by C. R. Ellis
Oh my god. This man. His words had been smooth since the minute I met him, but the truth and the sincerity in everything he’d said since then made my bones melt. He turned me into a puddle of emotion, only I wasn’t even sure which emotion.
I sat up in bed, realizing the kind of opportunity in front of me. “Quid pro quo, Boston. You know mine, what’s yours?” I asked, fully expecting him to shut this kind of question down.
But he didn’t. “Joseph.”
I wondered if he’d ever stop surprising me. He’d told me he was going to let me in, but I was having a hard time believing him. Twelve hours had completely reversed any feelings of animosity I felt toward Emmett. But then again, that was our style. Twenty-four hours of knowing him in the first place had flipped my world upside down; why would this be any different?
I decided to press my luck. “What’s your mom’s name?”
Other than a tiny, almost indiscernible flare in his eyes, there was no reaction to my question. No hostility, no anger, like I’d come to expect on the rarest of occasions where something about his father would slip. “Katherine,” he supplied, devoid of emotion. The only tell he wasn’t comfortable discussing her was the tick in his jaw. “I meant it when I told you I wanted to share everything with you. Count on it, pretty girl, because we have a lot to discuss. But right now, I think Jasmine and your brother are going to break down the door if I don’t let them in.”
I wanted to tell him I didn’t give a damn if Jasmine and Dean tore apart the apartment, he was the only person I wanted to see right now. I had so many questions, and knowing personal topics weren’t off limits anymore, I intended to peel back the layers of Emmett that had mystified me since the moment we met. But I needed to see my brother and best friend.
“Promise me we’ll continue this conversation after they’re gone,” I practically begged. At this point, I wasn’t above it. Emmett was seeing me at my worst, and wasn’t going anywhere, so I wasn’t afraid of coming off as desperate.
He leaned down and planted a lingering kiss on my forehead, relaying an unspoken promise. His lips were silky smooth, soothing my nerves and my fears simultaneously. How a pair of lips held such power, I’d never understand. “I promise you’ll have me all to yourself, no interruptions, and you can ask me anything you want after they're gone.”
His promise was a better cure for my ailments than any prescription drug could’ve been. Emmett was actually going to open up to me. If only I could get my annoyingly overprotective brother and Jasmine out, I’d have my chance at breaking down Emmett’s walls.
Deep breaths, J. He’s not going anywhere; there’ll be plenty of time to ask him whatever you want later.
“Okay, then they can come in now.”
Emmett disappeared out the bedroom door and into the living room, seemingly to let the crazies loose on me. I braced myself for Dean’s lecture and Jasmine’s regret for encouraging me to go out.
“Ohmygod!” Jas cried, launching her body toward me as soon as she crossed the bedroom’s threshold. Luckily, she landed just short of on top of me. She crawled the rest of the way up and gently pulled me in for a hug. “God, Jade, I am so sorry. I never should’ve encouraged you to cut loose and, er, find someone new to get under,” she added at a whisper so the two men behind her couldn’t hear.
Dean and Emmett stood at the end of the bed, and I momentarily panicked when I realized my detective brother was now standing next to the last man to see me naked. “Jas, I’m okay. This wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” I acknowledged, shooting Emmett a small smile. A pained expression fell across his face, but I blinked and it disappeared.
“It sure as hell was someone’s fault. I’ll kill the asshole responsible,” Dean growled. His voice softened as he sat down on the bed next to me, pulling the hand Jasmine wasn’t holding into his. “J, I’m sorry I had to bail last night. And I’m really fucking sorry for not answering my phone.”
“D, it’s not your fault either.”
“Maybe not. But somebody fucking spiked your drink. If Harrison hadn’t found you when he did…” He trailed off, shaking his head and rubbing his neck.
“I hate to say it, but Dean’s right,” Jas called from my other side. “I’m not one to wish death upon a stranger, but I’d like to feed the fucker his own balls after I cut them off.”
Jas had always been blunt to the point of brutal honesty, so I wasn’t surprised at her comment. I was, however, surprised she’d voiced her agreement with Dean on something. On the rare occasion when they crossed paths in recent years, there was an iciness between them I’d never understood.
“That’s pretty extreme, Jas. I won’t be sending the guy Christmas cards, but damn.” Searching for a way out of this conversation, I added, “Oh, please tell me you got in touch with Nicole.”
“Yes, I talked to her after Emmett called. She feels terrible, and offered to stay with the jet another day.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want them to have to wait on me. Truthfully, I don’t want to even think about flying right now.” The idea of a takeoff or landing made my head spin and my stomach clench, but I’d be lying if I said a certain blonde sex god wasn’t a part of the reason I didn’t want to think about leaving yet.
“I told her you’d probably stay. Don’t worry, JP. Come home when you’re ready.” She squeezed my hand reassuringly. “You don’t have a wedding next weekend, and Elliot can cover your appointments this week.”
“I’ll leave tomorrow, after I’m sure I won’t vomit on any neighboring passengers.”
Emmett and Dean shook their heads simultaneously. “I think you should stay, J. I’m going to head to the club and talk to the manager. See if I can get a shot of this guy on camera. I need you to tell me about anything you remember. I told my captain I’d need a couple days off to look into things.” Dean’s voice was demanding and full of authority. “We’ll talk more later. Shit, I didn’t even think to bring your stuff.”
“I got your back, JP,” Jas reassured me, moving to grab her bag from outside the door. She pulled out a red and white polka dot sundress and black sandals, along with a small bag of toiletries.
“I’d jump up and hug you right now if I trusted my body.”
“I’ll come to you,” she replied, gliding back toward the bed. Her wavy blonde mane whipped around me as she leaned down to pull me tight. She smelled like coconuts and I was instantly reminded I desperately needed to shower.
“When are you going back?” I asked.
“I guess tonight, since Nicole’s jet doesn’t have to wait on you.”
“I have to go meet Natasha,” Dean interjected, checking his watch. He leaned over and pecked my check before shaking hands with Emmett. “I’ll call you later about bringing Jade’s stuff by.”
Emmett nodded and walked out of the room with him. Jas stuck around long enough so she wouldn’t be eavesdropping on Dean and Emmett’s conversation. After a few minutes, Emmett reappeared in the doorway, causing me to stop mid-sentence in whatever I was just saying to Jasmine.
He looked like a model, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe in his casual black t-shirt and jeans with an easy smile on his lips. His sandy hair was the perfect balance of messy and sexy. The only part out of place was his bare feet. Somehow, it made his look endearing, and made me wonder if this is what he would look like on any given Sunday when he’s relaxing at home. Visions of Emmett sitting at a kitchen table with coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other made me forget how to form multi-syllable words that weren’t his name. His lips curled into a mischievous grin when he caught me staring.
“Annnd, there’s my cue to leave,” Jas announced.
I jerked my eyes away from Emmett to meet her gaze. Oh, right, Jasmine is still here.
“Oh, okay, Jas. Text me when you land, and email me the contracts for this week’s meetings. I’ll work from here once I get my laptop from Dean’s.”
“Will do,” she replied, l
eaning in to give me one last hug.
Finally, Emmett and I were alone.
Chapter 14
Emmett
“How do you feel? Up for a bath?” I asked, willing my brain to not picture Jade naked as the words left my mouth. I was trying to keep things non-sexual.
Jade’s hands moved to her head, and she grimaced when she felt the dried sweat and dirt matted into her hair. “I better be, because I am not about to wallow in this filth any longer.”
She looked like she could easily curl back up in the blankets for a few more hours of sleep. I fought the urge to hold her until she surrendered to sleep again.
“I’ll start the bath,” I called, picking up the bag Jasmine brought and taking it into the master bathroom. I’d always considered the jetted, oversized tub to be a waste of space, but if the Jacuzzi gave Jade even one minute of peace and relaxation, it was worth its weight in gold.
I stayed in the room even after the tub was filled with lavender-scented bubbles. The longer I stayed still, the more I wanted to track down my identical twin and break each finger that had touched Jade. If I stopped moving, I’d go crazy. The only peace I’d felt since getting Harrison’s call thirteen hours ago came when I held Jade in my arms after leaving the hospital. Harrison had called me away from Jade after I’d barely dozed off this morning to tell me he checked all of Will’s known hotels in New York with no luck finding him. Apparently the fucker was smart enough to get the hell out of the city.
I busied my idle hands first by folding and then hanging up the dress Jasmine brought, and then by digging through the under-the-sink cabinet to see if there was anything Jade might need. I wasn’t entirely sure what to look for—the housekeeper kept the entire apartment stocked for whatever I might need, but I’d never had overnight female company, so there wasn’t anything around that might appeal to the opposite sex. I meant what I said to Jade about not getting lonely, but I’d always been upfront with women about never doing overnights. Sex was one thing, but the intimacy of sleeping next to someone, listening to nothing more than the sound of each other’s breathing, didn’t interest me. After losing Tracy, I didn’t want to share that with another person again.
Then I met Jade.
Movement in the mirror caused me to do a double-take before I realized Jade was standing in the doorway, arms folded over each other in front of her chest, watching me. She hadn’t really been on her feet since last night, and I immediately felt guilty for hiding out in the bathroom. I should’ve been with her in case she got dizzy. Shit, I have no clue what I’m doing here. It was also the first time we had stood face-to-face since I’d left her back in Austin two weeks ago. Two weeks? Seeing her now, close enough to touch, made me wonder for the thousandth time how I’d ever been able to let her go.
The world’s softest lips stretched into a gentle smile that instantly sent a wave of lust straight to my dick. Keep it together, Sinclair.
“Can you undo the buttons at the top?” she asked, turning around, giving me a perfect view of her exposed back. She pulled her hair to one side so I could see the three tiny, round buttons connecting the dress between her shoulder blades, but all I could stare at was the low dip of her dress and the curve of her spine.
Hell, no. Watching her undress, helping her undress was a terrible fucking idea.
“Uh, sure.” The response was out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I stepped closer, held in a groan when her ass brushed against my leg, and brought my hands up to work the buttons. The first two came free with relative ease. The third refused to be undone.
Son of a bitch, I mumbled under my breath. This shit has to be welded together.
“Everything okay back there?” Jade asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
“Yep, all good.”
I fumbled around for a few more seconds, long enough to contemplate ripping the damn material apart, before it finally came free. “There you go.”
I stepped back and sucked in a calming breath. That wasn’t so bad after all.
“Much better. Thanks, Emmett,” she replied as she unzipped the side and pulled her arms out of their sleeves.
Or fucking not. The realization she wasn’t wearing a bra and was seconds away from being completely naked startled my brain into action.
“Okay, there are towels in the linen closet, and pretty much anything you could possibly need in the cabinet under the sink.” I gestured toward both cabinets and walked toward the door, suddenly in need of a cold shower myself.
“You’re leaving? I thought…maybe we could talk.” She was holding the material of her dress against her body and my willpower almost snapped when I saw the pleading look in her eyes. Dark hair swooped down, covering part of her face, but I could see enough to tell she didn’t want me to go.
“While you’re in the bath?” She can’t be serious.
“Well, yeah,” she replied, brushing her hair back and darting her eyes toward the tub. She paused and I knew she was debating her next words. “I have so many questions, Emmett. I just…never mind.” She shrugged, focusing in on the bubbles.
She was afraid she wouldn’t get the chance to ask them; it was the unspoken ending to her sentence, and it killed me. I crossed the bathroom and didn’t hesitate to pull her into my arms. I was no longer worried about what having her half-naked would do to me. I was too concerned about making sure she knew I was prepared to answer all of her questions. Her hands released their grip on her dress and slender arms wrapped themselves around my waist.
I brushed back the loose hair from her forehead and bent down to plant my lips just below her hairline. “Ask me for a truth.”
“What?”
“I plan on getting you fed, and then giving you answers to anything you want to know. I wanna give you all my truths, but for now, I’ll start with one.” I pulled back so she could see my face and hopefully the most important truth—the one that told her I wasn’t going anywhere.
She moved her hands from my waist to around my neck, and pressed up on her toes. “Okay, but I’m not hungry.”
“You’ve gotta eat, Tiny,” I replied gently, running my hands along her sides.
“I guess I could eat something, but you don’t have to go out of your way for anything special.”
I was about to refute her words when she found her question. “Why did you leave?” she asked, eyes big and boring into mine. Small, almost indiscernible flecks of gold burned bright. They were like rays of light seeping into a forest.
I knew what she meant, and I knew I had to tell her about my father, and even about Will. “Because my father was on his way to Austin, specifically to track me down. His presence would’ve been enough for me to send you across the state if I could, but he brought my brother, and I just couldn’t risk you having to meet either of them.”
“You have a brother? I thought Hope was your only sibling.”
I sighed and chewed on my lip, considering how much to divulge this very second. “She’s the only one I consider my family. When we were little, my father instilled a warped sense of competition between Will and me. Not just regular sibling rivalry shit—he pushed us so far we never stood a chance at having a normal sibling relationship. He still gets a sick satisfaction out of pitting us against each other.” I paused to shake off some of the memories invading my mind. “Jade, my father and Will are scarily alike, and stop at nothing to get what they want. They’re not the kind of people you want to know.”
“That must’ve made your childhood rough. I can’t even imagine, Emmett. I’m so sorry,” she murmured, pressing up on her toes to close the gap between us as she ran her fingers over the stubble on my jaw. I didn’t see pity in her eyes, only sympathy. Sympathy for all the times my father chose to cut me down instead of build me up, for all the times my brother pitted himself against me instead of joining my side, even for all the times my mother turned the other way instead of questioning my father’s tactics. “No child should know what it feels like to be a
n island.”
I shrugged and pushed down all the feelings fighting their way to the surface thanks to the anguish in Jade’s voice and the sorrow in her touch, like she was imagining me as a little boy who’d never known real love. While everything in her words and her touch told me she sympathized with what I’d experienced growing up, there was also a sense of strength and determination radiating from her, a silent assurance I didn’t have to carry the burden alone anymore. I never let myself wallow in the misery of my childhood or dwell on the fact I’d won the fucked-up family lottery. Feeling sorry for myself and the shitty circumstances I couldn’t control wasn’t something I allowed myself to do, but Jade’s unwavering support and unspoken promises of strength told me it was okay to acknowledge the reasons I had to loathe my family.
“You should get in the bath before the water gets cold,” I suggested, turning my head just enough to kiss the palm of Jade’s hand. I headed for the door before she could finish getting undressed. I also needed to get out before I spilled my darkest childhood memories to her. Something told me Jade would bear those burdens for me if I’d let her.
“Emmett?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really glad you came to New York this week.”
I wished I could tell her I was glad too, but I couldn’t. Will was in NYC because I was here, and that knowledge sat on my chest like a boulder I couldn’t get out from under. “I’m just glad you didn’t kick me out of your hospital room like I absolutely deserved,” I called back before leaving the bathroom.
As soon as I got to the kitchen, I pulled out ingredients and got to work. Jade hadn’t eaten in probably twenty hours, so I was prepared to spoon-feed her if that’s what it took to get something in her stomach.
An hour later, I’d just pulled a pan out of the oven when Jade sailed into my line of sight. It’s a miracle the pan made it to the stovetop. I’d never been so grateful for floor-to-ceiling windows; the light flooding into the living room cast Jade in a warm glow, amplifying her already-intoxicating features. As soon as I peeled my eyes from her face, my brow creased in confusion at her wardrobe choice. The body I’d spent a hell of a lot of time fantasizing about the last two weeks was now swallowed up by one of my J.S. Innovations t-shirts and by the looks of her bare legs, nothing else. Damn. Damp, finger-combed hair spilled over her shoulders and her gorgeous, make-up free face lit up when she took in the sight of all the food I’d prepared.