AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I took my phone off my ear to look at who was calling. “It’s Britt.”
“Oh. Her,” Mom said bluntly. “That reminds me, you do need a date for the gala next week. Not her though.”
“Yeah,” I said vaguely.
“I mean it, Emmett. You’re hosting it, so you cannot show up solo. Not unless you want me and all my friends pushing their daughters on you.”
“Alright, Mom,” I forced a laugh despite my exasperation. Leave it to her to remind me of how much I wasn’t into commitment. “I have to go though,” I said. It was just a line at first but then I remembered I really had to. “Shit. I just realized I’m supposed to have a meeting with Britt about the gala today. Fuck.”
“Language.”
“Sorry,” I winced. “I gotta go though. Love you, Ma. Tell Gram I say hi.”
“Love you too, Emmett, and will do,” Mom said with a smile in her voice. She was always good at going straight from pissed to happy again. At least with me. “Please pick up the next time I call though, alright? And give my grandkid a hug for me. Bye.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes when I hung up, but I still turned to Ozzy and said, “Grandma says hi.” Mom called herself “Grandma” around him enough that his ears perked up when he heard the G word. Most days, he cocked his head as if to ask, “Well? Are we going to see Grandma or not?” but today, he just went back to annihilating his tennis ball. I sensed he had aggression to get out for being kicked out of his spot in my bed last night. I laughed as I made a mental note to get him some new toys to make up for that. Then with a grimace, I listened to Britt’s voicemail and opted to text her back instead of call.
ME: Sorry I completely forgot about the meeting. Yes we’re still on for noon.
BRITT: All good sweetie. How’s the headache?
I squinted for a second before I realized what Britt was talking about. I’d barely thought about whatever excuse I’d given to get away from her at Cantina last night. From what I recalled now, I made up something about being irritable from a bad migraine. I was under no impression that Britt believed me but she never seemed to call people out when they lied. She did it so often herself that she didn’t think twice.
ME: I’m better thanks. I’ll meet you at Blue Harbor at noon. Usual table.
BRITT: Let’s switch it up for once. I’m already doing my 10:30 meeting at your little friend’s restaurant. Wrapping up soon so meet me here later. It’ll be like a reunion of last night. ;)
I stared at her text for three seconds then grumbled, “Shit.”
For some reason, I didn’t trust Britt to behave herself around Aly today. I wasn’t the best at reading the subtleties of girls’ interactions with other girls, but it didn’t really take a genius to know that Britt was less than pleased with being ignored throughout dinner last night – and then bailed on no less.
So hurrying into my closet, I tore off my towel and got dressed in about thirty seconds flat. Another thirty seconds, and I had Ozzy in his harness and both of us out the door.
20
ALY
Opening your restaurant has transformed the Stanton Family name from just a company to a brand. Tell us a little about the journey it took to get here.
Chewing my nail, I stared at the email interview on my laptop like it was a Calculus test from high school. It was an easy enough question. I had sought out specific jobs to get close to specific people – basically network my way into knowing how to run a business.
I totally knew the answer to this question. I just had no idea where to start because twelve hours later, I was still reeling from what happened last night. I was still processing the fact that I’d had sex with Emmett Hoult – and woken up without an ounce of regret. Disbelief? Sure. Nerves? You bet.
But no regret.
And because of that, I’d made it through only two questions of this interview so far – and I’d started it well over two hours ago.
“I’d exchange assignments with you, but you know the answers better,” Evie said, grinning at her laptop as she did the scheduling for next week.
Tuesdays at the restaurant were slightly less busy than weekends, which meant that instead of the office, we did our work on the floor at the little corner table between the raw bar and window.
Peering over the top of her screen, Evie smirked.
“Also, you don’t deserve to have the best sex of your life and get all your work done for you the next morning. That’s entirely too much good fortune in a short period of time, and we don’t want to spoil you,” she said, giggling when I looked up and shook my head at her. “Seriously though, can you give me the details of how he made you come with just the head of his dick? I need to know the logistics of that. For science.”
“First off, no. Second, can you not talk about his dick so loudly in front of our staff? I think that might be blatant sexual harassment,” I said, nodding at poor Teddy behind the raw bar. He was an oyster-shucking ace but he was also a shy nineteen-year-old kid who was blushing furiously while trying to pretend he couldn’t hear us.
“Okay, I’ll whisper,” Evie whispered. “So, like, was he using his dick like a vibrator against your clit, or – ”
