Adam tipped his head back. “Hasn’t been in what, three, four years?”
“About that.” Bran nodded. “So because of this rough patch, he’s a bit of a…”
Emily flung her hands up. “Spit. It. Out.”
“An ass. To women,” Bran said.
“Huge ass,” Adam agreed.
Emily raised her hands and rubbed her temples. “How do we stop him from being an ass to her?”
She glanced up when neither answered.
Bran shrugged. “Never tried cock-blocking one of my brothers.”
“There was that one time—” Adam started.
Emily glared at them. “Forget it. I’ll take care of it. And Bran, I don’t care how you do it, but get more champagne. Drive to a liquor store if you have to.” She held up her phone, shoving the text message she’d received in his face. “We just ran out.”
Adam checked his watch. The one with the fat diamond at the twelve hour. This Cade brother didn’t deprive himself of the finer things in life. “Hayden’s off work. I gotta go.” He looked around once more. “Too bad I missed Levi. Tell him good luck for me.” Adam smirked.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Emily said. “Point out the problems and then ditch us.”
“No more champagne?” Bran scratched his head. “I could have sworn I ordered a bunch of the good stuff a few days ago. I’ll take care of it.” He scanned the room. “Appetizers are moving. I’ll have more sent up.”
Before she knew it, Emily was down three Cade brothers, with a horny lady on the docks, a womanizing Wes on the loose, and Levi nowhere in sight. Presumably he was catching up with her sister.
This night sucked.
She stormed across the room to Wes. “Can I speak to you for moment? We have a bit of a…golf crisis.” She smiled apologetically at the woman he was talking to. She was pretty, with long black hair and a slim figure. If Emily’s dress was knockoff couture, this woman was wearing the real deal.
Shin employees didn’t mess around when it came to their fashion. Another good reason she’d had Lisa put together a suitable wardrobe this week.
Wes followed her a few feet away. His hair was neatly combed, but he had the longest hair of the Cade brothers, and one dark lock kept drifting over his forehead seductively. He tucked it back, which just made him look like a Calvin Klein model posing for pictures. “What’s going on? I’m assuming ‘golf crisis’ is code for something. You know—since we’ve never actually had a golf crisis.” Wes had opted for a silver tie to pair with his black tux, and the color made his dark blue eyes pop.
“Never say never,” she said dryly. “But no, that’s not why I pulled you away. Your brothers were too wimpy to talk to you.”
“What’s up?”
“Stop flirting with the guests.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard what I said. No more flirting. Or rather, you can flirt, but don’t touch, kiss, or sleep with any of the guests. In other words, that woman you’re talking to is off-limits.”
He laughed. “Wow, Emily, throw down the velvet hammer, why don’t you.”
Did she have another choice? She felt like shit, she still hadn’t seen Levi, and tonight wasn’t the perfect send-off she’d envisioned for the company they were trying to impress. Nothing had gone drastically wrong, but there was always dinner.
It turned out they didn’t need to wait for dinner.
“I will not go home!”
The shout came from across the ballroom, and both Emily and Wes turned toward the sound.
A woman in a slinky dress stood at the front of the room, reaching for a glass of wine from a passing server. Hunt stood at her side, attempting to talk to her.
Emily had to give Hunt credit. This was no sleepy drunk. She was loud and taking no cues from his gentle encouragements to leave.
“Shit.” Emily strode to where the woman was making her way across the room, smiling and holding on to the arms of guests—men and women alike—to keep her balance in the spiked heels that appeared two sizes too big with her wobbly equilibrium.
Was that a nip slip?
“Hey,” Wes said, catching up to Emily. She hadn’t realized he was following her. “I think I just saw her nipple.”
Son of a bitch.
“Get your hands off me!” the woman yelled, and this time, the noise in the room didn’t just subside, it went away completely.
Hunt was grabbing the woman’s arm, trying to drag her back the way they’d come, and she was pulling with all of her might in the opposite direction, her breast bobbing in the air and waving hello to everyone.
“Ma’am.” Emily pulled up the woman’s strap, which had fallen and caused the breast greeting. She tucked the woman’s hand through the crook of her own. “I have something very special for you. If you’ll come this way?”
“Why should I go with you?” The woman’s eyes nearly crossed as she tried to size up Emily and tug her arm free at the same time. She was dressed prettily, but her breath smelled like a gin distillery, burning Emily’s eyes with the fumes.
“Unfortunately, this is a private event,” Emily said. “But to make it up to you, I’d like to comp you a ninety-minute massage in Club Tahoe’s world-renowned spa. How does that sound?”
The woman glanced around at the people staring. She rolled her shoulder. “I suppose. Kind of stuffy in here, anyway.”
“Exactly.” Emily ushered her to the door, and Hunt and Wes kept close. “I’ll have the front desk draw it up for you. Return at any time to redeem it.” Any time after this week, Emily silently chanted.
The woman glanced back at the brothers and smiled. “Do I get to take them home with me?”
Oh Christ. “Uhh…”
Hunt swaggered up and slid the woman’s arm through his. “I’ll make sure she gets home safe and sound.”
“Mmm,” the woman said, “I like you.”
The front desk promptly drafted the gift certificate, and Hunt escorted the woman out.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Emily asked Wes, staring after Hunt as he climbed into a cab.
Wes waved it off and turned around. “Hunt is in his element.”
He started back toward the party, and Emily scrambled after him. “What about what I said earlier? About keeping your hands to yourself tonight?”
He glanced at her irritably. “I like you, Emily, but you’re ruining my night.”
“I’m ruining… Oh for the love of—”
“What’s going on?”
Emily spun around to find Levi behind her. “Stop sneaking up on me,” she snapped.
He stared at her for a long moment, his expression so emotionless that she wanted to kick him. In the shin. Hard. This wasn’t the warm man who’d melted her with kisses earlier.
He turned to Wes. “Well? I asked a question.”
Emily let out a deep breath. “Where have you been?”
He hesitated. “Out for a walk.”
She couldn’t help it. She blurted, “All because Lisa showed up?”
Wes’s eyes widened. “Lisa was here?”
“Was,” Levi responded, scanning the lobby. “How’s the ball going?”
“Entertaining,” Wes answered.
Levi looked at Emily.
She ticked off her fingers. “Food-poisoning incident blamed on the resort. Drunken woman exposing her breast to the ballroom. And Wes wants to use his womanizing ways on one of our unsuspecting Shin guests.”
“Womanizing?” Wes frowned. She noted he didn’t deny it. At Levi’s increased breathing and the odd noise coming from his throat—like a growl—Wes backed up. “I’ll just return to the ball. Make sure everyone’s enjoying themselves.” He swung around and walked away.
Levi glared down at Emily. “I leave you alone for thirty minutes and this is what happens while I’m gone?”
He… What? The nerve of him!
“Listen here, buddy.” She poked him in the chest. “You kissed me. Then you went all googly-ey
ed over my sister, whom you’re supposed to be long over. And then! And then you disappeared, leaving me to deal with one disaster after another during the most important party of the season. Do not cross me right now.”
Levi’s face went blank.
Emily didn’t know what he did after that, because she stalked away. To check on the sick guest. To make sure food and champagne were still flowing in the ballroom.
To hide how upset she was for thinking Levi Cade could ever seriously fall for her.
Chapter Fifteen
Emily Wright had Levi turned inside out. He’d kissed her last night…a few times. And grazed his mouth along the silky column of her neck. What the hell had he been thinking?
He wasn’t. He’d simply reacted to a beautiful woman in his arms. Was it sexual harassment to kiss your assistant if she seemed to be enjoying it? The way her body had pressed eagerly against his…
He sighed harshly. He didn’t have things under control if last night’s ball was any indication. Not inside Club Tahoe.
And not with Emily.
Adam was right. Levi was attracted to his assistant. And Levi worried it was more than that.
He often ventured onto the dock at night, after work. Only lately, instead of worries about the club, it was Emily who filled his thoughts. He’d remember the number of tanning butlers (a.k.a. cabana boys) she thought the resort needed to make the guests happy—which seemed excessive—and he’d smile. Or he might think about the slope of her calf when she bent to pick up a sheet of paper she’d dropped from the perpetual stack of files in her arms earlier in the day. Those were the kinds of thoughts that really pissed him off, slipping in when he wasn’t careful.
Levi hadn’t given a woman more than a passing consideration in almost a year. That he thought about Emily all day long… Yeah, that wasn’t gonna work. He couldn’t date Emily. She was Lisa’s sister, for God’s sake. And his assistant. And he needed her at the club more than he needed her in his bed. He wanted her in his bed, but he wasn’t impulsive like his younger brothers. He planned things out. And he couldn’t afford a one-night stand ruining their working relationship.
Despite the logical reasons to stay away from her, he also couldn’t lie to himself and say he wasn’t drawn to Emily. He was more drawn to her than he’d been to any woman in a long time. Maybe in forever, because he wasn’t the same man he’d been the last time he was in a relationship. Which might explain why he’d kissed her as soon as he got her close.
Jesus, he really was a Cade. He thought he was above the stupid shit his brothers did. Turned out he was wrong.
Lisa had stopped by to drop off Emily’s bag just in time. Her presence had splashed a bucket of ice water on the flame Emily’s nearness had set off. But he hadn’t handled the situation very well. He’d stood there like an idiot, not saying anything. It had been years since he’d seen Lisa. She was still drop-dead gorgeous, but he didn’t feel the pull to her he once did, and that had stumped him.
That and the fact that he’d just been kissing her little sister. Which was damn awkward.
He never thought he’d get over Lisa, but he had. He wanted to see her happy, but he didn’t want to be with her anymore. Hadn’t wanted to for a long time, he realized.
He also never thought he’d get over his dream of fighting fires, but he was slowly accepting that too.
He wasn’t the same man he used to be, living on the edge of life and death, protecting others. It was all he’d known. Yet he felt the same sense of responsibility that had given him purpose in life—taking care of the employees and guests at Club Tahoe, and his brothers. And the only way he knew how to do that was through planning and strength of will.
He’d not planned for Emily. And she was severely testing his will.
He’d stupidly thought he could let things happen for once and not plan everything out. If Lisa hadn’t walked in, Emily would be sprawled out on his bed right now, not down the hall in her office paper clipping God knows what together. He would have slept with his ex’s little sister, an employee, and someone who trusted him to make the right decisions.
There were enough fish in the sea. He didn’t need to dip back into the Wright pool.
Levi barged into his office and placed his hands on hips. A lax attitude about the future was something he couldn’t afford. He had too many responsibilities.
Grace bumped up against his leg. He glanced down and petted her head. She had on one of those doggy cones today so she wouldn’t chew the stitches she’d received from the vet for a benign tumor. He’d brought her in to keep an eye on her.
Levi walked to his desk and pulled up his calendar on the computer. He kept his computer in a password-protected sleep mode every night because it was a pain in the ass to shut the thing down every day and wait for it to start up in the morning. And yes, even this shit was the sort of nonsense he was getting used to. Working on computers all day, with computer administrators making him change his password every two weeks until Levi thought his head would explode trying to remember them all. He needed some sort of system. He’d have to ask Emily about that…
Approaching Emily about something strictly work-related could break the ice that had formed between them after he’d botched things last night. Get them back on the right track. He took full responsibility for his mouth landing on hers…and lingering. It had been impossible to resist when she’d stood so close to him, looking as beautiful and tempting as she did in that skintight dress. As long as he kept his distance, he could keep his mouth off hers.
Which meant no more asking Emily to fix his ties. He’d learn how to do them himself, because he damn well couldn’t be expected to keep his hands off her, with her smoky eyes drawing him in and her soft floral scent filling his nose. That was a one-two punch no man could resist.
Time to man up and go see her. She hadn’t emailed or called him this morning like she normally did at least half a dozen times, which meant he was still in the doghouse. He’d have to make it clear he wouldn’t try anything like last night again. No more touching. He could work with a beautiful woman and not make a pass at her. He had to. Because he needed Emily.
Grace glanced up with a doggy what’re you waiting for look.
“Come on, Grace.” Levi headed for the door, and Grace followed him out and down the hallway.
He hesitated outside Emily’s office. He could hear her talking on the phone, and a weird pull throbbed in his chest. Levi shook it off and knocked once before twisting the knob and striding inside. “Morning.”
Emily said something to the person on the line and quickly ended the call. “Good morning.”
She pursed her shell-pink-tinted lips as though she were sucking herself back into librarian mode and not the sexy vixen she’d let loose last night. But it was impossible to hide what Levi had seen. She wasn’t a pair of sexy legs or his ex’s little sister. Emily was beautiful and smart and she’d saved his ass more than once since she started. He respected her. Which was why he had to get them back on good terms. Platonic good terms.
Even so, he checked her out, try as he might to control his gaze. She was wearing one of her boxy blouses that hid her figure.
Good. He preferred the boxy fit. Less distracting. But the mass of blond hair that was also distracting when allowed to run loose down her back had been pulled into a knot at the nape of her neck. Which only managed to remind him of his lips on that neck…
Man up.
“I need you to watch Grace.” Which hadn’t been at all why he’d come. He’d come to ask Emily about a system for keeping track of passwords, but once he’d arrived, it seemed like a stupid reason to visit her office.
“Grace?” Emily glanced at the dog waiting patiently beside his leg.
“My dog.”
“I see that.” Her eyebrows pulled together as she stared at Grace with the plastic cone around her neck. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Just a few stitches, but I don’t want her to chew them off. And
I don’t trust her to not remove the cone. She’s managed it before. Can you keep an eye on her?”
Emily’s mouth parted. He should be looking at her eyes, but his gaze remained on the soft, plump flesh of her lips. And now that he was staring, he realized she wasn’t wearing lipstick. That sexy, wet pink color was natural.
His pants tightened.
She stood, giving him a better view and not helping the hardening inside his pants. “I have meetings with two comedians and another musician to add to our entertainment roster. I also have several meetings afterward to discuss the feasibility of starting a children’s program at the resort. I really don’t—”
“So you’re free. Good.” He turned to leave. Needed to get out before his physical response became obvious, if it wasn’t already.
“Uh…” Emily hurried around her desk and stared leerily at Grace. “I’m not free. Isn’t there someone else you can leave her with? One of your brothers, maybe? I’ve never had a dog. I wouldn’t know how to care for her.”
“I don’t trust anyone with Grace, least of all my brothers.”
She studied him, and he looked away.
“Okay. I’ll watch her.” Emily gave Grace a soft smile.
“Good. I’ll pick her up later.” Levi was out the door before Emily could change her mind. Her soft scent filled the room and sparked memories of her in his arms, which seemed like the only place she should be. But that thought would wear off. It hadn’t been twenty-four hours since they’d kissed. He was feeling residual sexual frustration, that was all.
In the meantime, Levi would stay out of Emily’s office. It smelled like her, and that made things harder, pun intended. He’d call her later and have her bring Grace to him. No more venturing into her part of the building.
Levi headed back to his desk, where he was to meet with two of the lawyers to discuss how things went with Shin Electronics. One of the lawyers had attended a dinner while the company was in town, but neither had been present for the drunken-lady debacle.
Things might have turned south with Shin Electronics. Only time would tell. The company delegation had left first thing this morning, but the CEO had shaken Levi’s hand last night at the end of the party and thanked him for an entertaining visit.
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