by Sandi Lynn
“Thank you for making me lunch. That was nice of you.”
She tilted her head as the corners of her mouth curved up into a beautiful but cocky smile.
“You’re welcome. Someone has to look out for your eating habits now that you’re on a restricted diet. As long as I’m here, I will be doing just that for you.”
“I appreciate it. But I’m not a child. I’m more than capable of watching what I eat.”
“All men are children, Alex, and you’re no exception.” She pointed her finger at me. “I’ll train you to eat a proper high blood pressure diet. Then, when I’m gone, you’ll be well educated.”
Something stirred inside me when she said “when I’m gone.” There really was no reason for her to leave so soon after Adam returned. She should use that time to reconnect with her brother.
“Have you thought about sticking around for a while after Adam gets back? Maybe try and reconnect with him?”
“Nah. Never stay in one place too long, and three months back in Cali is way too long.”
Her way of thinking was really starting to get on my nerves. After we finished lunch, she left, and I stood looking out the window with my hands in my pockets.
“Excuse me, Mr. Parker?” my secretary Olivia spoke.
“Yes.”
“Don’t forget you have that charity event tomorrow night at Jonathan Place.”
“Shit. I already forgot. Call Jenna and have her make sure my tuxedo is ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
I sat down at my desk and looked through my contacts of women who would want to attend with me. As I scrolled through the names, no one was peaking my interest. I sighed. Suddenly, I realized that I didn’t have Emerson’s phone number.
“Olivia,” I called over the intercom. “Do some digging and get the phone number for an Emerson James.”
“Right away, sir.”
“When you get it, text it to my cell.”
“Of course, sir.”
I’d let her into my home. She cooked for me. I even fucked her twice now and I still didn’t have her number. My phone beeped with a text message from Olivia. I stored Emerson’s number in my contacts and then sent her a text message.
“There’s a charity function tomorrow night and I need you to go with me. You’ll need a formal dress, so go to Bloomingdales and buy one. Put it on my account.”
A few moments later, she replied, “Who is this?”
I rolled my eyes and let a small smile cross my lips.
“It’s Alex. Who the hell else would be asking you to a charity event?”
“You never know. Who would have thought I would have run into the man from Vegas in your office, lol!”
Did she really just say “lol”? I shook my head and replied.
“Very funny, Emerson. Now go buy a dress.”
“I don’t believe you asked me properly, Mr. Parker. You said that you ‘need’ me to go. You didn’t ask me if I would like to go. There’s a difference, you know.”
I could feel my blood pressure rising by the minute. She was going to be the death of me.
“Emerson, would you like to attend a charity function with me tomorrow night? It’s for a very good cause.”
“Why thank you, Mr. Parker. I’d love to.”
“Good. NOW GO BUY A DRESS!”
“Watch your blood pressure. I would hate to miss that event because you went and had a heart attack.”
I clenched my jaw and set my phone down. That woman. That beautiful, hot-as-fuck, amazing-in-bed, smart-mouth woman.
Chapter 16
Emerson
Alex Parker needed to learn some manners on how to ask a woman to an event. How in the world did the women he dated put up with his attitude? I shook my head and walked into the living room where Jenna was dusting and plopped myself on the couch.
“Alex asked me to go to a charity event tomorrow night and he told me to go buy a dress at Bloomingdales.”
“Really?” she asked with a twisted face.
“Yeah. I’m just as surprised as you are. Would you like to come with me?”
“When?”
“After you get off work.”
“Sure. I’d love to!”
After she was finished with her work for His Majesty, Jenna and I hopped into Adam’s car and drove to Bloomingdales. After trying several dresses on, I decided on a beautiful black slim chiffon dress with a sweetheart neckline and beaded top. It was beautiful and it fit perfectly.
“Did Mr. Parker give you a budget?” Jenna asked.
“He just said to put it on his account. But maybe I should ask him. This dress is really expensive.”
Pulling out my phone, I sent Alex a text message.
“Hi, it’s Emerson. Do I have a budget for the dress?”
“I know who this is, Emerson. Did you find one?”
“Yes.”
“How much is it?”
“It’s priced at 7,000 dollars.”
“Are you kidding me? Is that the only one you could find?”
“Yes. But it’s a Christian Dior. I can look around. I saw a pretty dress in the window at a resale shop we passed.”
I silently smiled. There would be no way he’d let me buy a dress from a resale shop and be seen with me wearing it.
“Buy the Christian Dior. It’s fine.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind going to the resale shop.”
“EMERSON. BUY THE DAMN DRESS!”
“You don’t have to be so rude about it. Remember your blood pressure.”
“I’m sorry if I came across rude. Please buy the dress you like. I’m sure you look stunning in it.”
“Thank you, Alex.”
“You’re welcome.”
I handed the dress to the sales associate and Jenna and I drove home. When I pulled up, I was surprised to see Alex getting out of the Bentley. It was only eight o’clock. I said goodbye to Jenna and Alex stopped before he reached the front door.
“May I see what you bought?” he asked.
“No. You can see it on me tomorrow night.”
We walked into the house and I headed straight to my room, Alex following behind.
“But I paid for it. So I want to see it.”
“You will. Tomorrow night.” I smiled. “By the way, why are you home so early?”
“I’ve decided that I’m not going to be at the office so late anymore. I’m going to be doing a lot of work from home.”
“Wow. What brought on that revelation?” I smirked.
“I’ve been working too much and I think it’s time I cut back and maybe not worry about so many things.”
“So you took my advice?”
“No.”
I placed my hand on his muscular chest. “Listen, big guy, we’re friends, right?”
“I suppose we’re friends. Friends with benefits.” The grin on his face grew.
“Right. I guess you could say that. Anyway, I don’t know how to break it to you, but you’re really uptight and way too proper.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t take offense. You need to let loose a little and stop taking things so seriously. For example, like today in your office, I thought your head was going to explode when you found out about the stripper thing. I did it as a favor. Was I proud? No. But my friend needed me to do it because she’s a single mom and she has the most adorable little boy I’ve ever seen. She really tries to give him a good life and when I heard the manager at the club threaten to fire her, I had to do whatever I could to help. Would I ever do it again? No way. Those men are sex-starved losers who view women as nothing but fuck toys.”
“Did you just say fuck toys?”
“Yes. My point is, sometimes you just need to go with the flow. Another example would be how you can’t even make yourself a sandwich. You run a multi-billion-dollar company, yet you can’t put a piece of meat between two slices of bread.”
“Emerson, it’s not that I can’t make one. I just don’
t want to. I have people to do that for me.”
“My point exactly. What gives you the right to order people around like that?”
“It’s how I was raised. We had all kinds of staff in the house that did things for us.”
“Of course you did because you’re a snob.”
The look on his face was getting angrier by the minute.
“I’m not saying this to piss you off. I’m just trying to make you see that you can’t control everyone and everything.”
“Yes I can,” he spoke, deadpan.
I sighed as I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to help you lighten up. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
He glared at me, a glare so full of contempt that it was burning a hole through my soul.
“You think you can do that?”
“I know I can.” I bit down on my bottom lip.
“Okay, then. Good luck.” He turned and walked away.
“You wait and see. By the time I leave California, you’ll be a whole new man!” I yelled.
He walked back into the bedroom and cocked his head. “Let me ask you this. Why do you want to change me?”
“I don’t want to change you, Alex. I just want you to be more relaxed and appreciate the small things in life and not get so worked up over the little things.”
“Are you cooking dinner?” he asked.
“Are you helping?” I smiled.
He took in a deep breath. “Fine. But I don’t know how much help I’d actually be.”
****
Alex
We stepped into the kitchen and Emerson opened the refrigerator.
“Hmm. Well, it looks like we’re making a trip to the grocery store.”
“We’ll just order take-out,” I spoke. There was no way I was going to the grocery store.
“Nope. No takeout for you. Come on, Parker, let’s take a trip to the store.”
“Can’t. Phillip is off for the night.”
She raised her eyebrow at me. That right there drove me crazy. I found her incredibly sexy when she did that. She reached inside her purse, grabbed her car keys, and held them up with a smile.
“We don’t need Phillip.”
“Oh no. We aren’t taking Adam’s car.”
“Yes, we are. It’ll be fun. You can drive if you want.” She threw me the keys.
I handed her keys back to her. “We’ll take my car.”
“Your car? Since when do you have a car?” She frowned.
“I’ve always had a car. Let’s go and get this over with.” I sighed.
We walked into the grocery store, where Emerson led me to the vegetables.
“See all the pretty colors.” She smiled. “Food should be fun and colorful.”
At that moment, I caught myself staring at her as she inspected each pepper before putting it into the bag. I found myself smiling on the inside because as much as I hated grocery shopping, I didn’t mind it with her.
“Do you like salmon?” she asked as we approached the seafood counter.
“Yes.”
“Good, because I make a mean salmon. You’re going to love it.” She patted my chest.
“I’m sure I will.”
Her passion for cooking was undeniable, which led me to think about a few things. As we were on our way home, her phone rang.
“Hey, Adam,” she answered and put it on speaker.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Alex and I are just heading home from the grocery store.”
“What?”
“Did you not hear what I said?”
I let out a light laugh. That attitude of hers.
“Yeah. I heard you. But why?”
“Because I’m cooking dinner for us.”
“You better not be sleeping with him, Emerson,” he snarled.
She looked over at me and bit down on her lip.
“Okay, so you think because we went to the grocery store that we’re sleeping together?”
“Alex doesn’t go to the grocery store and the fact that he’s with you right now leads me to believe there’s something going on.”
“Listen, Adam. You sent me to live with him. He hired me to cook for him because his chef had to go to Florida to be with his sick mother. So if you think that grocery shopping with Alex equals sex, then you need therapy. Good-bye, Adam. Call me when you’re not going all Freud on me.”
She ended the call and I couldn’t help but laugh. “He sounded pissed.”
“Too bad. I’m tired of him thinking he can run my life. He’s not my father and I’m twenty-six years old. Just because he took care of me after the accident doesn’t give him the right. By the way, what did my brother do for you that you owed him a favor?”
I looked over at her for a second and then stared back at the road. “He helped me out with the IRS. Let’s just say he kept my ass out of jail.”
Chapter 17
Emerson
I awoke to the sun peeking through the curtains of the window, my body wrapped comfortably around Alex’s. I lay there and watched him sleep for a moment before he opened his eyes and looked at me.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning.”
“How long have you been awake?” he asked.
“Just a few minutes. I’m going to go cook some breakfast.”
As I began to climb out of bed, he reached for my hand. “I’ll help.”
“Really?” I turned to him with a smile.
“Why not? It wasn’t so bad helping you last night with dinner.”
“Then let’s do it, Parker.”
As we climbed out of bed, I slipped into an oversized pink t-shirt and we headed to the kitchen. After grabbing the eggs from the refrigerator, I took out a bowl and asked Alex to crack six eggs.
“Just crack the eggs into this bowl while I cut up the veggies.”
“What are we making?” he asked as he poured us each a cup of coffee.
“Vegetable quiche.”
As I started to cut up the vegetables, I noticed Alex was having a hard time with the eggs and his finger kept going in the bowl.
“Why are you sticking your finger in the bowl?” I asked.
“Because there’s shells in there.”
I rolled my eyes and silently laughed. “Don’t you know how to crack an egg without getting the shells everywhere?”
“Apparently, I don’t.” He chuckled.
I set the knife down and took the rest of the eggs, cracking them with one hand and letting them drop into the bowl.
“How the hell did you do that?”
“It’s all in the cracking skill, baby.” I smiled.
“Did you just call me ‘baby’?”
“Yeah. Don’t take it too seriously. It’s just part of the phrase.” I winked.
“Have you ever thought about running your own restaurant?”
“That would mean settling in one place,” I spoke as I sliced the onions.
“So. At least you’d be doing what you love.”
I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Why was everyone so hell bent on getting me to settle in one place? I changed the subject and finished making the quiche. When it was ready, Alex and I sat down and had breakfast together.
“This is delicious, Emerson. I think I might have to keep you as my personal chef.” He winked.
I ignored his comment and asked him to tell me about this charity event we were attending tonight.
“Tell me what this charity event is for.”
“It’s to help fund an art program for underprivileged kids. Kids who are either homeless, abused, or neglected.”
“Good cause.” I smiled.
Alex finished his breakfast and got up from the table.
“I’m going into the office for a while. I’ll be home later.”
“But it’s Saturday,” I spoke. “What happened to cutting back?”
“I cut back last night and I have a few things I want done before Monday.”
> “You can’t do it at home?”
“No. The files I need are at the office. Are you going to miss me or something?” He smirked.
I frowned. “No. I have my own things to do today. Toodles, Mr. Parker.”
“Toodles? Really, Emerson? And what things do you have to do?”
“Just things. Girl things. You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a girl.”
“Okay, then. Go do your girl things and I’ll see you later.”
He walked out and I cleaned up the breakfast dishes. I couldn’t believe he asked me if I was going to miss him. Like, why would I? Just because we had sex didn’t mean anything. I had sex with a lot of guys. But it was amazing sex. The best sex I’d ever had in my life. He was a real man in that department. The other men I’d had sex with were boys in men’s bodies. They didn’t know how to do half the things Alex did and it really sucked that my body craved his touch way too often. It was going to be hard to leave sex with him behind when I left California.
****
Alex
When I arrived at the office, my phone rang. As I pulled it from my pocket, I sighed when I saw Adam’s name.
“Hey, Adam. How’s Tennessee?”
“Tennessee is fine. I’m going to be blunt here, Alex. Is something going on between you and Emerson?”
“No. Why would you ask that?”
“You’re not sleeping with her?”
I cleared my throat. This wasn’t a conversation that should be had over the phone.
“No. I’m not.”
“She’s my sister, man.”
“I know that, Adam. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing. I know how you are with women and I don’t want my sister to be a part of that.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“You know how I am? Do you know how your sister is? How many hearts she’s broken all over the world? I nicknamed her ‘heartbreaker’ until she threatened to break my balls.”
He chuckled. “Oh God. Did she really? Sounds like Emerson.”
“Yes, she did. I’m going to warn you. Your sister has no plans to stick around.”