No Denying You (7 page)

Almost as if reading her thoughts, Brant looked over at the bedside clock and groaned. “I’ve got to get going. A car is supposed to pick me up downstairs in fifteen minutes.” They both stared at each other in silence for a moment. Normally, this would be the point where there would be a good-bye kiss or something after what they had just shared. She wondered if a fist bump would be acceptable.

She knew it was probably the coward’s way out, but she decided to let them off easy. She rolled off him and did a dramatic yawn before pulling the covers over her. “Have a good day, dear.” Brant remained where he was for a moment before she felt the bed dip as he stood. He had very little time left to do anything other than grab a quick shower and throw his clothes back on.

As he was leaving the room, she felt him pause next to her side of the bed. She kept her eyes carefully closed. “Emma . . .”

Damn, he wasn’t going to just go away, was he? She held her breath, part of her hoping he would go . . . another part of her wanting to see that he wanted to stay. “Hmmm?”

“I . . .” She tensed as he paused, seeming to struggle for his next words. Finally after what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds, he said, “Our
flight leaves at three. I’ll have the car swing by and pick you up on the way to the airport. I don’t think I’ll be back before then.” She nodded her head and held her breath.
Hopefully he’d leave it at that.
After another long pause, she finally heard the door open and close.

Once she was alone she sagged against the mattress in relief. The morning after had never felt so weird. The verdict was in, her uptight boss was a sex god. Her toes curled just thinking about what had happened between them. What a body all of those suits hid! Brant was ripped and seriously blessed in the equipment department. She would never admit it to him, but he had rocked her world.

He was confident, sensual and surprisingly accommodating. He had let her be on top when she had insisted, but she had little doubt who had actually held the power between them. She would have followed him off a cliff had he asked. The problem was, how did you handle having the best sex of your life knowing it should never happen again? Ever. Could she go back to her usual relationship with Brant knowing that just one look from him was likely to send her up in flames? She rubbed her jaw, still feeling the effects of her root canal. She wished she could blame her lack of judgment this morning on pain medication, but desire alone had clouded her mind.

Brant stepped inside the rental car gratefully and shut the door. After giving the driver the address of his destination, he settled back against the leather seat. Fuck,
what had just happened? Even after the explosive orgasm less than thirty minutes ago, he was still throbbing with desire. He had only himself to blame. He had been so furious with Emma this morning that it had taken only a few smart comments from her to push him over the edge of rational thinking. Once he felt her mouth against his, he lost all sense. It was like pouring gasoline on glowing embers.

He had admitted to himself more than once that Emma was a very attractive woman—and sure, he had admired her often in a more than professional capacity. But their battle of wills had always kept things from getting out of hand. He might be looking at her ass one minute and then wanting to choke her the next. It had always been all about checks and balances with them. Her attitude usually checked his desire and kept their relationship in some kind of twisted balance. Today, everything had worked just the opposite. He had completely lost control and there hadn’t been a damn thing he could do about it. As soon as he had touched her creamy skin, kissed and licked the rosy peaks of her breasts, it had been all over for him. Nothing short of her telling him to stop would have worked—and that hadn’t happened. They had both been completely swept up in the moment. It wasn’t until she was lying on top of him and some of the haze had cleared that he had started to panic. Immediately he had wanted to grab his clothes and run, something he never did. He wasn’t that kind of guy. It wasn’t even that he wanted to get away from Emma; it was exactly the opposite.

The question now was where to go from here. Was he capable of acting as if it had never happened? Did he even want to? He knew how it felt to be inside of her now; it was seared on his brain and would be hard to ignore. Damn, it had been the hottest experience he could ever remember having. Why did it have to be with someone he worked with? Hell, he could maybe handle that, but not with his assistant. It just felt so wrong to him. He had been half afraid that Emma would chop his cock off this morning when reality set in. Feeling no closer to an answer, he decided he would take his cues from her. If she didn’t mention what had happened, then he would follow her lead and not bring it up. Somehow, he would keep his hands off her, if that was truly what she wanted. If only they were heading back to the office today, things would be easier, but instead he was going to be pushed into even closer quarters with her and with her family. He could only hope that he didn’t look guilty and that her dad wasn’t a big man.

Emma gave a quiet sigh of relief as she followed Brant through the airport in Pensacola. After their awful airport experience in Miami, she was grateful there were no dogs in the vicinity. “Emma!” a familiar voice called out. Uh-oh, maybe her relief had come too soon. Her mother, dressed in formfitting jeans and a white V-neck T-shirt, was bearing down on them. Shit, she had told her that they would take a taxi. She should have known she couldn’t count on her mother to listen to anything she said.

Brant gave her a questioning look. She rolled her eyes. “You might want to go ahead and brace yourself; that’s my mom.” She barely had time to finish speaking before her mother launched herself into his arms. Emma couldn’t contain her chuckle at his deer-in-the-headlights look.

“Well, hello there, handsome!” Her mother finally peeled herself off of him long enough to say, “I’m Kat Davis; what’s your name, hon?”

Brant gave her a nervous smile. “Great to meet you, Kat. I’m Brant Stone.”

Her mother’s mouth seemed to drop to the floor before she blurted, “You’re the asshole that Em works with?”

Oh my God! Why hadn’t she thought of that? Of course she would have mentioned Brant by name to her mother when she was raging about him. The thought had never occurred to her that her mother would make the connection. On the plane ride into Pensacola, she and Brant had decided to say that they had been introduced by a mutual friend. That wasn’t technically a lie. The lady from Human Resources had introduced them when Emma was hired. Now that whole story was useless. As they stood there gaping at each other, her mother suddenly pulled Brant back into her arms, slapping him on the back while laughing hysterically. “I love it! I should have known all of that arguing was just some kind of foreplay between you two.”

“Mom,” she groaned. This was just getting worse and worse. She needed to shut her mother up before this escalated further. “It’s all kind of new between us, so we haven’t really told anyone yet.”

Her mother finally released Brant again and gave them both a wink. “Ahhh, gotcha. Well, come on, you two, let’s grab your bags and head home. Your father is firing up the grill tonight.”

“I think we both need to shower before dinner.
Could you drop us at our hotel first? They’re supposed to have our rental car there.”

Her mother gave a shake of her head. “No hotels, honey. You know that’s not how we roll. The house has plenty of room. I have your room already made up for you two. Your father and I are hip to how things are now. Robyn and Boston can’t wait to see you.”

She was scrambling to come up with an argument to get them out of the hell that her mother was proposing when Brant did something that completely floored her. He put an arm around her mother, saying, “That sounds wonderful, Kat. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the family.”

Emma shot him a look that would have felled a lesser man. He only smiled at her in return. “Right, honey? I know you want to spend as much time as possible with your family while we’re here.”

That was it. He had officially lost his freaking mind. Was he just trying to get to her for some reason or had he not thought this through? She had to wonder if he even understood that her mom was planning to put them both in a room together for several days. Her room was a good size, but it had a queen-size bed and that was it. Giving him an evil smile, she decided that if he could live with sleeping on the floor all weekend, then who was she to argue?

That’s right, honey. Game on.

She was more than a little pissed at him anyway. When he picked her up at the hotel, he had made no mention of what had happened between them that
morning. She kept waiting for him to broach the topic, but nada, nothing. It wasn’t as if she’d thought he would come back and declare his love, but come on, shouldn’t they at least talk about it? Was such an earth-shattering experience that easily dismissed for him? Not wanting him to see how much his actions were bothering her, she reverted to what she knew best: sarcasm. If he could act like nothing ever happened, then so could she. Just because he had given her the best orgasm of her life didn’t mean she had to lose her head. She could do casual one-nighters, right?

A few steps ahead of her, Brant continued to talk to her mother like they were old friends.

“Mom, we need to at least stop and pick up our rental car.”

“I’ve got that covered, too. Your father gave your old car a once-over and you can use it while you’re here. It will be good for the thing to get some use.” Just as Emma started to argue, it suddenly hit her. Yeah, Brant would be horrified by her old car. She could picture his muscular frame folding into her purple Mustang. Not that it thrilled her to drive it either. What was once a cool car back in high school was now considered a vintage Barney reject. Still, she could handle some embarrassment if it bothered Mr. Freshly Pressed even a little.

She smiled sweetly at Brant’s questioning look before turning back to her mother. “That’s a great idea. I’ll cancel our rental car.” Soon they were settled into her mother’s black Tahoe and she had insisted that Brant take the front seat. He could continue the bonding that
he had going on more easily from there. As they approached her childhood home of Pensacola Beach on the Santa Rosa Island, she felt the same old familiar pang. When her friend Madison had decided to attend college at the University of South Carolina, Emma had let her talk her into applying there as well. As luck would have it, they were both accepted and Emma had moved from her home in Florida to South Carolina. Her parents had not been thrilled, which had made her that much more determined to spread her wings. She had mostly lost touch with Madison after graduation. The last she heard, she was in Georgia. Her parents had urged her to move back home, but she enjoyed her independence too much and, quite frankly, long periods of time around her mother were exhausting. South Carolina kept her close to the ocean that she loved, but allowed her the much needed privacy that she had never had growing up with a loving but meddling mother.

When they pulled into the driveway, Emma smiled. The big two-story house looked the same as she remembered. It was comfortable and roomy with a full basement, three-car garage and an infinity pool out back. Some people took living on the coast for granted, but she had always felt like she was on an extended vacation. No matter how bad the day, a good swim in the ocean always made things better. Her father had actually built their house along with many others in the area. He was a highly sought-after builder who didn’t believe in constructing the same house twice. If you
asked for a house like your neighbor’s, he would refuse. Something had to be different. He said that no two people had the same personality, so why should two houses be identical?

It was obvious from the delicious aroma in the air that her father was already hard at work on the barbecue grill. Beside her, she saw Brant’s nose twitch in appreciation. “Come on, you two, let’s get you settled in before dinner. Brant, please tell me you aren’t one of those people who don’t eat meat.”

Brant gave his most charming smile. “You don’t have to worry about that, Kat. I’m a loyal carnivore.”

“Honey, I knew there was more to you than a hard body.” As Emma started to choke, her mother continued. “We’ll eat in an hour. Robyn and Boston and the girls should be here by then.”

With a trickle of unease, Emma asked, “The girls?”

As they all started upstairs, her mother looked over her shoulder to say, “My book club friends. It was my turn to host tonight so I just invited them over for dinner as well.”

Shit! This was starting to sound like some kind of three-ring circus. “I thought this was just a family dinner. Maybe you should have your club meeting later. I’m sure they don’t want to be stuck with us.”

“Nah, they’re looking forward to meeting you. I told them you finally had a boyfriend.”

Zing-g-g. How many embarrassing comments in front of Brant does that make so far?

“
God, Mom.”

As if she hadn’t spoken, her mother continued. “You two should sit in with us tonight. We finally read the
Fifty Shades of Grey
trilogy and it was smoking hot. I highly recommend that you both read it. It will change your world. Brant, do you own a gray tie?”

No-o-o-o, she didn’t just ask my boss that.
Emma knew well what her mother was talking about since she had read the series. Brant, however, looked adorably clueless. She almost laughed when he replied that he had several ties in that shade. The smile fell off her face, though, about thirty seconds later when Brant said: “I think we will sit in with you tonight, Kat. I really enjoy books that are informative and entertaining.”

He turned to give Emma a triumphant smile. So the little shit thought he was getting to her, did he? That was just priceless. He had no idea that he had just agreed to join her mother’s perverted book club while they discussed bondage, spankings and kinky sex. Had the man been living under a rock? How could he not have heard of that book? He looked a little uneasy when she gave him a big smile in return. “Baby, I think that’s a great idea. I’m always trying to get you to try new things. We need to break free of our chains and get tied up . . . er . . . caught up in something new.”

When they stopped in the doorway of her old room, her mother stood there beaming at both of them. “Oh, this is so exciting. It will be great to have some new blood.” Brant shot her a desperate look over her mother’s head. She shrugged her shoulders and walked into the room they would be sharing for the next few nights.
Other than the ragged brown bear in the center of the bed, nothing else stood out as embarrassing. The bed was covered in white eyelet, giving the room a clean, beachy look. There was a bay window dominating one wall with a window seat running the length of it. She had spent many hours sitting there reading while listening to the waves crash against the shore. Her desk sat against the wall in the other corner with an outdated desktop on it. No doubt it was capable of only dial-up Internet. Luckily, she had brought her laptop along.

Her bedroom had its own attached bath complete with double sinks. The thought of having to use the bathroom for anything other than showering with Brant so close was something that she preferred not to dwell on.

Her mother announced, “All right, I’m going to head back downstairs and get everything ready. I’ll see you both soon.”

As soon as her mother left the room, Emma collapsed on the bed behind her. Just picturing Brant sitting with the book club tonight sent her off into peals of uncontrollable giggles. The more he frowned at her, the harder she laughed. “For God’s sake,” he grumbled, “what is wrong with you?”

“Nothing . . .” she managed to gasp. He shook his head at her and walked over to look out the window. When she noticed the way the material of his pants stretched across his tight ass, her laughter dried up and her body started to hum.
What is wrong with me? He
couldn’t have made it any clearer that this morning meant nothing to him. Stop staring at the enemy’s ass!

She really tried to listen to her own pep talk, but he was so gorgeous. She’d always thought he was gorgeous, but now that she knew him intimately, it was proving hard to go back to snarky business as usual. She wanted nothing more than for him to lower his body on top of hers and pound her into next Sunday. Okay, maybe that was the wrong thing to wish for in her parents’ home, but still . . .

Brant settled back on the edge of the window seat, thankfully moving said nice ass from her view and asked, “So tell me about the rest of your family.”

She gave a grimace thinking of her siblings. Like most brothers and sisters, they spent their early years fighting over toys and most of their later ones ratting one another out to their parents. “Well, I’m the oldest.” She held her hand up when he opened his mouth. “Please reserve your comments on that. Anyway, Robyn is the middle child, and she is twenty-three years old and a hairstylist. Boston is the baby of the family and he’s twenty. He’s attending the University of Florida for a degree in botany. I secretly think it’s so he can learn to grow his own marijuana, but that’s a whole other story.”

Looking confused, Brant said, “Wait a minute. I thought Boston was the family dog or something. Who names their kid that?”

Emma shuddered. “Please, under no circumstances are you to ask my mother about it unless you want
some really graphic details. I’ll just say that my mother swears he was conceived there after a particularly great weekend. She felt like she needed a permanent reminder so . . . Boston. Thank God he was the only one who inspired that; otherwise, I would probably be named Tampa or Daytona.”

Brant started chuckling. “Man, I thought my family was nuts; yours is really something else. When she’s not scaring the hell out of me, I kind of like your mother. She’s a horrible driver, though. I’m afraid the indentations from the safety handles in the front seat are permanently etched in my hands.”

Smiling, she nodded in agreement. The tension in her body had slowly drained away during their conversation, and she felt better able to control the feelings that he aroused in her. She didn’t, however, think she should test that theory by staying in the room with him for extended periods of time other than to sleep. She reluctantly pulled herself from the bed, saying, “I’m going to shower and change before dinner.” Looking at the suit he still wore, she added, “You might want to find something a bit more . . . casual as well.” Did the man even have any casual clothing? He just gave her a nod in response, and she pulled her suitcase behind her into the bathroom. She could do this, right? It was only a few days.
Yeah, you slept with your boss on the very first day; what else could possibly happen?

Brant breathed a sigh of relief when the bathroom door closed behind Emma. Man, what a long day! He was
about ready to climb a wall. Spending time like this with her after what had happened that morning had been hell. The ache in his crotch was approaching near epic levels. No matter how many times he tried to tell himself that it didn’t mean anything and couldn’t happen again, his body didn’t seem to agree. Instead, he had walked around sweating bullets with a near constant hard-on. His usual control had deserted him and he was now more like a damn dog in heat. Hell, he was afraid he would be humping her leg soon enough.