“Emma, you inverted the last two numbers on this report; could you please correct it?”
As he was walking away from her desk, Emma snickered to herself. “Whoops, that wasn’t nice at all. In fact, it was very naughty of me, wasn’t it?”
Brant stopped and turned back to her. “Did you do it on purpose or something?”
Shaking her head, Emma said, “No, of course not. Just give me a second and I will fix it for you.” He didn’t say anything else as he walked back into his office. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for managing to insert the words naughty and nice into the conversation. But the boughs of holly were going to be more difficult. Why couldn’t it be December now instead of July?
When she stuck her head in his office before lunch, he was on a call and just waved her away. She gave him another bright smile and walked out the door whistling. She had a mission during her lunch hour, and she had never been more grateful that Myrtle Beach had a year-round Christmas store. She wanted to hug the kind saleslady when she showed her the rack of Santa hats in the back of the store.
She grabbed a quick burger to eat in the car on her way back to the office. Her cell phone rang and seeing her mother’s name on the caller ID made her bite off a curse. The woman always seemed to know when she had five extra minutes, and Kat Davis hated for anyone to have idle time. Emma debated letting it go to voice mail but decided it was better to get it over with in the privacy of her own car. Clicking the answer button, she said sarcastically, “Yes, Mommy.”
Her mother chuckled. “I assume you’re on your lunch hour?”
“Mmm, yes, but would it bother you if I weren’t?”
“Probably not, dear, but I thought I would check. So anyway, I was in Belk’s this morning looking for a new swimsuit because your father says I should get a bikini. I found a fabulous one with a metal ring in the middle of the top, which calls a lot of attention to the girls. The bottoms have those drawstrings on the side like you wear. It looks amazing!”
“Um, okay. I’m happy for you, Mom.”
As if she hadn’t said anything, her mother continued on, almost in the same breath. “So, that isn’t why I called. While I was at the mall, I ran into Cindy Hogan. You remember David, who went to school with you, don’t you? I know he didn’t have much going on upstairs, but the boy was hot and still is. I saw him last year at a barbecue. Cindy said he’s going to the reunion next month and doesn’t have a girlfriend. I think I can get you in with him. It doesn’t matter if he is dumb as a box of rocks as long as he looks good on your arm, right?”
Emma laid her phone down in the passenger seat while she beat her head against the steering wheel. When would she learn to use her voice mail more and answer her phone less? Taking a deep breath, she picked the phone back up, saying, “Good grief, Mom, I don’t want you getting me ‘in’ with anyone. I can find my own date and, for the record, David bats for the other team. He isn’t between girlfriends; he has never had a date who didn’t have a penis!”
But if Emma had thought she would shock her mom into silence, she should have known better. “Em, I know that. I think he swings both ways, though. Even if you can’t talk him into bed, he would probably still escort you.”
“Mom, I don’t need a date!” Emma could blame the next words out of her mouth only on her mother’s continued insistence on fixing her up with David Hogan. “I already have a date!” Of course it turned out that would be the one thing her mother chose to hear since the start of the phone call.
“You have a date? Who is it?”
“It’s no one you know, Mom. Just a guy I’ve been out with a few times.”
“Honey, that’s great. I don’t know why you haven’t mentioned him, but I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right? I’ll have your room all ready. You know your father and I aren’t prudes, so he can share your room. Never let it be said that I cock-blocked my daughter. I’ll give Cindy a call and let her know we won’t be needing David after all.”
“God, Mom, women your age shouldn’t talk like that!”
Her mother laughed. “I admit I’ve picked up a few things from my new book club.”
“Geez, what kind of book club is it, porn?”
“We call ourselves the Smut-Loving Wenches,” her mother replied proudly.
As far as Emma was concerned, that explained a lot of her mother’s new vocabulary. She could just imagine what those meetings were like. She only hoped she’d never meet any of the other members. “What does Daddy say about your club?”
“Pffft, you know he doesn’t care about stuff like that. He does enjoy the new . . . ideas it gives me, though.” Just as she was prepared to disconnect the call for fear of hearing what those ideas were, her mother made a smooching sound and said, “Kiss, kiss, darling. I’ve got to go. We’ll talk soon.”
Emma’s head was spinning. Had her mother just promised not to cock-block her? Had she really said that she had a date she was bringing home for her reunion? Her life was starting to resemble an episode of Jersey Shore. Now she had to figure out how to find a date willing to travel to Florida with her—and she had less than a month to do it. If she didn’t show up with a man in tow, her mother would have David Hogan at the house in the blink of an eye.
She thought briefly of calling her sister, Robyn, and begging for help, but she knew how that would go. There was no way in hell that Robyn would divert their mother’s attention onto her. She discounted her brother as well as soon as she thought of him. He played their mother like a fiddle. He was the baby boy and had learned long ago to stay in Mom’s good graces. There would be no help from that side either. She was well and truly screwed.
Chapter Four
Emma flopped back in her chair. She just couldn’t do it. No matter how desperate she was, an escort service was out. She would have to go home with no boyfriend and put up with her mother’s matchmaking. Sure, it was likely to be embarrassing and uncomfortable, but what family visit wasn’t? She could live with being fixed up with David, but having to admit to her mother that she had lied about the boyfriend was going to be hell. There were bound to be more talks about her sexual technique and what she was doing wrong. And what if her mother invited some of her new book club friends over to give her some advice on finding and keeping a man? Emma shuddered at the thought.
“Problem?”
She jerked around to see Brant sitting on the edge of her desk looking at her with equal parts amusement and curiosity. “Yeah, you could say that. I need a date for my high school reunion.”
Brant tried unsuccessfully to cover the smirk on his face. “I can’t imagine why that would be a problem. You’re such a . . . joy to be around.”
She had no idea where it came from, but the words were out of her mouth before she could take them back. “I’m glad you feel that way, because I’m going to need you to fill in for me. There are no available men in my life right now.”
It was fairly amusing to see her normally standoffish boss floundering around, clearly at a loss. “Wh-what?”
Before she could reply, Declan Stone walked in for his three o’clock appointment with his brother. Emma stood, giving both men a bright smile. She ushered him into his brother’s office and then had to give Brant a little shove to get him moving. She knew this was not an ideal place to have this conversation, but she was also aware that Brant wouldn’t let it go, which was fine with her. She stopped him before he crossed the threshold and said, “Let’s meet at the bar around the corner at six.” Without waiting for an answer, she shut the door softly and took her seat.
The more she thought of her plan, the better it sounded. Sure, Brant was a pain in her ass, but better the pain you know, right? And what he didn’t know was that she had an ace in the hole that pretty much assured her that he wouldn’t say no. Well, unless Mr. December wanted Christmas to come early to Danvers.
Brant had no idea why he was setting off to meet with Emma. He had no intention of going anywhere with her social
ly, much less as a date to her reunion. Was she crazy? It wouldn’t take people long to pick up on the lack of love or affection between them. They couldn’t even have a simple conversation without insulting each other. Regardless of what she said, he didn’t doubt for a minute that Emma could find a date if she wanted to. She was a very attractive woman—much to his discomfort at times. Luckily, on the occasions when he found himself admiring her, she invariably opened her mouth and the moment was gone. But the hard-on remained for a while.
He walked into the bar and quickly scanned the room. There was no sign of Emma. What a shock. He strongly suspected she stood out in the hallway at work in the mornings just because she knew it irritated him for her to arrive late. He walked over to an empty table in the corner and smiled as the busty blond waitress approached to take his order. “Hey, sugar, whatcha having tonight?”
“I’ll have a Heineken, thanks.” He saw the name Daisy on her name tag when she returned with his beer. Yeah, okay, he ogled her tits. He had never claimed to be a saint. He was just pondering striking up a conversation with her when a familiar, irritating voice sounded over his shoulder.
“Ugh, do you have to be such a guy?”
He swung around and damn it, he could feel the guilty expression on his face, even though he had no reason to feel guilty. Daisy gave in to the urge to cut and run when faced with Emma’s sarcastic tone. He decided the safest course of action would be to change the subject. “Glad you finally decided to join me. Don’t tell me you were working late because I know better.”
“You really missed your calling. You’d kill as a comedian.” When she pulled out the seat next to him, he forced his gaze away from the miles of legs revealed by the short skirt she wore. This was one of those times when he needed her to continue being a bitch before his cock snapped to attention.
Clearing his throat and trying to focus, he asked, “So . . . um, why exactly are we here? I think we already covered the fact that you’re dateless for your reunion, and I’m not even remotely interested in bailing you out of that dilemma. There is nothing you could do that’s gonna change my mind, honey, but go ahead and amuse me anyway.”
He settled back in his chair with a grin, suddenly interested to see where this would go. He had to give her credit: She was always inventive. If nothing else, he would have a good laugh and a drink before he headed home. Hell, if he played his cards right, maybe Daisy the server would be up for some company later. When Emma remained calm and confident instead of getting upset, he started to feel the first trickle of unease. What was he missing here?
She appeared to be studying her nails as she asked, “Are you sure about that, boss? There is nothing in the world that would convince you to help me out? Nothing at all?”
“No?” Shit, even he heard his statement come out more like a question. “Just spit it out, Emma, I’m tired of this. I can’t imagine where all of this is going.” Great, now I sound like some kind of pussy. She’s probably expecting me to start crying next.
She continued to stare him down for another minute before pulling what looked like a calendar out of her purse and plopping it on the table before them. When she swung it open to the month of December, he still had no idea what was going on. He had thought she needed a date now, not months ahead. She looked up at him and then slowly unfolded the calendar to its full length, displaying the picture that had been hidden. He felt the blood drain from his face. She had the nerve to pat his lifeless hand almost sympathetically before saying, “Ah, now it looks like we are on the same page.”
“Where . . . how?” he stuttered.
“It was quite by accident, I assure you, or something I like to call divine intervention. Mr. September dated my friend and I ended up with her calendar. A chance look through my old yearbook led to this moment.”
“You haven’t shown that to anyone, have you?”
Emma smiled at the strain in her usually unflappable boss’s voice. Yeah, he was shaken up. It was a little surprising because she suspected most men would be proud for a woman to see such an impressive picture. She might hate the man, but even she had to admit he was smoking hot on the calendar. Of course, most people weren’t as uptight as Brant, which was what she was banking on. “Nope, your secret is safe with me. I mean, that’s what friends do, right? They help each other out. You would do the same for me if I needed you, I’m sure.”
Her mouth fell open in shock when he quickly responded, “What I would really love to do is spank your ass until it shines, but I guess I’m fucked.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to say stuff like that to your assistant unless you’re working in a brothel or something.”
Brant quirked a brow at her. “Since when have we ever been concerned with what we say to each other? I don’t think you should say stuff to your boss like ‘blow me’ either, but that has never stopped you before.”
Emma nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’ve got me there. So-o-o, back to my original plan. I’m going to need you to accompany me to Pensacola, Florida, for my class reunion in two weeks. I checked our schedule and, as luck would have it, you have a trip scheduled for Miami in a month. I’m confident that we could move that up and kill two birds with one stone. We’d fly into Miami, take care of business and then catch a plane up to Pensacola. The reunion is on a Saturday night, so we can fly back home on Sunday afternoon and not miss much work.”
“Wow,” he chastised, “if you put that much thought into your daily work, you would be an unstoppable force at Danvers.”
“You know, it’s funny. I seem to get a lot accomplished when I don’t have someone interrupting me with stuff like ‘can you get me some lunch’ or ‘did you steal my number two pencils again?’ Stuff like that tends to suck the motivation right out of you.”
Brant couldn’t hold back a grin. Sometimes he thought that sparring with her was better than sex. That would explain the wood that he sported at the office when she was around for any length of time. He was a competitive man by nature and succumbing to blackmail over the calendar was not an easy thing for him. On the other hand, he didn’t want people at the office laughing over something he did back in college for his fraternity either. How bad could it be? He would stay at a hotel and she could stay with her family. They would really need to see each other only during their travel time and for a few hours at the reunion. If she weren’t so damn difficult most of the time, he would have offered to help her out anyway. This didn’t have to be a big deal. Knowing her, she would book them seats on the plane as far away from each other as possible. You had to love how predictable she was sometimes.
Chapter Five
Most people might be able to leave on a trip without having a root canal first, but Emma should have learned by now that she wasn’t most people. They had been putting in some long hours over the past couple of weeks to prepare for being away from the office for a few days. Now their flight was scheduled for this afternoon and she’d discovered she needed an emergency root canal just hours before they left for the airport.
The nagging discomfort that she had been feeling on and off for a month had turned into a full-fledged throbbing, at which point she finally broke down and went to her dentist. They had scheduled her procedure for today and she had little choice but to keep it. She couldn’t risk going out of town and having the pain become unbearable. She might have bent the truth a bit when she assured them that her traveling companion would be taking care of her. But she had already arranged for a car to pick her up at her apartment and drop her at the airport. She knew her mouth would probably be numb for the entire flight. After they arrived in Miami, she would crash for the evening and sleep in the next day while Brant went to his meeting. No problem, right?
Hours later, she knew she might have underestimated the whole thing. Despite the Novocain, her mouth was throbbing when she left the dentist’s office. They had given her a prescription for pain medication and advised her to take a pill as soon as possible. Maybe someone with a better
pain tolerance could have avoided it altogether; unfortunately, she wasn’t that person, so she stumbled into the pharmacy before heading home. She had never taken any prescription pain medication before, but she assumed that if she took a pill right before she left for the airport, it would kick in during the flight and give her a pain-free trip.
Damn it—of course she should have packed earlier, but as usual she had left it to the last minute. She was forced to grab a suitcase and fill it with whatever was clean. It also occurred to her that she should probably change into a pair of jeans, but her short skirt would have to do. She couldn’t seem to remove the hand that cradled her jaw for more than a few seconds. Maybe she was a baby, but it hurt like hell.
Five minutes before her taxi was due, she poured a glass of water and took the white pill from the dentist, cursing as she tossed the medication bottle in her carry-on bag and the pills inside spilled out everywhere. She had just grabbed the bottle intending to put them back in when a horn sounded. Shit. Throwing the bottle in the cabinet, she grabbed her bags and was hurrying to the door when it hit her. She had forgotten to pack underwear; she debated just buying some in Miami, but knowing her luck, she would never get away from Brant to do it. Running back into the bedroom as the taxi horn sounded again, she pulled her lingerie drawer completely out and dumped it in the top of her bag—no time to pick out her favorites today. The last thing she needed was to miss her ride to the airport. She could just imagine the smirk on Brant’s face if she missed the plane she was blackmailing him into taking. Not going to happen.
Brant had arrived at the airport a couple of hours early as he always did. Emma was right—he did have some hang-ups. When you were forced to rush, things got overlooked and mistakes were made. If you planned things carefully, there were fewer problems in life. He closed his laptop and looked at his watch again. The plane would start boarding in fifteen minutes and Emma hadn’t arrived yet. By this point he should have known better than to be surprised. If she didn’t show, he would fly to Miami, attend his meeting and arrange a flight home for the next day.
No Denying You Page 4