At Any Moment (Gaming The System Book 3) (22 page)

He frowned. “So like, what else does she have on her list?”

“Oh, I don’t know something about the Northern Lights and doing volunteer medical work and the Eiffel Tower.”

“The Eiffel Tower?”

“Yeah, you know, the one in France?”

He gave me a look. “As opposed to all the other Eiffel Towers out there.”

I shrugged and gave him a grin. I liked yanking Jordan’s chain sometimes. Someone had to do it.

“So like, she’s never been there? To France?”

“No. We hadn’t gotten around to that yet.”

“Yeah, I get it. Maybe soon, though?”

“When she’s better…definitely.”

“But if you wait til then, you might not be able to take advantage of the benefits from it. You said she’s been pretty down lately. What if you took her in a private plane?”

I hesitated. I knew that he had his epic trip to Paris planned. He’d been working on it since the fall. “What, are you going to let us hitch a ride on your chartered Leer?” I said. It was a little bit insulting. I could afford the extravagance far easier than he could.

“No,” he said, thoughtfully rubbing his goatee with a thumb. “No, I think you should just take the whole trip.”

I laughed. “Good one. You almost had me there for a minute.”

“I’m dead serious, Adam. Take it. Take her. All the plans are made. It’s a great trip.”

“I’m not going to take your trip.”

“It’s all planned. I’ve got the penthouse suite at the George V Hotel—the Four Seasons just off the Champs-Élysées. Even with all your money, you can’t get reservations like that at the last minute. Just take the goddamn trip. It will be good for her.”

I rubbed my jaw, studying him. He wasn’t bullshitting me and I was stunned. Especially because Jordan had never been supportive of my relationship with Emilia. Or maybe he just didn’t like her. I never knew exactly what it was. But his magnanimous offer now was nothing less than shocking.

“You haven’t been able to shut up about this trip for months,” I said. “I’m not going to take it from you.”

“I’m not giving it to you, idiot. I’m giving it to her.”

“Well, this is a bit surprising, I have to admit. I always got the impression that you didn’t like her.”

He shrugged. “I never had anything personal against her. I wasn’t her biggest fan when you were going through all that bullshit with her, but…she’s handled all of this with strength and grace and I admire her for it.”

I clenched my teeth. He didn’t know the half of what she’d been through, in truth. “It’s very generous of you, but—”

“Goddamn it, Adam. Just stop arguing and take her. It will do her some good. She’ll be able to cross another thing off her list.”

“Two things, actually. She wants to see the
Venus de Milo
, too. That’s in Paris.”

“Good. Surprise her, then. The trip is in two weeks. Do you think you’d be ready?”

I blinked. “I’ll call her doctor and ask.”

Jordan looked supremely satisfied with himself after that. So I let him do his good deed. We spent the next half an hour going over his itinerary and I made mental notes to modify it to suit our needs. I also made a note to make it up to him soon.

But for now I’d let him be the hero for the day. He seemed to be enjoying it.

I noted his secret smile when he hugged her goodbye. But it wasn’t nearly as amusing as Emilia’s shocked expression when he did it.

***

A few nights later we were sharing a quiet dinner at my house with my Uncle Peter and Mia’s mom, Kim. They had called, wanting to take us out, but Emilia had declined. She’d claimed she liked my chef’s food better than anything a restaurant could make. Considering her dietary restrictions, I couldn’t blame her, but I suspected it also had to do with her self-consciousness over looking like “something that been chewed up and spit out”—her words, which she refused to take back even when I gave her one of my stern looks.

Thinking it would be good for her to spend more time with her mom, I invited them over to our place instead. Nowadays we ate dairy-free, gluten-free, probiotic and organic. It sounded worse than it actually was. But I did miss cheese.

Fortunately my chef was amazingly brilliant and saw the restrictions as a challenge she was determined to overcome. So in spite of it all, the meals were good. Not my first choice, but if Emilia could go through all she went through with a minimum of complaint, then I could put up with weird food for her. I just made sure to eat whatever I wanted when I was at work.

I should have known something was up with Peter and Kim from their weird behavior. Peter, who is always quiet, was even quieter and Kim’s interactions with her daughter were stilted and a little strange.

So it was no surprise that over dessert and coffee, Emilia’s mother turned to her and took her hand over the table. “So, uh…we had something we wanted to tell you. Um.” She flicked a glance in my direction. “It might be a little weird for you two, though.”

Emilia and I shared a look and then she turned back to her mom expectantly.

“Peter and I have decided to get married.”

Emilia immediately shot out of her seat and went to her mom, taking her in a big hug and kissing her. “Mom, I’m so happy for you!”

Well…I was glad one of us was. I just felt like this was beyond bizarre. And I couldn’t put my finger on why. I watched Emilia’s overjoyed reaction. Apparently she wasn’t weirded out by this news? Maybe it was just me…

Because this would make Emilia the stepsister to Liam and Britt, my cousins.

Emilia was now hugging my Uncle Peter—her future stepfather. The thought of it was so surreal. I got up and hugged Kim and congratulated her. I hoped I was successful at hiding my reaction to their news. It had been coming, I supposed. I should have been preparing for it. They’d been dating for seven or eight months and getting along very well. And given both their pasts, they deserved some happiness.

“When’s the wedding?” Emilia asked.

“We’re not doing anything fancy. Just something for the family and close friends, like Heath. I’d love to do something on the beach. But we don’t have a date yet because…” Her voice died out when it shook with emotion.

Peter took her hand. “We’re waiting until Mia’s scan comes back negative. We’ll figure out everything out then.”

Kim let out a long breath and smiled at her daughter. Emilia hugged her again and reassured her that that would be soon. God, I hoped so.

Not too long after, we saw them to the door, hugged them and congratulated them again. I was envious of their uncomplicated happiness. But it wasn’t like they didn’t deserve it. Peter’s wife had left him when his kids were still young and he’d had to raise them—and then me, later on—by himself. Kim had had her heart broken at a very young age by a worthless cheater and hadn’t found someone to share her life with until now. I did wish them happiness, and I was certain I’d get over the ick factor, hopefully soon.

Once the door clicked closed and they were walking back across the island to their car, I turned back to Emilia, who was looking at me with a crooked smile on her face. I took a deep breath and smiled back.

She moved up to me somewhat slowly, awkwardly and put her arms around my neck. To avoid that always-tense moment with that question of “will we or won’t we kiss?” I kissed her forehead and she blew out a sigh. I didn’t trust myself to kiss her on the mouth again. Not after last time, when I’d almost been sucked into forgetting that we were still trying to take it slow.

“So, um….can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure. Anything,” I answered.

“Aren’t you a little…um….grossed out by that?” she said, making a face.

I exhaled in relief. “Totally.”

She shuddered for a minute. “Um. Like, are you and I going to be cousins now?”

I shook my head. “Let’s not talk about it.”

“It’s like…I had to jump out of that chair and hug her right away and not let myself think about it, but the whole time I was congratulating them, my brain was shouting, ‘No! Ewwww!’”

We laughed and went to watch TV. She sat snuggled next to me in my recliner, her head on my shoulder. She smelled so amazing that I got a little bit of a high from the scent of her skin. I rested my hand on her waist, willed it to stay put. Fortunately I was so exhausted, I didn’t have to remind myself too many times to keep my hands off of her.

Chapter Twenty-Five
Mia

Two weeks later, the night before Adam’s twenty-seventh birthday, he got a car and driver for our first romantic night out in months. I would have liked to have been with him on the night of his birthday but he cited an unavoidable event that would be taking him out of town for the next week. To be honest, I was nervous to be without him, but he gave me no details.

Strangely, we drove up to Los Angeles for dinner. We rarely ventured up into the City of Angels. Most residents of Orange County acted like they had a phobia of Los Angeles, which, I’ll admit, was kind of silly. But everyone claimed to have the best of Southern California in their backyard, so LA became a necessary evil for things like transportation or big shows or the museums that just didn’t quite cut it down south.

I dressed in a classic little black dress with a matching flapper-style hat, thanks to Sonia the shopper’s impeccable taste. Adam had threatened to take me out for dancing—presumably the tango—afterward, so I almost,
almost
donned a wig. I owned two—one of them with bright purple hair, much to Adam’s dismay—but had never worn them for more than five minutes in the house before pulling them off in frustration. It felt fake to wear one and I knew that was a silly feeling, but it was there nonetheless.

The dress was short, showing off my now too-skinny legs, and had a high neckline—a requirement of my clothing these days. I never showed any cleavage at all, nor anything that drew attention to my chest. I was only worthy of dressing like a granny now. My body was no longer something to show off, to be proud of. It was a secret shame to shroud under layers of clothing.

Adam was as gorgeous as ever, wearing a dark blue evening suit with matching tie against a crème-colored shirt. I loved when he wore dark colors. It suited him, with his glossy black hair and dark eyes. It added to his alluring mystique. I used to feel beautiful beside him, like we complemented each other. We’d turned heads and I knew we were an unusually good-looking couple. But now it felt wonky, uneven. Like a teeter-totter overly weighted on one side so that it couldn’t move. He was stunningly handsome and I was a faded, insignificant, too-thin and sick-looking hanger-on at his side. We no longer looked like we belonged together. Quite possibly because in reality we didn’t.

I tried to push those thoughts aside as we slipped into the Beverly Hills restaurant together. As usual, Adam attracted a lot of female notice, which he either was unaware of or completely ignored for my sake. We had a quiet meal at the back and I was proud that I was feeling so much better that I ate a normal amount of food and kept it down without one bit of nausea.

Someway, somehow, my body knew that it wasn’t going to get any more poison and it was bouncing back. Reduced white blood cell count or no, I was starting, more than ever, to feel somewhat normal. Except for my faded looks.

But no matter. I was feeling good and Adam was ridiculously yummy all dressed up for his night on the town. I was going to try again and put the moves on him. He couldn’t hold out forever.

“Is it dancing?” I asked, when he wouldn’t tell me what he had planned for after dinner.

“Nope.” His dark eyes twinkled with mischief in the low light.

“Is it something on my bucket list?”

He smiled, my favorite dimple appearing just below his mouth. Sometimes when he did that, it stole my breath. “It might be.”

“You’re annoying,” I said, folding my arms with mock irritation. “It’s your birthday.
I’m
the one who is supposed to be surprising
you
.”

“Well, you know…control freaks don’t take surprises very well.”

My smile faltered for a moment and there was a long pause before the waiter showed up and Adam made a point of telling him that we didn’t need to order dessert.

Then he turned back to me. “Don’t worry…this is something
I’m
going to enjoy, too. It will be your gift to me.” He winked.

My hopes were soaring high when we slipped back into the town car, especially when Adam hit the button to raise the partition between the driver and us. I’d never listed limo sex specifically on the now-infamous bucket list but maybe he’d decided to substitute that for the apparently awkward sixty-nine?

He bent to kiss me and my heartbeat raced. It was a light, affectionate kiss. It was playful and there was something in his eyes that corroborated that feeling. A spark, a twinkle. It wasn’t his usual look of passion or lust but I’d take it. I was beginning to regret that I’d worn panties under my dress but figured he’d resolve that situation easily enough with one of his famous panty-shredding maneuvers. My mouth went dry at the thought of it.

Then he reached into the seat pocket in front of him and pulled out a scrap of black silk.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” he replied. Turning in one quick move, he slipped it over my head. A blindfold.

Oh, so we were going to get kinky? I sat up straight.

“I’m getting excited now,” I said, reaching for him.

He pressed another long, lingering kiss on my mouth. “You should be,” he whispered darkly and I shivered with anticipation.

The thought of his hands, his mouth on me made my entire body come to life, flushing with heat. Limo sex. Hmmm. When I got home I’d quickly add this one to my bucket list and then just as merrily tick it off. The first time we’d be together in over four months. Oh yes, I was hotly anticipating it.

The next thing I knew, he slipped headphones on me. Big heavy ones. The kind that canceled out the noise outside. He lifted one of them and said, “I’m going to put some music on right now. No peeking until we get there.”

“Get where?”

He laughed. “Nice try.” The next thing I knew, I was being treated to the sounds of the eighties from Adam’s playlist. “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics.