She had reason to be a believer in its powers and fell back on it instead of eating when stress took over her life. She lost ten pounds after her breakup with David in February. Between him leaving and the fallout of her twenty-four-hour rebellion, she’d clocked in serious overtime at the gym. She’d finally regained those ten pounds due to her blossoming pregnancy, but she continued to work out, nonetheless. She didn’t want to get too large and spend valuable time postpartum worrying about extra pounds instead of enjoying precious moments with her newborn.
When her body was about to give out from the strain, Emma slowed her pace to cool down and opened her eyes. She smiled, pleased with her workout stats on the console. She may well have earned herself a treat after dinner. Maybe some nice dark chocolate would provide a pseudosexual chemical release to back her down from the edge.
Emma silenced her music and stepped onto the padded floor with gelatinous kneecaps. Her plan had worked. She was exhausted, sticky and thirsty. Sex with Jonah was the last thing she wanted at the moment. She reached for her water, taking a healthy swig, then began wiping her face with her towel.
The sound of a man’s laughter startled her. She yanked the towel from her face, pulled out her earbuds and looked around the gym, but found it to be just as empty as it had been before. Her only guess was that it must’ve been someone in the hallway walking past the gym. Or maybe her imagination was getting the best of her.
With another quick glance around, she gathered up her things and headed to the locker room just to be safe. Originally, she’d planned to shower and change here, but the unknown man’s laughter left her unnerved. What if Jonah had seen her? She had taken a huge risk tonight and she couldn’t repeat it. She needed to bring some gym clothes to work that wouldn’t leave her so exposed next time. Jonah might be out tonight, but that wouldn’t be the case every time she came down here.
Instead, she grabbed her tote bag, slipped a hoodie over her clothes just in case and headed to the exit.
She could bathe in private at home where she didn’t have to worry about who might be watching.
Six
Jonah ducked into a corridor and watched Emma as she headed toward the back exit of the building. When his dinner meeting was canceled earlier tonight, he was already at the restaurant waiting. He opted to get a to-go order and take it back to the office. There, he planned to get in some weight training—it was legs day—and eat his dinner as he went over some emails.
The gym was usually empty in the evenings and he enjoyed the solitude. He spent all day in meetings and on phone calls. His time at the gym was an hour out of the day where he could lose himself in some music and let his sore muscles distract him from his worries. He never expected to find Emma there. She seemed like the kind of woman who didn’t like to get dirty, much less sweat. Yet there she had been, going to town on one of the machines, music pumping into her ears, her eyes closed.
If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was trying to work something out of her system. Perhaps he’d done a better job of sexually frustrating her than he thought. Maybe she only resisted him on the surface.
He’d almost opened his mouth to say as much to her when she suddenly came to a stop and climbed down from the machine. He watched her from the doorway, unnoticed, as she sipped her water and wiped the sweat from her flushed face. It was then that he spied a flash of red peeking out from her black top. He took a few steps farther into the gym and could clearly see half a red heart tattooed on her left breast. Jonah had stopped, looked at the tattoo on his hand, then at her tiny, rounded stomach in disbelief before choking on a nervous laugh and darting out of the gym before she saw him.
Could it be?
Never. Never in a million years would he have pegged Emma as his butterfly. His butterfly had been free, uninhibited, wild. On the surface, Emma appeared to be anything but. She’d told him she was acting out of character that night, but he didn’t really believe her. Everyone said something like that when they found themselves in an awkward situation.
She must’ve been telling the truth. His butterfly had also told him that he wouldn’t want her in the morning, like she’d turn into a pumpkin at sunrise. Instead, she turned into an uptight accountant. A beautiful, graceful, aggravating, uptight accountant who looked as though she might be carrying his child.
He was no expert in that department. What he did know was that three months ago, her belly had been flat as a board, trembling as he planted kisses across it. Emma wouldn’t show much at three months, but it was hard to hide a belly in workout clothes. Could she really be having his child?
That was something Jonah had never really considered. He wasn’t opposed to children as a whole, but he’d not envisioned his life as one where he would settle down and have a family. Maybe one day, but one day always seemed a long way off. It certainly wasn’t six months from now.
Jonah let his head roll back against the wall with a dull thud that did little to help the situation. A baby. Was it really possible that Emma was having his child? They’d used protection. He always used protection. He wasn’t stupid. There were plenty of women who would be happy to carry his heir to inherit his money along with his blue eyes. Emma didn’t seem at all like that kind of woman.
Of course, if you’d asked him an hour ago, he would’ve told you she was the kind of woman who would tell a man when she was having his baby. And yet she hadn’t.
Jonah shook his head and started back down the hallway to his office. He couldn’t work out now. His head wasn’t in it. Besides, this revelation changed everything.
His pursuit of Emma had been purely business at first. Yes, distracting her would be a pleasurable chore to cover his ass and Noah’s until the finances were cleaned up, but still business. When she rebuffed him, it had become a challenge. He always enjoyed conquering impossible tasks.
But now it was a matter of pride. Emma knew who he was. Had known almost from the moment they’d met. She’d seen his hand, seen his tattoo and yet had said nothing despite the fact that she was carrying his child.
Why? The tattoos were supposed to help bring them together. The only link from the night of fantasy to their reality. Seeing his tattoo should’ve been a sign to her, a pleasant surprise, especially since she had no other way to contact her baby’s father. If he’d found her first, he would’ve instantly told her who he was. Unless she thought their night together was a mistake. Or that she didn’t want him in her or their baby’s life now that she knew who he really was.
Impossible! What woman wouldn’t be thrilled to find the father of her child was secretly a rich, successful and attractive businessman? There were plenty of outcomes to that scenario that weren’t nearly as positive.
Jonah reached his office and spied a copy of a recent entertainment magazine on Pam’s desk. It was flipped open to a page that featured a picture of him with a woman he’d only gone out with once or twice. The byline read “Software playboy romances lingerie model.” He frowned.
Okay, so maybe his celebrity status wasn’t helping his cause. He had a reputation for being a badass and he liked it. Women were just part of the package. Most women didn’t mind getting a piece of him, no matter how brief.
Emma was different. He knew that much. She wasn’t the type of woman to tolerate that kind of crap from a man. She was an old-fashioned woman who expected the romantic overtures that were practically dead in this day and age. Not flowers and jewelry, but time and attention. The kind of woman who made him cringe. Needy and clingy were two adjectives that quickly axed a woman from his address book.
And yet she was also the woman who had filled the last three months with erotic fantasies he couldn’t shake. The one who had occupied his thoughts and forced him to compare every other date to the high bar she’d set. So far, no one had measured up.
Pushing the door open and entering his office, he thr
ew his exercise towel over the back of his guest chair. She’d sat in that very chair when she’d had her panic attack.
The attack that had immediately followed their shaking hands. That had to be the moment she realized who he was. Not exactly the romantic response he’d pictured in his mind when they’d sat in that tattoo parlor and held hands while getting inked.
All this time, he’d been worried that her nerves and avoidance of him had been related to the audit. That she’d found out about Noah’s indiscretion already. Instead, there had been a bigger issue—she was trying to keep him from uncovering the truth about her. Apparently they both had secrets to hide.
For whatever reason, Emma wasn’t interested in Jonah and didn’t want him to know who she was. She’d resisted his every advance like no other woman had before, even knowing she was carrying his child. Why would she be so determined to keep that from him? Wasn’t he good enough to be her baby’s father? Would she prefer some quiet, unassuming banker or insurance broker who would provide stability and no passion?
He didn’t believe that for a second. The woman he’d spent Mardi Gras with had been complex, with layers that included passionate minx. Sure, he had a reputation for being wild, too, but he was an adult and knew there was a time and place for everything. Being a responsible father was a duty he wouldn’t shirk, no matter how low her opinion of him might be.
Their recent time together proved that she was also a strong-willed, stubborn woman who thought she could outwit him. Emma really thought she could keep this secret from him.
Jonah twisted his lips in thought as he reached for his butterfly photo. He’d imagined the moment he found her would be like taking his first breath, starting his life anew with the amazing woman he’d longed for all this time. Instead, his mystery lover thought he was nothing more than an irritating pebble in her shoe.
But she hadn’t seen anything yet.
It wasn’t that long ago that he’d coaxed her into a wild night of uninhibited passion and recklessness. Considering the uptight accountant he’d come to know, that was no small feat. Knowing he’d done it once, however, Jonah was confident he could do it again. Before he was done with Emma, she’d be putty in his hands, all too eager to confess her identity and fall into his arms for good.
Until then, the torture would be sweet.
* * *
Emma couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched. It had been that way since the night before at the gym. Every time she felt the urge to pull her gaze away from her computer screen, she expected to see Jonah loitering in her doorway with his smug, cat-that-ate-the-canary grin. But he wasn’t there. In fact, she hadn’t seen or heard from him since the coffee shop encounter the day before.
She knew better than to let her guard down, however. She’d made that mistake last night and couldn’t do it again.
More importantly, Emma needed to focus on the books. Something wasn’t adding up right and unless she could shut down every part of her brain but the one that dealt with numbers, she’d never be able to determine if this was a real issue or one caused by her own distraction.
The third time she tried running through it and got the same result, she sat back in her chair with a groan. She’d obviously made a mistake a few pages back. A huge chunk of money was missing. “Damn it,” she cursed, pushing the unruly strand of hair from her face for the twentieth time today. She needed to buy a barrette.
“What’s the matter, Miss Dempsey?”
Startled, Emma sat bolt upright in her seat and clutched her hand to her chest. As she looked over this time, Jonah was loitering in her doorway when she’d least expected him.
“Nothing,” she insisted. Even if she had found something of concern in the financials, she wouldn’t mention it to anyone until she was absolutely certain. You didn’t pull the fire alarm until you saw the flames. Right now, this was just a little smoke. No one was stupid enough to do something that obvious. Smart people took money in small chunks. There had to be an explanation.
She took a deep breath to steady herself and looked back up at Jonah. There was something different about the way he carried himself today. Emma couldn’t quite put her finger on it, exactly, but something had changed. Perhaps it was the sly twist of his full lips and the knowing twinkle in his eye. She had no idea what would have pleased him so greatly this afternoon, so she chose to ignore it and the deep-down pangs of desire it caused inside of her.
“Well, I just got off the phone with your boss.”
At the mention of her supervisor, the desire immediately melted away like an ice cube dropped into boiling water. “You spoke with Tim? Is there a problem?”
Jonah shook his head. “No, not at all. He was just calling to see if you had settled in okay.”
Emma held her breath as she listened to his response. Tim never just called to see if an employee was settled in. He didn’t care that much. Knowing him, Tim was calling to see if Emma had fallen for Jonah’s charms yet. “And what did you tell him?”
Jonah pursed his lips for a second, drawing out her torture with obvious pleasure. “I told him that you were the most polite and professional worker in the building, myself included. Why? What did you think I would say?”
Emma shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Hopefully nothing related to the supply closet.”
At that, he chuckled and gripped the door frame of her office, flashing his tattoo at her. “I didn’t build a successful company by being a fool, Emma. And despite what you seem to think, I’m not out to put your job in jeopardy.”
She expelled a sigh of relief that was premature.
“It did occur to me,” he continued, “that your boss seemed like a bit of a hard-ass. I get why you’re so concerned about appearances. And that’s why I’m offering you a compromise.”
Emma tried not to frown. There was nothing to compromise over.
“You don’t want to be seen with me because it’s inappropriate. I get that. But I am going to take you to dinner one way or another. So I can either find a way to blackmail you into having dinner with me here in town, or you can accept my offer of having dinner with me out of town, where no one will find out.”
Blackmail? Emma leaped up from her chair. “I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at, Jonah, but there’s nothing to blackmail me with.”
He didn’t seem fazed by her sudden bravado. “So you say. And maybe that’s true. But there’s nothing stopping me from telling Tim some fabricated misdeed. He’ll believe me over you, don’t you think?”
Emma’s jaw dropped. “You wouldn’t. Why would you even consider such a thing?”
Jonah crossed his arms over his chest, wrinkling the fabric of his flannel shirt. “Because I get what I want, Emma. And I want you to have dinner with me. If I thought for one second that you weren’t sincerely interested, I would let it drop. But you can’t fool me with your tight hair buns and your formal demeanor. The woman that was in the supply closet with me wants to have dinner. And who am I to deny her?”
“You don’t know anything about me, in or out of a closet, Jonah.”
“Don’t I?”
His blue eyes challenged her, and that made her instantly nervous. She self-consciously reached for the collar of her blouse and pulled it tighter to ensure she hadn’t given away her identity.
“I certainly don’t want to take it this far, which is why I’m offering you an alternative that will make everyone happy. Tomorrow night, meet me at the Wall Street Heliport at six sharp. From there, I will whisk you away to a location where we won’t run into anyone we know. We can have a nice, private dinner without you needing to worry about your job. You can just relax for once and enjoy your time with me.”
It wasn’t an ideal scenario, but it was certainly better than losing her job over a lie. She couldn’t believe a man that high profile could j
ust disappear like that, though. “And what about your little paparazzi friends?”
Jonah shrugged. “They only take pictures when I allow them to know where I am. When I want privacy I’m more than capable of arranging it. I assure you that no one will know where we’re going tomorrow night, even you.”
That was one less concern, but it still left several on the table she wasn’t ready to discuss with him. Like how being alone with him turned her knees to butter and how if she fell prey to his charms, she’d run the risk of him finding out all her secrets. It was too soon for that. But did she really have a choice? “And if I go to dinner with you...just dinner...you’ll leave me alone?”
“If at the end of the evening that’s what you want, then yes.”
Emma would make sure that was how the evening ended, even if she regretted every word out of her mouth. While she didn’t anticipate much to come out of her attraction to the infamous CEO, she didn’t want even a whisper of it to happen before her job here was completed.
“Okay, fine,” she said in a huge rush of breath before she could change her mind. “What shall I wear?”
Jonah grinned wide with unmasked pleasure. “Excellent. Now you might be surprised to hear this, but I plan to take you somewhere that requires a jacket and maybe even a tie on my part.”
Emma’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You mean you own a suit?”
“I own several. I’m not antisuit under the right circumstances, despite what my mother would say if she were asked. I just don’t need them to feel important or in control like some people do. I like to be comfortable and a T-shirt with a video game reference on it is far more representative of my personality than a boring old pin-striped tie.”
Little Secrets--Secretly Pregnant Page 8
