‘I’ll just take Henry’s temp again and if it’s still up, I’d better – ‘
‘Look who’s up,’ Dash interrupted and she turned to see her nephew, rumpled and flushed standing in the doorway, looking with uncertain eyes at her guest. Dash grinned at him.
‘Hey, sport, I’m Dash, I’m your Auntie’s friend. How’re you feeling?’
Henry looked at Emily and she nodded encouragingly.
‘I’m thirsty,’ he mumbled but gave Dash a little smile. Emily grabbed some juice from the fridge then sat Henry on her lap as he drank it. She felt his forehead again and grimaced.
‘You’re still hot, little buddy. Your belly still hurt?’
Henry nodded but his eyes were riveted on Dash’s t-shirt. Dash pulled it out so he could see the artwork properly. ‘You like Thor?’
Henry nodded and mumbled something shyly to Emily who smiled. ‘He says he does but Hulk is his favorite.’
Dash leaned forward. ‘When I first met your Auntie, I got her so mad I thought she was going to Hulk out on me.’
Henry laughed and Emily grinned. ‘Don’t believe a word he says, Henry.’
Henry stayed on Emily’s lap until he fell asleep again, listening to the adults talking softly. Emily carried him back to bed and settled him while Dash cleared up their paperwork and washed their cups.
She smiled gratefully at him. ‘Shall I order take out, are you hungry?’
‘Good thinking.’
They ordered Chinese food and ate it on their laps, chatting easily. They’d worked out a schedule of marketing The 9th & Pine which pleased them both, Emily surprised at how much Dash was prepared to compromise and when he couldn’t, he didn’t bully or harangue but make his case in such a way that she could see his position clearly.
And god, he was such a goofball, ribbing her gently and making fun of himself. He told her about Sam; she told him about her family, and Paige but mostly about Henry.
Before she knew it, it was past eleven p.m. Dash glanced at his watch. ‘I’d better stop monopolizing you,’ he said, regretfully.
‘Are you going back to Seattle tonight?’ She was a little bemused, and not a little sad that their evening was over.
Dash shook his head. ‘I’ll grab a hotel room.’ He got up to go.
‘Wait…if you don’t mind the couch, you’re welcome to stay.’ What? What was coming out of her mouth? Emily didn’t know and that second, she didn’t care. She just didn’t want him to leave. Dash looked pleased.
‘Really? In that case, I’d be glad too.’
She nodded, couldn’t stop the smile on her face from spreading wide. ‘Good…I’ll get you a blanket.’
When she came back with the blanket, he had stripped down to his t-shirt and shorts. Trying not to look at his legs - or his underwear - she gave him a spare toothbrush. ‘You know where the bathroom is, help yourself to anything you need.’
He took the items she was offering – his fingers brushed hers and their eyes locked for a second. Emily looked away first. ‘Goodnight then.’
In bed, her body felt shivery with tension, with longing. The thought of him being a room away, half dressed, sleepy, his dark eyelashes on his cheeks as he slept…god. She allowed herself a fantasy of going out there, dropping her robe and climbing on top of his naked body, neither of them speak or making a noise as they fucked, just dissolving into each other, skin-on-skin, lip to lip.
Emily turned over and sighed. Stop it, she told herself firmly, you have Henry to consider. And Isaiah. God, Isaiah. She needed to reach out to him, tell him it was over, what it was, between them. She couldn’t feel this way about someone else and string a good man like Isaiah along – it just wasn’t fair.
She finally fell asleep at just after midnight but woke a couple of hours later, thirsty. Chinese food always did that to her. She got up, wrapping her robe around her, and padded to the kitchen. As she moved through the living room, Dash turned over on the couch and she saw he was awake.
‘Hi,’ she whispered, ‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’
‘Can’t sleep.’
‘Are you uncomfortable?’
‘No.’ He smiled and she felt her sex pulse with desire.
‘Um, I’m just getting some water.’
She went into the kitchen her heart thudding against her chest. She grabbed a glass, filled it and downed it, wanting to cool the fire that raged inside her. She felt him behind her, then his hand slide around her waist, gently turning her around to face him. She gazed up at him in the gloom of the night and thought she’d never seen anything quite as beautiful. Dash smiled, soft, tender and tilted her chin up. His lips met hers and she was lost. Her entire body trembled as they kissed, every sensation of his mouth on hers, she felt in every nerve ending. He parted her robe and cupped her breast, then his mouth was on her nipple, sucking and tasting.
Emily moaned softly, pressing her body against him, feeling the hot length of his cock, ramrod hard against her and her hands slid inside his underwear to stroke him.
‘Emily…’ He moaned and picked her up, sitting her on the counter-top, pulling her robe from her shoulders and kissing from her throat down to her belly, pushing her legs apart. When his tongue found her clit, Emily gasped, clutching the edge of the counter, feeling like she was losing her mind.
Dash swept her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom, covering her body with his, peeling his t-shirt over his head as she pushed his shorts down, freeing his incredible cock.
‘I want to be inside you,’ he murmured and she nodded, breathless, reaching out and fumbling in her nightstand drawer for a condom. Dash grinned and took it from her, sitting on his haunches as he slid the rubber over his cock. Then he was kissing her and entering her and filling her and Emily almost screamed with delight as he thrust deep inside her, ramming his hips against hers, kissing her deeply as they moved together.
‘Dash…’ She moaned as he sunk into her to the root, her body arching up to his, wanting his skin on hers.
In a second everything changed. A heartrending, bloodthirsty scream of absolute pain stopped them, a cry of anguish from the next room.
‘Henry,’ Emily said, breathlessly and they disconnected in a hurry. Emily grabbed her robe and skittered out of the room, Dash behind her, pulling his shorts on.
Henry was writhing on the bed, crying, heaving, wracking, desiccating sobs of pain. Emily gathered him up but Henry kicked and fought against her, so delirious was he.
‘Henry, sweetheart, Henry!’
‘I’m calling 911,’ Dash said, his eye wide with alarm. Emily calmed Henry down and took his temperature. She moaned when she saw it.
‘One hundred four…god…’
‘Fuck the ambulance,’ Dash said and pushed her aside, to pull Henry into his arms. ‘Go grab some clothes, I’ll drive you myself.’
In the car, Emily tried in vain to soothe Henry, talking to him, wiping his burning forehead with a towel. Dash sped through the city toward the nearest E.R.
As they carried Henry into the emergency room, a doctor came to greet them and in a flash, Henry was on a gurney having his vitals taken. Emily didn’t realize she was shaking violently until Dash clamped his arms around her and whispered urgently into her ear. ‘Sweetheart, breathe, breathe, they’re going to look after him, he’s going to be okay.’
Emily leaned against him, grateful but too terrified for Henry to feel anything but fear. The doctor came out to see them. He was a young Indian doctor, with a British accent and a kind face.
‘It looks like appendicitis, which is scary to witness and bloody agony for the patient but very routine for us. We’re taking him into surgery now…’ He looked at their disheveled state and grinned slightly. ‘We have a private room that you two could, um, wait in if you like.’
Dash kept his arm around her as they waited but there was nothing but friendship in the gesture. He seemed as worried about Henry as she did. Emily closed her eyes and leaned against him, felt h
is lips against her temple.
‘He’ll be okay, right?’
The arm around her tightened. ‘You bet your ass he will be. He’ll have the very best care there is, don’t worry about that.’
Emily felt the tears come then, the kindness in his voice and sheer exhaustion. He held her as she wept, her tears soaking his t-shirt. Eventually, her sobs turned to hiccups and she wiped her face on her sleeve. She gave him a watery smile.
‘She wants him back. Paige, Henry’s Mom. She wants him back.’
Understanding registered in his eyes. ‘Oh, Em…I’m so sorry.’
Suddenly she wanted to tell him everything. As she explained the situation, she could see the anger in his eyes, the disgust.
‘Jeez,’ he said when she was finished. ‘What a piece of work. Sorry,’ he added apologetically. She shrugged.
‘No offense taken, she is a piece of work.’
‘What does Henry think?’
‘He won’t admit it but I think he’s curious about her, about the woman he remembers as his Mom, but doesn’t know.’ Emily sighed. ‘But he’s terrified she’ll make him live with her, that he’ll have to leave his school, his friends, me. He’s at such a delicate age, Dash, I’m scared any big change will scar him. Oh shit…’ She gasped. ‘I should call Paige…I never thought…’
‘Why don’t you let me handle that?’
She touched his face, smiled. ‘You are the sweetest man but no, thank you. I have to do it.’
Dash left the room to give Emily privacy while she called her sister. He went to the water fountain and splashed some on his face, wondering how Henry was. Poor kid. He’d had appendicitis when he was eleven, knew the searing agony of it.
Dash walked to an open window and looked out at the dawn breaking over the city. The last twenty-four hours – damn. His life had changed. It was that simple. It wasn’t just that he and Emily had finally had sex – glorious even if it had been interrupted – but that she’d let him in, into her world, her little family. She had trusted him. It was a new feeling for Dash Hamilton.
Dash Hamilton gave the impression he was a confident almost arrogant man but the truth was…he was lonely. With his adored older brother Sam being gone, he had looked to Tom, Otis and Roman for friendship – most of his own college friends had married or moved away from Manhattan. Roman, the oldest of the friends was a solitary figure, quiet, reserved; Otis could be a little too snobby sometimes and it was Tom who Dash had bonded with most of all. Since Tom had fallen in love with Bay, however, he hadn’t been around as much, But Dash couldn’t blame anyone but himself for his isolation. He never got too involved with women, fearing the attachment, fearing the loss of losing someone he loved again. But Emily Moore had gotten under his skin from the first day in her office and now…
‘Dash?’
He turned to see her smiling at him. Her eyes were tired, sad, but she looked beautiful in the glow of the early morning light. He went to her, took her in his arms, brushing his lips against hers.
‘Is your sister on her way?’
Emily nodded, her head against his chest. ‘She’ll be here in an hour. Look, Henry’s going to be in surgery for a while. Shall we go to the cafeteria, get some coffee – I mean, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.’ She looked at him with uncertainty.
‘Hush your mouth,’ he smiled, ‘and lead me to your feasting hall.’***
After both of their cellphones had consistently buzzed from very early that morning, Tom had grabbed them and shoved them under the bed. He was too preoccupied fucking his beautiful girlfriend to answer any damn phone, he told Bay, who smiled down at him as she straddled him. Tom slid his hands around her waist as she rode him, his cock ramrod hard inside her velvety sex. Her skin had a light covering of dewy sweat as they made love and he traced a pattern across her belly with his fingers, watching her beautiful breasts tremble with her movements.
‘Christ, you’re beautiful,’ he said and was rewarded by her thighs tightening around his hips, her vaginal muscles gripping his cock. Her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders, her face flushed a lovely pink. He urged her to thrust harder and as she began to moan softly, he could feel the explosion building inside of him. His thumbs stroked a rhythmic pattern over her ruby red nipples, feeling them harden beneath his touch. Bay threw her head back as she came, Tom’s hips jerking as he came with hot spurts inside her. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips, keeping her locked onto him as his seed pumped deep into her.
Finally, she rolled from him and collapsed beside him, catching her breath, kissing him softly.
‘Oh, if we could just do that all day…’
Tom laughed, biting gently down on her slender shoulder. ‘I’m getting old, you’d exhaust me. But I would enjoy it, I suppose,’ he added as an afterthought and Bay punched him lightly.
A phone rang in the house and Bay looked surprised. ‘What the hell?’
‘I’d forgotten I even had that installed,’ Tom said mildly, not moving, ‘Let the answerphone get it.’
Bay kissed his pec. ‘When have you got to get to work?’
Tom grinned. ‘Unlike your lotus eating creative types, I have meetings from nine so I’m out of action all day.’
Bat grimaced. ‘Ugh. I shall just have to go to the studio.’ She sighed dramatically. ‘When will this toil ever end?’ She grinned at a laughing Tom as she slipped from the bed, avoiding his reach as he grabbed at her.
‘Why don’t you grab a shower, I’ll put some coffee on.’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Funny girl.’
In the kitchen, Tom filled the coffee maker while he listened to the voicemail message. Halfway through he stopped.
Tom, Bay, it’s Roman. Look there’s no easy way to say this but you’re all over the news and a lot of it isn’t...isn’t…good. Look, they’re making a big deal of the fact that you’re sleeping together and that The 9th & Pine are suddenly a huge deal. You can guess the rest. Call me when you get this.
Tom cursed loudly.
‘So I’m a whore, is that it?’
He hadn’t seen Bay standing in the doorway of the kitchen, wrapped in his robe. She looked as if she might cry and he went to her immediately.
‘No-one thinks that - the tabloids, this is the kind of horseshit they come up with. They think it will encourage us to give them the real story, do exclusives to set the record straight. It won’t work.’
She nodded and he could see she wasn’t reassured but he really didn’t know what else to tell her.
‘Is it just online or – ‘She picked up the remote control to the flat screen t.v. on the wall and flicked it on.
‘So what do we think? Is ‘Fire for You’ about the gorgeous Tomas Meir?’ The jabbering idiot on the Entertainment channel was clearly enjoying herself talking to her perma-tanned co-presenter.
‘I’d say so, Dreema, after all, wouldn’t you write a love song about your billionaire boyfriend if he’d just landed you the record deal of your dreams?’
Tom made a disgusted noise and gestured for her to turn it off but Bay shook her head, her expression pinched and angry. ‘These women live in the 21st Century, right?’
‘Ignore it, it’s trash. Those screeching harpies will be all about someone else tomorrow. Pure jealousy.’
Bay gave a humorless laugh. ‘Jealous because I get the billionaire and the record deal with my magical yet gold-digging vagina?’
Tom was annoyed then. ‘No, jealous because you’re talented, Bay. Do you think we’d be together if you were anything like what they’re describing? Would you be with someone who would buy you a career?’
Bay shrugged. ‘No. But it doesn’t stop other people’s opinions being colored by this crap. Every time we’re interviewed now, I’ll feel as if it’s some sort of trap to get me to admit my dastardly ways.’
Tom went to her. ‘Which is why we hired Emily, remember? Look, go shower and I’ll call her.’
When he ca
lled Emily, the call went straight to voicemail. ‘Hey, Emily, Tom Meir here. Look, I’ve got a major PR problem and a very skittish girlfriend. Can you call me back when you get this, please?’
***
The coffee in the hospital cafeteria was surprisingly good. Emily and Dash sat opposite each other at a small table, watching the room fill with staff coming on and off shift.
Dash reached over to loop a strand of blonde hair over her ear. ‘You’re exhausted.’
‘No more than you, you’ve gone above and beyond for us. Thank you.’
‘My pleasure.’
Their eyes locked then and Emily felt her whole body respond as Dash leaned forward to kiss her. ‘Mmm,’ he said, ‘Definitely my pleasure.’
She grinned. ‘You are so cheesy.’
He nodded, resigned. ‘I know, I know.’
Emily took a deep breath in. ‘Dash…before anything happens with us…anything more, I mean,’ she added, grinning shyly, ‘I have to tell you. I’m sort of seeing someone. Well, not really but there has been someone I’ve been…we’re…’
‘Fuck buddies?’ Dash grinned as she choked on her coffee. Emily wiped her chin, laughing.
‘If you like. But he’s a good friend, a good man. Out of respect for him, I want to settle things between us.’
Dash nodded. ‘Understood.’
He didn’t say anything more and suddenly Emily was nervous. ‘Not that I’m expecting anything, Dash, you know that, I’m not presuming that…’
‘I want you.’ His voice was soft and low, his gaze riveted on her. ‘I want you in every way, Emily Moore. If you’ll have me.’
She smiled, bashful but delighted and was about to say something when she heard the voice she’d been dreading, calling her name. Her sister had arrived.
***
Afterward, Emily swore blind that Paige had flown into the hospital room, scarves trailing behind her and prostrated herself on Henry’s bed crying ‘My son! My darling boy! Mama’s here!’
Dash grinned at her over her breakfast table. ‘It wasn’t quite like that but yes, that was the impression.’
Quartet Complete Series: Billionaire Romance Box Set (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Page 11
