Chapter 289

Fuck.

“Who do you think was at the root of that?” He raised an eyebrow toward Daniel accusingly, not that it
was fair, he had never forced him into all that just helped it along. He pulled Emma along by the hand
and toward the stair to the lower deck trying to get her away from this quickly. The music was louder
now and Miracle, already lying naked on a lounger, had started to touch herself. The girl seriously had
no shame, and it made Jake grimace. Why he’d ever thought that lifestyle was better than this was
beyond him. Looking at Emma he knew he would never go back to that shit even if he never got with
her.

“So, you liked it then?” she asked looking back once more as Marissa got up and began a slow strip
tease, her eyes following them. Jake ignored her and shrugged. Putting an arm around Emma to guide
her and hold her up on those Bambi drunk legs of hers.

“I was young, it’s just sex. I was pretty much partying and pissing my dad off at every turn.” He tried to
play it off casually, wishing he had never let her know what was going on and just whisked her off
quickly. She was too inquisitive when drunk and this was not putting him in a good light at all. She
stumbled on the carpeted floor and he righted her, pulling her close protectively. He could feel the
effects of the alcohol more now that he was upright and the relaxed feeling moving over him fast. At
least it was quelling his nerves.

“You don’t do group sex anymore?” She hiccupped, still chasing this goddamn infernal subject and he
could only frown and sigh internally.

Jesus, Emma. Are you trying to ruin my chances with this?

He smiled at her in complete frustration with her line of questioning, looking skywards for a little help.
She was like a dog with a bone on this and it was killing him.



“I like your smile.” She smiled, obviously instantly distracted in her drunken haze.

“No, I don’t, and I like that you like my smile, shorty.” He stopped and pushed her against the wall to
steady her as he pulled his phone from his pocket as soon as he felt it vibrate, he swiped the screen
seeing Daniel’s text on the front and had to hide a visual reaction.

Fuck her hard so she never wants to go back to being mates … Good luck!

He wanted to kill him about now, swiping the screen closed and shoving it back in his pocket.

“I like when you laugh like that.” He glanced up at her trying like hell to stop visualizing fucking her now,
thanks to Hunter, and trying instead to focus on her sweet girly giggling instead.

Focus on her sweetness, not her cleavage, not her mouth, Carrero.

“Like what?” she asked innocently, still unable to stop grinning. He regarded her for a second then
realized he had pretty much pinned her to the wall so every inch of her was against every inch of him,
the hardness growing down between them in his pants was becoming a little too prominent and he
shifted away.

“Unguarded … I like drunk Emma.” He pulled her off the wall and lead her to her room, he would take
her there and give her one last attempt at turning him down before he would make a move. As long as
all the signs were the same as the last hour then he was going to kiss her. More if she wanted but right
now he just wanted to kiss her more than anything. Sex would be a bonus he wasn’t counting on.

“I like drunk Emma too,” she sighed, following him as he opened the hall door, his hand still grasping
hers gently.

“I thought you said you didn’t?” He frowned at her with a confused smile. Her drunkenness was as
polar opposite to PA Emma as she could get.



“I was jealous … You like her way too much.” She pouted and looked a little forlorn which made him
laugh out loud. Leading her the short distance to the next door.

“You’re the same, Emma … No reason to be jealous, bambino.” He calmed his laughing, opening her
bedroom door into the dark room and pulled her to the base of her bed, he had deliberately put her in a
room next to his so he could be close if she needed him.

Letting her go, he sat her on the end of the bed and undid her high-heeled silver sandals, sliding warm
hands over delicate feet on his knees and feeling her watching him. He knew he should switch the
lights on, but he knew what he was doing in here. He was going to relax her, then he was going to
move in without hesitation and go for it. No lights needed for that.

“Nooo, you like one more than the other.” She sighed. He smiled and shifted closer, so he was between
her open naked legs with her dress sliding up high as she accommodated his body, nose to nose
almost and practically the same height with her sat on the low bed and him on his knees. Not physically
touching but he could feel that sizzle of electricity between them sparking in the darkness. He had been
right about her giving off signals. He had no doubts anymore and this last little invited maneuver was
sealing the deal. PA Emma would never have let him slide into her open legs so suggestively.

He reached out, touching her hair and running a hand through its silky softness, watching in the dim
moonlit dark for her reactions. As expected she tilted her head toward his hand and parted her lips
suggestively, her knees pressing to either side of his thighs as her body instinctively responded to him.
All the things he had been watching for.

Maybe sex was an option after all.

“I like both versions of you in different ways, equally.” He sighed, trying to keep his libido under control
as his blood started warming up at her obvious come-ons, keeping close.



“What do you mean ‘different ways’?” She blinked up at him innocently. He sighed, running a hand
across her face lightly and moving her hair to tuck behind her ear, he chewed his lip as he tried to think
of the most diplomatic way of answering her. Truth be told he was in love with every version of her, but
drunk Emma let him in more than the others, he got a chance of more with her. That’s the only reason
he wanted more of this version.

“PA Emma is cool and capable and she’s the best assistant I’ve ever had, she’s funny and sharp, and
she’s good at what she does. I like PA Emma.” He nodded to himself, rattling off his mental tick list.
Finished with her shoes, he kneeled up, so even though he was still on the floor his head was towering
over Emma and his groin was not so pelvis to pelvis.

“You like her in an employee, employer way?” She reached up and toyed with his spiky hair childishly,
instantly making him smile and raised eyebrows at this innocent un-Emma maneuver. Alcohol was
definitely bringing out a whole new side to her and a flicker of guilt hit him in the stomach all of a
sudden.

Kissing her like this would overstep the mark; she trusted him to take care of her when she was drunk,
and all of this was just drunk Emma letting go a little. The flirting, the come-ons … She wouldn’t be like
that sober and he was realizing how much of an abuse of her trust it would be to kiss her like this. It hit
him suddenly and seemed to swamp his intentions with doubt at an alarming rate.

“Yes and no … I just like her, because she’s her.” His eyes came to rest on hers, an overwhelming
feeling of disappointment hitting him in the gut.

He couldn’t hurt the relationship they had this way.

“And drunk Emma?”



“I’m a little infatuated with drunk Emma if I’m being honest.” He pulled her hand down and straightened
up to leave, resigned to doing the decent thing and walk the fuck away. Taking every ounce of his inner
strength to do this.

“You are? Why?” She sounded sulky, maybe sensing a change in him but he had to do this for her. She
meant more than a one-night stand or awkward drunken kiss and the more he thought about it, the
more he knew he couldn’t do this. Daniel was right, his head was fucked when it came to her and he
over thought every single detail.

“Because she’s fun … she doesn’t guard what she says … or does.” He nodded toward her fingers,
reinforcing what he was saying. Sober Emma would never have played with his hair. “She giggles and
lets her hair down.”

And trusted him to not take advantage when she was vulnerable.

Shit.


62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda