by Stella Rhys
I was impressed enough with that, but then Emmett opened the oven and took out two perfectly browned pieces of toast, and baked eggs in a cast iron skillet.
I stared at him.
“Emmett… for lack of better words, what the fuck?” I burst out laughing. I laughed even harder when I finally got a big, sleepy grin from him as he finished plating in front of me. “I feel like I’m at some super fancy restaurant. Do you realize how much money a restaurant could make if you were the chef and you served everyone shirtless?”
“That’s definitely an idea. But I only bust out these moves for a select few people.”
“That’s smart, because if you did this for any of your hook-ups, they’d fall instantly in love with you.”
“Is that what you’re doing with me right now?” Emmett asked, flashing me a teasing smirk that almost stopped my heart. But before I could consider just letting it all out and saying something crazy, he moved mercifully on. “You need cream for you coffee, right? Half-and-half?”
“Yes. I can get it – ”
“No, I’ll get it. Start eating. You only have a little more than ten minutes.”
I didn’t argue because honestly, the food was calling to me and within the first bite, I had a moment and shoveled in two more before I once again cast my twinkly wonder-eyes at Emmett.
“Emmett. This is delicious. This is better than stuff I’ve had at restaurants,” I said seriously as he poured a bit of cream in my coffee. “When the hell did you learn to cook like this?” I asked. “When we were in high school, you used to set off the fire alarm while using the microwave.”
He laughed. “Yeah. I think it was actually a talent how bad I was at cooking then.”
“You messed up instant ramen once.”
“Sure did.”
“So… explanations? Please?” I asked, watching Emmett’s shoulders widen as he leaned across the counter from me, digging in to the plate he made for himself – which I noted was plated much less nicely than mine.
“When I was in college, my other roommate Lukas taught me the basics. Mostly how to cook eggs.”
“Where’d you learn the rest of it then?” I asked. “How’d you learn to prep and time and plate so perfectly? Because I’m kind of amazed right now.”
Emmett blinked, like he thought his answer before had been sufficient enough explanation.
“I don’t know,” he finally said. “I just had to learn. I needed to feed myself. The cafeteria food at college wasn’t the best.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You used to eat plain cold cuts in high school because you were too lazy to get bread from the pantry. I also recall the fact that you were happy to eat multiple bowls of cereal for dinner, because ‘cereal’s already here and ordering out takes time.’”
Emmett squinted as he recalled those memories with me.
“That’s… yep. That’s completely accurate,” he laughed, wrinkling his nose at his former self. “Speaking of dinner though, one of my friends opened a restaurant in Montauk. Can I take you tonight?” he asked, making my heart flutter. God, was I ever going to get used to him asking me out on dates? Because so far, I was actually getting increasingly giddy with each invitation.
“Of course,” I replied. “Is it a super fancy place that requires me dressing nicely?”
“No, but if you want some new dresses, I’m more than happy to go shopping again,” Emmett grinned, making me giggle.
“You better not talk about that because we don’t have the time to get all turned on right now.”
“Fuck. True,” Emmett said, reaching down to presumably adjust his junk as he eyed the clock. “You got two minutes to finish eating.”
“No way am I gonna finish all this, but I’m already very full and content,” I said, dunking a bit of toast in my broken egg yolk. “But you should definitely finish it.”
“I’ll save the hash for later.”
“Why? Going right back to bed once I leave?” I smirked.
“You bet your sexy ass I am,” he yawned, stretching across the counter and flexing every stone-carved muscle on his naked torso. Good Lord. And after that, he hit me with that sleepy grin that was so damned cute I almost fell out of my chair.
Seriously. How was I supposed to leave this?
As the last few minutes of our surprise breakfast wound down, I went back to chanting Evie’s mantra.
You’re a fucking lucky girl.
And this is a good problem to have.
28
EMMETT
“I have fish guts on me,” Aly declared the second she got home.
I laughed and stopped in the middle of getting up off the couch, because I knew from the mild panic in her voice that she was warning me not to hug her.
“Got it.”
“Don’t come near me! I’m gross and I need to pop in the shower real quick, but I won’t make us late for dinner – promise!” she yelled from the foyer before dropping her things to the floor and rushing up the stairs.
“Now you get five more minutes,” I said to Ozzy, who was passed out on the couch with his head in my lap. I ruffled his head just as my phone lit up with more texts from Drew. He’d been live-updating me on his hangover since waking up literally an hour ago – which I guess wasn’t that bad for going to bed at 8AM.
DREW: Yeah so I have no idea what I did last night but I just woke up to this
Paired with the text was a picture of the insane mess in his living room. There were empty bottles, playing cards and women’s underwear littered all over the floor. His coffee table was turned upside down and strung in pink Christmas lights, which I was pretty sure he didn’t keep in the house, and weirdest of all, there was a huge, angry-looking cat sitting on top of his open fridge.
ME: lol whose cat is that?
DREW: Fuck if I know but he won’t stop staring at me send help
I laughed so hard I woke up Ozzy, who shot me a dirty look before hopping off the couch and trotting off somewhere else.
ME: I don’t know man I heard when you find cats in your house that means they’re yours now
DREW: Please no I fucking hate cats
DREW: This wasn’t what I meant last night when I asked God for some good pussy
ME: Jesus Christ
I tossed my phone aside, snorting to myself for a second while wondering how the hell I’d lived the same life as Drew just a month ago. We’d pretty much wake up late from drinking late, and after a workout, a few meals and a shower, we’d be back at it, getting dinner and drinks before hitting the club and letting the night go on from there. Night after night – rinse and repeat.
I’d never gotten sick of it, so I was surprised to realize now that I was content to move on from it. I’d spent most of my life partying my ass off, and I always figured that somewhere down the line, I’d start getting tired and ease out of it. Julian guessed it would happen in my forties.
But apparently, it was possible for it to just happen one day.
It was sometime during the last month, and I wasn’t sure when, but I did know it had to do with the fact that there was a girl in my house who I never stopped thinking about – who I couldn’t seem to spend enough time with. Apparently, the option of going to bed with her every night was all I needed to do a one-eighty.
DREW: You coming to 1OAK tonight?
DREW: Nevermind don’t answer that
DREW: Don’t know why I asked. I’m hung over
I snorted, about to reply till I heard a plastic bag rustling in the foyer.
“Hey!” I said, immediately popping up to get Ozzy out of whatever he was snooping into.
In the foyer, I grabbed a new tube of mascara out of his mouth before swiping the bag off the floor and bringing it into the kitchen. It was stretched and a little ripped thanks to Ozzy, so I couldn’t help but notice all the little drugstore purchases inside.
I smirked because the pink razor was definitely for Aly, but the rest was undoubtedly picked
up with me in mind. There was no doubting that when it was a tub of the protein powder I’d just run out of yesterday, two six-packs of men’s socks since Ozzy had been hiding mine all week, and a pastel green card with a watercolor stroller painted on the front. There was a swoopy “Congratulations” printed at the top, and I didn’t have to open the card to know that Aly had bought it for whenever Julian and Sara announced the pregnancy.
I couldn’t help the big grin on my face as I imagined Aly perusing the aisles of the store and stopping when she spotted the card. I could just imagine the faint smile on her lips as she picked it up and looked at the pretty picture in the front.
It hit me with the sudden need to go upstairs so turning around, I headed up the stairs to her bathroom and walked right in while she was showering.
“Hey!” she said with surprise when I opened the door and laughed at the clouds of suds in her hair. “What’s up? What’s going on?”
I shook my head as if to say “nothing” but the words that came out instead were, “I love you.”
The smile on her lips faded only to light up in her eyes. They were bright and glittery as she stared at me for several seconds. Then she stepped out from under the water and came up to me, her wet hands soaking my shirt as she grabbed two handfuls, went on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my lips.
When she pulled away, she looked me in the eye, unraveling everything inside me as she murmured, “I love you, Emmett Hoult.”
29
ALY
“I have something to ask you and something to tell you.”
The cautious way in which Emmett presented that information after we sat at dinner probably should’ve had me at least a little concerned, but I was still to high on cloud nine to pay it much attention.
I hadn’t expected him to say I love you.
Technically, he’d already done it. He’d told me that he loved me the night after my so-called date with Drew Maddox, and while I don’t think he was talking about the same kind of love that night, I was pretty sure that that was all I was going to get for awhile.
So hearing it when I least expected it today was beyond a pleasant surprise. It was easily the sweetest thing that had ever happened to me, and it had me far too bubble-headed to overanalyze what Emmett was slightly frowning about. So with a sip of my wine, I simply nodded and said, “Hit me.”
“When was the last time you saw your dad?” Emmett asked right away. I paused for a few seconds.
“Um. Maybe December for Christmas?” I answered, raising my eyebrows when I realized that was more than half a year ago. “Wow. It’s weird. It doesn’t feel that long ago because I know he’s so close by. And I still hear him in the background when my mom calls every week. I mean talk sometimes, too. Never for more than a minute or so, but it’s just the relationship I have with him. And I’ve obviously always wanted more, but it is what it is. I’m too exhausted to try to talk to him about it now. Besides, it doesn’t break my heart on a daily basis anymore.”
Emmett nodded, though a frown knit his brow as he played with his fork for a second and looked out the window at the water.
“I was really happy when Mom told me you bought his company. I thought that would fix everything,” he finally said.
“Yeah,” I nodded with a sad laugh. “Me too. Though I’m starting to realize that I’m still happy with all the choices I made. All the hard work I put in,” I said, watching the dancing flame on the candle between us. “Even if it didn’t work to win his approval, it’s still the first thing I did on my own. And I don’t know why, but the more I work and the more established the restaurant gets, the less I feel the need to prove myself to him.”
“Because you’ve already proved yourself to yourself,” Emmett grinned, as if it were obvious. “You’re a fucking rock star. Not a lot of people can do what you did and sacrifice so much of their lives to achieving a goal. God knows I don’t have that kind of hustle in me,” he smirked.
“That’s not true, Emmett,” I laughed, smiling down at his hand when he placed it over mine. “Maybe you had a head start, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t have to keep working to maintain everything you have.”
“That’s definitely a good word to describe my life. Maintenance,” Emmett said with an unreadable look on his face. But before I could ask him to clarify, he moved swiftly on. “Anyway, the other thing I meant to tell you is that your dad might show up to the gala on Saturday.” He winced. “Will that be okay for you?”
I blinked for a couple seconds, unsure of the answer myself.
“Yeah,” I finally said. “That’s fine, honestly. I’d kind of stopped expecting things from Dad awhile ago. And I think,” I shot Emmett a wiggly, sheepish smile, “that when you knocked some sense into me the morning after I moved out, I realized… as sad as it sounds… that I was holding onto something that was never there. There never really was hope to get him to love me – not the way I always wanted, at least.”
“Aly,” Emmett frowned deeply, squeezing my hand. “I’m sorry for everything I said that day. I know it was harsh, and it was – ”
“True,” I cut in, offering a bit of a smile to ease his tension. “Everything you said that day was true, Emmett, and the fact that I avoided you all those years kind of proves it. I knew you were the only one who knew me well enough to call me out and pull me out of delusion,” I said. “And as hard as it as to accept that I’d lied to myself most of my life, it was also a huge weight off my back. Because now I don’t actually want to try anymore. I’m not living to impress my dad. Holding out hope for someone who doesn’t even think about you on a daily basis is pretty much the most painful waste of time in the world, and I realize that now,” I finished. My voice was soft but strong because I believed every word that I said. “I realized it too late, but at least I did at all. Thanks to you.”
The candlelight flickered against his skin as he gazed at me for a little.
“You’re impressive. You know that?” he finally said, making a shy grin curve on my lips.
“Why are you saying this?”
“Because you’re strong and smart, and you’ve done everything on your own,” Emmett answered easily. “You’ve been knocked down however many times, and you’ve never stayed on the ground. I don’t know what that’s like. My dad used to say, ‘When it comes to the race of life, you two were dropped off way ahead of the others. You should always know and remember that.’ And I did, but it never hit me quite as hard as it’s hitting me now,” Emmett admitted as he studied me intently. “And it just makes me that much more amazed by you.”
I looked down as I blushed.
God, this man knew how to make me swoon. Touching the back of my neck, I gazed down at the table, my heart quietly soaring as Emmett lifted my hand to his lips and gave me a kiss.
“Well, before you get too proud of me,” I started jokingly, “I feel like I should admit that I have a petty side to me.”
Emmett laughed. “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah. As much as I’m getting over my whole thing with Dad, I still want to hear him admit that I did good – and not just good, but better than him. I know that’s kind of evil, and that I shouldn’t care, but I do.”
“That’s fine,” Emmett reassured me. “You deserve recognition for what you did.”
“I don’t need it though,” I admitted. “At this point, I’m pretty sure I have everything I need to be happy,” I said, blushing a little as I looked up to meet his eye.
“I’m pretty sure I do too,” he said, holding his gaze. “Actually, I know that I do,” he corrected himself. “And I know that if you ever so much as think you’re missing something, I’ll find it for you,” he promised sweetly, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. “Because I’ve honestly only ever wanted you to be happy.”
All I could do was nod in reply because I was too choked up to speak. He had me just about melting in my chair with that one, and it made me thankful for the distraction of two servers coming by to pre
sent a bunch of beautiful appetizers we didn’t even order.
Apparently, Emmett’s owner friend had just instructed the kitchen to send them out. As they were set down in front of us, our main server came by to explain each dish before whisking away our empty wine glasses and bringing a new pairing to match the food.
“Good Lord,” I breathed out, shaking my head at Emmett when we were alone again.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m just still amazed by the perks that come with being Emmett Hoult’s girlfriend.”
“Well, stick around,” he smirked. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I grinned. I definitely believed him on that one, and as the drinks kept coming, it was hard not to let my bubbly brain get carried away in fantasy. I knew it was dangerous and presumptuous, but my imagination was giving me images from next summer – when I’d have enough money to plan dates myself and take Emmett out to do things. I knew I’d probably never make quite as much money as him, but it was just the gesture.
I just wanted him to know how much I appreciated him – how much I recognized his patience for me all these years. After all, he had just as much a right to hold a grudge against me, but he never did.
“Aly, Julian’s called twice for some reason. Do you mind if I take it?” Emmett asked as our entrée courses were cleared.
“Go for it,” I said breezily, resting my chin in my hands as I watched him walk away. I laughed to myself a bit as I watched all the female eyes he passed follow and stick to him, aggressively checking him out in the way I couldn’t blame them for. He definitely looked sexy as ever in grey jeans and a lightweight Henley that was basically made to call attention to his pecs and biceps.
I was still checking him out when I heard heeled footsteps draw close to me.
“Omigod – Aly Stanton? Bitch, get over here!”