Only…this vibration wasn’t quite right. It was pulsing against her thigh, and when Ethan paused, Emily became aware that the vibrating was actually coming from outside her body. Ethan lifted his head and his fingers abandoned their exploration. He sat up with a curse and reached into his pants pocket to pull out a phone. He looked at the screen to see who was calling, and swore again. He shot a quick glance at Emily, apologetic but also already distanced.
He bit off a terse, “Yeah?” when he answered. While he listened to whomever it was calling, Emily saw his face change. In seconds, his expression transformed from annoyed to focused. Emily was still in the fog of arousal when Ethan looked at her and mouthed a clear get dressed to her before he stood and closed up his own pants.
Struggling to catch up with the change in atmosphere, Emily fumbled with her bra and skirt, just managing to close everything that needed closing and smooth everything that needed smoothing when Jonas burst into the room, his own phone held up to his ear. Charlotte followed a moment later, looking flushed and sexy. Still, Charlotte cast a shrewd look Emily’s way and raised an eyebrow at her disheveled appearance. Emily blushed, knowing how she must look, but Charlotte just grinned in response.
Emily smoothed her hair back into what she hoped was an acceptable approximation of a style that didn’t scream “I was just about to get fucked,” and tuned in to Ethan’s side of the phone conversation. He was mostly listening, unfortunately, saying little beyond a couple one-word responses of “understood” and “yeah.” While she studied Ethan, watching his strong jaw move while he talked and clench when he was listening, her clit pulsed as she remembered the feel of him in her hand. He was so big, and so hard, and she’d been so close to taking him deep inside of her. Emily squeezed her legs together to fight the arousal, and tried to ignore how pissed off she was that they’d been interrupted.
Charlotte eased herself into one of the other armchairs in the room and curled her legs under her as she waited for the men to finish their calls. She probably got to finish, Emily thought sourly, interpreting Charlotte’s relaxed posture as evidence of her having just achieved satisfaction. Satisfaction that Emily had been denied.
Both men ended their calls near simultaneously. All passion was erased from Ethan’s face when he updated the women. “We just received intel on Gaines’s activities. We have his house under surveillance, and our agents were able to listen in on a conversation between Vivienne,” he glanced at Charlotte and cleared his throat, “your mother…and Gaines. Vivienne was upset that she couldn’t access her account and confided to Gaines that she was worried about funding the wedding. She asked his opinion about delaying the wedding until the identity theft issue is resolved. As we hoped, Gaines was very opposed to that. He asked Vivienne a number of pointed questions, and got her to reveal just how great her fortune is. The agents indicated they could practically hear him salivating over the money.” Ethan shot an apologetic look at Charlotte, who gestured it away with a breezy wave of her hand. Ethan took that as a signal to continue.
“As we hoped, when faced with the potential delay of the wedding, and the chance that any delays could result in the revelation of Charlotte’s pregnancy, he told Vivienne he would help with the bills. Vivienne initially turned him down, but he assured her that he felt like family already, and played it up that he didn’t want anything to happen to make her, or you, Charlotte, upset on what should be a happy occasion. Vivienne relented, with the promise of paying him back just as soon as the financial mess is resolved. The agents said Gaines was very slick and convincing in his display of compassion. I’m sorry for your mom, Charlotte, but this places us in good position to move forward with our plans.”
While Ethan was speaking, Jonas had made his way over to Charlotte, and knelt down next to her chair, laying a protective hand on her stomach. They gazed at each other with such deep emotion that Emily suddenly felt like she was intruding on a private moment, even though they were all together in the room. Uncomfortable with witnessing what was clearly an intimate exchange between Charlotte and Jonas, as well as dealing with her own confusion about Ethan and the completely crazy situation, Emily quietly excused herself and escaped to the bathroom where she felt like she could finally breathe again.
Safely secured inside the small room, Emily examined herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, and she could see what appeared to be a hint of a hickey on her neck. The memory of Ethan’s mouth on her body sparked the arousal that she’d so recently managed to tamp down. She shook her head to dismiss it and tried to think rationally.
God, she wanted this man more than life itself right now. She’d never been more instantly attracted to a person, and her gut clenched in anxiety at that. She was definitely uncomfortable with how safe she felt with him after knowing him just a few days. It should just be about sex, yet a niggling part of her brain told her it was more than that. Clearly he wanted her too, but as the worry and guilt arose, they drove back her previous passion and exuberance. FBI investigations were no joke. The man they were investigating was cunning and sharp. Who knew what risks he would take to hide his identify and protect his ill-gotten gains? Ha, Gaines and his ill-gotten gains. An image of Ethan’s wry smile when she told him the joke she’d just made up flashed in her mind.
Ethan. God, this was so messed up. She needed to step back from him. She wished she could escape the entire situation; at least, that was what she was telling herself. She already cared for Charlotte and her unborn baby very much. The thought of the risk Charlotte was taking made her ill. Even more, Charlotte was doing it for her mother, and that depth of caring was something unfamiliar to Emily. She both envied and feared it. What would it be like to have someone risk everything for her? What would it feel like to risk everything for someone else? Emily couldn’t imagine. Even though she’d accepted long ago that happily ever after wasn’t meant for her, she couldn’t turn away from Charlotte’s hope for one her, Jonas, Vivienne, and the little baby growing in Charlotte’s belly. Despite her skepticism of true love, she would go all in to protect that optimism for her friends.
Chapter Thirteen
The heated atmosphere in the room cooled with the phone calls. Jonas had received a similar update on his own conversation, and the two men celebrated the development. Charlotte also was uplifted by the news, though she’d been upbeat already. The celebratory feeling excluded Emily. She had been drawn into their drama, but she was still an outsider. She would help, however she could, but she wasn’t part of this group. While the other three cheered each other and began excitedly talking about next steps, Emily quietly slipped out of the room and headed for the front door As she walked, her exultation and excitement drained, and she felt wobbly and hollow. Was she crazy to be involved in this, after all?
She was nearly to the front door, when a strong hand darted out from behind and grabbed her arm.
Ethan.
She remained facing away from him, though his grip effectively prohibited her from moving forward.
“It’s late, Ethan. I need to get home. I have to work in the morning, and…” she laughed mirthlessly, “I have an overly expensive wedding to plan.”
“Emily.”
Just that one word, as uttered by his deep and sexy voice, sent shivers of delight down her spine. His hand still held her arm, unshakable, but gentle as well. She heard his breath draw in and faced him. She needed to speak before he did.
“Look, the news you got is great. Don’t worry, I’ll play along. And the other thing…that thing that happened. Well, we know it can’t happen again. You’re engaged, remember? Yes, I know it’s not real. But it needs to look real. And if we do this,” she gestured at the space between them, “It won’t. It can’t. I don’t want to be the reason that this fails. I want to help your plan succeed, okay?”
He frowned. “How would you possibly be the reason this fails?”
She rolled her eyes. “Ethan, I’m still planning your wedding. It’s just not right. If we
get caught, I’m ruined in the business. Forget about Mari firing me; no one will hire me to plan a wedding if it gets out that I slept with a groom.”
Ethan crossed his arms. “I think we’re both mature enough to handle the discretion it would take. I get that this is a strange situation, and that you’re worried about your job. It would be challenging; I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But it’s not going to be like this for long, and we would figure something out. If I really believed that it was all about your job and worrying about getting caught, I’d understand.”
Ethan’s eyes glinted in the dim light of the foyer. “But I think you’re making excuses because you’re scared. You’re afraid of how much you want this.” He waved his hand, mimicking the gesture she had made before.
“You’re afraid of how much you want me. I know how much that is, because I felt how wet you were for me. I heard you begging me to touch you.”
Emily stepped back, her back pressing against the door. Her pulse jumped in her throat and her breath was reduced to shallow gasps. How did he do this to her? How did he manage to make her so hot?
Ethan leaned in, closing the gap.
“You can pretend it’s about something else, but we both know you’re just running because you’ve finally found something you can’t control…how much you want to fuck me.”
“Look, let’s just…” Emily sidestepped out of his grasp. She had to tug her arm, and for a moment she wasn’t sure he would let her go, but he released her without argument.
“You’re wrong. I mean, yes, I’m attracted to you.” Understatement of the year. “But I just…my job. Charlotte.” She was sticking to the lie. She needed him to let her. “Let’s just be friends.” She stuck her hand towards him, looking for a handshake. A friendly, not sexy, handshake.
“Friends?” Ethan asked, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He looked as if he was going to argue with her, but then he shook his head, and clasped her hand in his. “Okay, Emily, we’ll be…friends.”
The handshake was nearly innocuous. Then Ethan caressed the inside of her wrist with his index finger, causing her heart to jump. His finger pressed at the pulse point on her inner arm, and grinned as he felt her heartbeat quicken at his touch. He leaned in, and whispered in that low timber of this that gave her goose bumps. “I can’t wait to be friends with you.”
Then he released her abruptly and steered her towards the door. “See you tomorrow, Cinderella.” He opened the front door and guided her out. Before she knew it, she was alone on the front porch, the door shut firmly against her back, her heart still racing and her breath coming in ragged gasps, her clit throbbing with unsatisfied arousal.
*****
The next morning Emily headed into work, trying to convince herself that it was another normal day. Even though normal didn’t exist anymore. She’d nearly had sex with the groom for the wedding of the century she was trying to plan.
It had been her idea to suggest they move forward as friends, though, and that’s how she’d have to think of him from now on. Even now, when she was fighting her body and mind to distance herself from him, he was giving her exactly what she needed. She gave her head a mental shake, and forced herself to focus. She had a wedding to plan. A huge wedding. Whatever else was going on, the subterfuge and conniving, Emily still needed to get this event together, for Charlotte and Vivienne’s sakes. She wasn’t going to get there if she kept fantasizing about the groom’s dick buried deep inside of her.
Thankfully, Troy was there with a large coffee for Emily and a purposeful look on his face that indicated he knew how important this event was to her. And to him, should he be willing to come with her.
He thrust the coffee into her hand. “You look like you’re three steps out of the grave. I’d ask what’s going on, but there’s no time for that. We have a wedding to plan!” He clasped his hands together in sarcastic glee.
Emily smiled in gratitude. “Bless you, Troy. Give me thirty seconds to process the caffeine, and then we’re on. We have less than three months to pull this wedding together, and it’s going to be the biggest, most high profile event of the year. We’re going to have to rely on all our contacts and call in all our favors to pull this off. We need top notch everything.”
“God,” she thumped her head on her desk. “We need a year…not eight weeks!”
“Drink,” Troy ordered, guiding her coffee mug to her mouth. Emily gulped gratefully.
“Now, breathe. You can you this,” Ethan cooed.
Appreciation gushed though Emily, and tears pricked in her eyes. She put her hand over Troy’s, which was resting on the edge of her desk. “We can do this,” she corrected. “You know I couldn’t even try without you. Please remember that, whatever else.”
Emily caught the lightning quick emotion that suffused his face, before Troy shuttered it away with a roll of his eyes.
“Okay, okay, enough of this emo nonsense. We have work to do.”
Emily nodded, and then forgot about everything else as she got into the groove. She needed only twenty-five of the thirty seconds she’d asked for before she got going. Troy smiled as he saw his boss slip into her zone. She kept up a running monologue and Troy took notes, enjoying the look of concentration and focus on Emily’s face.
“We need the finest quality everything, but I also want it to be unique. We’ll go with some of our standby vendors, but supplement with some unknowns for added oomph. First thing we need to secure is the venue for the reception. This timeline is impossible, and everything standard will be booked. Can you call all the normal spots anyway, and make sure they don’t have any cancellations?”
Emily absentmindedly tapped a finger on her desk.
“We need to think of some unexpected places. Timing means we can do it outside, but depending on location, we’ll also need to think about parking. The guest list will be massive. I need to get specific numbers from Charlotte today. Invitations will have to go out soon, too, but we need the venue first. So that’s our top priority today.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Troy gave her a mock salute. “I’m on it.”
Troy turned and headed to his desk, while Emily sat at hers and let her thoughts roll through her brain. All of the venues she usually booked for weddings would be unavailable. Enough people owed her favors that she could get at least one of the venues to bump their existing booking for Charlotte, but Emily hated the thought of doing that. She could just imagine the poor couple who would be told that their wedding was off because of her, and she didn’t want anyone to have to face that disappointment.
Emily would hold off and keep that only as a last resort. Just because the other couple wasn’t as rich or prominent as Charlotte and Ethan didn’t mean they should get the shaft because of them. Besides, she wanted something different for Charlotte anyway. She still didn’t know exactly what that was, but she would find it.
At her computer, Emily pulled up a map of the city and surrounding areas and looked it over, hoping for inspiration to strike. She zoomed in on areas of green space, even when she knew exactly what the inspection would reveal: a park, a forest preserve, a sports complex. Nothing right. She viewed the downtown area, but again, knew what would be there: the usual assortment of hotels and restaurants and event spaces. Again, nothing that spoke to her as “the place”.
At one point while she was studying the area, Troy came in to let her know that, as expected, all the high-profile venues were booked solid every weekend for the next several months and beyond. Sighing, Emily stretched her arms and let her mind wander to Charlotte and where she could picture her in her wedding dress. Unfortunately, that led Emily’s mind to Ethan, and the image of him in a tuxedo popped into her head: broad shoulders encased in soft, black fabric, narrow hips and powerful thighs straining at the material. Then she couldn’t stop her mind from picturing him with white dress shirt open, bow tie untied and hanging loosely around his neck. She saw her hands running over his muscled chest and down over his ripped stomach, fe
eling his sharp intake of breath as she skimmed her fingers lower.
A flash of Charlotte, resplendent in white. Emily’s face scrunched into a scowl of inexplicable jealousy. A bucket of cold water dumped on her.
She went back to picturing Charlotte’s wedding again, minus Ethan, and let her mind’s eye roam over the rows of chairs, flowers cascading down every surface, soft music playing in the background, and the bride herself poised at the end of the aisle, ready to begin the walk to her love.
Only when the bride appeared to the awed gasps of the audience, it wasn’t Charlotte standing there, but Emily. Charlotte’s elaborate dress had been replaced by something simpler and more casual. Charlotte’s long trained veil now a delicate, sparkling tiara in Emily’s dark hair. The rows of chairs were fewer now, and the atmosphere more intimate. The smell of wild bluebells in the air, accented by the waxy warmth of a million candles. Fairy lights twinkled; smiles were easy. No formality here. Just light and happiness and friendship. And Ethan, decked out in that amazingly hot tuxedo and with eyes for Emily only.
Emily broke out of her fantasies with a groan of frustration. She never allowed herself to get this distracted, and especially not by a man. Even one as gorgeous as Ethan. Now was definitely not the time. With an exasperated glance at the computer, Emily shoved her chair back. “Troy!” she called out.
He came quickly, eyebrow raised in question.
“I’m going to drive the city and look for…I don’t know…inspiration? A miracle? I just need to find the perfect spot, and I don’t know where that might be. I feel like there’s something nagging at my mind…some place that’s just right, but I can’t quite grasp it yet. Maybe it’s out there and I’ll know it when I see it.”
Private Engagement Page 9