Alex ended the call and tossed his phone onto the couch cushions. He swallowed his whisky in one, relishing the burn at the back of his throat. He had to figure this out—because he wasn’t going to end up being an old man sitting in his study, hiding.
No one would get the better of him. He wouldn’t allow it.
Dawn was breaking. It was Monday, and still they hadn’t had enough of each other. With each kiss the spark didn’t die. It didn’t even fizzle. It just kept burning brighter. But the weekend was over and the sun was rising on the end of their tryst.
A delicate kiss on Emma’s neck had a smile curving her lips. Alex rolled her onto her back and kissed her slowly, completely. His hand ran down her arm and disappeared under the dark sheets. Teasingly, lightly, he moved it over the smooth skin of her belly and over her sex. She arched into the touch. Her fingers fisted in his hair as she moaned into his mouth.
His hands were such sweet torment. Pulling her apart and piecing her together. With her eyes closed and his lips everywhere, and the promise of blissful rapture dangling in front of her, Emma could barely breathe. She couldn’t remember where she was. She didn’t even remember her name. All she knew right now was Alex. His touch. His smell. His strong arms that felt far too safe for her sanity. She was trying to hold on to all of it. Every sensation. Commit it all to memory.
‘Emma,’ he whispered in her ear, ‘let go.’
And she did. Shattering with a muffled sob.
His lips came to hers, kissing her until she came back to him. ‘Hey...’
He smiled with that megawatt beam. It made her stomach flutter. With an intense look in his blue eyes, he brushed her hair away from her face.
Emma felt like the person she wanted to be when she was with him. Bold and strong. Feelings she often had to keep tethered. But she didn’t need to with Alex. There were no expectations. No risk of her disappointing him because that wasn’t what this was about.
This was a break from reality. From everything she was expected to be and couldn’t live up to. But now it was over. So she would go back to being alone and having no one but Hannah and her cat.
‘Emma,’ Alex said evenly. ‘I want more than a weekend. Nothing has changed. I just want more of you.’
That screamed danger to Emma. More time with Alex was beyond appealing. She hadn’t ever experienced this chemistry with anyone on her short list of previous lovers. Looking back, it felt as if all those affairs were in black and white and now she was seeing in splendid Technicolor.
‘Alexander...’
‘Please.’
‘I want more too,’ she said, abandoning all good sense.
Why shouldn’t she have a bit of fun? Emma always did the right thing. What was expected of her. What everyone else wanted. Well, now she wanted Alex, and the world would just have to continue without her because she was due some happiness.
The words had barely left her lips when Alex swooped down, claiming her. Branding her. His tongue slid over hers, dominating her. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was a kiss of possession. Of pure want and desperate need. He swallowed Emma’s moan and then had to tear his lips away from hers, smirking at her mewl of protest.
Alex kept his intent blue gaze fixed on Emma’s as he brought his phone to his ear. She could only just make out a woman’s voice on the other end.
‘Reschedule my meetings,’ he said, without a greeting.
Emma squirmed as his eyes darkened, pinning her in place.
‘I don’t care. The board can wait. Something’s come up.’ He ended the call and placed his phone down.
With limbs that felt like lead, Emma fired a text off to the only person she needed to—her manager, Greg. Emma was a Brown, and for once she was going to take advantage of the liberties her name brought her. To hell with what anyone thought. She was living for herself right now and it was liberating.
Her phone slipped through her fingers onto the bedding as Alex’s fingers slid into her hair, tilting her face up to meet his.
‘You’re all mine.’
The words set her on fire.
CHAPTER SEVEN
EMMAWOKETOfind herself alone in bed. After Alex had shown her exactly how pleased he was that she’d agreed to spend a little more time with him, loose-limbed and fabulously exhausted, she had dozed off.
She could hear the shower running. Surprising Alex under the jets was too tempting to resist. She threw off the covers, but her phone buzzed against the bedside table. Emma had no intention of answering it, but then she caught the name on the screen. It was Maddison.
Where are you? Dad’s fuming.