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They did suit her. He wanted to suit her as well. Be a part of that life. Yet he was torn. How could he be?
“I’ve got to get changed. I smell like the bar.”
“Can I watch?” he asked. Seeing her brought all of his senses into sharp focus and made the life he’d been living these last few days look as if it were in black and white. He had been on autopilot doing what was expected of him and doing it well, but now he truly felt the first spark of excitement...of life.
“Is that what you want?” she asked. There was a teasing note in her voice and he caught a glimpse of the woman who’d bound him with his own shirt in South Beach.
If she only knew the power she wielded over him.
“It is.”
“Well okay then,” she said. “It’s not going to be very exciting. I mean I’ve never worked in a high-end strip club or anything.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t think you had.”
“Have you been to one?” she asked.
“Are you going to go on a feminist rant if I say yes?” he asked.
“No, I’m not. The women who work in places like that usually earn a good living. And it’s their choice to make,” she said. “So you have been to one.”
He shrugged. Some nights that was where the crowd he ran with back in Miami had ended up. “It’s not my favorite place to hang out.”
“That’s good to know. You should know I’ve only gotten undressed in front of a few guys.”
“You should know I have no interest in any of the other men in your life,” he said. “I want to be the only one.”
He knew he had no right to say that. That he might not even be able to claim Emily but, hell, this was the twenty-first century and he wasn’t going to marry another “suitable” woman when he felt this strongly about her.
She touched her finger to the screen and he imagined he felt her light touch on his face. “As of right now you are.”
She got to her feet and his screen was filled with the image of her ceiling until she got to the bathroom. She flipped on the light switch and she propped the phone up on the counter. “I need a shower, too.”
“How about a bath? If I were there, I’d fill that big claw-foot tub of yours with warm water and bubbles and have it waiting for you when you got home.”
He wanted to take care of her. She was the first person outside of the circle of his family he’d ever felt this way about.
“Okay. Give me a few minutes.”
“Don’t take your clothes off until I can see you.”
“Do you have a bathtub in your big palace?” she asked. “I saw some pictures of your entire family walking around the gardens on CNN last night. Looked nice.”
“I do have a very nice bathroom here. The tub is controlled by a computer,” he said.
“Join me in the bath?” she asked. There was a hint of vulnerability in her words. He found it both enchanting and a little bit unnerving. Emily was a very strong woman who didn’t really need anyone. But tonight he caught a glimpse behind that attitude and saw that she did need him.
That made him feel like Atlas, strong enough to carry the weight of the earth on his shoulders. And like the mythological being he couldn’t simultaneously protect Emily and shoulder his burden. He had no idea where any of this was going. He was used to being the strong one. The one who knew exactly what needed to be done—
And he did this time. He needed to let her go, but for once wanted to be selfish and keep her. For tonight he was going to do just that.
“Okay,” he said, getting up and going to his own opulently appointed bathroom. He selected the temperature from a computerized keypad on the wall and soon the water started flowing into the tub. He flicked on the overhead light that just illuminated the tub and then glanced back at his phone screen to see where Emily was.
She was sitting on the edge of her tub biting her lower lip as she fiddled with the taps.
Then she stood up and undid her jeans.
“Hey. Not so fast, Red. I want to see every inch of you,” he said.
“Fair enough. Take your shirt off. Not that you don’t look sexy with it unbuttoned and your chest showing.”
He’d undone his shirt earlier because he felt uncomfortable and hadn’t really known what to wear for a video call with her. He lifted his arms. “You see these buttons?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re supposed to undo them first. That way I don’t have to rip the shirt,” he said.
“I like it when you rip your shirt,” she said with a wink. “In fact the next time I see you I’ve got a new shirt for you to try on. One that is made of tougher material.”
