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“Be sure, Emma,” he said breathlessly between kisses. “Be very sure about this.”
With her mouth traveling ravenously down his jaw and throat, Emma managed to say, “Believe me, Lucas, I’m one hundred percent sure.”
| | | | Chapter 7
They were well into the third movie when Lucas noticed Emma’s eyes were starting to close. She had reclined further on the sofa and somehow her feet were now in his lap and he was gently massaging them. When did that happen? She looked so relaxed and so comfortable that he hated to do anything to disturb her. Considering his options, he decided to just pretend that he hadn’t noticed that she was nearly asleep and put his focus back on the movie.
Emma, on the other hand, was doing her best to stay awake and wanted to purr with delight at the touch of Lucas’s hands on her. She was trying not to react, but his hands were truly magic. She snuggled down lower on the sofa and almost smiled when Lucas automatically shifted to accommodate her while never taking his hands from her feet. Sighing silently, Emma decided to give in to the urge to close her eyes and just enjoy the sensation.
She felt as if she had just closed her eyes when Lucas softly called her name. She wanted to open her eyes, she truly did, but she was so comfortable and her eyes just felt so heavy that all she could do was murmur his name quietly back to him.
His name on her lips washed over Lucas like silk and he bit back a groan. It was well after midnight and his legs were starting to cramp from sitting in the same position for so long. He had long since taken off the heating pad, but what he really needed to do right now was get up and move around. When Emma didn’t wake up, he carefully lifted her feet from his lap and shifted so that he could stand, then placed them gently back on the sofa. She sighed and curled onto her side and Lucas smiled. The woman slept like the dead. Waking her the night before to check for a concussion had been no small task.
He stood and watched her for a few moments and smiled as she hummed in her sleep. He tested his knee by taking a few hesitant steps, then lifted it to his chest several times for good measure. Yup, the ice and heat always did the trick. If only he could get to a point where it wouldn’t be necessary to use them at all. Ever.
Have the surgery.
That nagging little voice in his head told him daily to have the surgery, but Lucas always chose to ignore it. He knew what he was doing. What was the point of opening himself up to more invasive procedures when he’d never get back all that he lost? What could he possibly gain from putting himself through all of that again?
The freedom not to have to sit for hours on end alternating heat and ice while you’re in pain.
“Shut up,” he mumbled as he headed to the kitchen to get himself something to drink. It was too late for a beer, so he opted for some water, leaning against the countertop while he looked in the direction of the sofa.
Emma.
What was he supposed to do now? He hated to wake her but he’d feel like crap if he just covered her and left her on the couch while he took the bed.
It’s your bed…
“I know, I know,” he said softly out loud. Still the thought bothered him. He may live on his own and be a little rough around the edges, but he was still a gentleman. Flexing his leg again to be sure that he was okay, Lucas put his glass in the sink and headed back over to the couch and stared down at Emma.
“It’s not like I haven’t done this before,” he said with a sigh and reached down to scoop her up into his arms. She curled into him and Lucas felt her warm breath on his neck and groaned. He was a glutton for punishment.
It was one thing to carry Emma when she was unconscious and hurt, it was another to carry her to bed while she was all warm and sleepy and know that he wasn’t joining her in the bed. He thought of their kiss earlier and had to force his mind instantly into another direction. He had wanted her desperately right then and there, and if he were honest, he’d admit that he wanted her the same way right now.
But she was asleep.
“Lucas,” Emma whispered sleepily against his neck. She slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him through slumberous eyes. “What are you doing?”
Looking down at her sleepy face, Lucas couldn’t help but smile. “You fell asleep on the couch and I wanted you to be comfortable.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I tried,” he replied softly. “You’re not an easy woman to wake.”
Emma yawned and placed her head back on Lucas’s shoulder. “I would have been fine on the couch.”
“It’s not very comfortable.”
“You sleep there,” she reminded him.
“I’m used to it. I promised you the bed, so I’m just helping you get there.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he was standing next to the bed and lowering Emma on to it. She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and Lucas’s mouth went dry.
She cleared her throat and blinked. “Is the marathon over?”
Lucas chuckled. “I think it goes on well into tomorrow. You’ll have time to watch more of it then.”
“Are you going back out there to watch TV?”
He leaned forward and pulled the comforter over her, doing his best to hide the temptation. In yoga pants and a T-shirt, Emma shouldn’t have been so appealing, but she was. “Go to sleep, Emma. You can watch those movies anytime.”
“It’s not about the movies, Lucas,” she said. “I guess I’m asking if you’re going to go back to the living room or if you’re going to stay in here with me.” He could practically hear her heart beating nervously.
Lucas could only stare. There was no way he could answer her at the moment; not with the blood pounding in his ears. She was offering him exactly what he wanted, but there was a war waging within himself. The primitive male in him wanted to strip them both down and finish what they’d started earlier in the day. But the practical man in him, that annoying little voice, reminded him that she was his employee and that engaging in any type of physical relationship with her would not be wise.
He heard Emma sigh. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked.
“Emma, there is nothing that I want more than to climb in that bed beside you,” he said honestly, and felt weak at the relieved smile on her face. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Emma’s heart sank. She had been certain that Lucas was going to want to sleep with her. That’s what had made her able to ask him so boldly to join her. “Why not?”
“For starters, you’re injured.” Emma was about to tell him that was a lame excuse, but he cut her off before she could get the words out. “Secondly, you work for me.”
“I don’t work for you, Lucas. I work for your father. There’s a difference.”
“Not to me there isn’t,” he said firmly. “You’re an employee of Montgomerys and I’m one of the owners of Montgomerys. You may be my father’s assistant, but you still work for the company that I own.”
Emma pushed off the bed and stood toe-to-toe with him. “That’s rich, Lucas,” she spat. “You’re going to hide behind the company right now? Most of the time it practically takes a stick of dynamite to get you out of your cave here to remind you of the company, and now you’re using it as an excuse not to sleep with me? If you don’t want me, Lucas, then just say so. You don’t have to make up ridiculous excuses. That’s the coward’s way out.”
Lucas inhaled sharply at her words. “That’s the second time today you’ve called me that,” he warned in a low growl. “I don’t appreciate it.”
“Then don’t act like one. At least be man enough to be honest with me.” Her breathing was ragged. Emma knew she was provoking him and didn’t care. He’d been nothing but frustrating her for months and even more so since she’d arrived here yesterday. There was only so much she was willing to take.
“Dammit, Emma, I am being honest with you!” he yelled. “I’m trying to be the good guy here and you’re turning it into something it’s not!”
She heard his words; they just weren’t the ones she wanted to hear. “That doesn’t change my opinion,” she said as she crossed her arms and stood staring defiantly at him. “I wasn’t asking for some sort of long-term commitment—I wouldn’t dare. I was simply asking you for tonight. I thought it was the logical conclusion after the kiss we shared earlier.”
Lucas was dumbfounded. He wasn’t sure what exactly about her declaration ticked him off the most—the fact that she wouldn’t dare ask him for a commitment or the fact that she was being so flippant about the whole thing. He leaned toward her until they were nose to nose; his eyes bore into hers.
“There is not one thing logical about this whole situation, Emma,” he growled. “I wouldn’t think you to be the kind of woman who’d want a one-night stand with her boss.” He’d hoped to anger her, possibly discourage her. He certainly didn’t expect to encourage her.
“Then I guess you don’t know me very well,” was all Emma said as she reached out and wrapped her hand around the back of Lucas’s neck and pulled him toward her. As soon as her lips touched his she knew she’d won.
Lucas wrapped both arms around her and literally swept her off of her feet. “Be sure, Emma,” he said breathlessly between kisses. “Be very sure about this.”
With her mouth traveling ravenously down his jaw and throat, Emma managed to say, “Believe me, Lucas, I’m one hundred percent sure.”
It was all the encouragement he needed. Carefully lowering them both to the bed, Lucas was content just to keep kissing Emma. Her mouth was soft and wet and she tasted like heaven. The purring sounds she made as his hands began to wander were like hitting the launch button.
In an instant everything changed, as somehow Emma managed to reverse their positions and was on top of him. She lifted her head and smiled down at him, a slow, soft, sexy smile, and Lucas felt everything in him go hard. Without breaking eye contact, she lifted her T-shirt over her head. She smiled triumphantly at him as she sat there in a white lace bra and her yoga pants.
She was unleashing the beast in him, the one he hadn’t allowed to come out since before his injury. If he wasn’t careful, Lucas knew he could be too rough. He took a calming breath and waited to see what she was going to do next.
Lazily, Emma let her hands trail down Lucas’s chest to the hem of his T-shirt. Her hands found their way underneath the fabric, and as they traveled up, Lucas accommodated her by simply pulling it over his head. Bending forward, she trailed kisses from his belly back up to his throat until she made her way back to his mouth and settled in for a while.
When she finally lifted her head, her eyes were glazed and Lucas’s gaze was eating her up. He reached out and cupped her face in one of his large hands, running his thumb over her swollen lower lip. “I could lie here all night kissing you, Emma,” he said gruffly, “but I’d be lying if I said that was all I wanted to do.”
She smiled with womanly satisfaction. “What is it that you want to do, Lucas?” she whispered, and then let out a squeal of delight as he switched their positions again so she was on her back underneath him.
“I’m not really good with words, Emma,” he said with a wicked smile. “I’m more of a man of action.”
Emma found that she could easily live with that.
*** | | | |
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