Welcome to Lake Ventures (New Haven Book 2)

by Dawn Doyle

When he got to the coffee shop, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Thinking it was Emily, he quickly checked.

  His Mom.

  M: Hi Nick. I’m sorry about the other day and pressing you. We promise to keep out of your business from now on.

  N: Thanks. I’m sorry for taking off on you.

  M: That’s alright sweetheart. It was our fault. Will you be coming to dinner tonight?

  Dinner. He didn’t know if he could face his family after what had happened with Emily. They’d know that something was up and even if they promised to keep out of his business, they would get right back up in it if he looked distracted.

  N: Not tonight, Mom. I have a lot of meetings today that will go on until late.

  M: Ok honey. Xx

  Nick paid for his lunch and left the coffee shop, making his way back to the office. His phone vibrating again.

  He’d have to call his Mom and tell her he was busy at work.

  E: Thank you. Me too.

  Emmy.

  She was glad too.

  Nick was so happy he wanted to jump up and punch the air. He settled for a smile instead.

  OK, Emmy. I’ll give you time, but I’m not going to make it easy for you.

  Nick chuckled to himself as mischievous thoughts popped into his head.

  Not easy at all.

  *****

  Where the fuck is it?

  Emily searched for the lid to her pen. Not that she needed it, but she only ever chewed on one when she concentrated and none of her other pens had lids. If she didn’t have it, she may end up chewing her nails.

  It was gone. If had gone on the floor, there was no way she was going to put that in her mouth again, though. She’d have to get another.

  The lift doors opened and Emily stopped what she was doing and looked up as Nick stepped out.

  She swallowed as her eyes trailed down the length of his body. The black of his fitted jacket and pants. His black shirt and dark grey tie. He looked so sexy he was like a walking wet dream.

  Emily felt the effects what that kind of dream would have on her, right there, whilst she was awake.

  She wanted to take off his jacket and rip the shirt from his muscled torso and… bite him.

  She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and bit down so she wouldn’t moan out loud.

  Nick lifted a hand and ran it through his hair, the strands immediately falling back down his face, to the corners of his mouth. He looked like a fucking rock star in a suit.

  She sat down as her legs turned to jelly, his eyes focused on her and a lazy smile beginning to form.

  Emily remembered how his stubbled jaw and top lip felt against her skin. Tickling as he kissed her, feeling so good it should be illegal.

  Her skin prickled as he neared and she tried to look like she wasn’t just undressing him with her eyes.

  “Emmy” he said. Greeting her with his low seductive voice that had her breath catching in her throat.

  “Nick.” She greeted him back like he’d greeted her, but her voice came out far more sultry than she’d anticipated.

  One eyebrow lifted as the corner of his mouth turned up before he licked his lips, then turned into his office. Emily watched his back as he went in; disappointed that his jacket covered his arse.

  Emily’s face was red hot.

  “What the hell was that?” Diane asked in surprise.

  “What was what?”

  “Don’t get smart with me, young lady. I saw the look you gave him as he walked in. You were practically eating him up as he stepped out.”

  “I was not!” Emily tried to sound like Diane was being ridiculous. Only to make herself sound like that instead.

  “I may be sixty two, missy, but I’m not too old to see what just happened.”

  Emily dropped her head down.

  “What can I say? He looks good in a black suit.” She said, keeping her voice low.

  “Uh huh.” Diane said before waking back to her own desk and picking up her phone.

  “Oh fuck.” Emily whispered to herself, before taking a deep breath and attempting to work again.

  The lift doors opened and two men walked out. Emily remembered them as nightclub owners from Kirkland. Nick had a lot of experience in that area, so they’d need to know their stuff if they wanted him to invest.

  “Hi, I’m Mac and this is Pete. We’re here to see Mr. Lake.”

  The dark haired one of the two said to Diane.

  Diane looked to Emily and their eyes followed her gaze. The blonde haired guy, Pete, smiled at Emily.

  “That’s Emily, Mr. Lake’s assistant.” She said as if answering a question.

  “I’ll let him know you’re here.” Emily said as she got up from her seat.

  “I like your accent.” Pete said as she approached Nick’s door.

  Emily didn’t answer as she turned the door handle and entered Nick’s office.

  “Two men are…” Her sentence was cut short when she saw Nick removing his tie and then undoing his top two buttons.

  “Are you ok?” He asked with a slight smile.

  He knew exactly what he was doing to her.

  “Um… Yeah. Two men are here for the… thingy… I’ll…” Emily stopped stuttering and just walked out of the office.

  She took a deep breath before addressing the two men.

  “Mr. Lake will be with you shortly. I’ll show you to the conference room.” She said and opened the door next to Nick’s office.

  “Will you be attending our meeting?” Pete asked. His eyes looking her up and down, making her feel dirty.

  “No.” Emily was irritated and if he carried on, she would be losing a lot of money to the jar.

  “That’s a shame.” Said Mac as he leered at her too.

  “Put your eyes back in your head or I’ll fuckin’ gouge them out.” She said, with a sweet tone to her voice, looking between them.

  “Ouch.” Pete chuckled. “You have a mouth on you.” He said.

  “And one hell of a punch.” Nick said from behind them with acid to his tone.

  “Mr. Lake. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Mac said as he held out his hand, but Nick didn’t take it.

  “I think I’ve heard all I needed to hear. Goodbye.” He said to both men.

  “But we haven’t had our meeting.” Complained Pete.

  “There isn’t going to be one after the way you treated Emmy. Now get the fuck out of my office.”

  “What did we do?” asked Mac.

  “Well if you don’t know, then that’s a big problem.”

  Nick looked dangerous as he stood still, glaring at the men. They both felt it too. Their faces paled and they didn’t say any more as they turned, and left.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” Emily said, her cheeks heating.

  “Emmy, I don’t have to do many things.” He said before lowering his tone. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

  His eyes dropped to her mouth before lifting to her eyes again. Emily’s mouth dropped open and she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth so she didn’t drool all over him.

  “I have work to do.” He whispered, then disappeared back into his office.

  He didn’t close the door, and Emily sat down right in his line of sight. Glancing to him, she saw he was watching her.

  Nick picked up his black framed glasses and, without blinking, put them on.

  Emily made the mistake of reaching for her pen because seeing him looking all sexy and dangerous, and putting his cute glasses on, she knocked over the whole tin.

  “Oh shit!” She said out loud.

  “That’s ten dollars, Missy!” Diane called out.

  “That’s ten dollars Missy.” Emily mocked, quietly and she heard Nick laugh.

  She scowled at him but couldn’t keep it. She had to turn away so he wouldn’t see her smiling.

  *****

  Nick had wanted to punch the two guys after they’d had their dirty eyes on Emily, but he calmed when he’d spoken to
her afterwards and the lightbulb had finally lit inside his head.

  How could I have been so blind?

  The way Emily’s eyes had been all over him when he stepped out of the elevator, and her reaction to his teasing suddenly made sense.

  ‘Um… Yeah. Two men are here for the… thingy… I’ll…’ was what she’d said. It was similar to when Harry had shown up and she’d seen him in his glasses for the first time. She was flustered then and now he knew why.

  She was attracted to him even then.

  Of all the times he’d teased her in the past, she’d gotten annoyed. Maybe it was because he actually did, piss her off, but was it possible that it was because she liked him?

  Nick smiled widely. Still watching Emily pick up the pens scattered over her desk. Watching her bend over, her toned ass curving under her skirt.

  He licked his lips and he had to adjust in his seat to make himself comfortable.

  It wasn’t possible.

  He wouldn’t be able to get out of his seat for a while.

  Why did I say I’d give her time?!

  It hadn’t been forty-eight hours since he’d been in her bed and he was regretting his decision to leave her alone.

  Sitting at her desk, just a few feet away, knowing how she felt in his hands and underneath him, he was a mess… already.

  Well, he couldn’t touch her, just yet, so he had to make do with the piece of plastic in his pocket. He reached in and twirled it between his fingers.

  He looked at his screen and saw an email notification.

  Attached are the completed reports for marketing and accounts.

  Emily.

  Simple and straight to the point, every time.

  Thank you, Emmy.

  Perfect as always.

  Nick.

  Nick turned his eyes in her direction. She was blushing.

  Yes. He did affect her.

  Even though he knew he would be in pain for doing it, he would give her some space. Just how long for, he didn’t know.

  *****

  Emily woke up with her skin damp, and other parts wet.

  She’d been dreaming about Nick and the night they’d spent together. Every detail being recalled in her dream, waking just before the orgasms.

  “Oh my God.” She panted. She didn’t know how much longer she could last before going completely insane.

  The scent of him still on her pillow, the night after, didn’t help either.

  For the last two days of the week, Nick had been his usual self, but with Emily knowing he wasn’t trying to piss her off, she realised his past teasing wasn’t to make her angry. It was to joke around.

  He’d been so sweet to her, ok, maybe he’d initially pissed her off because she had called this brother a fuck-wit, which was only fair.

  But now, whenever Diane wasn’t looking, he was purposely turning her on.

  Loosening the top buttons on his shirt. Leaning over her desk, from behind her whilst she was sat in her chair, getting so close she was dizzy from his smell.

  She’d had to squeeze her legs together as tight as she could when, as he leant over to look at her monitor, he’d breathed ‘Emmy’ right next to her ear.

  The weekend was no better. He’d been completely quiet and it had made her even more nervous to see him.

  “Oh God! This is insane!” She complained as she got out of bed.

  Emily barely even remembered getting ready for work when she found her self walking through the front doors of the building.

  “Good morning Emily!” Joe said with a huge grin on his face.

  “Good morning Joe.” She replied and carried on to the lifts.

  The doors began to close when a hand stopped them.

  Nick!

  “Good morning Emmy.” He purred when the doors closed behind him, leaving them alone in the lift.

  “Good morning.” She squeaked.

  Nick didn’t stop looking at her and Emily felt uncomfortable. She was getting turned on from just his gaze.

  “Are you ok? You seem… nervous.” He said with a smirk.

  “Why would I be nervous?” Emily felt suddenly embarrassed when her voice came out more like Marilyn Monroe than her normal tone.

  Nick stepped closer to her and she held her breath. His soapy smell was already making her faint but close up, she was hurting. The burning fire between her legs was scorching.

  “You look beautiful.” He said, leaning in to tell her.

  “Wha huhhhh.”

  Nick straightened and winked at her.

  “Nick, please. I can’t think when you do that.”

  “Do what? Talk?” He looked amused.

  Just doing anything makes me crazy!

  “You know what you’re doing.”

  “Do I?” He asked, innocently. There wasn’t an ounce of innocence in him.

  Emily rushed out of the lift as soon as the doors opened.

  “Good morning!” Diane beamed, just as she was replacing the receiver on the phone.

  “Morning Di.”

  “Good morning Di. How are you?” Nick asked as Emily almost ran to her seat.

  Don’t look at him, don’t look at him.

  Emily was a mess.

  Admitting her feelings to Holly had been bad, but now she wasn’t trying to hold back her feelings, she couldn’t cope. The night they spent together had only intensified the rage in her body.

  “I have a few meetings today and then I have some of the other club dealings to catch up on.” Nick said to Diane.

  Walking past her, Nick sucked his lower lip into his mouth and slowly released it.

  Emily couldn’t help but bite her own as her legs wobbled. It was a good job she was already sitting.

  Keeping control has never been so hard!

  Nick had to be feeling something himself. She’d seen how frustrated he looked in his office. Shifting in his seat, rubbing his face with his hands. She wondered how he’d coped over the weekend.

  She had to remember that he was her boss and she’d been in that position before.

  Ok, Nick was completely different, but he was her boss nonetheless.

  *****

  This is torture!

  Nick took a deep breath and went into his bathroom at the back of his office. Running cold water over his face. He had to calm or he wouldn’t get through the day.

  The weekend had been a nightmare. Typing out text messages and then deleting them. He’d wanted to show her he could give her space. Hoping that his silence would make her think of him more.

  Teasing Emily was hurting him too and if he carried on, he wouldn’t be able to walk.

  Sitting at his desk, he booted up his iMac and dealt with the huge amount of junk email that had gotten through the servers.

  Answering the other emails only took a couple of minutes and he took the opportunity to watch ‘his Emmy’ hard at work.

  His jaw dropped at what he saw.

  Emily was stroking along her lower lip with her finger in concentration.

  He was so hard in his pants it was painful. His first meeting was in the next five minutes and he had a hard on!

  Nick stopped looking at her. He needed to calm down before he faced a couple of business women. It didn’t look good if he showed up with a boner.

  “Nick, your nine o’clock is here.” Emily’s voice came from the doorway.

  “Ok. Thanks Emmy.” He said, heat creeping up his neck.

  As soon as Emily left, Nick dashed to his bathroom to splash cold water over his face… and his other parts.

  Nick hadn’t been able to pay much attention to the women in his conference room.

  All he could think about was Emily.

  If she felt anything what he thought she did, he understood why she would get flustered with his teasing.

  Just looking at her finger on her lips had him busting at the seams.

  The women had mentioned something about a florists, which had him thinking about Emily, again.


  He hadn’t realized how long they were in the room when the women finished their plug, given him the details and left.

  Leaving the room, he saw that Emily wasn’t happy about something.

  “Emmy, is everything ok?” he asked, wondering what had upset her.

  He noticed her eyes glance to the conference room before she answered.

  “Yes, everything’s fine.”

  He’d been in the conference room for almost an hour with two women. Two women that he’d paid no attention to at all, but she hadn’t liked it.

  He looked to make sure Diane wasn’t paying attention to them, she was, so he couldn’t do much.

  “Emmy, I would never hurt you.” He whispered before going back into his office.

  “I know.” He just about made out what she said before he closed his door. He needed to call Edna and Joel. He was going back to LA soon and Emily was going with him again.

  Trying to get through the rest of the day without becoming mentally unstable, Nick finally lost his resolve.

  He sent an email to Emily. He needed to see her.

  Emmy, I need to see you in my office.

  Nick.

  *****

  Emily read the email Nick had sent, wondering why he didn’t just open the door and speak to her.

  Getting up on shaky legs, she opened his door. He wasn’t at his desk.

  Walking in further, she looked around and couldn’t seen him.

  Emily closed the door behind her and saw Nick, standing behind it.

  She almost had a heart attack.