Chapter 28
848 Words
Dean was mostly quiet as Emma and the guys talked. He was wild with needing to get her back to his place; he wanted to be buried deep inside that curvy little body. He watched her with his friends, saw how she gave them her full attention when they talked to her, as she always did.
With Emma, he always got the feeling that she saw and heard far more than a person meant to show or say. Those blue eyes just looked past the skin, somehow, went deeper. But it wasn’t off-putting or invasive; it just felt like she was connected to you. He knew the guys liked it, too. Even Jim, one of the most suspicious and defensive men Dean had ever known, dropped his guard around Emma and talked easily.
After an hour, Chris got to his feet. “OK, guys. I’m off. Early shift tomorrow.”
“Yeah, me too.” Jim stretched. “I’ve got an extra shift in the morning.”
“Oh, yeah?” Emma said, her eyes dancing. “Why is that?”
“Covering for the boss.” Jim looked innocent. “Seems he needs the morning off tomorrow.”
“Huh.” Emma contemplated that. “I wonder why that is.”
“Said he had something to do… didn’t go into details, though.”
“Alright, everyone hush up,” Dean growled. “Let’s go, baby.”
She stood up and gave the guys hugs goodnight. Dallas looked troubled when he hugged Emma, and he held her for a few seconds longer than usual.
“You take care, darlin’.”
“Always, Dallas. Goodnight.”
Dean took her hand and helped her down the stairs. When they got to his place, she sighed. She had come to really like it here; it was comfortable and familiar, and she felt all her stress just drain away the second she walked in the door.
An escape, for damn sure.
“Come here, angel.” He held his arms open and she walked right into them. “You OK?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think? Shower and bed?”
“Sounds great.” Despite her exhaustion, her body was warming up under his hands. His hands were stroking life into her tired, tense muscles and she felt a burst of energy that surprised her.
He lifted her chin and kissed her, a gentle kiss. His lust was still boiling away, but it was overshadowed by his worry for her. “You OK to be with me tonight, honey? You look like you need a sleep.”
“I’m more than OK to be with you tonight. Can we take it easy at first, though?”
“Yeah.” He stroked her hair. “We’ll take it slow.”
****
The next morning at 6:05, Dean and Dallas were both on their front porches holding a cup of coffee. They nodded their good mornings, then Dallas decided to broach the subject of Emma.
“You know, man,” Dallas said. “I’m a big fan of Olivia Jameson’s sweet ass, but I’m starting to think that she must actually be a grade-A b***h. I mean, the way she’s working Emma is nothing short of slave labor. Does the woman even get any sleep when she’s traveling with Olivia?”
Dean shook his head. “She doesn’t seem to. I’ve asked her, and she won’t say one word about it. All she ever tells me is that it was busy and she barely ate or slept.” He sighed. “She always comes back looking wiped out. I know she’s anemic, and so she really goes downhill fast when she doesn’t take care of herself.”
“She’s anemic?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. Well, that actually explains a lot.” Dallas took a sip of coffee. “But she still deserves better from her employer.”
“It’s not my business,” Dean said. “It’s not my place to say one word about it. We don’t have that kind of thing.”
Dallas huffed impatiently. “Seriously? Come on, man. You know that what you two have going on is not just sex.”
“But it is.”
“Bullshit.”
“I don’t even have her phone number.”
That gave Dallas pause. “What? Really?”
“Yeah. And she hasn’t got mine. We set up a day and time for her to come over and we get into bed. The end.”
Dallas looked over at Dean and wondered just how much longer his friend was going to keep up this charade. To be fair, though, Emma was equally pig-headed: she refused to share anything much from her life with Dean, refused to stay more than one night at a time, refused to even tell him her last name. They were both sticking rigidly to the letter of the law in terms of their agreement, but they totally failed to see that they were breaking its spirit every second they were together.
- Writer
