“Alright, if you insist but when you get back. You’re going to have to play catch up.” Kennedy laughed before she practically inhaled the light brown liquid.
“Fine.” I shrugged at her and then turned around to walk towards where Patrick was sitting. As I warily approached him, he continued to scroll through his phone and then took a sip of his beer.
Still a beer man.
It took him a minute to notice me standing there before he said a word, “Em, what are you doing here?”
“It’s Morgan.” I corrected him. “I could ask you the same thing too, you know? Day doesn’t end for you does it?” I tried to play it cool.
Patrick scanned me from head to toe before answering, “No, it doesn’t, but it does for you I see.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Nothing, just saying you look good is all. You always did I mean, but it’s just a good contrast from what you have to present when you’re teaching at the academy.”
“Oh, well thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” he smiled back at me. “Care to join me? I could use the company. There’s only so much I can stay in a hotel room, talking to myself. Right?”
There goes the Patrick Mitchell charm.
“Alright, but I can’t stay long. I’m already here with friends.” I nodded towards Kennedy and Craig who I could tell had already one too many shots without me.
“So, what are you three doing here?” Patrick asked as he ordered what used to be my favorite – a cold, bottle of beer.
“Oh, Kennedy and her boyfriend Craig wanted to take me out. It’s been a long time since we’ve had the time to spend with each other and just let loose.”
“On a Monday night?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
“Well, I don’t typically drink especially as much as they do. Someone has to be the designated driver tonight.” I shrugged as the bartender passed me the bottle.
“Hope you still like a cold one.”
“I do occasionally. Thank you.” I took a sip. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I haven’t had a beer in years, they reminded me too much of him.
“You’re welcome. I figure you couldn’t come to a bar and not have at least one drink.” Patrick laughed. “So, you guys aren’t celebrating anything?”
“No, not really. We don’t do this every day either. So, how’s your trip going so far?” I took another sip, changing the subject.
“It’s been great so far. Haven’t had the chance to explore the area yet, I’ve just been focusing on the job, and when it’s over, I’ll be heading back to Los Angeles right away. Things tend to fall apart when my business partner Sean or I aren’t there.”
“How long have you lived there?” I asked with mild curiosity. I wanted to find out if his timeline matched mine, indicating he ran away just like I did.
“Just a couple of years. My buddy, Sean, who moved there previously asked if I wanted to start a marketing firm with him and that’s what we’ve been doing ever since.”
“So, you just uprooted yourself just like that?”
“Just like that,” Patrick confirmed with a wide grin.
“Well, I’m glad you guys are doing well.”
“We are thankfully. When we started the company, we hoped things would turn out well, but we never imagined things would be going as well as they have. The company practically skyrocketed right from the jump, and we’ve been so busy ever since. We have twenty employees, and we’ll probably have to hire more if things keep growing at the speed it’s currently going.”
“That’s quite the accomplishment. Congrats again.” I found myself saying as I raised my bottle to him.
“Thank you, I appreciate it.” Patrick clinked my bottle with his. “How about you? How have things been for you?”
“Well, back in Chicago, I taught English lecture as you know and then I received a call about a substitute teaching position for John Hill, and eventually it turned into a permanent position, and I decided to accept it and I moved here.”
“So, you just took off huh?”
“Not exactly. I thought about it long and hard before I applied for the substitute position because it was only for a couple of weeks but when I received the job offer for the permanency, I took it, and that’s when I ‘took off’” I explained using air quotes.
“Do you find yourself satisfied with the decision you’ve made to move here?”
“Yes, I do. I wasn’t happy at first, I was extremely homesick for a while but staying was what I needed to do. I really needed a change of pace at the time despite what I wanted. I needed to be around new things and new people.” I explained.
“Did I play a part in influencing you to make that decision?” Patrick looked at me with interest mixed with curiousity.
“Look, Patrick…”
Patrick held his hands up to stop me from answering, “Sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t be trudging up the past. It’s obvious we’ve both moved past this, so there’s no use in bringing it up.”
“That isn’t it at all. It’s just, I still have a lot of anger and resentment I’m holding in because of you, and I’d like nothing more than to just yell at you, but I’m not going to. It’s taking me a lot of self-control not to.”
“Don’t let me stop you, I deserve it. I deserve to hear everything you have to say, just don’t try and stab me with a fork again, please. I like my hands.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” I laughed nervously.
“It’s alright. Let’s hear it. I’d really like to know what you have to say to me. Far be it from me to prevent you from doing so.”
“No, thanks. I’d rather not.” I waved him off.
“Why not?”
“I just don’t want to get to that place of anger. It’s taken me a long time to not think about it every day. In fact, before you arrived, I hadn’t thought about it for months.” I explained before finishing off the bottle.
“Wow, looks like you can really hold it down still. Would you like another, it’s still on me. My treat.”
“Oh, what the hell why not? Besides, looks like Kennedy and Craig are having so much fun, I’m not ready to deal with their inebriation and try to get them home.” I answered as I glanced over to Kennedy’s side of the bar.
“Tell you what, have one more drink with me, and I’ll help you get them home safely.”
“You don’t have to.” I shook my head.
“I know I don’t but I’m really enjoying catching up with you, and I’d really like to hear from you how much of a dirtbag I was.” Patrick offered.
“Fine, you’ve got a deal.” I gave in, and Patrick grinned before ordering a pitcher of beer.
“So, as you were saying? I really want to hear what you have to say. Isn’t talking things out and resolving them the only true way to move on?”
“I’d like to not go there otherwise it’ll take me a hell of a lot of time to move past it again.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “It’s supposed to be healthy for you.”
“I’m positive. How about we just let bygones be bygones while you are here, and I promise, one day when I’m not so angry…I’ll give you a piece of my mind.”
“You’ve got a deal.” Patrick cheered as he raised his mug.
“Okay, I’ll go along with that. Cheers!” I raised my glass and tapped his before we each took a sip. I glanced at Craig and Kennedy one last time. They were laughing uncontrollably and having so much fun, they forgot I was even there.
“They’re going to be a handful, but since you’re going to help me, it won’t be so bad.” I laughed nodding in their direction.
“Anything I can do to help.” Patrick chuckled.
An hour and a pitcher of beer later, I found myself a little more buzzed than I intended to be, and I was sitting in the passenger side of my car while Patrick drove it for me. I couldn’t quite recall, but I think I suggested to him in the bar that he take me home that very instant.
If I were sober and thinking with a level head, I wouldn’t have suggested he take me home, and I would have noticed Kennedy and Craig leaving in a cab thirty minutes prior.
“Looks like they didn’t need you anymore, Ms. Designated Driver. Besides, what good is a designated driver if you can’t even do the driving?” I barely understood what he said considering the state I was currently in.
“I guess not.” I let out a sigh and started to laugh uncontrollably.
“Yep, you’re out of it. I’ll just take you home and make sure you get inside safe. Then I’m taking a cab back to my hotel.” I heard him say.
“Sure, take me home.” I giggled again.
“Yep, definitely had too much to drink.”
Chapter Five
PATRICK
I must admit, she looked damn good in that dress. I’d be lying to myself if I said she didn’t and I would have gotten out of there before I said anything I regretted, but I couldn’t just leave her there when she apparently had too much to drink. After noticing her friends safely getting in a cab, I suggested that I take her home to make sure she got home safely. I couldn’t just leave her there.
If she didn’t have too much to drink, I would have made up some excuse about having work to do. It was the only way I could avoid staring at her or drinking too much and saying something I wouldn’t be able to take back. Sure, I actually had work to do, but it wasn’t as important as I made it seem. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to control myself, yet I here I was driving her back home.
Seeing her in that tight dress stirred feelings in my gut and down below that I hadn’t attributed to Emily in a long time. She didn’t know, but I saw her at the bar long before she approached me. I saw the way that black dress molded to her like a second skin. The way the tight fabric outlined her curves that I remembered quite fondly, it made me hard. She always did. She had this innate ability to make me desire her, and it was never enough. I wanted her all the damn time. I wanted her now, and it didn’t help that the more she drank, the touchier she became.
It was innocent at first, her hand slightly grazing my arm or my thigh but then there was a time or two where she would squeeze my leg, or her hand would move a little too close to my groin. There was one point where I think she squeezed my ass too.
When she did those things, I wanted to reach out and caress her shoulders and slowly slide my hands down her hips and pull her to me. I was so close to giving in, and if I did, I would have slipped my hands to her ass, picked her up and taken her right there on the pool tables while she screamed my name.
These were all innocent thoughts of course, and I made sure I played it calm and professional. Having these thoughts was the last thing that I should be doing when it came to Emily. She didn’t need me trying to worm my way into her life, especially her bed when she was too drunk to be thinking clearly. That's not what I wanted at all, but I was stupid to let her go, and I definitely didn’t deserve to have her back in any kind of way.
When we finally arrived at her apartment complex, I figured out which parking spot she was telling me was hers. I practically carried her up to the flight of stairs outside of her building and helped her unlock the front door. Taking in the surroundings, it looked like her roommate went with her boyfriend to his place or elsewhere because they apparently weren’t here.
I found the light switch and turned them on, so she wouldn’t crash into anything and hurt herself once I finally left, “Emily, are you going to be alright? I’m going to take off now.”
“You’re leaving?” she asked when I finally put her down and made sure she was able to stand up.
“Yes, I have to. I still have to catch a cab back to my hotel room, I have a lot of work to go over before tomorrow.”
“What if I asked you to stay here?” she asked tracing a finger down my chest.
I grabbed her hand to stop her, “Emily, that’s a great offer but I don’t think you’re in the right frame of mind. How about you go lay down.”
“Shh.” she cooed while pulling her hand out of my grip and tracing that imaginary line again down my chest and stomach, past my belt and further down until she found what she was looking for.
“Okay, okay.” I uttered grabbing her hand which turned out to be a big mistake. It only gave her the encouragement to grip my cock through my slacks and run her hands up and down. “Okay, Em… this isn’t right.” I tried to stop her with everything I had.
It was tough, I hadn’t gotten laid in a long time. Not that I couldn’t, but I just was too busy with the growth of SP & Associates, I didn’t have any time to dedicate to anyone, let alone go out to meet people. It had been such a long time, I was losing this battle at my own self-control.
“Shh, Patrick. We both want this.” Emily muttered as one hand wrapped itself around my neck pulling me to her while the other unbuckled my pants and slipped inside tightening her grip on me.
It didn’t take long for my lips to find hers and it took seconds for me to give in. I pushed the front door closed before I wrapped my arms around Emily’s waist pulling her firmly to me. I deepened the kiss, and my tongue forced its way in between her lips. I couldn’t get enough of her, and my cock hardened as if it found its way home as her firm grip made its way up and down.
After several minutes of foreplay, I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to have her. I grabbed on to her ass tightly and lifted her up high enough so that she could wrap her legs around me. The tip of my shaft barely grazing her core in the process which only made her moan with excitement and anticipation.
After carrying her to her bedroom and shutting the door so that we had complete privacy in case her friends made their way home, I lowered her onto the bed softly and shed off my suit as quickly as possible. Before I lowered myself next to her, I helped her pull off her panties and the tight little number she wore until she laid before me bare as the day she was born.
After rolling on the gold foiled protection I pulled from my wallet, I lowered myself onto her, positioning myself in between her legs and braced myself on my forearms.
“Are you sure about this, Em? Because once we start, I won’t be able to stop.” I warned her.
Emily responded by pulling me in for a kiss, and that was all it took for the last ounce of resistance I had to fly out the window before I slowly thrust into her. It started off slow at first, but the feeling of her legs wrapped around me, it felt too good to take my time.
After several minutes of taking my time giving both of us a chance to enjoy this feeling that we haven’t had with each other in years, I started to pick up the pace and thrusted in and out as Emily called out my name and muttered incoherently how much she missed this.
I wasn’t sure if she only said it because she was still slightly drunk or at least buzzed enough at this point or if it was how she honestly felt. They say that alcohol was like a truth serum and I guess we would see in the morning what the case was in her situation.
I don’t know how much time had passed but with her hands all over my back, her nails digging into me, her moans…the feeling of her pussy gripping my cock and the sensations as my hips picked up speed. I grunted and pumped into her as hard as I could as I was nearing my climax.
“I’m almost there,” I grunted.
“Harder, don’t stop. I’m almost there too. Come with me.” she moaned. “Please Patrick, harder.”
I wasn’t one to not please a woman, and I thrusted as hard and as fast as I could, her headboard slammed into the wall and her bed squeaked with the rhythm of my thrusts.
“Fuck, almost there,” I grunted, and with one more thrust of my hips, Emily screamed out.
I laid there on top of her exhausted, unable to move. I’ve always loved the feeling of being inside of her even after our lovemaking. I reluctantly rolled off her a few minutes later before pulling her to me as we eventually drifted off to sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up dead awake and couldn’t go back to sl
eep. A part of me felt guilty about the fact that I slept with Emily again because I tried so hard to keep things professional. I never imagined that it would take less than a day to give into the pull she still had over me. I didn’t know what to make of the entire situation including our two encounters, and I figured it was time to call Sean, he had a level head and would treat the situation with objectivity but realism. I think he got those qualities from me.
Sean was always up late, and on occasion, he would be awake the whole night sketching design plans, so I knew that if I called him, he’d be awake still.
“Hey buddy, how’s it going in the Windy City?” I asked when he picked up after the third ring.
“Windy and freezing.” Sean joked.
“Ha, very funny. How’s it really going over there? How’s Bridgette?” I asked.
For a while there, it didn’t seem like Sean and Bridgette would have ended up together because of a small mistake on his part, but in the end, they did. I guess if you asked Sean and maybe Bridgette too, they’d say it was part fate and part luck. Ever since he realized he had been emailing Bridgette all along, they’ve been inseparable.
I guess you could also say that it was fate we landed the big hotel chain as our new account because their headquarters was in Chicago, where Bridgette’s new job was also located. That’s when Sean and I came up with the idea of opening a second location because it didn’t make any sense for them to build a new relationship if it was going to remain long distance. Nor did it make any sense for Bridgette to move back here when she just landed the position.
“It’s going well, busy but extremely well. Bridgette and Kyle are doing great also. Kyle’s starting to become an ace outfielder on his little league team. Our daily practice is helping him tremendously.”
“That’s great man, glad to see things are going well for all of you.”
“What about you? How is everything going over there? Have you picked up any women that are better than a ham and cheese sandwich yet?” Sean laughed.
“No, I haven’t picked up anyone other than the usual. Besides, scoring women and my lunches aren’t as fun if you aren’t around.” I grunted.
One Little Lie_An Enemies to Lovers, Second Chance Romance Page 4
