Emily's Affair (18 page)

"You're a little demon when you're in Lee mode." Jake sucked in a breath as she moved against him. "And sweet Emily mode is going to destroy my sanity," he whispered.

Emily pulled herself up and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Let's go to the cooler."

Jake shook his head. "We're not ready, sweetheart." He struggled for another train of thought to quench the building tension in his loins. "Who is Adam?"

Emily clicked her tongue and cocked her head to the side. "My accountant who worries too much."

"Is Marilyn the only female who works for you?"

Emily tugged his face down to hers. "No. Marilyn was right about one thing."

"Right about what?"

"You're the possessive type."

Jake pulled back. "Is that good or bad?"

Her eyes clouded over. "I haven't decided, yet. Now kiss me, before the phone rings again and I have to switch back Lee mode."

When Jake knocked on Emily's door at eight o'clock Tuesday night, he did not expect her to open it dressed in a short, dark blue, silk robe. He'd imagined many possible ways she would look when she opened the door and gave him her patented take-me-big-boy smile, but this delightful surprise had not been one of them.

However, Jake admitted to himself as he stepped into her simple but classically decorated condo, reality is more often than not either ten times better or ten times worse than his imaginings.

This particular time it was a hundred fold better and could only get better by using his telekinetic powers to loosen the bow securing the robe. Jake concentrated on the bow and belatedly realized that he wasn't one of the X-Men, which therefore explained why his superhero powers didn't work.

He heaved a despondent doggy sigh.

Emily gazed at him with that hungry I'm-going-to-make-you-lose-control-this-time look and continued to talk business on the phone. "No, Stuart. The plans for the New York store are finalized. Didn't you get the fax I sent you with the design specifications? Yes. No, Stuart, I do not—"

She shook her head and motioned for him to have a seat. "No. I do not need to fly up to New York and supervise the layout. Do what? No," she drawled. "I am not joining you in the honeymoon suite. Stuart, why don't you take your dog with you. I'm sure she'd be interested in a room with a Jacuzzi in it. No, I—"

Jake took the phone from her hand and put it up to his ear.

Stuart rambled on and on about sex in the Jacuzzi and how good it would be with him and only him. He went on in further detail about his accolades as a lover.

Jake managed not to snicker, but he did roll his eyes. He sat down on the couch and pulled Emily down in his lap. "Kiss me, babe."

Emily pushed Jake down on the couch, then crawled all over him and kissed him senseless while Stuart rambled on.

God, he loved it when she was in sweet Emily mode. Sweet Emily was generous, giving, and perfect. Since agreeing to help with her fashion show, Jake had discovered that he didn't like it when she switched into Lee mode. And he knew he didn't want her to be in Lee mode when she was with him. It was damn hard to kiss a woman who was in barracuda mode.

And it was damn hard to stop kissing her when she was in sweet Emily mode. Even harder to stop with just one kiss.

But Emily wasn't ready. She was almost ready, but… there were a few things she didn't quite understand about where this relationship was headed.

Hell, Jake wasn't sure he even understood. But he had a pretty good idea and that was all he needed.

When she let him take a breath, Jake pulled the phone back to his ear. "Stuart, go hit on some other guy's woman." He turned off the phone and tossed it aside. "Hello, my sweet Emily. Who was that guy?"

"Hello, oh arrogant man o' mine." Damn, but he loved it when she called him that. "That guy was my lawyer."

"Figures." Jake fingered the hem of her robe. "What do you have on underneath this flimsy thing?"

"Do you like it?"

"Love it," he murmured against her throat. "What do you have on underneath it?"

Shamelessly and to his everlasting delight, she arched herself against him. "What would you do if I said nothing?"

He ran his hand up her leg to the middle of her thigh. "Make out my will."

Emily threaded her fingers through his hair and tugged his mouth up to hers. "And what would you do if I said just my underwear?"

Jake froze. "Underwear?"

"Yes."

"Is it cotton?"

"Does it matter?"

Jake shook his head. "Is it…?" He swallowed hard. "Cotton?"

"Yes."

His willpower snapped in two. "That does it." He reached for the phone and started dialing.

Emily wiggled and struggled to sit up. "What are you doing?"

"You can have dinner and talk business with the brood some other time. I'm taking you to bed. Now. Or the floor. I don't really think it'll matter much to me. It might to you. It's your call, sweetness. Floor or bed. The couch is pretty nice, too. A bit too short for me, but like I said it won't really matter that much to me."

"Jake, we promised that we'd—"

"We can be late. We can be there in time for dessert and still get the signatures on the contract. If you're still hungry afterwards, I'll buy you whatever you want." Jake finished dialing the number and waited. He drummed his fingers impatiently along her thigh. "Damn. Busy." He clicked the phone off, then on and hit re-dial.

Emily kissed his cheek, then rolled off him. "While you do that, I'm going to get dressed."

Jake nodded and continued to re-dial. "I'll keep trying. Once Bud gets off the phone, I'll tell them that we're going to be extremely late." He glanced up and realized he was talking to an empty room.

"Whew." Jake relaxed back against the couch. "Man o' man, that was close." Another minute or two and he would have gladly, gleefully, energetically, enthusiastically succumbed and most likely ruined his chances of getting more than a physical relationship from sweet Emily.

Jake'd forgotten he was still holding the phone when Alex answered at the other end, "The Brigade."

"Hey, Alex."

"Hey, Jake." A pause, then, "What do you need?"

"For someone to dunk me in an icy river."

Alex chuckled. "You've got it bad."

Jake grunted in confirmation.

"You're too honorable for your own good."

Jake grunted again.

"It's obvious she wants you."

"Change the subject for a little while, would ya? I can only take so much."

Alex laughed. "Want me to put Nicki on the line? He can tell you all about the subtle nuances of the vanilla bean."

Jake covered his eyes with his hand and smoothed it down over his face. "Are my parents there?"

"Yep. I offered Colonel Jed your job. He makes a mean Manhattan. Saint Lily said—it was more like an order—you were to be given time off to court Miss Emily. So she pushed Katie behind the bar and said, make me a daiquiri." Alex sounded highly amused. "Saint Lily is well on her way to being wasted."

Jake chuckled. "Did they tell you what happened on the cruise they took last year?"

"No, what?"

"My paragon of a mother was drunk and she did this number on the grand piano. She was sliding around on it like champ. The cruise line offered her a job. Colonel Jed made her decline."

"Feeling better?"

"Not really." Jake sighed and sat up. "Did you get in touch with your Uncle Billy Bob?"

"Uncle Billy Bob called a few minutes ago."

Jake nodded. "What did he have to say?"

"He gave me a quote and said that he could have the upstairs done by Friday as long as we keep the place closed during the day and let his boys come in for drinks at night."

"How was the quote?"

"Extremely fair." Alex cleared his throat. "Uh, Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you signed the contract with Emily, yet?"

"Not yet. She needs all three of us to sign it. Why?"

"Because Nicki wants to make sure he has full reign over the kitchen and… the catering staff."

Jake smiled. "Did I mention where the staff was coming from?"

"No."

"The Bluebell. Alex, if we do this right, The Brigade will get some great publicity."

"Yeah," Alex chimed. "Your girlfriend has the Midas touch."

Jake stared at the hallway where Emily had disappeared.
His girlfriend
. "Emily and I will be along in a little while with the contract."

"Sure thing. Take your time. It's pretty dead around here. Marilyn is out on the dance floor teaching Tabitha how to move with the groovin' or something like that. That lady has more than a few interesting moves." Alex paused. "Colonel Jed and Booker are in the corner sharing government secrets. They look pretty serious. Nick saved you two some dinner. We ate a while ago because your sister was hungry and you know Nicki can never say no to Katie."

"As long as Katie keeps saying no to Nicki, he'll live to see another day."

Alex laughed. "I'll remind him of that. Later, Jake."

"Later." Jake hung up the phone and got up. He walked to the balcony and leaned against the railing.

Girlfriend
.

His woman.

Emily.

She was right about him. Jake was, for the first time in his life, the possessive type. It was funny how it felt like he'd known Emily for more than a couple of days. Here it was Tuesday and almost two weeks since their first real encounter at the mailboxes.

Maybe things were moving too fast.

Maybe they weren't moving fast enough.

Jake sighed and ran a hand through his hair. What was he looking for? What did he want with Emily? Where did he expect himself to be in a month? Two months? A year? What did he expect out of life? What did Emily expect out of life? What did Emily expect from him? A commitment? A long-term relationship?

Too many questions and too few answers.

He should, if he were smart, let Nature take its course and not worry about tomorrow or the day after that. If he were as intelligent as he believed himself to be, Jake wouldn't get in over his head and do something as foolish as develop love-like feelings for sweet, delectable, innocent Emily. It wouldn't take much to fall for her. A few more dances. A couple of nights out under the stars. A glass of wine. Another kiss.

"Hell, who am I kidding," Jake muttered into the night air.