Know Me: A 'Me' Novel (Book 3) (A 'Me' Series)

by Jeri Williams

  “Lobsters baby.” I titled her chin up until her eyes locked with mine so she could see the seriousness in my gaze. I was real as fuck.

  The thing I loved about Ember so much was how expressive she was, even when she didn’t want to be. Like now I watched the plethora of emotions play out across her face and watched her try and process what I’d just said. I also saw the moment she couldn’t process it all and needed out, which is why I let her bolt off my lap and out the passenger door at an almost breakneck speed.

  Hell, this was not how I envisioned ever asking her to marry me. I scrubbed my hand down my face and was instantly assaulted with her smell on my fingers. I knew it would be Ember, but I thought she’d do some girly shit like cry or run into my arms and hug me. But run away? Nah, didn’t expect that at all. I climbed out after her and walked a few beats behind her very determined trot.

  After three minutes of silence and us rounding the building, I took three giant steps and caught up with her; she was no longer trotting very fast.

  “Em, baby what are you doing?” I adjusted myself because even though I’d been thrown out of the mindset of getting Ember under me, my dick had yet to catch up.

  “Jogging .” The way she said it sounded like she’d left off the ‘duh’ at the end, like she always jogged. At least she had on flat shoes so she wouldn’t break her damn neck trying to get away from me.

  “Since when do you jog?” I challenged. I knew she just needed to get away from me to think of all the ways this wasn’t going to work with us. I should have given her time to process all of this, but I was a selfish bastard and I needed her. I’d messed up once with her. I wasn’t going to let it happen again.

  “Since now.” She looked at me and mumbled something that sounded an awful like jerk as we looped back to the front of the complex. The thing I’d loved about this complex when we were looking was that it was seven minutes from my parents’ house which meant it was on the good side of town, and it was small, with only five buildings equal distance from each other. I hated it now because I was sure some busybody was wondering why Matt Kane and Ember Harrington were circling the complex.

  “I’d like to jog alone, please,” she demanded, and I had to stop myself from laughing because she most definitely was not jogging. We rounded the front of the complex, our apartment coming into view.

  “You’re trotting, actually.”

  “I’m jogging,” she stated firmly, pumping her arms as if to say ‘see.’

  “Rabbit, you’re going less than .3 miles per hour; you’re trotting.”

  “Then fine; let me trot in peace mister trotting police. God!” she exclaimed, and I took that moment of distraction and hauled her over my shoulder.

  “Matt, what are you doing? Put me down!”

  “Not happening. You’re not going to avoid answering me, and as soon as we cross that threshold, my 72 hours start.” And because it was in my face and I couldn’t resist, I slipped my hand up her dress and slapped her ass hard enough for it to jiggle, but not hard enough to sting. I was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath from her before she pretended she hadn’t enjoyed it.

  Before she could squirm any more, I jogged up the stairs to our apartment, unlocked the door, and had her inside in record time. I deposited her on her feet and turned to lock the door when she lost her shit on me.

  “You can’t do that!” she exclaimed and hit me in my chest, repeatedly. Ember has never let her emotions get this out of hand before, and while her hits don’t hurt, I don’t want her to hurt herself so I grab both her hands in my one and pin her against the wall with my body.

  “Don’t make me spank you,” I warned in her ear, causing her to go instantly go lax against me.

  “Why are you doing this? Okay, you won: no more games, no more getting back at you. I’m done; let’s just get forget about the three day thing, and you can just leave me alone.”

  “Never,” I almost growl. I was never letting her go. Not ever.

  “Matt, you’re talking crazy; listen to yourself, we can’t get married. We’re not even together!” She tried to wiggle free, and I loosened my hold on her arms. I planted my arms on the wall on either side of her, caging her in. Her hands came up to my chest as if the hold me at bay.

  “Are you still in love with me?” I demanded. Yeah, I was a little insane right now, I admit but I couldn’t lose her again. I couldn’t. I’d seen what losing the love of your life did to a Kane man.

  “That’s not fair,” she whispered, and I knew I was playing dirty, using her love. But something else my father taught me: when you play, you play to win.

  “Are you?”

  She searched my eyes for a minute. “You know I am.”

  “And I sure as shit am in love with you.” I cupped the back of her neck and lowered my mouth down to hers in a possessive kiss that all but screamed she was mine.

  “Stop kissing me when I’m trying to turn you down,” she protested, but it was half assed and she knew it.

  “Stop pretending you don’t want me to kiss you,” I countered, and she watched me a bit before her eyes started to water; the unmistakable tremble of her lips signaled the thing I hated the most.

  “Don’t Ember,” I warned, not because I was an uncaring dick, but because her tears fucked with me. She turned her face from me without a word, and the tears started to saturate her cheeks, and I knew I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

  “Okay, okay, I take it back; you don’t have to marry me, and we don’t even have to do the 72- hour thing, just please stop crying.”

  Nothing. Just more tears.

  “Ember? Baby, talk to me. I’ll do whatever you want, just talk to me.” I didn’t give a shit how much of a punk I sounded like; I needed her to talk to me.

  “Rab…”

  “Will you leave me alone?” she asked, finally turning those sad eyes, the ones I’d caused, on me. I knew what I should say, knew what she wanted to hear. All my life, I had done what was expected of me, regardless if I felt differently about it or not. But I couldn’t give her this. I couldn’t let her go.

  “No,” I said passionately.

  “But you sai…”

  “Anything but that Ember. I will do anything but leave you.” I didn’t think I could even if I wanted to. “Please don’t make me,” I added just to solidify my gut feeling that she didn’t really want me to. My chest tightened in anticipation of her reply. In anticipation to fight.

  “I want to want you to leave me alone, but…” she said quietly and the tightness in my chest eased up. Thank fuck.

  “But?” I pushed. I knew why, but I needed to hear her say it.

  “But I can’t.” And that was answer enough for me.

  “Okay,” I said simply and backed up, releasing her from the wall.

  “That’s it?” she asked unbelievingly.

  “Yes.” I smoothed a stray hair behind her ear and caressed her lips with my thumb. Time for a change of pace. I could see she was at the end of her rope, and if I pushed anymore I’d lose her. As much as I wanted to fuck her raw— my dick was still waiting for the main event after that little tease in the car— I knew that I had to ease into it with her. Woo her again.

  “So, you don’t want anything else?” She eyed me like I was a body snatcher.

  “Other than for you to watch some bad T.V with me, no.” I held out my hand for her to take.

  She eyed it for a full 30 seconds then mumbled, “What are you up to?” before taking it carefully and allowing me to pull her along into the living room. I sat and pulled her in between my thighs, her back to my front, and reached for the remote all the while ignoring her ‘what are you doing’ questions. She was stiff in my arms as I drew her closer to me and channeled surfed looking for some mindless shit to put on. I couldn’t give a shit what was on; it would just be background noise to me holding
her and reassuring her for the rest of the night.

  I settled on a show she loved about a boy in high school who was bitten by a wolf. She used to make me watch this with her when things with us were solid, and I knew she ate this melodrama/fantasy shit up.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Really babe, I know you know other phrases. Use them,” I taunted.

  “I swear if you are smirking, I will cut you,” she threatened and tried to wiggle out of my grasp.

  “Simmer down stitches . I’m not smirking… anymore.” I placed my leg over hers to stop her movements, but she was able to turn, which caused her front to hit mine, her dress riding up her creamy thighs and testing my will power. The motion hit me right in my already pumped up dick.

  “Ember, I’m trying, I really am, to watch this shitty ass show with you, maybe even cop a feel or two, even though all I really want to do is peel this dress off you and fuck you to sleep. So please, turn around and stop moving your ass on me before I do just that.” I know I sounded like an asshole, but a man could only take so much.

  Without a word, she carefully turned around in my arms, settled against me, and started watching the show in strained silence. After a full minute she broke the calm. “It’s not a shitty ass show,” she said before relaxing deeper into me. I curled my arm around her and let my thumb wander over her bare forearm, I felt her soft skin heat with my touch and let my fingers roam while the show played in the background. It wasn’t until her body relaxed fully, and her soft breathing signaled she had fallen asleep, that I pulled a throw blanket from the back of the ouch over us and joined her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ember

  I was cozy. Cozier than I had been in a long time and even though I wasn’t fully awake yet, I knew the reason why.

  Matt.

  I was wrapped up in Matt, my head on his chest; his arms, legs, and hands were all entwined with mine, and I can’t say that I hated the feeling. It thrust me back to the times before when we were happy and would fall asleep like this all the time. That thought sobered me enough to wake from my haze and appreciate my position.

  Matt.

  It felt so natural to be with him like this, but it also felt surprising because it felt like there was an ocean between us with all the things that had gone unsaid last night. I had so many questions; the only reason I hadn’t asked them yet was because I was afraid of the answers. Hell, I was afraid to move even though I really, really needed to. I had a cramp in my leg that if I didn’t something about soon would cripple me.

  I tried to do that discreet thing that I’d seen in movies . But I was in a dress and being me and so not nimble on my feet, trying to untangle myself from a Matt-sized person made me the most ungraceful person in the world, and I failed horribly. The couch we were on was big and had deep seating that allowed us to be cuddled on comfortably without back problems later. That had been the deciding factor for me when we bought the couch years ago after getting this apartment.

  I tried to put my hand on the small space of couch where his head was resting and pull myself up and over swiftly, but that didn’t happen. What did happen was my hand slipped and I face planted, or chest planted, right on top of Matt with an ooof. It did help clear my leg cramp, so win?

  “Shit,” he groaned while his arm came around my waist securing me.

  “Sorry, I had a leg cramp.” I looked down at him and giggled when my hair fell into his face.

  “Sor…” His hand gripped the back of my neck, and he pulled me down to his lips. I’m not sure what I thought this kiss would be; I knew what I wanted the kiss to be— a gentle good morning kiss. But that was not what he gave me. No, this kiss was demanding and hungry and clearly meant to be a continuation from last night as his hand at my waist slid over my ass and squeezed hard. Then his hands pushed down on my ass, and I involuntarily— or maybe it was totally voluntary— ground myself on his erection.

  “Don’t do you if you don’t want it baby.”

  “I want it,” a voice said, and I realized all too late that it was mine. Was that my inner nympho coming out? Did I really care? I was all for giving in last night before he asked, no, demanded that I marry him. I realized that no, I didn’t care. I did want him, bad.

  Before I could even register what happened, Matt shifted me to one side and quickly unfastened his pants and pulled them down far enough to release his glorious, and I do mean glorious, erection. I couldn’t help but stare at it. I was mesmerized by the small amount of precum on the engorged tip and the veins running down his shaft.

  “Stop staring at it and fuck me,” he demanded gruffly and my sex clenched at the roughness of his command.

  “When did you become so bossy?” I asked, choosing to ignore how wet his bossiness was making me.

  “Since you’ve been giving me blue balls after you started this teasing shit. I’m at the end of my rope Ember. Now slide that dress up, straddle my hips , pull your panties to the side, and fuck me.”

  Holy dirty talk.

  I mean, what else is a girl to do after that but follow directions to a T? His eyes darkened when I shifted up to a semi sitting position and gathered my dress at the hem and dragged it up and over my head. My hair fell down in a mess and shielded my face. That was a good thing because, wow, was I blushing. I couldn’t help thinking that I loved this new Matt way more than the old one. The demand, the hunger, it was doing things to me. I slowly crossed my leg over his hip and sat up, straddling him as he’d asked.

  I leaned down slowly, intent on getting closer to him when a knock sounded on the door. Really? Now? Curse all the baby giraffes to whoever was on the other side of that door. I groaned out my frustration and shifted, and I felt Matt’s hardness through my panties. He gripped my waist and ground into my core.

  “Shit Ember,” he gruffed out, and I had to breathe steadily and not let myself succumb to the fog of lust long enough to tell whoever was at the door to go away . For serious.

  “I better get that,” I said. I shifted again, more for my benefit than his, and tried to climb off, despite what my body was telling me to do.

  “No. We’re not done,” he said as he gripped my waist, halting me. The right thing would be to listen to him, ignore whoever it was, and get back to what we were doing, because man, it felt magical. But the little voice in the back of my mind that sounded surprisingly like my mother, who I did not need to be thinking of right now, warned me that it might be an emergency. I stared at the intensity and the heat in his gaze, and before I could ignore the voice, the knock sounded again, louder this time.

  “Tell whoever it is to go away,” he griped, but he still released his hold on me. I got up on shaky legs and just stood there taking him in. He lay there with his pants down at full mast with desire in his eyes, and all my horny ass could do was focus on the part that was growing harder by the minute.

  “Rabbit, the door,” he chuckled when I jumped at the knock again, and suddenly I wanted be rude. I didn’t even know what time it was, but I was prepared to use that in my gripe to whoever was so impatient. I turned in the direction of the door but stopped when Matt called out to me.

  “You might want to throw on some clothes.” Oh, right. I was naked except for my panties. Funny how I forgot that. I threw on my dress, not bothering with trying to tame my hair, and walked around the small corner to the door and yanked it open.

  “Ember?” A very handsome man lifted his eyebrow in question and I was caught up in how handsome this guy was. He had a chiseled and defined jaw, broad shoulders, and dark brown hair that was trimmed tight to his neck. He looked like one of my father’s hired help.

  “Uhh, do I know you?” I asked, suddenly aware of my appearance. This guy was hot and here I was looking like, well not hot. Not that it mattered when I had a half-naked Matt on the sofa

  “Not really. This is crazy.” He ran his fingers t
hrough his neatly cropped hair and smiled a dazzle worthy smile, and if I could be dazzled by anyone other than Matt, it’d be this guy.

  “Mika said she told you I was coming?” Why was he talking to me in questions like I was supposed to know why he was at my door at god knows what time in the morning?

  Blank stare.

  “For our coffee date? She said she talked to you about it yesterday?”

  I started to reply, to let this poor innocent patsy that Mika had clearly conned into coming over here and asking me out off the hook when I felt heat at my back. Aw, shit on a stick. This was so going to be bad.

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  Matt

  “I repeat, who the fuck are you?” I demanded.

  I had lain there for a few seconds after Ember got up, willing my dick to calm down when I heard the muffled voice of whoever was at the door. Even though I couldn’t make out more than a few muffled words here and there, I knew Ember was more than likely politely telling the person to come back later. I got up and pulled my shirt over my head and dropped my pants to the floor, ready to get it in the second she rounded the corner.

  Call it my gut, my jealousy or just because I didn’t want her out of my sight for that long, but whatever it was had me inching closer to the door, intent on rushing this along so we could really get on it.

  For our coffee date? She said she talked to you about it yesterday?

  The fuck?

  Didn’t matter that I was naked, that shit didn’t even register when I stalked around the corner up to Ember’s back and gave a hard stare to the muthafucker who looks wise was not that much unlike me. Well, the old me anyway.

  “Matt,” Ember started, but really what could she say?