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Oh, who was she kidding? Apart from laughing with Kate on the evenings when she could tear herself away from the office, her whole entire life had been serious. In and out of the office.
Until now.
Because when she was with Jason she laughed. Actually gave into belly laughs, probably snorted too for all she could control her happiness.
She didn’t have to try so damn hard every second of the day to be perfect, to do everything just right. To make a good impression.
And she could even eat like a semi-normal person, without freaking out about every single bite going into her mouth.
Jason stuck his head out of the kitchen. “Hey, Julie, is Emma causing any trouble out there?”
Clearly comfortable with her gorgeous boss, Julie grinned and said, “No way. She’s fantastic. Where’d you find her? I think she’s even figured out a faster way to fold the napkins.”
Jason’s laughter rang out through the empty dining room. “It’s amazing what you can pick up on street corners nowadays.”
Emma loved being a part of Jason’s team, even if it was just for the afternoon. It figured that he would surround himself with entertaining, relaxed employees, whereas both assistants in her office were so uptight she wasn’t completely certain that they’d ever really smiled at each other.
The past three days had been amazing, but hanging out in Jason’s restaurant, laughing with everyone, feeling like she was part of a laid-back team, was even better.
Eating breakfast with Jason in his kitchen was the most intimate thing they’d done yet. Sure, they’d explored each other’s bodies in a dozen ways, but no matter how great the sex was, none of it had touched her nearly as deeply as Jason telling her she was brave for standing up to her parents. And now, doing a rote task in his restaurant made her feel closer to him then ever.
Maybe, just maybe, she thought to herself with a private smile, Jason was starting to let her into his life again. And this time, she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their relationship.
“Emma,” Julie called out from behind the wall that partly covered the front door, “someone’s here to see you.”
She looked up to see who it was and the spoons that she’d been polishing fell from her fingers onto the table. Jason had been right about her parents sending out the cavalry.
But it was worse than that. Rather than coming themselves, they’d sent her ex-husband, Steven.
Fifteen
What are you doing here?”
For the first time, Emma didn’t care about being polite. Even during their divorce proceedings, she’d been unfailingly gracious, whether or not Steven deserved it. But serving her with divorce papers was one thing.
Interrupting her idyll with Jason was another entirely.
Instead of answering her pointed question, Steven gave her the once-over. “Damn, honey. You look amazing.”
Suddenly, all her pride in her new, carefree, pretty clothes evaporated. She wished she was wearing a huge dumpy sweater and corduroys. Anything to get her ex-husband, whom she definitely didn’t want anymore, to stop looking at her like he wanted to eat her up. He was giving her the creeps.
“Answer my question,” she said, forcefully enough that he took a step back in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Your parents were right,” he said, with a pitying shake of his head. “You do need me to come bring you home.”
For a moment, Emma thought smoke might rise up out of her ears. “Get out.”
But instead of getting the hell out of the restaurant before Jason saw him like she so desperately wished he would, Steven acted as if she hadn’t basically ordered him out of her life.
“Looks like Jason did pretty good for himself, doesn’t it? Who would have thought he had it in him?”
Emma was this close to smacking the smug condescension off Steven’s face. But since she knew violence was taking things too far, even for the “new” wild Emma, she decided she’d have to physically remove him from the premises instead.
“You didn’t come here to see Jason,” she said as she grabbed his arm and tried to push him back toward the door. “I’m sure you have a whole host of reasons that have nothing to do with whether you actually care for me or not. But you can say what you came to say on the sidewalk. People are working and we’re disturbing them,” she added, finally realizing just what a show she and her ex were putting on for Jason’s staff. And here she’d been hoping to make some friends. Damn her ex and her parents for meddling.
She should have known better than to point out their audience. Steven loved spectators, especially when he thought he was doing something as selfless as saving his pathetic little ex-wife from her own bad decisions.
“Now look, honey,” he began as he tried to put his arms around her.
She stopped trying to get him out the door and jumped back several feet. Being touched by Steven gave her the willies. The only man she ever wanted touching her again was Jason. How she’d lived with Steven for so long was suddenly beyond her and only served to highlight how numb she’d forced herself to be just to make it through the past decade.
“I’m not your honey.”
He pouted and it wasn’t his most masculine look. She would have giggled at how ridiculous he looked except right then he said, “Now come on, sweetheart—”
“My name is Emma.”
The waitstaff were doing their best to go about their job of setting up the restaurant for lunch. While keeping their ears peeled for the juicy stuff, of course.
Steven rolled his eyes. “Okay, Emma, I know how hard you took the divorce and I’m sorry about that.”
Between gritted teeth, she straightened her spine so that she was her full five foot six. “Don’t you dare presume to know how I feel. About anything.”
He held his hands up in mock surrender. “All I’m saying is that I’ve decided to take you back, to let you take care of me the way you used to. I know how you’ve missed having me around the house.”
“You want totake me back? ” She tried to stay calm, but it was no use. “I don’t want to take care of you.
And I certainly don’t need you to take care of me. Since you seem to be at their beck and call, why don’t you inform my parents that I don’t need them to barge into my life anymore either.”
But it was as if Steven wasn’t listening to a word she was saying. Which, she knew from a decade of experience, he very likely wasn’t.
