AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Then what are you doing? She’s not the only one growing attached. You are too. Have you considered that maybe you wouldn’t fare as badly as your father?’
Matt never pulled any punches. Not with Alex. For their entire lives they had been totally honest with each other. A difficult conversation was never avoided for fear of how the other would react.
‘I know I won’t, because I’m not going to commit.’
‘That’s a lie and you know it. You have a title to think about,’ Matt pushed.
‘I don’t know what to tell you. We’re having fun, and when it’s done we’ll go our separate ways. She knows the score.’
‘I know you’re lying to yourself.’ Matt shook his head, his tone softening. ‘Whether you want to or not, one day you will have to accept everything you’re trying to push away right now, Alex.’
Maybe Matt was right, but his legacy didn’t mean as much to Alex as it did to everyone else. So what if he never had a family? The manor, the title—they meant very little to him. How could he set any store by them when it couldn’t keep his family together? When that burden caused nothing but pain. Alex refused to put himself through that. There was no room for love in his life and there wouldn’t ever be. Of that he was certain. Alex enjoyed his life as it was right now.
Right now, you have Emma, said a voice within him. He stubbornly ignored it.
‘We’re going out,’ Alex said to Matt.
He needed to get away from his apartment to clear his head. Because everything in it made him think of Emma.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EVENWITHMATTspending the next two weeks at Alex’s apartment, Emma found time to be with him. She had tried to keep her distance, but after just two days neither she nor Alex had been able to resist the urge to be with each other.
She still knew it was time that Alex needed with his friend, and that being around the two of them felt too much as if their relationship could be something more, so Emma kept away as much as she could—even though it often felt as if she couldn’t breathe for missing Alex. That worried her more than anything.
So when Matt suggested the three of them go out, Emma invited Hannah along as a buffer. But Matt was so taken with Hannah that Alex and Emma were soon forgotten, allowing them to slip away. They were so desperate for each other that his lips were on hers before she could even get out of the car.
When it finally came time for Matt to leave, everyone was sorry to see him go.
Emma went to shake his hand, but he pulled her in for a hug, and once she got over the surprise she found the familiarity endearing. It was a kind of warmth she had never truly encountered in her own family, and even though Matt was just a friend, by Alex’s own admission he was as good as a brother.
‘Take care of him,’ Matt whispered in her ear.
Emma managed to contain her shock. She had been certain he knew that she and Alex had an expiration date, despite what he had told her.
All she said in reply was, ‘Take care of yourself, Matt.’
Alex was next to embrace his friend, and once they’d bade each other farewell he led Emma away, giving Matt a private moment with Hannah.
‘I want you to stay with me tonight,’ he told her.
‘Are you trying to make up for lost time?’ Emma laughed.
‘Yes.’
There was an intensity in his eyes that drew her in. She was lost in the sea of them.
‘I’ll be there.’
And she was—as soon as she was done with her evening’s commitments to the charity.
Alex immediately took her to bed, making love to her over and over again until they were both utterly spent.
When she woke he wasn’t in bed with her—as she had come to expect. She readied herself for work and then went searching for him in the large apartment. He was in the gym, and she had to stop herself from salivating at the sight of him. A towel hung around his neck, and his shirtless torso was drenched in sweat. He pushed away the hair sticking to his forehead as he placed large weights on a metal rack.
Catching sight of her in the mirror, he smiled.
‘I hope I didn’t interrupt,’ she said.
