After All(66)

"I should get dressed," I say to him and start heading for the closet where I hung up my dress. I went shopping the day I found out about this event. Emmett was insistent on paying for it since it's his event and all, so I gladly took his credit card and had a field day at the mall. In the end though, I eschewed the high-end designer labels (that's more of Jackie and Will's thing) and settled on a long, neon-yellow dress from the department store. I know it's super bright but I figured it's LA and I'll probably stand out anyway in a sea of size zeros, so why the hell not make a statement?


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But as I'm going, he grabs my arm and pulls me to him so I'm pressed against the hard muscles of his stomach and chest. Damn. I can practically feel the ridges of his abs against my skin.

"Would you be mad if I messed you up beforehand?" he asks me, a lazy look in his eyes. That look that actually means the opposite of lazy. Sex with Emmett is anything but.

"Then who will do my makeup and hair after?" I ask him as he grins at me, his mouth just inches away. "You?"

"I don't know," he murmurs. "Maybe we won't go to the party at all." He places his lips at my neck and my bare skin breaks out in gooseflesh. "Maybe spending the night right here will be far more entertaining."

I smile, my lungs breathless as his lips gently suck down the length of my neck, heading for my collarbone. Somehow, I manage to press my hand against his chest and push him back. "You have to go. It's in your contract. And by default, in mine. And I am not wasting my dress or this hair and makeup job." I pause, biting my lip before I realize I'm scraping off my orange-red lipstick. "Then we'll see what happens after."

He looks surprised. "Oh really. What happened to the whole ‘we shouldn't do that again'?"

"I said we'll see," I remind him and hope he doesn't bring up the other thing I said on the boat. That I didn't want to develop feelings for him.

ALSO, my brain starts to yell, remember he said that he'd probably hurt you in the end. You can't forget that!

And yet I kind of did until that moment.

Things are getting dangerous.

I step away from Emmett, needing to get out of his orbit before it warps me. "I'm going to get ready. Are you putting on a tux or just going to stand around all day like that, drinking beer?" I take the dress from the closet and head into the bathroom to get changed.

I run the tap and take a good long look at myself in the mirror. I barely recognize the woman staring back at me, the one with the thick, shiny, Pantene hair and perfectly contoured face. But I do recognize the look in my eyes.

Fear.

Fear that maybe Jackie was right. Maybe the end isn't just a wall signed with ink. Maybe it's a cliff I have to jump off.

And what if I do something crazy, like throw myself off of it before I'm ready?

What if what I'm feeling is completely, horribly … unstoppable?

His words ring through my head. In the end, I'd probably just hurt you.

I just have to remind myself, once again, like I've been doing from the start, that I'm in it for money. I'm in it for fun. I'm not here to fall in love. I'm here because it's my ticket to a life I've been too afraid to go after. I mean, hell, here we are in LA, the one place I always thought my dreams would, or at least could, come true, and I'm going to a party with all the actors and crew and producers of a big network. Focus on that. 

Not Emmett.

Never Emmett.

But that changes once I slip on the dress and step out of the washroom.

His eyes light up as he sees me and he lets out a low whistle. "You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

I'm such a lost cause. It took a second and I'm totally giddy from the way he's looking at me. "What about you," I say, smacking him on the shoulder. "Mr. wears a tux like he was born in it."

"Such a complicated name," he says, still looking me up and down, soaking every inch of me in. Then he glances at his watch. "Too bad our ride will be here in a few minutes."

"Good," I tell him, quickly slipping on a pair of bright magenta heels. "I'm ready for whatever the night brings."

And the night turned out to be completely unforgettable.

It started off with a walk down the red carpet to the event, a red carpet lined with cameras and benches of screaming, yelling fans. It was totally different than it was at the airport. This time, I absolutely relished all the eyes on me, maybe because I was feeling good about myself, maybe because I felt I was in control. Maybe because Emmett didn't let go of my hand once. By the time we reached the end of the carpet, I actually felt like a total pro.