“Next time text me. I was going out of my mind thinking something happened to you.” He shocks the hell out of me when he grabs my shoulders and pulls me in for an intense hug. It feels right, safe and then awkward as hell when I realized my brother had approached our group.
“What the hell?”
“Listen,” Penny says as she dives into the story one more time. Leo’s eye begins twitching at the diarrhea story once again. She finishes up by saying, “He was just relieved to find her.”
“Where have you been Dan? I’ve been looking for you everywhere too,” Joss says.
Uh oh. Danny looks like a deer in headlights and guilty as hell. “I was walking around trying to find them too.” He lies, and from the look on Joss’s face, I can tell he doesn’t buy the lie.
“Can we get on the road, please? I have a giant bat to see.” Leo herds us all for the exit.
“How’s your stomach feeling now, big guy?” Danny asks him as we make it to the parking lot.
He slightly hunches over and wraps his arms around his mid-section. “It was hell Daniel, absolute hell. But I think I’ve turned the corner. My bowels are now under control.”
I kind of zone him out after that because I feel the heat through the fabric of my shirt as Joss places his hand at the small of my back. It’s doing all sorts of things to me, and I find myself chanting friends, friends, friends.
I feel like this whole trip I’ve taken one step forward to take two steps back.
Chapter 17
Emerson
I raise a French fry to my mouth to have it batted away before it reaches its target.
“What the hell Leo?”
“Your ass will thank me later.”
“It’s not like you aren’t going to make me work it off,” I grumble.
“Are the extra miles really worth it to you?”
I sit back in my seat and huff. Guess I’m having chicken and veggies again.
“I have a gym lined up for tomorrow along with a meet and greet,” Danny states after hanging up the phone.
“What? Why a meet and greet?”
“Dad’s PR team thinks it’s a good idea for fans to interact with you. We’re even planning a gym session back home for contest winners and the media to watch. If you push how hard you’re working, everyone will forget about your wild side and those videos that went viral.”
In theory, it sounds great, but I’m not sure I’m ready to be under everyone’s watchful eye yet. Maybe I can talk Gabe into coming to take some of the heat off me. Although, on the other hand, this might help me with my stage fright. I hate being the center of attention and slowly inviting people to watch what I’m doing might help in a big way. I’ll have to talk to dad later about how he dealt with it all, and it’s not like I can get shitfaced to deal with it. I’ll dance on a million bars while drunk, but when I’m sober, I wouldn’t do anything of the sort. Go figure.
Early on dad told us kids not to Google him and his career. Something tells me I get my wild streak from him and that’s why. I can’t picture my dad going crazy. He’s lucky that in his heyday, social media wasn’t as crazy as it is now. Although I’m sure, my mother would beg to differ from what Aunt Ash has said about her in the tabloids.
There’s suddenly a hand on my leg, and it’s most certainly not mine or Leo’s. I meet Joss’s eyes, and he looks down to where his hand is resting, and I almost kiss him when I see a hidden French fry waiting for me. This man gets me. I side-eye Leo, waiting for the right opportunity to grab it and feast.
“I found one! I did it!” Leo shrieks looking at his phone. “Finally.”
I look over his shoulder and check out his phone screen. A dozen half-naked men are dancing around to a cliché as hell song.
“We can officially cross a strip club off the list because we will be going ladies tonight.”
“I’m not going to a fucking strip club. I’d be down if tits were involved, but something tells me Leo wouldn’t get excited over the idea of a nice rack.” Danny drops his fork full of spaghetti, completely appalled.
“No chance.” Joss agrees.
“I didn’t say men were allowed, just members of the lady gang.” He points his fork at Joss. “Are you a Hibiscus Hellion?”
“Jesus Christ.” Joss wipes his hand down his face. “I’m not going, which means she’s not going.” He points at me and then the son of a bitch takes my French fry from my thigh and places it in his mouth. I shouldn’t have hesitated. It was a rookie mistake I’m blaming on a lack of carbs.
“There’s a lot of freaking pointing going on, and I don’t like being told what to do. What time do I need to be ready Leo?” He wants to play; I’ll play. Don’t mess with me and food.
“We have to get good seats, so I’d say by seven. You big strong men can wait outside or swallow your pride, man up and come inside with us. Either way, we’re going.”
He’s got a set of balls on him going up against Joss and Danny. I’ll give him that. Leo’s infatuation with going to a strip club is one of the steps in him getting over the douchebag. He claims that should have been step two, right after binge drinking and eating, and we’ve skipped over it thus far.
“Let’s do it. Why not? I can handle whatever’s thrown at us. It’s not like they take their G-strings off.” Penny chimes in after being oddly silent throughout lunch.
“The fuck? I’m not going to a fucking strip club unless there are tits.” Danny yells, and the place goes quiet. He doesn’t care; he carries on. “That’s right. I’m not ashamed to say I don’t want to see cocks flying around. I love tits, who doesn’t love tits?”
“I love tits.” Some random man in a corner booth by himself agrees.
“Well, I do not love tits, Daniel. You have your choices. You should be happy to know there will definitely be nipples.” Leo stares him down, and Danny doesn’t falter in the slightest. It goes on for an awkward amount of time until Danny realizes Leo is standing firm.
“Fuck, we’re going to a motherfucking sausage party,” Danny mumbles under his breath.
I high five Leo and Penny even though I’m not that excited about the plans for the evening. The only dick I want to see parading around a stage is the man currently sitting next to me. My traitorous eyes remember the legend in Joss’s shorts as my cheeks flush.
After clearing my throat, I look at Danny. “No one’s going to question your manhood; you’ve made it clear you love tits.”
“Trying a little too hard.” Leo coughs then apologizes saying his onion ring got stuck in his throat.
“I’m not worried about you all. I’m worried about the people trying to hunt you down over a stupid hashtag. All it takes is a shot of you that I’m a part of and I’ll never get another girl to talk to me.”
God, he’s a lunatic. As if anyone’s going to notice me at an all-male review. I doubt anyone that will be there watch any form of sports. They’re more likely into the erotica reading thing.
“I have a plan,” Leo states.
***
“This wasn’t the plan,” Leo repeats for the hundredth time on a slur.
It most certainly wasn’t. It’s like the universe is working against us. He had the bright idea to make me wear a wig so I wouldn’t be recognized, then poor Danny wouldn’t have to worry about the media. I don’t know why it matters when his eyes are always roaming to Penny. The son of a bitch itched, yet I kept it on to ease Danny’s fears.
The night took another turn once the show started. We came to see the best that Kentucky had to offer, and we ended up in dad bod central. Don’t get me wrong, some of them were just fine, but when you have to squint to see any abs, there’s a problem.
Danny sits at the table next to Penny looking both disgusted and smug. Joss looks smug. The bastards are happy we aren’t getting the Chippendales experience we imagined. I’m watching a particularly horrifying scene play out in front of me, and I fight the urge to cover my eyes. I’ve long since ripped my wig off unwilling
to deal with the itching any longer.
One of the strippers is playing the part of a drill sergeant, making the other men on stage do a bazillion push-ups. Except, some are lying on the ground unable to complete two and they’re all panting and out of breath. This appears to be the start of a gay porn orgy.
I’m pulled from the disaster when Joss’s finger grazes my bare leg for the umpteenth time tonight. I promised to behave, and he’s had several beers at my insistence. He deserves to have some fun on this trip too, and I can be a good girl so that he can let loose. But the touching. At this point, I’m thinking it’s no coincidence even though he hasn’t acknowledged it and I haven’t moved my leg. When his fingers reach the hem of my dress, a tingle raises from his fingers to my vagina, and I know I need a minute or ten to cool down.
“I’m going to hit the ladies’ room,” I yell over the music and jump from my chair.
I just don’t get it. At first, I was thinking it was all in my head. I was reading into a situation that wasn’t really there because I’ve always had a thing for Joss. Women tend to see what they want to, and it isn’t always reality. But first the freckles, then our talk in the car, the failed French fry slip and now the leg touches. I’m on mixed signal overload.
I finish up in the bathroom and walk into the tiny, crowded hallway to find Joss propped up against the wall waiting for me. Really, he could just be waiting for the men’s room or standing guard.
“Oh hey.” Are my brilliant words before I walk by him and head for the main area of the club. I’m stopped when he grips my elbow and pulls me back flush against him.
I freeze unsure of what to do and wait for him to clue me in.
“This dress is driving me crazy.” He states running his nose along my jawline. Cue the tingles again.
“Uh, what?” I asked unable to process what he’s saying.
“This dress. You look gorgeous.”
I pull away from him and spin around kind of pissed off. If it didn’t matter to me that he had a girlfriend, which it does, it certainly matters that I threw myself at him months ago and he turned me down. Now he’s throwing all these mixed signals at me. I’m not having it even though I want to jump in his arms and tell him to take me up against these dirty stripper walls.
“Stop.”
“Stop what?” He takes a step closer.
“Stop giving me mixed signals. One second you’re telling me this can’t happen because I’m too young and the whole Danny thing, which I’d like to add I never knew us being a thing was a possibility. Then you’re rubbing my leg, staring at me, saying all this shit that’s messing with my head.”
“Why aren’t we a possibility?”
I huff in frustration. “You told me! Remember, in the car? I’m just starting my life, and you’re my bodyguard, Mandy, and Danny. Blah, blah, blah. It’s all bullshit, and I think it’s fucking funny you never asked me what I wanted. How I’m feeling about everything.”
He looks thoughtful. “I already know what you want.”
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” I question.
“Me.” He looks pleased with himself, and it makes me rage even more.
The breath pulls from my lungs. “And you want me? Honest to god, you want to be with me?” He doesn’t answer so I turn to walk away. I can soak my wounds back at the hotel.
“I know I love seeing that smile on your lips when I’m the cause. You take my fucking breath away.”
I whirl around in surprise from Joss’s proximity and the sweet comment. I melt a little on the floor as my heart begins beating wildly. A wicked grin crosses Joss’s face and becomes more devastating when he takes a step closer as I retreat a step.
“Are you scared of me, Em?”
“Why would you think that?”
“You’re retreating, and that’s the last thing I want you to do.” He’s still stalking me like I’m prey and I continue to retreat like a chicken.
“I’m not retreating. I’m giving you space because you’ve been drinking. I’m saving you from doing something you’ll regret in the morning.” I lift my chin ready to stand my ground. I’m Emerson Cage; I don’t retreat.
“Bullshit. I’m not drunk.” With his last step, he invades my personal space. He further breaches it by placing a hand on my hip.
“Yeah, that’s not going to work for me. You’re here because my Dad told you to be. We both know you wouldn’t be tagging along otherwise.” I growl, stepping to the left, so his hand falls from my body. I can’t think when he’s so close, forget about when he’s touching me.
“Always so fucking stubborn.” He mutters under his breath. “I’m not getting paid to be here.”
“What?” I ask dumbfounded. “Why would you refuse my dad’s money? You’re doing a job. A job that’s also dragging you far from home and your girlfriend.” I had to throw it in there, to remind him this isn’t a good idea.
“I’ll always drop what I’m doing to keep you safe. Now, I like the idea that there’s nowhere for you to run…” He bends down and places his hand back on my hip. “Nowhere to hide.”
“Oh, that’s grand. Now I’m the one hiding? I was the one to make a move, don’t you remember? You were the one that rejected me.” I try to walk away again because this is becoming too much and he’s not making much sense.
I make it a few steps when his hand slinks around my hip to stop me. In the next second his body is plastered to mine again, his front to my back and I instantly lose the breath in my lungs.
“Stop lying to me. Is all of this about the night of Gabe’s fight?” My silence keeps him going. “Stop trying to run Em. Always a fucking rebel, but I see you. I know the real you.” I melt into him with every breath on my neck. I’m useless to fight his strength.
“You don’t know anything,” I whisper.
“I know when you came onto me you were drunk off your ass, I had a girl back home waiting for me, and your older brother was my best friend. I’m not even mentioning how much older I am. That made you off limits.”
Well, this is new information. “Yeah, I read your signals loud and clear when you lifted me off you and carried me to the door. You placed me outside your room and shut the door in my face. That’s not even mentioning the fact that you’ve never brought it up. I thought you forgot.”
“I just explained why. There is no fucking chance that I’d ever forget the feeling of your lips around me.”
I finally break free of his hold and turn to face him. “Yeah, I heard you. Well, guess what? Danny is still your best friend, my brother, and last time I checked you’re still seven years older than me and involved with another woman.”
“Things have changed. Mandy’s no longer in the equation.”
“How?”
“I know why you came to my room that night.”
I glare at him. Jesus, will he answer a single question for me?
“You’re in love with me.” He continues by making me gasp.
“You had your chance, Joss. I’m over you. You know how I am, I don’t freely put myself out there.” I try to say convincingly hoping my eyes express the same. Hoping they aren’t showing how much his hands on my body truly affect me.
“Give me another chance.”
“No.”
Joss stares at me for a beat; then his grin lights up the hallway.
“I’m going to enjoy showing you all the ways you’re full of shit.” I have to look away, unable to take the intensity in his smoldering amber eyes. “You may think I’m just now seeing you in a new light, but I’ve always seen you, Emerson. It’s a lost cause to go back to the way things were. Things. Have. Changed.”
I expect him to walk away, but he comes at me. The last thing I expect is for Joss to lean down and latch his lips to mine. This is technically the first kiss I’ve ever shared with him. I’ve dreamt about it over and over, even had fantasies about it. Nothing and I mean nothing beats the real thing.
It takes me a second to realize I’m kissing him
back. That my lips are working against his in a rhythmic dance that I never want to end. I pull back when the voodoo he’s working into my head clears and notice for the first time since he’s started talking that we aren’t alone. There’s a ton of people waiting for the bathrooms that just caught our show.
He tries to lean in for yet another kiss, but I spin out of his hold and take several steps back. This is him calling me on my bullshit. My gaze narrows and I growl when he smirks. I want to crash my lips back to his when he sexily licks his lips and rubs the bottom with the pad of his thumb. He knows he has me and I don’t like feeling backed into a corner.
“Don’t do that again. I don’t want you to, and I already said that I’ve moved on. It was just a stupid crush.”
“Oh, Emerson. I’m going to enjoy making you remember all the reasons why you first fell for me.”
Chapter 18
Emerson
After I escape back to the table, I eye Leo and Penny but he’s too drunk, and she’s watching the stage intently. They should know something monumental just went down, and I need to call a code turquoise.
I’m left to my own devices while watching jiggling bellies. I try to dissect the conversation I just had with Joss. Even though my friends aren’t privy that something just happened, my brother sure looks displeased. From the moment Joss and I got back to the table, he’s been shooting daggers at us. I didn’t do anything, so I’m unsure as to why I’m on the receiving end.
“Drink a Cosmo, girl, have some fun,” Leo states looking at my water. “Oh Joss, did you use Rebel’s lipstick?” It’s a genuine question from a drunk man, but now I understand the looks from Danny. He doesn’t say another word, and for some reason, Joss doesn’t feel the need to wipe the color from his lips.
I focus back on the stage, and I find myself genuinely confused as to why a stripper hasn’t been on the stage in a few minutes. Then a dancer appears, and he has smeared marker on his stomach. It’s like he has the letter M written all over where his abs should be. It’s a weird gimmick, and I can’t quite figure out the reasoning…until a shrieking Leo is yelling about his rights while being escorted out of the club with a bouncer on each arm. His legs are dragging underneath him, and I’d be bursting out laughing if I wasn’t genuinely concerned.
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