Back to December (Ward Sisters Book 1) (9 page)

“Oh, I don't know, I think the pleasure was most definitely mine.” She kissed him again. The car rolled to a stop. “Just when I was hoping for a redo...”

“Yes, well, we'll have to wait until later for that. I'm glad I'm wearing my wool coat. I need something to cover me for the next couple minutes. So, before we go inside, this lunch was supposed to be with Andrew and we won't have any privacy. As much as I'm going to want to touch you, we have to keep this completely professional. Which means we're not hot for each other, we're just two people talking about museum business. Okay?”

“Got it. Don't project my lust,” she teased.

“Stop talking like that or else I'm going to be very embarrassed when I have to hand my coat to the attendant.” He kissed her quickly. “I'm glad you don't wear a ton of makeup. You still look flawless, even though I did my best to mess up your hair and face. You'll get out first. Mo will walk you inside. I'll be a couple minutes behind you.”

“Where's Liam?”

“Probably eating lunch somewhere near the museum. He gets a couple free hours paid while you're with me, since Rick is here. He'll be at the office when you get back and he'll make sure you get back to the hotel.”

Rob knocked on the divider.

Seconds later, Mo opened the limo door and Emily stepped out, glad she was wearing pants because there were a
ton
of photographers. Mo put his hand lightly on her back and guided her to the door of the restaurant. He stepped inside with her and whispered in her ear, “Just tell the Maître d' you're meeting Mr. Deacon. He'll seat you. Rob will be here in a few minutes.” He turned around and walked back out to the limo, getting in the driver's side. The car pulled away from the curb.

Em did as she was instructed. Her coat was taken and she was seated at a table in full view of the entire restaurant. Rob hadn't been kidding when he said there would be no privacy.

She sat waiting for Rob to arrive, trying to ignore her nerves. Which made no sense, given that he had seen her naked that morning. Why should she be nervous about
this
when she had no trouble letting him take off all her clothes? She bit her lip. She had to stop thinking about that or else she'd want to touch him at lunch.

Just then, he arrived.

“Miss Ward, so nice of you to join me,” he said as he sat down. “I trust things are going well with the gala plans?”

Emily confirmed that things were going very well and proceeded to tell him about the work she had done that morning. A lot of it was glamourized party planning, but there were a few items that utilized her skills.

The waiter took their order. She let Rob order for her, since she had no idea what was good and it seemed like a waste to examine the menu when she hoped for a lot more alone time with him before their lunch was through.

Once the waiter brought their drinks, Rob spoke quietly, so that only she could hear him, with his hand slightly covering his mouth.

“You might want to stop thinking about this morning while we're here unless you want people to know. It was all over your face when I got to the table.” He smirked.

“Keep smiling at me like that,” she said quietly, with a fake smile plastered to her face, “and I won't be able to stop thinking about it.” She pretended to laugh. Then, louder, “I'm sure there's plenty more we need to discuss. What was on your agenda for lunch?”

They got back into the swing of discussing the gala, the opening, the interviews. It helped her forget, for a bit, that this wasn't just a business lunch. That it was, in some ways, a real lunch date.

Soon their food arrived and, as delicious as it all was, she had a hard time forgetting the secondary part of this situation. Because, first and foremost, she was eating lunch with a museum patron as part of her job. But in the back of her mind was the fact that this man across from her was doing things to her she couldn't explain. It was impossible not to think about him, and she barely knew him. Emily's brain processed a jumble of emotions.

“You're doing it again,” Rob said through his hand.

“I can't help it,” she said under her breath. “When can we get out of here?”

Rob gestured for the waiter. “We're done here. Can you see that Miss Ward gets to her car? I've got a phone call to make.” He smiled at her. “Thank you, Miss Ward. It was great to meet you. I'm sure I'll see you at the gala and the opening.”

He shook her hand and squeezed it, ever so slightly.

A jolt of need shot through her and she struggled for composure. “It was nice to meet you, too, Mr. Deacon. Thank you for lunch.”

The waiter escorted her back to the lobby, where her coat was retrieved. Moments later, Mo opened the restaurant door and helped her into the limo. The door closed and he got in front. The divider lowered and Rick sat alongside Mo.

“We'll drive around the block and pick up Rob. Sit over here so that no one can see you when I open the door.”

She moved closer to where he was sitting. “Why all the cloak and dagger? Is this because of the video?”

“In part. Rob likes to keep his business deals separate from his personal life if he can. It's not that those people don't read the rags or hear the gossip, but they pretend they don't. He keeps up the pretense that he's just a regular businessman with that crowd and they all do the same. That's why you went to Park on First. It's the place for power lunches. Most of the people in there probably haven't seen the video yet, it's not real news to them, but by the time the gala happens and you walk in on his arm, they'll all know something. Better to let them all assume that you hit it off at lunch, even if there's video that says otherwise. No one really cares. It's just politics.”

Emily was dumbfounded. “How do you all stand it? This is crazy.”

“You get used to it after a while. It becomes the new normal. And then we spend time as a family and we forget about all the stupid stuff. We'll be back at the restaurant in a second. I'm going to put up the divider. Just stay on this side, okay?”

Em nodded.

Moments later, Rob slid into the seat across from her. He smiled and she melted. That grin got her every single time.

After a minute or so, when they were in traffic and away from the throng of photographers, he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap for a kiss.

“Hi,” he breathed. “I don't know if I could have sat there one minute longer without kissing you.”

“Well, you don't have to wait any longer. Are you going to tell me where we're going?”

“Nope. It's a surprise. But I will tell you it's going to take at least fifteen minutes to get there. What do you think we could do in those fifteen minutes?” His eyes said that he needed longer than that to do what he really wanted, but he'd settle for less.

She kissed him. Just the
idea
of touching him again had her excited. It was so foreign to Old Emily that the spark still shocked her each time. But then her inner harlot gained control and it all seemed so natural.

“I think we can find something to occupy our time,” she said. She straddled him and pressed her pelvis toward his own. He groaned and began to unbutton her shirt as he devoured her mouth. When her shirt was open, he lifted her breast out of her camisole and sucked on it. She let her head fall back in pleasure, arching her back and pushing her center toward the erection she knew looked as impressive as it felt.

She had an overwhelming desire to take him in her mouth, to give him some pleasure, since he had made hers so delectable that morning. Which in itself was a shock, since she had rarely done that for Josh.
Don't think too hard
, the harlot said.
Just
do
it.

Emily pushed away, much as she was loath to stop him from tasting her breasts, and she leaned him back onto the seat. She undid his belt and his pants as he stared at her with her breasts hanging out. He teased her nipples and she shook her head. “It's your turn,” she said, as she pulled out his member and took him in her mouth.

He was big. That was the first thing she noted. She hadn't done this often for Josh, and she never thought of Josh as being too small, but Rob was bigger. Noticeably bigger. It was all she could do to fit half of him in her mouth before it was hitting the back of her throat. He was running his fingers through her hair, guiding her along. He arched his hips toward her and moaned.
So sexy
.

“Emily, if you don't...want a...mouthful...you should...stop,” Rob warned.

But she couldn't stop, despite the fact that she had
never
wanted to do this for Josh. She felt him tense, knew it was coming soon, and could hear him muffle his groans as the rush of warm fluid shot into her mouth. Instinctively, she swallowed until it subsided, then licked the tip and he shuddered.

He lay there, panting, for a couple of minutes as she adjusted her breasts back in her shirt and began to button it.

“Holy mother of God,” he said. “Your ex is an idiot if he let you walk away.” He adjusted himself back into his boxers and refastened his pants.

She huffed a laugh. “He didn't let me go until he saw a video of me kissing you. Besides, I didn't do that for him.” She averted her eyes, embarrassed.

Rob turned her face back toward him. “You never...?”

She blushed. “Not often, and I
never
swallowed.”

“Really?” She shook her head. “You...you didn't have to do it for me, either, you know.”

“I wanted to do it for you,” she whispered.

“Really,” he breathed. She nodded and swallowed hard. “I don't think thank you is enough, then.”

He kissed her again. “You are...you are just...I don't know. I cannot believe,” he swallowed and shook his head. “I just...I don't even know what to say.”

She must have looked confused, because he said, “No. I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm just...I am
falling
for you, Emily. So,
so
hard. I don't think I've ever felt like this.”

Her heart skipped a beat at the admission that he was falling for her.
Bad heart.
“I bet you say that to all the girls who blow your mind.”

“I've never had a girl blow my mind before. Not until you.”

It was her turn to be shocked. “You mean that?”

“More than you can know. I have felt a...connection to you, since the moment you yelled at me for bumping into you outside the toy store. And the longer I know you, the more intense it gets. To have this chemistry with you on top of all that, it's almost too much. I want to touch you every chance I get. It was killing me to sit across from you at lunch and not touch you.”

Emily was relieved. “So, it's not just me, then?”

“No. It is most definitely not just you.” He kissed her and the car rolled to a stop. They had been so engrossed in what they were discussing that she hadn't even noticed where they were going. “We're here.”

Where is here?
It looked like they were at an old, restored house in a wooded area. Which could have been creepy if she didn't, for some unknown reason, trust this man with her life. Surely, her confusion showed on her face.

“Okay. I'm stumped. I'm not exactly up on my Minnesota geography and history.”

Rob laughed. “This is my house.”

“
Your
house? If you have a house this close to the city, why are you staying at the hotel?”

“I stay there when I've got a lot of business in town. This is where I live when I'm not in L.A. or on location. I'll come here in a couple of days for the holidays. What do you think about coming with me?”

Emily was floored. She had just met him yesterday, and already he was asking her to spend the holidays with him. In any other situation, she would have balked. But before she could think to say otherwise, she heard herself saying, “Yes.”

His smile, always big and bright, turned megawatt. “You mean it?” She nodded. For some reason she couldn't explain, she did mean it. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't imagine being away from him for the holidays.

Except.

“Oh. Except, I was supposed to stay with my college roommate, Angie, for Christmas. She lives down near Rochester. The toys were for her boys. I'm sorry, Rob. I don't want to bail on her at the last minute when she planned for me to be part of her family celebrations. I called her just the other day to arrange it. She'll be mad if I flake on her.”

He looked disappointed, but he was more than understanding. “It's okay. I get it. I didn't even think about the possibility that you already had plans.” He brushed the hair from her face. “Maybe I can still see you at some point?”

“Yes. Absolutely. I will
make
time to see you, I promise. Why don't you show me around before we have to head back to the museum?”

He nodded and they put themselves back together, then got out of the car. Rick put his window down. “I'll be back in 20 minutes. I told Kelly I'd let Brutus out while we're here.” Rob nodded, grabbed Emily's hand and led her toward the house.

“Who's Brutus? And who's Kelly?” she asked as he unlocked the door of the house using his phone and a key.

“Kelly is Rick's wife. He lives next door. You can't see his house from here, but it's that way about a quarter mile,” he pointed toward the left side of the house. “Brutus is their new puppy. Kelly has been training him, but she's got a meeting at the school and Rick told her he'd let the dog out while we were here.”

“He knew we were coming here? When?”

“He knows my schedule better than I do, but I told him this morning that I wanted to show you the house. He called Kelly and told her he could take dog duty.” He used his phone again and turned on lights, then led her toward the back of the house.

“What would she have done if I said no?”

“Oh, I'd have sent him home, anyway. I could have spent some time at the hotel and if I'm just sitting there, he doesn't need to hang out with me. I was hoping you'd say yes to coming here.”

They arrived in the great room. He took a remote from a shelf and tapped the touch screen. Suddenly, the blinds she hadn't noticed along the wall were opening and the room brightened. The windows exposed a spectacular view of a snow-covered lake.

“Wow. That's just beautiful,” she said reverently. “Do you live here alone?”

“Sort of.” Rob explained that the house was part of a 200-acre property which had been subdivided into 2-acre lots. He bought the failed project in foreclosure to create an estate for himself. That blew Emily's mind.

When Rick and Kelly's family grew too large for their old house, he had one built for them. That was when baby number four was on the way. They now had five children and the youngest was four years old. Rick, Emily knew, was Rob's primary bodyguard, but as they moved through the lower rooms, Rob explained that he also ran the team of guards who protected Rob and his family.

Kelly worked from home managing Deacon Security, the company Rick originally began to handle Rob's security. While Rick handled all the final hiring decisions and was officially CEO, Kelly, along with a staff housed in their Minneapolis headquarters, dealt with the day-to-day operations.

On the days Kelly and Rick were both away from home, Rob's mom handled childcare duties for all seven of her grandchildren. When Rob's parents retired, he had a house built for them. Theirs was located on the other side of Rick so that they could be close to their grandkids.

Rob's sister, Amy, and her husband, Raoul, lived to the right of Rob's house with their two boys. Amy ran his publicity and was his manager, and Raoul ran Rob's finances. They shared office space with Deacon Security in the city. When she married Raoul, an international banker she'd dated on exchange in college she'd been in marketing in London. They relocated to Minnesota before their oldest was born, which happened to coincide with Rob's need for a new publicist and a financial adviser who could handle investments anywhere.

“All in the family huh?” Emily said, surprised at how many of Rob's family members were an integral part of his career.

“It's better that way, trust me. This business is full of people who want a piece of you and don't care what that might cost.”

They slowly walked through the house, and she admired all the period details as Rob spoke of his family. Crown molding, chair rails, mop boards, built-in shelves. There were lots of real Oriental rugs and antiques. “Who's your decorator? They did a great job.”

“That would be my mother. She loves to drag me all over the countryside to estate sales and antique shops when I'm home. Don't get me wrong. I love what she's done and I like spending time with her, but she's a little obsessed.”

“I wish my mother was obsessed with antiques. It's better than obsessed with marrying off her daughters.”

“What, like
Pride and Prejudice
?”

“Oh, Mrs. Bennett has nothing on my mother. She wasn't impressed when she heard I had slept with you. She thinks you're a
Lothario
. That instantly makes you non-marriage material. To her, you're a Mr. Wickham.”

He laughed. “Ah, but I'm really more of a Mr. Darcy.”

Oh, and then some
, she thought. “Yes, you are. Not that I care what they all think anymore. I'm surprised that you know
Pride and Prejudice
so well.”

“I read for an adaptation of it once. When I'm reading for those roles, I like to read the source material so I understand the character from the author's perspective.”

“So, do you like to read? In general?”

“I can't imagine acting if I didn't. I spend a lot of my free time reading scripts even when I'm not learning lines. I don't get nearly enough time to read for fun, though. I've read one or two novels recently that I'm hoping to pursue for production, but I haven't read anything just for the sake of reading in years.”

“I love books. I love them more than art, actually. But I didn't have much interest in publishing, and that's probably the best route if you pursue a career related to books. Either that or being a librarian, and I'm far too interested in the world at large to hide in a library every day.”

“What about writing?”

“That's basically where I'm at. I copy edit right now, but the goal of this trip, for me, is to convince my boss, Marcus, that I'm features material. I did my graduate work in Fluxus. This is a tailor-made opportunity for me. Speaking of which,” she looked at her watch, “I should probably head back. There is a ton to do before Christmas, since the gala is on New Year's Eve.”

He used the remote to close the blinds in the living room, shut off the lights and lock the house. It was weirdly high-tech. The car was waiting when they walked outside.

“Thank you. For coming here with me.”

“Thank you for wanting me to come here with you.”

He smiled and opened the car door for her. She got inside and made room for him. Almost as soon as he shut the door, the car began to move. He pulled her to his side and put his arm around her. She sat there with her head on his shoulder, looking out the window. They traveled down a very empty road with a side road here or there. At the end of the road, there was a gate that opened. “Is this your driveway?” she asked, astonished.

“It's the development entrance. There were supposed to be one hundred lots, but we've only put houses on three of them, plus the lot that's mine. The rest of the lots are either owned by the adjacent homeowner – meaning the family member whose house is next to it – or me. I think it shook out that my parents, Rick and Amy each have about 20 acres and I have the rest.”

“Meaning?”

“It translates to about 140 acres that are mine.”

“Why don't you develop the rest?”

“Privacy. Plus, it keeps all that land preserved in trust. We hunt and fish out here and Rick takes the kids on ATVs. That's not really my thing. I'd rather sit on a beach or my boat. But they drive all through my land. They've got a pretty good network of trails. I like hiking them sometimes. I snowshoe them in winter if I can.”

“So you like the great outdoors?”

“I do. I also like a good museum and a white sand beach with a drink in one hand and a pretty girl on my lap. Preferably a private beach.” He touched his nose to hers. “You said Josh didn't do much unless it involved nature?”

“Not with me. I don't hate nature, I just wanted a better balance.” She explained how Josh's family spent their summers in a rustic cabin in the woods. “It was too much for me. I like running water and toilets that flush. And I like the idea of occasionally going to the art walk in Portland, or seeing a concert or a play. Or even going dancing. But all he ever wanted to do was hike and bike and kayak or hunt and fish and ride his ATV. I spent a lot of the last five years acting like a single person. It was just in the last year that I realized it. He tried to do more of my stuff, but he hated it.”

“So, if I ask you to go snowshoeing, you'll say...?”

“Yes. For you, I'd say yes because I know you like more than just nature. But I like snowshoeing. It was one of the few things Josh did that I really enjoyed. Did you want me to go with you?”

“Will you? Maybe the day after Christmas?”

“It's a date. Looks like we're back at the museum. I'll call you when I'm done later. Still want to wait for me to get out so we can have dinner together?”

“How about you come to my suite when you're done and we'll order room service. The hotel has great food, as you know, and that way, we can avoid the shutterbugs for a bit, have some time to ourselves. Is that okay?”

“It sounds perfect. As long as it's not because you're embarrassed to be seen with me.”
God, she hoped not...

“Never. I just thought you might like a break from the hounds of hell. They're relentless, and you don't need more grief from your family right now. As it is, the pictures from lunch will make their rounds. It was innocent, but all the rags that ran with the video this morning will jump on it. I don't think we gave them any ammunition, but you never know.”

He brushed his lips against hers. “Liam will be at the door. I'll see you later.” Rob's lips lifted a little at the corners in that kissable smirk, the one that seemed to be for only her.

“I'm looking forward to it,” she said. And she was. She could hardly wait to see him later.

As promised, Liam waited for her at the door. Emily thought,
Overkill
, until she saw the mob of photographers outside the museum entrance as they walked through the lobby.

She looked at Liam. “They can't all be here for me?”

He shrugged. “Rob hasn't had a girlfriend in over three years. To them, you're news.”

“But I'm not...” she began.

“They don't care who you really are to him, Miss Ward. It's all about appearances.”

“Please, Liam, call me Emily. If we're stuck with each other, there isn't any point in being so formal.” They arrived at her office and he nodded.

“Okay, then, Emily. I'll be in the conference room if you need me. What time do you expect to be done today?”

“I'm not sure, but I suspect not before 8 p.m. Is there anything you need until then?”

He laughed. He had a nice smile that made his eyes dance. Maybe he wasn't quite so unremarkable.

“I've got my iPhone and Becky takes good care of me. When you're ready, just come get me or send Becky.” She nodded and he headed down the hall.

What had she gotten herself into?