring hard at her ass. God-fuckin’-damn. It was so round and firm I could just imagine the jiggle after I spanked her over my knee. She definitely deserved the punishment for putting me through this torture.
“You ignoring me?” Drew went on in my ear. “Iain!” A glass broke in the background. “Iain, talk to this asshole. He’s ignoring me.”
Iain got on the phone for a bit but I was barely paying attention to whatever I was saying to him. I was too busy watching Aly’s shirt ride up as she continued to struggle. Fuck me. This was the most adorable torture I’d ever witnessed in my life. The only reason I wasn’t in completely blue-balled hell was because it was also hilarious.
When I finally let out a laugh, Aly shot a cute little look over her shoulder.
“Are you laughing ‘cause I’m short?” she hissed.
I grinned and nodded, muttering some half-hearted response to Iain as I went to grab the tray off the shelf for Aly. I caught the happy little smile on her face when I handed it to her, and I did my best not to get hard over the way she eyed me and mouthed the words thank you.
Christ.
Add that to the list of accidental cock teases.
It was really no wonder that I’d been jacking it like an animal since Sunday. Every little thing Aly did around the house made my dick jump. Whether it was stretching or putting her hair up or just standing near me and reminding me that I was practically four times the size of that tight little body of hers – all of it turned me right the fuck on. I was basically a walking hard-on around her, and it honestly was a miracle that I’d kept my shit together thus far.
Hell, I was pretty sure I deserved a medal for it.
“Listen, dickhead. If you’re bailing on tonight, I better hear by tomorrow that you closed,” Drew said, breaking me out of my daze. “Either shit or get off the pot, ‘cause this is fucked up. You were supposed to be my wingman tonight. Everyone else here is couples.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, finishing the last bite of my meal and putting my plate and fork in the dishwasher. Aly had her back to me as she boiled water, but I caught her eye when she randomly peered over her shoulder. She bit her smile before turning back to her tea.
“Hey, so tell me. What’s she wearing right now?” Drew asked just to piss me off. “She wearing a bra or is she – ”
“Yeah, cool – have fun,” I talked over him, abruptly hanging up the phone as Aly turned around. She sipped her tea as Drew’s text rang in.
D
REW: Just chop your balls off they’re dead weight at this point
Dickhead. I was about to reply but Aly’s question distracted me from the bullshit.
“So you going out tonight?” she asked.
I exhaled. Her sweet voice was such a contrast to the crap I’d just been dealing with. Instead of replying to Drew, I slid my phone across the counter and shook my head.
“Nah. Staying in,” I said, nodding into the living room. “Wanna watch a movie with me?”
Aly’s eyebrows shot up.
“Oh,” she breathed, lashes fluttering as I looked down into her tea. I smirked. It was cute. She was acting like I’d just asked her out on a date. “Umm.” A little smile wiggled onto her lips. “Sure. I think. I mean I don’t know if I can commit to a whole movie but I can definitely start one.”
“Really?” I was incredulous but amused as I went into the living room and turned on the TV. “What kind of person goes into a movie knowing she can’t finish it?”
“I don’t know. Your roommate, I guess.”
I turned around. I could’ve sworn Aly’s voice sounded sultry just now, and when I looked at her, she had her arms crossed with this sexy little smile on her face. God. I was losing it. Everything she said hit me like she was flirting with me, and it was giving my dick no chance of being anything but hard around her.
But with one breath in, I forced myself to get it together.
“Well, if that’s what you want to do then pick out a movie and I’ll grab us some snacks,” I said, heading back into the kitchen. Aly laughed.
“Uh… you really want to give me the freedom to pick the movie?”
“Why not? We always watch the same stuff,” I said.
Well. At least we used to.
When I got back to the couch, I was surprised to find that Aly had some rom-com on HBO that I’d never heard of before.
