by Ciara Cole
Chace’s rigid frame seemed to relax slightly, though he looked far from reassured. He knew the kind of games Jan liked to play. Much as he wanted to trust her, there was no doubt her sudden appearance had an agenda. He only hoped, for both his sake and Emily’s, that he was wrong.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Emily came down early, stepping onto the marble terrace where breakfast was laid. The only one seated was Jan, dressed in a filmy-looking sundress. Emily felt her steps falter somewhat at the sight of Jan. It was too late, however, to turn in another direction. Jan looked up and noticed Emily, waving her forward.
“Why don’t you join me?”
Emily berated herself for sleeping in when she could have been out with Chace who’d gone on his exercise run.
There is nothing to worry about, Emily decided firmly. It was not like Jan was liable to bite or anything. Sure, for such a beautiful woman, Jan seemed much too down to earth. Women who looked like her were sure to be mostly stuck up with how they looked better and hotter than anyone else. Not Jan, with her girl-next-door personality that was in contrast to her movie star beauty.
Emily wasn’t about to think the worst of someone for no just reason, so she smiled cordially and settled in, pouring herself some coffee.
The topic of the wedding came up first, which Jan brought up and offered to help if Emily needed anything. Surprised, Emily gave a genuine smile and thanked Jan, saying of course she’d let her know. Then talk shifted to careers and Jan mentioned Emily’s book.
It looks like she does know a lot about me, mused Emily. She’d have to even the score and push Chace for more info about Jan. Was she in a relationship, and what was her story? Last night, there’d been no time to really iron things out. In fact, thoughts of Jan had taken the back burner, but now Emily’s curiosity was definitely at a high pitch.
Deciding on a more direct approach, Emily did her own prodding. “With you single-handedly in charge of the New York operations, it must be tough,” Emily began.
“I won’t deny it’s a definite challenge, but then Chace has always been supportive with constant visits. And now that he plans to move back here, there will…”
“Uh, what? Chace is moving back to New York?” Emily cut in blankly.
Jan paused with a surprised look. “He didn’t tell you? Oh.” Jan rested her fingertips against her lips in remorse. “I’m sorry. I just assumed that you knew.”
Emily regained her composure quickly. “There’s no need to apologize. It’s fine, really. But why would he need to…you know what, I’ll just ask Chace myself, later.” I’m sure there’s some mistake, Emily thought as her mind darted here and there.
“I think that would be best,” said Jan in that same apologetic tone. Then she smiled brightly. “I will say, though, that it’s a very positive outcome, don’t you think? Most of Chace’s family are based here and the friends he grew up with, too. Since you’re both getting married, of course, you wouldn’t mind the move. I hear you’re a native yourself.”
“Yeah,” Emily said, her thoughts already elsewhere. How could Chace do this to her? Leave her in the dark about something so important to both of them? And why was it some kind of established view that Emily would gladly go along with this? Was that what Chace had told Jan?
Emily didn’t like the position she’d been placed in and it was an uncomfortable feeling. Politely, she rose and excused herself, keeping her expression even while Jan gave her a quizzical smile. Emily was already thinking about the issues she had to confront Chace with. She simply had to pick the right moment because the last thing they needed was arguing with his parents in the vicinity. But something certainly had to come to a head – and soon.
Chapter Eight
Chace sent Emily a glance as Lennox drove them home from the airport.
Silence filled the luxurious interior as Emily stared pensively out of the window, her softly outlined profile turned away. Chace smothered a sigh and rubbed his index finger over his lips, equally brooding. He didn’t like things being tense between them. There’d definitely been a strain in Emily’s attitude and Chace knew just who was to blame.
“I should give you fair warning,” Jan had told him last night. “Emily and I had a brief chat this morning. I let something slip about your relocation back to New York.”
“What?”
They were both in the study, where Jan had drawn him for a talk right before dinner.
She’d shrugged casually. “She was going to find out anyway. It’s not like there’s anything she can do about it.”
Chace had to quell a brutal curse as he turned away from Jan, shoving his fingers through his hair. “You don’t know what the hell you’re saying. I wish you’d stay out of my relationship, Jan. I mean it.”
She’d come up to rest her hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry. It just came out. And it’s okay if she got shaken up a bit. I think she’s much too sure of you.”
Chace spun around angrily and caught Jan’s teasing smile. “Chace, you know I’m right. Anyone can see you’re the one smitten over the woman. She uses it to her advantage. The last thing I want is Emily taking anything for granted.”
“Oh sure. Because you’re in a position to be giving relationship advice,” said Chace. His eyes narrowed in anger when Jan merely laughed.
Then she lifted her hands in surrender. “Okay. I’ll stay out of things and just stick to my role as your business partner. One thing will never change, though. I love you, Chace. I always have. Emily will never realize just how lucky she is to have you.”
“Let me worry about that,” Chace gritted. His face came inches away from hers as he said plainly, “Don’t talk to her, don’t try to be her friend. You and Emily can never be friends. I don’t care what you think you feel about me, but all that can ever be between us now is business.”
Jan’s smile had looked frozen. “They do say mixing business and friendship never ends well,” she agreed. “So I guess I’ll have to do as you ask.”
“Thank you,” Chace said grimly. He strode to the door and when he yanked it open, it was to find his mother standing there. She gave a smile. “I was about to knock, dear. Dinner will be served soon and Emily was beginning to wonder where you went.”
Chace could never tell what his mother was really thinking. Her image of dutiful matriarch sat well on her petite frame. Even close to sixty, she never seemed to look a day over forty five for as long as he remembered. He loved her and his father very much, but he wasn’t blind to their tactics. He wasn’t sure what game they were playing, and he knew better than to trust them implicitly.
He was beginning to suspect there was a reason they’d seemed so conformable to his plans to marry Emily. Chace had expected a tougher fight. But now it was getting clear that his family might take a less obvious route in getting their way.
Chace shook off those thoughts and shifted his gaze to Emily again. She was all that mattered. He didn’t care what anyone said. He knew she loved him, just as much as he loved her. She simply had a defense structure that came from all those times she’d been hurt – and he’d been to blame at least one of those times.
He knew enough to wait till they were completely alone to iron things out. The fact that she hadn’t brought anything up during the weekend at his parents told Chace she was also waiting for the right opportunity.
Emily had changed. She normally wasn’t the type to be so level-headed. She’d tell it to him straight no matter the circumstances. Somehow though, she was learning to take a new approach to issues. Chace wasn’t sure yet if that was a good thing. He seemed to like it better when Emily let things all out in the open. They fought, they made love, and then they made up. But letting things fester…it may not be a good sign.
I guess I’ll just have to wait till I find out, mused Chace. But why did he feel more and more ill at ease?
“Something’s bothering you. Why don’t you tell me what it is?” Chace poured them both glasses of
wine as Emily paced the living room an hour later.
Her head shot up in surprise, and he held her gaze for an unwavering moment. “I’m beginning to read you like a book, Emily. This time, I’m glad you had the consideration to spare us from bickering at my family home. But don’t you think we should iron things out now?”
“I don’t know, Chace. Should we?” She cocked her head, eyes widening. “You really think we have anything to discuss?”
“Obviously, we do. For starters, there’s Jan.”
Emily pursed her lips in a tight smile. “Of course, by all means let’s start with the issue of your ‘business partner.’ Like I really believe that’s all she is.”
Chace’s face flushed slightly. “Don’t even go there. There’s nothing between me and her.”
“Then why didn’t you ever talk about her? You could have at least warned me instead of making me find out the way I did. Do you know how dumb I looked?”
“I’m sorry. That was never my intention,” Chace said calmly. “I just never imagined it would bother you that she’s my business partner.”
“Please don’t make it sound like I’m jealous of her,” Emily huffed. “I guess that must have been what your parents planned all along. I mean why else was she invited? Not only for the family dinner, but then she just had to stay the weekend, too. She simply had to be involved in every activity which we’d set out for bonding with your folks. I just can’t shake off the thought that they engineered the whole thing just to get at me.”
Chace came forward and held her shoulders. “Let everyone else play their games, but don’t make it anything to do with us. You and I understand each other too well.”
“And about that,” Emily said, her smile growing even more biting. “We understand each other? That’s funny. You know how much I hate being kept in the dark about anything. And you chose not to tell me about moving to New York?”
“First off, I wasn’t keeping you in the dark about anything. You were going to find out, Emily. I just needed it to be the right time.”
Emily gasped. “So it’s all true...the move to New York – everything.”
“Let’s not blow things out of proportion…”
“Stop!” Emily brushed off his touch, backing away. She looked up at him with accusing eyes. “Just tell me you fully intended to give me a choice in the matter. That I wasn’t expected to simply go along with whatever you wanted.”
Once again, color flushed Chace’s face. “Of course, you have a choice,” he said impatiently. “Just like you choosing to move in with me, this is something I know will work out for us both. Emily…”
Her hand flashed up to cut through his words. “Let me make something clear here. Moving in with you seemed like a natural progression since we plan to get married. What I didn’t sign up for was moving to New York. I mean, I only just moved to L.A. barely a year ago!”
“I know, to be closer to Ciara and her family. But now things are different. You’ve got me.” Chace cupped her cheeks, causing her to look at him as she would have angrily turned her face away. “When I came to L.A., it was mean to be only for a few months. Now the new company is starting to take off big-time back in New York and I need to be running ship. I can’t keep leaving things to Jan, capable though she is. I never expected the way it all worked out between you and me. Us getting to meet again…planning a future together – do you have any idea how happy that makes me? All it takes is just a bit of sacrifice.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Emily said with a sigh, “but I still don’t think what’s best for you is necessarily best for me. It’s understandable about your new company, it’s just that I never really planned on moving.”
“So you stay back here, while the man you’re married to goes off to New York?” asked Chace with disbelief.
“The wedding is still a couple of months off. Look, Chace, I get it. Being tied down was the last thing you planned when you got to L.A. for business interests. And I can’t ask you to tailor your life to suit me, but it doesn’t seem fair that I should be expected to do the same.”
Chace’s smile faded, his hands falling from her as he slowly took in her words. “What exactly have you decided?” he made himself ask calmly at last.
“I’m just saying, let’s think about this some more,” Emily said in a defensive tone. “I love you and of course I’d want to be anywhere you are. But I also have a book coming out and there’s months ahead with promotions and stuff…”
“We’ll figure it out,” Chace said, in that decisive way that made it seem it was all settled. He gathered Emily firmly into his arms. She sighed as she rested her head against his chest, arms encircling his waist of their own accord. She hated when they argued, her body feeling spent as if she’d just tumbled off a steep mountain side.
She knew she was holding a lot back from Chace. Mainly she was holding back the truth, which was that she was afraid to give in too much, to have to surrender every piece of herself till she was left with nothing. That was dangerous. When you made someone the center of your world, what happened if things went wrong and everything capsized? Emily had felt so sure she could take whatever came at her, but what with the whole Jan episode and the way the weekend at his parents’ hadn’t gone as planned, she was just one echoing shell of worry.
She was brought back to the present with Chace aiming for her lips. Emily protectively laid her hand against her mouth, palm outward. “No. I’m still mad at you,” she mumbled, glaring up at him with that cocky smile of his.
“They do say angry sex is the best sex.”
“No they don’t.” Emily’s eyes threw sparks at him, but Chace was merely chuckling. He kissed her palm softly over her mouth, and it felt almost as enticing as if he was kissing her directly. It irritated the hell out of her that he assumed kissing would undoubtedly lead to sex. Her irritation, however, had no hope of lingering, with Chace planting warm, tender kisses on the tip of her nose, her eyelids, and her forehead. Emily sighed raggedly. Her hand began to descend slowly from her lips. By the time Chace reached down again to kiss her, she didn’t protest.
Moments later, with his lips sliding down her arched neck, it was difficult to keep thinking straight. “You know, we still need to talk,” she half-moaned, half-warned, biting hard on her bottom lip to tamp down the pleasure.
“And I said we’ll work it out. We’re linked together, Emily. Hip to hip.” Chace had his hands tightly gripping said hips, which he tugged firmly against his. Emily gasped, bracing her hands against his chest as she felt his throbbing arousal.
“I could try to find the words to tell you how good we’ll be together. But I figure I’ll just show you,” Chace growled, nuzzling roughly at her throat. He shifted his hands below her buttocks and easily lifted her, supporting her weight as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
He carried her towards the bedroom, already reaching for another kiss from her lips. Overcome with her rising desire, Emily still wasn’t sure if succumbing this easily was a good idea. Sex wasn’t a great answer to anything – though sex with Chace was always great.
On second thought…maybe she did deserve some sweet seduction from her man after the unpleasant weekend she’d had to endure. Emily could definitely do with a pick-me-up, so to speak. She had to conceal a giggle as she buried her face in Chace’s neck, her hands gripping his flexing biceps.
They’d reached the bedroom and Chace placed Emily delicately on the bed. He sustained his weight above her for a few moments as he took time to roam his smoking gaze over her body.
Much as she trembled for his touch and kisses, and even as Chace began to kiss his way down her body as he slowly undressed her, Emily still made one last call to reason.
“We definitely need to come to a mutual agreement as a couple. And I want you to always be straight with me, Chace.” Her reproving tone whittled to a gasp as Chace freed a nipple and enclosed it in the moist heat of his mouth.
“I…you…you shouldn’t kee
p things from me or make me have to find out from someone else,” Emily panted and took hold of his head with both hands, guiding him to her eyes. He growled, letting her nipple pop from his lips.
Chace edged up to lean over her, that gray gaze as piercing as ever.
“I promise,” he said simply. She let out a soft whimper as he kissed on her neck tenderly. “You just have to trust that I’d never betray what we share.”
Emily stared into his face and nodded. An optimistic smile played on her lips, which slowly vanished as flames seemed to leap into his ice-gray eyes.
“You know what I missed the most this weekend?” he asked with sex thick in his voice.
Emily gulped. She could just imagine what he meant. She remembered how they’d had to keep things quiet while at his family home. Though the house was huge and their bedroom suite had been secluded enough, there was still a chance Emily’s screams of pleasure would be overheard. Keeping it low-key had meant their nightly sessions had to be less thorough than was their custom.
Lovemaking with Chace normally ran into hours on occasion, much to Emily’s satisfaction and constant amazement at her fiancé’s ever undiminished libido. And now that they were back in their place with all the privacy they needed, Emily had no doubt that Chace was as eager as she was to make up for lost time…
Chapter Nine
The bathroom was filled with steam, Emily’s curvy frame visible in silhouette behind the glass shower. She was facing away from the door as she washed and didn’t notice Chace approach from the bedroom.
He’d already stripped himself of his clothes and now joined her, his hands gently working down her shoulder blades.
Emily yelped softly as she felt the less warm body settle against hers. Chace chuckled at the way she’d jumped in fright, and she tossed him a mock glare over her shoulder. His chin rested in the crease of her neck, nuzzling the wet, warm brown skin. His fingers slowly grazed the soap suds on her breasts, her stomach, and down her hips, before reaching into the spot between her thighs.
