We clash, and yet everything is in perfect harmony. My lashes flutter, and I hold on tight as he uses my mouth.
“Just like that. Take it.” His movements turn jerky, and so do his words. “Take. That. Cock.”
His voice washes over me like scalding water. My nipples ache against my bra, my pussy lips slipping as I move my legs, widening my knees for extra purchase.
Then a ragged, “Fuuuck,” as he holds me down, filling my mouth and my throat. The satisfaction of him pulsing inside of me soothes the angst that overtook me earlier.
I swallow as his touch gentles and his length slips from my mouth—feeling far more accomplished than I should for a woman who is failing spectacularly at her job.
And when I look up at Emmett, all I see is adoration. No trace of the edge and anxiety from before. Pride surges through me.
I did that.
My satisfaction is short-lived when I glance at my watch and realize we only have a couple of minutes to spare before our poor decision-making blows up in our faces. He sees me do it but doesn’t say a word.
Instead, in a split second, he’s dropped to his knees, coming to my level.
Then he’s holding my cheeks and kissing me. Soundly.
His kiss says more than words ever could, and I smile against his lips.
“Thank you,” he breathes against my mouth, while propping his forehead against mine.
The position is intimate, as though we’re sharing a secret.
And maybe we are. Because we both know thatthank youmeant something else entirely.
CHAPTER 39
Julia
WE ARE OFFICIALLYnearing the final elimination ceremony, and I’m feeling jittery. I can’t explain why.
Maybe it’s that the show is ending, which means Emmett and I will have to face what this is and where we’re going. And we haven’t explicitly talked about the future or what this next year holds—we’ve been too busy fucking like rabbits.
Or maybe it’s because Richard has been suspiciously calm while still shooting me looks that are far too pleased to be anything other than unsettling. He asked me about my date, andI told him it was good while trying to sound more excited about it than I was. So maybe that’s why.
Or maybe it’s that damn interview with Teri. I haven’t been able to shake the feeling of Emmett’s eyes on mine while he recounted what it feels like to fall in love. It may very well have been for the cameras… but I also know it was real.
Which is both thrilling and exciting all at once.
I’ve distracted myself by checking over the producer notes for today’s set multiple times and neurotically ensuring that everything is in order. There is nothing left for me to do, so I decide that I don’t need to hang around here today. I know there’s a part of Emmett that likes having me on set. My presence reassures him I’m not going anywhere. That even though he’s been told repeatedly that no one will want him, I keep showing up.
I know he needs that. But it’s also killing me to stand around and watch.
I choose to go for a drive. A quick trip to pick up my favorite bubble tea should settle my nerves. Or at the very least, get me off this set where each cord that’s plugged in feels like a step toward the gallows.
I hop in my car, heading past the bunkhouse and main farmhouse toward the backcountry road that will hook me up to the main highway. But when I hit the farm gate, I’m faced head-on with a truck that I won’t soon forget.
It’s white and slightly rusted out around the wheel wells. And behind the steering wheel sits Carl.
Now faced with him, I see red. After listening to the way Carl spoke to Emmett weeks ago, there’s a part of me thatwouldlike to kill him. But there’s an even bigger part of me that doesn’t want him entering the property.
Not when I know how he treats his son. And especially not when I know how uncomfortable Emmett is in front of the camera this late in the game.
There’s something tortured about him these days, something especially vulnerable about the way he looks at me on set. So yeah, over my dead body is Carl going to be entering this property.
Without much time to think, I do something stupid.
