by C. R. Ellis
“I’m not interested in a stampede of females, Jade. Just one.” His voice held enough sincerity to make me believe him. Emmett’s chiseled jaw was set, his soft, pouty lips pursed into an unwavering line, and his brows furrowed in a sexy, mysterious way. I couldn’t read him at all. Judging by what he said, he found me intriguing, at the very least, but then his brooding expression seemed to contradict his words.
What is it about this man, a man I barely know, that makes me feel like I could trust him? And why is he even interested in me?
I dropped the second thought quickly so I wouldn’t have time to let it take root in my mind. I was tired of second-guessing things, and I wanted Emmett to be different from the rest.
The look he gave me left me with more questions than answers about him. His eyes searched my face with an edge of controlled curiosity, making me wonder what he thought. I needed to know the man who was getting under my skin. “Why do I get the feeling that’s not just a line you use?” I asked.
Emmett’s gaze shifted downward to the street below, where he could watch strangers stumble their way from one bar to the next.
Great, Jade. In a matter of seconds, you’ve managed to ruin the mood.
I let my eyes wander up until they found the sky. I could just make out a few of the stars through the twinkle of city lights. Not enough to find any constellations, but I felt the familiar warmth spread through my limbs looking up at the stars always brought. Stars and constellations were a constant, a reminder that some things might change, but the sun would always set and stars would always be there to usher in a new day.
After letting my eyes drift back to earth, I was about to change the subject all together when he finally answered, “Because it’s true.” He cut his eyes to me and held my gaze. “Look, Jade. I’m not the right kind of man for you. I need you to know I can’t do strings; I won’t get attached. I don’t do relationships. It’s better this way, trust me.”
Oddly enough, I did trust him.
Not in the here’s-my-heart-it’s-yours way.
But, for some reason, I believed his transparency about not doing relationships.
Except trusting him didn’t help my brain make sense of what he said. I wanted to solve the mystery, not add more layers of complication.
“Then why even talk to me tonight? Because you see a slutty dress and assume I’m an easy lay?”
Bradley’s words from earlier echoed in my head. You’re hot and I thought you’d be an easy lay…but now you’re becoming more trouble than you’re worth.
Emmett’s eyes widened in disbelief, and I immediately regretted my question.
“What?! No, Jade. Jesus. I…I can’t explain why.” He sighed, his voice going unexpectedly soft. “That’s like asking why the stars chase the sun. Or why thunder follows lightning. This afternoon, I let you walk away because I thought I could convince myself the spark between us wasn’t real. I tried to tell myself feeling something for you was ridiculous and inconsequential. Then I saw you tonight, and I knew I couldn’t let you walk away again. Even if it’s only for tonight.”
My buzz from the alcohol was waning, but his words still swam around in my brain in a whirlpool of confusion.
“What makes you think I felt a spark?” I asked playfully, doing my best to look confused. I was all too aware Emmett had somehow melted the icy, accusatory tone I’d thrown at him seconds ago.
“The cute as hell blush on your cheeks, for starters.”
“Oh, this?” I asked, loosely gesturing toward my face. “Psh, I blush when someone catches me dancing while I’m stopped at a red light. Or when Triton pushes the bathroom door open and creeps on me while I shower.”
I didn’t even give my words a second thought until they were out of my mouth and I heard Emmett’s soft chuckle.
“My dog. Triton is my dog’s name,” I clarified. “You know, the big, fluffy tank-slash-canine I had at the lake today. He has a weird obsession with following me into the bathroom. Yeah, he’s a bit of a perv.”
Sweet Jesus. Make it stop. Hello, brain-to-mouth filter, if you’re out there, please come back.
He smirked. “That’s the other thing.”
“What is?”
“The rambling thing you do. It’s how I know you like me.” His cocky grin should’ve made him seem like an arrogant asshole, but somehow it only made him hotter. He leaned back and stretched his long arm out behind the back of my stool.
“Okay, fine. You might have a point. But it doesn’t matter, you don’t do strings or relationships,” I reminded him.
“That’s right.”
I groaned. “Oh god, you're married, aren’t you?”
“No, Jade, I’m not married.”
“But you’re…I mean, you are kind of attractive, so you could obviously get a girlfriend. Don’t you get like, you know, lonely?”
“No.”
God, Jade, way to be dense. Clearly, a man like Emmett, who was probably a long lost Hemsworth brother, had zero problems finding a temporary bedmate. Just because he didn’t do relationships didn’t mean he was a freaking monk.
“Oh. Right,” I mumbled. My gaze fell to his lips, and I had to stifle the visions of what not being lonely with him would entail.
Time stood still in a moment where reality slipped away and our eyes locked, trapping us in some kind of silent understanding of exactly what was going on between us.
“Then let’s just focus on tonight,” I suggested, gently putting my hand on his. I wasn’t sure which surprised me more—my words or my actions. “How do you know I’d even want a relationship, anyway? Maybe I’m all about casual sex, limiting the number of dates with the same man based on a point system, and never letting things go past five dates period.”
I’d just described Jasmine almost to a T, and pretty much the opposite of what I wanted, but he didn’t have to know the truth. I wanted to lighten the mood, and was trying not to ask all the real questions—the ones to help me peel back the layers and understand the painfully gorgeous enigma in front of me.
“Jade, I wasn’t assuming you would want a relationship with me. I was owning up to the fact that I would want a relationship with you. I can’t explain it, but from the second I saw you running toward me in the lake, I knew you weren’t just someone to spend the night with. You…you’re someone to spend the day, the night, the everyday with. That is why I had to come talk to you.”
Oh.
That was possibly the sweetest thing I’d ever been told.
From a man who doesn’t do relationships.
Aaaaaannnd we’re back to the universe hating me again.
“Let me get this straight. You ‘don’t do relationships,’ yet, that’s exactly what you say you’d want with me? Do you have any idea how confusing that is to hear?”
“I know it doesn’t make sense, and I’m sorry. I tried to brush off our first meeting, but when I saw you again, I couldn’t let you walk away a second time. At least not before we had a chance to talk again.”
The sincerity in Emmett’s voice kept me from assuming this was just the way Emmett picked up one-night-stands. I wanted to ask about the reason for his anti-relationship stance, but something told me whatever response I got would leave me with more questions than answers.
“Okay, so you don’t do relationships, but you would want more than just a night of meaningless sex with me?”
He nodded, eyeing me suspiciously when I bit my lip as gears shifted in my head. A plan came to me all at once, and I had to put it into action before logic stopped me.
“Then let’s do it. All at once, in one day, and you can be content knowing it isn’t a ‘real’ relationship.” He raised a quizzical brow, but I could see his eyes dance with humor, so I cut him off before he could respond. “All I’m proposing is twenty-four hours of each other. Getting to know each other, experiencing the little things with each other, and then we can decide what comes next, or just go our separate ways. We can leave out the last names, s
o there aren’t strings. So, one day with no strings unless we both agree to more after twenty-four hours. You said we control our own destiny, right? This is me controlling mine.”
Who is this woman and what has she done with Jade Preston? The Jade Preston from twelve hours ago never would’ve fathomed making such a proposal to a perfect stranger. And yet, here I was throwing out the idea before my brain had a chance to process what my mouth was saying.
The need to be in Emmett’s orbit was eclipsing all traces of logic in my mind.
I kind of liked this Jade.
Emmett shifted in his seat and narrowed his gaze so he could study me. I could tell he was intrigued by my proposal, but I had no idea what he’d actually say. Everything from his billboard-ready body, to the way he’d taken my hand and ushered me outside, screamed controlled composure.
He cleared his throat and leaned toward me. “How do you know I’m not a serial killer? I’m in, but I’m adding an amendment. I’ll tell Jasmine my last name because she’d be the world’s shittiest friend if she let you do this without knowing anything about me.”
I was a little surprised I hadn’t thought of that in the first place. Then again, the whole proposal had been such an impulsive suggestion I hadn’t thought a lot of the details through, like where we’d be spending these twenty-four hours. Did we go to my place? His? Too many questions about logistics swam in my brain, but I didn’t want to let them take flight and ruin my excitement. “Okay, seems reasonable. But I’m giving Lance my information too.”
His lips twitched and a brow arched skeptically.
“Hey, I could be a murderer. Or some crazy woman who wants to kidnap you like Kathy Bates in Misery.”
“I don’t think so,” he responded, running a hand over the short stubble of facial hair along his jawline.
I was starting to like this plan more and more. I’d cut off his sex joke, but obviously sex was on the table. There was no way a woman could spend twenty-four hours with a man like Emmett and not find her lips covering every inch of his body.
“And in keeping with the whole no-strings-attached philosophy, I think we should spend the twenty-four hours at a neutral location, like a hotel.”
“Two rooms or one?” he asked.
“One. If we’re doing this—the day, the night, the everyday—all in one twenty-four-hour period, I think we should make it as genuine as possible.”
“I agree. But we’re getting a room with two beds.”
I appreciated the sentiment, but it still felt a little like rejection, like he was giving himself an out. Which was crazy because of course there should be two beds, even if I had a strong feeling having two beds would do nothing to ease the sexual tension starting to wrap its fiery fingers around me.
My imagination had fast forwarded a bit, to the point where we were naked and sweaty, and here he was putting the brakes on already.
“Hey, no, don’t get that look like you’re having doubts. I can read you like a book, Jade. You just met me. Let’s just see how things go. Okay?”
Note to self: find a better poker face. Also, how could he read me so easily after just meeting me when I couldn’t even tell if he was about to smile or scowl?
“Okay, yeah, you’re right.”
I knew he was right.
But I also knew I was already in so far over my head I’d never be able to crawl out of the abyss his departure would leave me in after twenty-four hours. Part of me, probably the part responsible for suggesting this ludicrous idea, was totally on board with one exciting, lust-filled day with Emmett, and nothing more. But another part of me knew I’d never be content with a single day with him.
Emmett cleared his throat and drew my attention back to him. “So…should we start tomorrow morning? I’d say I’ll come pick you up, but I guess we can meet somewhere?”
Tomorrow? Tomorrow is too many hours away. Tomorrow gave me too much time to come to my senses and panic at the thought of following through with this crazy proposal.
Ever the observant one, Emmett must have seen the surprise on my face. “Jade, look at me,” he urged, gently tucking a loose chunk of my hair behind my ear. “I want to do this with you, but I need you to know it won’t go beyond twenty-four hours. And I need you to understand it’s all I can offer. I’m selfish for wanting to have you for just a day, so I understand if you decide not to come.”
“There they are!” Jasmine’s voice rang out above the music.
Jasmine and her shitty timing were right on cue, as usual.
Jasmine and Lance stumbled their way over to us. I glanced at Emmett when they stopped, wondering if he also realized how sloppily drunk our friends had gotten in our absence. He stood from his bar stool and steadied Lance’s swaying frame.
“JP, I’m sorry to cut this short for you love birds, but I think I need to go home. This guy,” Jas slurred, gesturing in Lance’s direction, “thought shots and shots and shots were a good idea, so naturally I joined him. Big mistake. He’s jus’ some kind of alcoholic wizard.”
I wasn’t even surprised. This was so typical of Jasmine that I couldn’t be mad at her for interrupting the moment with Emmett because I was actually surprised it took her so long to get hammered. I glanced between Emmett and Lance, who were having a similar conversation.
“I guess we’re leaving.”
“So are we,” Emmett replied.
Somehow, I remembered the necessary delicacy required to get off the bar stool in my current outfit, so I adjusted my hips and tugged the dress down before carefully hopping off. It would’ve been a perfect dismount if not for my heel catching on a tiny dip in the wooden plank beneath me, launching me forward.
Before I could fall on my face, a vice grip clamped down on my arms, steadying me with ease. My hands reached out and made contact with the rock-solid surface of Emmett’s chest.
“Thanks,” I said shakily, angling my head slightly upward, bringing our mouths dangerously close when he dipped his head down.
He held me firmly in place for a few seconds before flickering his eyes to my feet. “Do me a favor and never wear these deathtraps again.”
I smiled. “To be fair, it’s the shitty flooring’s fault.”
Before he could respond, Jasmine was right next to me, tugging my arm toward the exit. Once again, the trance was broken and the four of us walked back through the bar, heading for the exit.
“We’re parked this way,” Emmett remarked, gesturing to the opposite direction Jasmine and I had started walking.
“Oh, okay.” I tried to ignore the pang of panic surging through me at the thought of not seeing Emmett again.
Emmett ducked out from under Lance’s arm and made his way back to me in a few lengthy strides. “Sleep on it, Jade. Meet me at the lake, where we were today, tomorrow at ten a.m. if you’re still interested,” he instructed, pressing his lips to the top of my head before turning and whispering something to Jasmine.
I wasn’t entirely confident either of our friends would remember tonight at all, but I told Lance my last name anyway. I knew I’d still be interested tomorrow.
But is the chance to soar among the stars worth the risk of being burned when the sun eventually rises?
“Am I crazy?” I asked, turning to face Jas. I texted her an SOS half an hour ago while I was buying goods to bribe her awake with, then I let myself into her apartment and woke her up with coffee and a chocolate-filled croissant. I wasn’t even convinced she’d be sober yet, but I had tossed and turned all night, weighing my options, so letting her sleep in wasn’t high up on my priority list.
I knew what I should do. But the problem was what I should do and what I knew I was going to do were not the same, and I needed to justify why I was about to spend twenty-four hours with a man I barely knew. (Side note: does there need to be any more justification other than the sex appeal practically pouring off him with every single breath he takes? Nope. Not for a reasonable, straight female who appreciates a hot man when she sees one.)<
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I sat on the edge of Jasmine’s bed, twisting my hands nervously, finally quiet for the first time since bursting into her apartment fifteen minutes ago. I’d blabbed ninety miles a minute, going back over the events of last night and verbally weighing out the pros and cons.
“First of all, bless you for bringing me the elixir of the gods,” she called from underneath her covers. “Also for speaking in soft tones. As far as the whole twenty-four hours with Emmett, you’d be crazy not to go. You did see how stupidly hot he is, right? Shit, if you don’t wanna do it, I will. I could definitely find a way to pass the time with him.”
I glared daggers at her. “Not funny. But seriously, if I’m doing this, you’re going to have to get your ass out of bed and help me pack an overnight bag because I’ve got,” I paused, checking my phone for the time, “twenty-one minutes before I have to leave.”
Jasmine’s eyes flew open and she quickly assessed my appearance. I’d opted for a casual look with a loose-fitting soft pink top and black shorts over my bikini (because hopefully meeting at the lake actually entailed getting in the lake), and just the bare minimum of makeup.
She balked, sitting up and easing out of bed with her eyes trained on me. “Please tell me those are just your coffee run clothes.”
I shrugged. “We’re meeting at the lake. Plus, it’s not like I had a whole lot of direction about what we’ll be doing today. I don’t even know if he’s thought about it.”
I’d been too busy ping-ponging back and forth with indecision about going to meet him to consider today’s agenda. Though, our day together should include seeing Emmett shirtless again…because damn. His body was made for being on display.
“Oh, please,” she deadpanned. “He’s thought about today. Did you not see how he was looking at you last night? I know I was heavily intoxicated, but he was studying you like you were the subject of a final exam and he was desperate for an A.”
I shook my head, half in disbelief and halfway as a last-ditch effort to keep my hopes from soaring through the roof. I’d known since sometime around seven, when I finally gave up the idea of sleep, I’d be going through with the twenty-four-hour non-relationship madness, but I also had to remind myself today was all there was.