Emma tried not to get excited by the idea of seeing Jonah in a suit. He obviously underestimated what a sharp suit on the right man could do to a woman’s resolve. “Then I’ll meet you at the heliport tomorrow at six.”
Jonah gave her a curt nod and disappeared from her office. Once he was gone, Emma was finally able to take a deep breath and realized what she’d just agreed to. She peeked out around her door, and when he was nowhere in sight, dashed down the hallway to Harper’s cubicle.
“Help!” she said as she rounded the corner.
Harper looked up with wide, surprised eyes. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve got a date tomorrow. With him.”
“Him?” Harper leaped up from her chair. “I thought you refused to go out with him right now.”
“I know, but he shot down every excuse I could think of. I agreed to it this time on the condition that he would leave me alone after that if I asked him to.”
Harper just shook her head. “How could you ever ask a man like him to leave you alone?”
“Well,” Emma sighed, “at the moment, I have bigger problems than that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I have no idea what I’m going to wear. Most of my clothes are somewhere between business casual and business professional. I need date clothes. You’re the fashion diva. I need you to go through my closet and tell me what to wear.”
“I doubt there’s much in there we can use,” Harper said with obvious dismay. “Especially with junior playing havoc with your waistline. I think we need to go shopping.”
Emma frowned. “I don’t think I have time to—”
“Right now,” Harper interrupted. She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out her Kate Spade purse. “Get your things. We’re going shopping right now.”
Emma let Harper shove her down the hallway as she protested. “It’s three in the afternoon.”
“You need all the help you can get.”
Emma couldn’t argue with that. The next thing she knew they were in a cab and on their way to Fifth Avenue. As they strolled along the sidewalk, Harper had her gaze narrowed at every window scanning for just the right thing. They had stepped into about seven or eight stores, but left with nothing. Harper was searching for something special—a standout look—she said.
Emma was happy to hang back and let Harper decide what was best. After all, that was what Harper lived for—designer clothes, cute shoes, a fabulous handbag—she didn’t need much else in life. Her apartment was paid for, so Emma was pretty sure that her entire paycheck from FlynnSoft went directly to Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue. Thankfully, she was raised by a father with more money than he, or she, could ever spend.
And that was coming from Emma’s point of view—a girl who’d never wanted for a thing in her life.
“That!” Harper came to a sudden stop and pointed at a mannequin in the window. “That’s what you’re wearing.” She snatched Emma’s hand and pulled her into the boutique before she had really even gotten a good look at the dress. All she saw was a blur of blue.
When they stopped at the rack inside the store, Emma realized it wasn’t even a dress. It was a jumpsuit. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely. Jumpsuits are very in right now. Any woman he’s dated could wear some slinky little dress to dinner. That’s what he expects. Blow him out of the water with this instead.”
Harper held up the royal blue silk jumpsuit and Emma’s eyes got big. It was sleeveless with wide straps that went over the shoulders and a neckline that dipped down to her sternum. She’d need a specialty bra to pull this outfit off, for sure.
“What about my tattoo?” Emma whispered.
“It will cover it. The wide straps are perfect.”
That was one concern dealt with. “And where’s the back of it?” she asked.
“The fabric crisscrosses in the back and leaves the rest bare. Just enough skin to be sexy, but not overtly so. Pair it with some silver heels and a silver chain belt and you’re going to look fabulous. Ooh...maybe even a chunky bracelet.”
Emma frowned at the dress—er—jumpsuit. She wasn’t ready to talk about accessories yet. She’d never even worn a jumpsuit before. She wasn’t entirely sure she could pull it off. Then again, it would make it easier to get in and out of the helicopter if she wasn’t worried about her dress blowing up over her head. She could appreciate the practicality of that.
“So what do you think?” Harper pressed.
It was also the same blue as his eyes. She could almost feel his warm hand brushing against the bare small of her back as he escorted her into a restaurant. It sent a chill through her whole body and she finally came to appreciate Harper’s genius.
“I think we need to try it on.”
Seven
Emma anxiously stepped out of her cab outside the Wall Street Heliport. Before she headed inside, she made certain to adjust her jumpsuit and ensure everything was in place. It was all fine. She looked amazing in the jumpsuit, something she never would’ve believed until she looked in the mirror at the store and noticed her jaw had dropped along with Harper’s.
She took a deep breath, swung her uncharacteristically loose brunette waves over her shoulder and headed inside. Looking around the small waiting room, she didn’t see Jonah anywhere at first. Only a few of the seats were taken, mostly with families awaiting helicopter tours around Manhattan. Then she noticed a tall, slim man in a dark gray suit at the window with his back to her. Could it be?
As though he sensed her arrival, the man turned around to look at her, and she was surprised to see it was Jonah standing there. He was wearing a royal blue dress shirt, almost the same shade as her jumpsuit, but it was unbuttoned at the collar, with no tie in sight. Even then, the effect was amazing. The suit coat highlighted his broad shoulders and the narrow hips she remembered cradling between her thighs. The blue of the shirt made his eyes an even deeper shade, like the darkest waters of the ocean.
Standing there with his hands casually stuffed into his pants pockets, he looked every inch the powerful CEO of a software empire. And yet, he had been right about it being an unnecessary accessory. He didn’t need an expensive suit to command the attention of every person in the room. The crisp lines and exquisite tailoring on his body were just the delicious icing on the man cake that made her heart race in her chest and her resolve weaken.
Emma had to remind herself that although this felt like a date, it wasn’t really. He didn’t know who she was and she couldn’t be certain of his motives for asking her out. Besides, being blackmailed into dinner was not a date. And yet she couldn’t help preening as he took his turn looking her over from head to toe. She went with it, ignoring everyone else in the waiting area and giving him a little spin to showcase the bare back and the fit that clung to her curves. If he was a little uncomfortable all night, all the better.
His pleased smirk convinced her it was the right choice of outfit for the evening. When he was finished admiring her, she approached the window and closed the gap between them. “Good evening, Mr. Flynn.”
“Tonight, of all nights,” he insisted, “it’s Jonah. You can call me Mr. Flynn at work tomorrow if you insist.”
“I suppose that depends on how tonight goes,” she added with a smile, and then turned to look at the helicopters waiting just outside. “So when will our ride be ready?”
“It’s ready now.” Jonah turned to the desk and gestured to the man at the counter. The attendant buzzed them out and Jonah pushed open the door that led to the helipad. “Just waiting on you.”
Stepping outside, she was glad it was a calm day, not too windy. Emma had been in a helicopter twice with her parents. Sometimes her father needed to be able to get back from the Hamptons for a work emergency faster than a car or train would allow. It had never been her favorite
mode of travel, but the unsteady movement didn’t bother her, thankfully. Even so, she was sucking on a ginger candy to soothe her stomach just in case. She would not be remembered by Jonah as the woman who puked in the helicopter.
As they approached the sleek black helicopter, the pilot waved to them. He and Jonah helped her up inside and once she was buckled in, Jonah climbed in beside her and shut the door.
“Where are we going to dinner?” she asked as the blades started to spin overhead.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Of course it is,” Emma muttered, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the helicopter.
Jonah offered her a headset to wear and she accepted it. It muffled the engine sounds and allowed her to speak to the others without shouting. She didn’t have much to say at first. It was a clear day and she was too busy admiring her city. New York by helicopter was a truly amazing sight. You could get up close to the architectural wonders, unlike taking a plane, and without getting bogged down by the traffic and the noise of being on the ground.
She thought they might be heading toward Long Island, but then the helicopter turned and headed farther north. They could be heading to Boston, perhaps. Or Martha’s Vineyard. It was high season there.
“Stop trying to guess,” Jonah said to her through the headsets. “I can see it all over your face. You’re not going to be right and it will make you crazy trying to figure it out. Just relax and enjoy the flight.”
Emma smirked and flopped back against her seat. She supposed he was right. Instead of looking for clues, she glanced out the window to take in the view. When she turned back to Jonah a few minutes later, she noticed he was intently watching her instead of the landscape speeding by.
“I suppose the view bores you when you’ve seen it repeatedly.”
“Not at all,” he said. “I’ve just got something more intriguing to look at this time.”
Emma gasped softly, but didn’t know what to say. Instinctively, she held her breath as he leaned close to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She started to worry that he would be able to see down her top from this angle, but it was hard to focus on that when she could smell his cologne and feel the warm press of his leg against hers.
“Thank you for agreeing to have dinner with me.”
“You didn’t really give me a choice,” she replied, mostly in jest.
Jonah only shrugged. “I know. And I apologize for that. I guess I just wasn’t sure what to do when you kept turning me down.”
“Taking the hint was always an option.”
“Yes.” He laughed. “And I would have if your eyes were sending the same message as your mouth. But I could see you were conflicted, so I thought I’d give you a little push in the right direction.”
“Threatening to get me fired is not a little push. That’s blackmail.”
Jonah winced. “Agreed. It was a drastic step on my part. But I wouldn’t have called your boss, for the record. I was bluffing.”
Emma crossed her arms over her chest, realizing too late that it gave him a tantalizing view of her cleavage. His blue eyes flickered down for only a moment before returning to hers. She was surprised by his restraint.
“Even if you’re mad at me, by the end of the night, we will have kissed and made up,” he said confidently.
Emma couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow at him. “You’re just used to getting your way, aren’t you?”
“Usually.”
She eyed the full swell of his bottom lip as he spoke, remembering those lips as they sucked salt and lime juice from her body at the Mardi Gras party. The memory sent a flush of heat to her cheeks that she was certain he could see. She turned away from him, looking out as the sun started to set and lights began twinkling in the distance.
“Perhaps not this time,” she said, both hoping she was right and knowing she was wrong. Every minute she spent with Jonah, the more convinced she was that she wouldn’t be able to resist him much longer.
“Mr. Flynn, we’re about five minutes from landing.”
Jonah smiled and pulled away from her. “Excellent. See, now it didn’t take very long to get here, did it?”
Emma glanced at her phone in her purse. It had been a little over forty minutes. Not far enough for Boston. Too far for the Hamptons. She didn’t recognize the skyline, but it was a smaller town on the water. She could see the shore. Within minutes, they came to a gentle, bouncing landing on top of a bank building.
“We’re going to a bank?”
“Very funny. I’m actually friends with the president of this bank. He’s the only one that uses the helipad and said we were welcome to make use of it tonight. It’s that or fly all the way to the outskirts of town to the airport and charter a car to drive us right back here. This way we’re only a block from the restaurant.”
They slipped off their headsets and unfastened their seat belts. The pilot opened the door of the cabin and they stepped out onto the tarmac. “I’ll be waiting on you, sir,” he said.
“Thank you,” Jonah replied before taking Emma’s hand and leading her to the rooftop door. They took the elevator down to the lobby and exited onto a quiet street in a quaint-looking seaside village she didn’t recognize.
They walked about a block before she saw a taxi go by advertising a place that claimed to have the finest seafood in Newport. Newport, Rhode Island? She’d never been there before, although she knew it had once been a very popular summer retreat for the wealthy of New England. It was famous for its huge mansions only blocks from the sea.
Emma kept her suspicions to herself until they reached a building just off the harbor that looked like an old Georgian-style inn with white siding, dormer windows and the charm of an old-fashioned seaport village. The sign hanging overhead read Restaurant Bouchard & Inn.
“Here we are,” Jonah announced as they climbed the short staircase that led inside. “The best French restaurant I’ve found on this side of the Atlantic.”
The maître d’ greeted them, noted their arrival in his book and escorted them to a table beside one of the large bay windows. Once they were alone with their menus of the day, Jonah leaned across the table. “Anything you order here will be amazingly delicious and beautiful. Their chef makes food into art. Tasty art at that.”
Emma scanned the menu, desperately hoping her three years of high school French would assist her in not sounding foolish tonight when she ordered. Madame Colette would be so disappointed in her for mangling such a beautiful language. She had finally decided on a ratatouille ravioli starter and the rosemary lamb chops when the sommelier arrived at the table.
“Wine?” Jonah asked with a pointed look.
Emma was about to request a dry red to go with the lamb when she realized she wasn’t allowed to drink. The last week of her life had been so different it was easy to forget about her situation. “None for me, please. I’d just like some seltzer with a twist of lime.”
Jonah ordered a single glass of cabernet for himself. When the waiter came to take their order a few minutes later, she made her selections and he opted for the stuffed lobster starter and the sautéed duck breast with brandied balsamic glaze.
Emma was surprised by his flawless French accent as he ordered. As the waiter stepped away, Jonah turned to her with a mildly amused expression on his face. “What? Do you think that just because I wear jeans every day and play video games for a living that I wasn’t properly educated in expensive British preparatory schools like most ridiculously rich kids?”
Emma frowned and looked down at the glass of seltzer in front of her. She was bad at making presumptions where he was concerned. He was just so different from what she was used to. It made her wish she did have wine to drown her embarrassment. “No, I’m just a little surprised—and jealous—of how flawless your accent is.”
“Yo
u should hear my Japanese.”
She looked back up, truly stunned this time. “You speak Japanese?”
“If you want to be successful in the Japanese video game market, you have to. I also speak Spanish and I’m learning Mandarin as we expand further into the Asian markets. I’m an accomplished pianist and was the captain of my rowing team at Harvard, although that was just to appease my parents. I would’ve much rather been indoors playing games or romancing the ladies. As you can see, there’s a lot more to me than meets the eye, Emma. The same could be said of you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, feeling suddenly anxious at the turn of their discussion. “I’m just boring, uptight Emma the accountant.”
“You’re selling yourself short. For starters, you’re great at keeping secrets.”
Emma stiffened in her seat and swallowed hard. “Secrets? I don’t—”
Jonah raised his hand to silence her protests. “Now that we’re away from New York and the prying eyes of anyone that might care besides the two of us, I can say as much. And you can finally be truthful with me. Because you’ve known. All this time, you’ve known who I was and you didn’t say anything to me about it.”
The steely edge in Jonah’s voice sent her spine straight in a defensive posture. When she looked into his eyes, however, she didn’t see the anger she expected. Just hurt. The jovial, carefree CEO had a tender spot and she’d managed to find it without trying.
“We had something special and you don’t seem to care about it at all. Why didn’t you tell me the moment you realized who I was?” He slipped his hand, palm down, across the white linen tablecloth to expose his half of the tattoo, then wrapped his fingers around her hand.
It was happening. The moment she’d been dreading since he walked into his office and turned her world upside down. “I couldn’t,” she said in a hushed whisper.
“You absolutely could! You’ve had dozens of opportunities to speak up.”
“No.” Emma pulled her hand away into her lap and sat back to regain some of her personal space. “Up until this moment, we weren’t just Emma and Jonah, we were the Game Town auditor and the CEO of FlynnSoft. Yes, I knew the moment I shook your hand, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but I wanted to do my job first. I’ve been doing my damnedest to finish this audit, despite your constant distractions, so I could put it behind me and finally come to you and tell you the truth about everything.”
Little Secrets--Secretly Pregnant Page 9