No Denying You(25)

Holy shit! Emma felt the moisture pooling between her thighs as erotic images of the two of them together ran through her mind. As he reached up to pinch her taut nipples, she groaned, “You . . . have . . . an . . . appointment . . . soon.”

“Fuck.” Brant cursed against her neck. He kissed her ear before stepping unsteadily back.

“Let’s go to your place after work,” Emma whispered seductively. Was it her imagination or did he suddenly look uncomfortable?

“How about your place? I’m . . . having some work done at mine.”

Emma felt herself relax. Things had seemed so awkward for a moment that she had been afraid he was going to turn her down altogether. She knew that her apartment was still a wreck with luggage lying around the living room, but she didn’t care in the least. If they had to make out on a pile of laundry, it was something she’d have to live with. “Sure, that sounds good. Do you want to grab some dinner first?”

Brant smacked her sharply on the butt, something he seemed to love doing, and said, “Have a snack this afternoon to tide you over. I can’t sit across from you in a restaurant without wanting to fuck you. After we’ve released some . . . tension, we’ll order a pizza.” Emma was more than happy with his plan since she didn’t think she could last much longer without feeling him against her. Being this close to him for the rest of the afternoon was going to be hell. She had never been so glad to have a full schedule; otherwise, she would have ended up doing something she never had: beg Brant to meet her in the supply closet before she exploded.

Brant had just walked back into his office when the owner of the company, Jason Danvers, walked in followed by Mark DeSanto, Brant’s next appointment. The DeSanto Group had been a partner in some projects with Brant’s previous company. Brant had maintained a friendship with Mark and wanted to introduce him to Jason. He thought there were some interesting possibilities for projects between DeSanto and Danvers.

“Emma.” Jason smiled, holding out his hand. Emma shook hands, returning the greeting. She had met Jason on only a few occasions and each time she found herself blushing like a schoolgirl. Claire Danvers had hit the jackpot and it had nothing to do with his wealth. He was tall, drool-worthy handsome, and what a body. What Emma found the most attractive, though, was that he didn’t use any of that to get what he wanted. He was like a gorgeous geek. After speaking with him on any subject for a few moments, it became apparent that the man was brilliant. With so many attributes to admire, his intelligence had always been what really stood out to Emma.

Mark DeSanto gave her a look that was frankly appraising and appreciative as he dropped a kiss on her hand. Emma smiled at the gesture. There wasn’t a lot of hand kissing in Myrtle Beach. Mark had raven-dark hair and reminded her of a younger Andy Garcia.

When Brant walked out of his office to greet his guests, Mark took the opportunity to ask her if she would be interested in joining him for lunch one day. She could tell by the tightening of Brant’s mouth that he had also heard the question and didn’t like it. She didn’t think it would look good to Jason Danvers if he saw her making dates with their business associates. Just as she was trying to phrase her rejection nicely, the telephone rang and she jumped on it like a lifeline. Brant also took advantage of the call to usher Mark away from her desk and lead them all into his office, shutting the door firmly behind them.

As Emma was getting ready to leave for the day, the men finally came out. “Emma, Jason, Mark and I are meeting up with Declan, Nick, Gray and Ava for dinner. Could you possibly make us a reservation at Ivy for seven, please?” Ivy was a favorite among the executives at Danvers and as such, there was always a last-minute table available to them there. Emma smiled at him as Mark and Jason walked into the hallway and she picked up the phone. Brant leaned over her desk to sign some papers and whispered near her ear, “I’ll drop by your place after dinner, okay?”

“Er . . . sure,” she replied, suddenly feeling like more of a booty call than a date, which she knew was silly. Did she think that Brant was going to announce to the CEO of Danvers that she was his girlfriend and include her in the dinner arrangement? “Will any of the wives be joining you this evening?”

“Ah, yes, Em, thanks—please also include a plus-one for Jason, Gray and Declan. I don’t believe Nick’s wife can make it.” Emma couldn’t help but think that if Brant were still with Alexia, he would definitely have a plus-one for the evening. He brushed her hand fleetingly before murmuring, “I’ll see you soon.”

Emma quickly made the reservation before locking up for the evening. She was walking through the lobby when she saw Brant’s sister, Ava, staring at the elevator. Thinking that Brant may not have passed the dinner information along, she approached her. “Hi, Ava, were you looking for Brant?”

Ava gave her a look of surprise before answering. “No, should I be?”

Emma verbally kicked herself. She liked Ava fine, but she was now stuck delivering the required five minutes of small talk when she could have walked out the door and been on her way. “I just thought since you were meeting the rest of the team for dinner tonight that you might be riding together.”

“Oh . . . No . . . I’m just . . . I thought Mac would still be here and I was going to walk out with him.”

Like most of her friends at Danvers, Emma had wondered more than once about the relationship between Ava and Mac. She knew he was an old friend of the family and that Declan had served in the military with him, but she had always thought there was something else there.

“Do you want me to check and see if he’s still in the building?” Emma offered.

Ava looked down at her watch and then back at the elevator as if willing Mac to appear. “No, that’s okay, I probably just missed him. Thanks, though.”

Emma couldn’t help but notice how sad the other woman looked as she walked away. Maybe they had more in common than she thought, because it appeared that they were both waiting on a man.





Chapter Fourteen


When Declan caught him looking down at his watch yet again, Brant tried to hide his guilty expression. It was already after nine and he knew that Emma was expecting him. As if taking mercy on him, his brother cleared his throat. “Ella and I are going to have to get home. She’s a bit tired tonight and needs to rest.”

Clearly, pregnancy did have its advantages, Brant thought. He shot Declan a grateful smile as the dinner meeting came to an end. He said a quick good-bye to everyone, noting absently that Suzy had been unusually subdued during dinner. She had also left the table several times, so Brant wondered if she was sick. Gray seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he kept a firm arm around his wife¸ leading her toward the door. When his cell phone rang as he was walking toward his car, Brant was momentarily surprised to see his home number on the caller ID. He had completely forgotten about Alexia.

He hit the CALL button, answering, “Stone.”

“Hi, Brant, it’s Alexia. I . . . er . . . just wondered when you were going to be home.”

He was a little surprised by the question. When he had invited her to stay at his home, he hadn’t imagined that he would need to check in with her. Although he supposed it was a common courtesy when you had a houseguest, no matter what the circumstances. It would be rude to burst in during the middle of the night and scare her. “I just finished a dinner meeting and I . . . have plans, so I’ll be late. Was there something you needed?” Oh fuck, was that a sniffle he heard on the other end of the line? “Is everything okay?”

After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “Oh sure, I . . . Carter called tonight and we had a fight. He wants to see me and I refused. I just . . . needed to talk, but it’s not important.”

Brant closed his eyes as he felt the guilt jumping up to choke him. Alexia was clearly upset and had been waiting for him to come home so that she wouldn’t be all alone. Sometimes he really hated his constant sense of responsibility because he felt an overwhelming obligation to go straight home and try to solve Alexia’s problems for her. It was nothing to do with love and everything to do with a—misplaced—sense of duty. On the other hand, he wanted nothing more than to be with Emma. All day long he had missed having her in his arms.

It hadn’t even been a full day and already the weight of helping Alexia was dragging on him. He needed to tell Emma that she was staying with him, even if he couldn’t tell her the reason why. There was nothing going on that he should feel guilty about. He’d give her a call and then head home. “I’ll be there soon.”

“Really?” He could hear the hope in Alexia’s voice as he told her he’d be there in twenty minutes. Next, he dialed Emma’s number, putting it on speaker before turning his car toward home. A spark shot through his body when he heard her voice. She sounded so damn close he almost expected to see her in the seat next to him. “Hey, Em.”

Before he could go any farther, she said, “You aren’t coming, are you?”

He couldn’t keep the surprise from his voice when he asked, “How did you know that?”