by Stella Rhys
I missed that rush of blood to her lips, that shade of pink that bloomed in her cheeks. I missed how big those already big brown eyes got and I couldn’t wait to just fucking touch her.
But the commotion around us faded into my ears as the asshole I dropped started dragging management over. And since Aly rushed off in a speechless panic, I picked my feet up and followed.
I tracked that round ass of hers through the dense crowd, up a flight of stairs and right back into the room where everything started. I watched her rip out her hair tie, thrust both hands in her hair and spin around wearing a look like she was ready to chew me the fuck out.
But within a second of our eyes being locked, tears sprang into hers, and before I knew it, her arms were wrapped around my neck, her body pressed against mine.
I didn’t question it.
I just grabbed her and held on tight, pushing her back as I crushed a kiss to her lips. Her mouth parted for my tongue as I lifted her onto the sink, standing between her open legs and squeezing her smooth thighs in my hands. I felt every part of me fall into place as I kissed her deeply, reclaiming those lips, that tongue and every inch of her that I’d been without for too goddamned long.
“Aly, I fucking missed you,” I groaned as she locked her legs around me. “What…” I didn’t know which question to ask first. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I breathed out in confusion, making her laugh weakly through tears.
“I needed to pay for the motel.”
“You’re living in a motel?” I pulled away to look her in the eye. “You’re working both here and at the restaurant, and you’re living in a motel? Are you fucking crazy?” I whispered, resting my forehead on hers.
“I had to.”
“For Christ’s sake, you could’ve just lived alone in my house. I told Evie to tell you.”
“I know, but…” She shook her had. “That would’ve been worse. I couldn’t be in there without you. There was just no way.”
“I know what you mean,” I murmured, closing my eyes and shaking my head at how fucking good my body felt near hers again. For the first time in a month, I felt like I was myself again – awake and alive with red blood pumping through my veins. “Baby.” I exhaled when the adrenaline rush finally settled enough to let me speak. “There’s no way in hell I can let you keep doing this. You know that, right? Working here. Living there. It’s not gonna work. I need you to come home to me.”
My heart beat faster because Aly said nothing, simply staring back at me as I held her face in my hands.
“I know it feels like I took another thing away from you. I know it feels like I stole all your achievements from the past three, four years – but you need to know that you did all this on your own. If it weren’t me, it would’ve been someone else investing in you because you’re fucking brilliant. You’re smart and you’re passionate, and before I found my business partner, I promise you I invested in more than a dozen restaurants that closed before a year because they didn’t have your drive. The money doesn’t matter, it’s the love that does. So fine, maybe I took interest in your company because of you, but Iain did it because he knew you were a smart and unique and – ”
“Oh God, just stop, Emmett,” Aly interrupted, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “Just save your breath. I’m already sold.”
“What?”
“I’m sold, Emmett. I thought I couldn’t live knowing what you did, but the truth is I can’t live without you,” she said, so breathless and bright-eyed I felt my heart coming to life. “I tried and I failed, and I know now, Emmett – I know that what you did was out of love because you’ve always loved me. And unlike me, you never stopped,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “Whether or not we wanted to admit it, we’ve been partners since day one. We knew each other inside out. We had each other’s back on those boring Sundays,” she laughed, running her thumb over my smile. “We understood each other’s lives like no one else did. We’ve always been a team. You just didn’t give up on me and I can’t hold that against you anymore. All the love and approval I spent my whole life chasing – I have that with you. I have everything I’ve ever wanted with you. It just keeps taking me too long to realize.”
I couldn’t hold back the massive grin spreading my lips as I soaked in her words.
“As long as you realize it now,” I murmured, feeling as if I were in some kind of incredible dream. The fact that we were in this familiar room didn’t help. It was like déjà vu, especially with the words she said next.
“Let’s go, Emmett. I want you to take me home.”
* * *
ALY
God, it’s good to be back.
The thought crossed my mind just as the car rolled up in front of Emmett’s house. I smiled to myself because a month later, I still looked at this house and thought the word home. And I would’ve gotten on myself for being presumptuous, but just as we stepped into the foyer, Emmett wrapped his arms around me from behind, kissing the top of my head as he said, “This is where you belong.”
And I had to agree.
As far as homes went, save for the motel, I’d stayed the shortest amount of time here. I’d spent seventeen years at my parents’ house in Brooklyn. I spent a summer at Aunt Carla’s, ten months in boarding school, and four years in the same dorm building during college. And in the six since graduation, I’d only had three leases.
I’d lived a lot of places, and all of them for much longer than I’d lived in this house in East Hampton.
But it was here that I finally found myself.
Where I’d made myself complete.
“You have work in eight hours. Should we go to sleep?” Emmett asked as we both drifted habitually into the kitchen. I made a long hmm sound as I gave his question some thought.
“I was thinking we could watch a movie to wind down.”
“Really,” he smirked, trailing me over toward the living room couch. “What kind are you thinking?”
“We could always finish the last one we started together,” I said, raking a grin between my teeth as Emmett took a seat and pulled me sideways onto his lap. I turned on the TV as I leaned into him, settling against his chest and exhaling in quiet relief as I felt that sense of warmth again. That unmistakable sense of home.
Emmett chuckled as he watched me go back to HBO and click on that awful movie we’d watched together a few months ago.
“If we watch this again, we should probably rewind a little so we remember what was happening.”
“Any scene you have in mind?” I giggled as Emmett slipped his hand under my shirt and kissed just under my jaw.
“I think you know.”
Epilogue
EMMETT
Two Years Later
I had dinner in the oven, Netflix cued up and my wife running late for our Thursday movie night.
“Six-thirty, yes, promise – I gotta go!” Aly exhaled all in one breath when I’d called her to check her ETA. Then without the usual “love you,” she hung up.
Which meant something was up.
That much I knew.
But I wasn’t going to badger her to tell me what it was. As mellow as we were in our married life at home, our lives outside our downtown apartment were hectic –Aly’s in particular. She was in the middle of finalizing her Manhattan location for the restaurant, which was set to be open year-round. She and Evie had been running around all month reliving the madness that was opening a brand new place, so I excused the fact that Aly was an hour-and-a-half late.
Though she did finally pique my concern when she rushed home, a blur of blonde hair and pink cheeks as she kissed me, said hi to Ozzy, then rushed upstairs for a shower.
“Baby. Everything okay?” I asked suspiciously, following her halfway up the stairs.
“No! Just start the movie without me. I’ll be downstairs soon and everything’s fine!” she said, making sure to flash me a bright smile that made me snort in her face.
“You realize you’re giving m
e no reason to believe you, right?” I called after her as she ran up to the bedroom. But once I heard the sound of her shutting the door, I turned around, exchanged a look with Ozzy and went to play some random show while I waited for her to come downstairs.
But just as I hit play, the screen flickered to black and suddenly, I was staring at YouTube video.
No fucking way.
My heart slammed when my eyes moved across the title of the video emblazoned across the bottom of the screen.
BEST WAYS TO SURPRISE YOUR HUSBAND THAT YOU’RE PREGNANT!
I took half a second to read the words before chucking the remote on the couch and storming for the bedroom.
But before I could get halfway up the stairs, I saw Aly laughing her ass off on the top step, her hands on her belly as she watched me clutch my heart with one hand and the railing with the other.
“Is this real?” I asked breathlessly, wishing I could help the giant grin on my face considering how serious this was. “Aly, you know you can’t mess with me about something like this.”
“I wasn’t messing with you the first time, and I’m not messing with you now,” she giggled, that rosy pink flushing to her cheeks as she watched me come up the stairs. “You’re gonna be more than Fun Uncle in eight months, Emmett Hoult. You’re going to be a daddy.”
“Aly.” There were tears in my eyes as I knelt on the step below her, letting her put my hand on her stomach. And from that touch alone, I saw everything.
I saw the night I’d found her for the second time at that club. I saw the way she looked at me the night Sara gave birth – when she held baby Luna in her arms. I saw all five feet and two inches of her perfection the day of our shoeless beach wedding in the Hamptons.
And I saw the life we had ahead of us – me, Aly and the newest addition to the ever-expanding Hoult family.
It was joy greater than any I’d ever felt before, because in this home, with this woman, I had everything I’d ever wanted. I had the love of my life, the mother of my child and the exception to my every rule. Through thick and thin, we’d been together, and yes, it had definitely taken us awhile to get to this point.
But that wasn’t what mattered.
What mattered was the fact that we were finally here.
The End
Thank you for reading Dirty Deeds!
For a bonus chapter from Emmett and Aly’s story, click here to join my mailing list!
To check out the rest of the Irresistible Series click below:
SWEET SPOT (IRRESISTIBLE BOOK 1)
BAD BOSS (IRRESISTIBLE BOOK 2)
Acknowledgments
Oh my goodness, hi. We’re here. At the end of Dirty Deeds. And I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading this book.
To the amazing readers and bloggers who make me want to do what I do, thank you for your love, excitement, hilarious GIFs and never-ending support. I couldn’t do it without you, and while this rings true with every book, it does more than frickin’ ever with this bad boy right here.
To Mandy, you saved my ass, girl.
To Kylie, Jeananna and Jo - what in the actual heck would I do without you?
Wendy, thank you for everything you do, and for how well you understand that little shitstain we call writer’s block.
And to Vivian: holy fuck. What a cover.
xoxox
Stella
Contact Stella
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Twitter: @stellarhys
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Also Available By Stella Rhys
IN TOO DEEP
TOO FAR GONE (IN TOO DEEP #2)
HAVOC
DAMAGE (HAVOC #2)
DARE ME
WRONG
EX GAMES
SWEET SPOT (IRRESISTIBLE BOOK 1)
BAD BOSS (IRRESISTIBLE BOOK 2)
Turn the page for a preview from BAD BOSS!
BAD BOSS
CHAPTER ONE
SARA
Holy shit.
I panted in the backseat of the cab, still running on the adrenaline of tonight’s potentially disastrous decision-making. It could be the biggest mistake of my life but fuck it, I’d done it.
I’d finally walked out.
I was supposed to be Stable Sara with Excel sheets for everything from her taxes to her groceries to her budget for next year’s Christmas gifts, but tonight I had officially reached my limit and quit the dream job I’d given my entire adult life to despite everyone imploring me to stay. But the company’s so famous, so iconic. You’ve put in so much time already. Why not stick around? Shouldn’t you consider yourself lucky to be there in the first place?”
I scrunched up my face as I freed myself from my blazer.
Yeah, no. Not so much.
If lucky meant nine years of chasing nonexistent promotions, being tricked into working thousands of overtime hours without the pay, getting thrown under the bus for anything the higher-ups did wrong, and spending the past three months on a piece that my editor had no intention of crediting me for – a fun fact I’d discovered just today – then sure, I was lucky. So lucky that I wound up permanently deleting all history of my research, contacts and writing, leaving the office in a blaze of glory that set my bosses back three months of hard work.
So… bridges?
All burned.
There was definitely no going back. And while it was exhilarating now, I knew that by morning, once reality set in, I’d be horrified. I’d worked with the company since I was eighteen. My office-centric life was all I knew. Being overworked was all I knew. In fact, I had no clue what to do with my time if I wasn’t strapped to a desk, and around 8AM tomorrow, I’d probably remember all that and have a very thorough meltdown.
So for now, I was going to ride the high.
"You said Lower East Side, miss?” the cabbie called back to confirm.
“Yes, Ludlow Street, right below Houston.”
Also known as the corner of Drink My Ass Off and Dance Till Four, I declared silently, yanking out my hair tie and shaking out my topknot.
I was in a rare mood.
I was feeling bold… liberated. Practically drunk off the thrill of having no responsibilities tomorrow. For the first time in my adult life, I had no one to report to, not a soul to be on call for, and I felt good about it, which was something I knew wouldn’t last, so… why not take advantage of tonight and do something crazy?
Well.
I bit my lip. I had answers for that.
A bevy of them that had to do with spur-of-the-moment decisions having deep and lasting consequences, and how I should really, really know that better than anyone else. But before I could get into that buzzkill with myself, a storm of texts pinged in my phone.
Perfect timing. I reached into my pocket, knowing without looking that the messages were all from my best friend.
LIA: Helloooo why must you text me and then disappear??
LIA: Wait so I don’t get it are you really going to make it tonight? How did you get out of work??
LIA: Did you finally duct tape your boss to her chair like I told you to
ME: Hi. I did… in a way. I’ll tell you when I get there. It’s a long story that you’re not going to believe and I’m going to require a drink first. Maybe three.
LIA: Yessssss story time so excited
LIA: Also Lukas knows the owners here so… open bar : )
ME: YESS. I’m 5 min away. Rooftop at the Victorian Hotel?
LIA: Yep rooftop terrace! Just give them Lukas’s name at the door. Should I have a drink ready for you?
ME: No but if you can find a hot guy who looks like he’d be killer in bed please grab him and tell him all about me
I was half-kidding but that didn’t stop the flurry of shocked emojis before Lia’s next message came in.
LIA: Whaaaaaaaaaat?
I snorted as I watched the ellipsis repeatedly drop off and return as my be
st friend tried to decide which of her many questions to ask first. I knew what she was thinking – when did I get the balls to have a one-night stand? Wasn’t I the chick who kept the same mild-mannered, borderline vanilla friend with benefits over the course of the past five years?
Yes. Yes, I was.
His name was Jeff and he was my copy editor at the magazine I just quit and figuratively set on fire. I chose him because he was already at the office and he was cute enough without being distractingly hot. He was pretty good without being great. He wasn’t strong enough to make me break much of a sweat during sex and show up to my next meeting disheveled – which sounded horrible, yes, but that was the point.
Jeff was just enough to satisfy my libido, but not enough to launch my hormones into crush mode. He got the job done so I could get my job done and finally earn myself a spot on the masthead like every one of my bosses kept promising I would. For that company, I’d adapted myself to an active but deeply mediocre sex life.
And all for nothing.
Those dicks, I scowled as Lia’s text finally came in.
LIA: HOLD ON I’M SO CONFUSED. WTF is happening can you tell me in one sentence please??
ME: FINE
ME: Basically I just snapped and quit June Magazine in a way that might get me blacklisted from publishing entirely so before I launch into disaster control tomorrow, I’m going to make up for all the years of bad sex I had for that company by finding the hottest guy at the bar tonight and having him do EVERYTHING to me.
Once I hit send, I let out a heavy whoosh of a breath. I didn’t realize it till a second after sending the text, but apparently my mind was made.