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He sighs and puts down his fork. “I don’t actually have the recipe. I just found the highest rated one on the internet and wrote down the ingredients and time since I already knew how to make manicotti.”
Typical. “Well, I’m going to take a picture of the ingredients list then. This is better than sex.”
He cocks his head. “I think you’ve been having the wrong kind of sex.”
“Oh yeah? I’m pretty positive that there’s only one kind of sex unless I missed that memo.”
Emery turns in his seat to look directly at me. “Oh no. There’s sex with everyone else, and then there’s sex with me. Two very different things. I’m sure that you’ll find out just how different they are by the end of the night. I did mention screaming orgasms, didn’t I? Orgasms. With an ‘s’.”
I can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks again as I glance at him one more time. There’s only one way to find out if his arrogance is deserved or not, and the thought of doing that with my boss is both tempting and terrifying. Not because he’s my boss. No, I think I gave that up as a good reason not to give him a chance when I accepted his offer to go on a date. But, it’s been so long since I crawled into a bed with a man, my body is more than a little afraid of it.
The only sex I’ve been having is with book boyfriends, and they know all the right buttons to push.
I turn back to my food, ignoring the comment that made me blush and consider things I know are a bad idea. I can almost hear him laughing at my attempt to ignore him, but he works at finishing his food, too.
As soon as he does, he pours some more wine into his glass and offers to top me off as well. I nod to him, not entirely sure that I can use words with Emery without making a fool of myself.
He sits and watches me finish, silent and looming, yet still grinning at me. It’s unnerving, to say the least. As soon as I take the last bite, he sweeps my plate away and says, “Ready for a dip in the hot tub?”
“I don’t have a swimsuit, Emery. You know that.”
He arches an eyebrow at me as he rinses the dishes off. “Do people actually wear swimsuits in hot tubs? I thought those were for pools and other public places.” He pauses for a minute, like something has just occurred to him. “Oh, did you wear the granny panties again?”
“No!” The word explodes out of me before I even think it, and it leaves Emery chuckling.
“Then why not get into the hot tub in your underwear? It covers the same parts, doesn’t it?”
I’m positive my cheeks are beet red. He’s pulling out all the stops, though, and I think I’m close to the point of giving in to his requests. Something about the way he makes it all seem so fun and chaotic pulls at me.
So I use the last weapon I have against him. The one good reason I shouldn’t get wrapped up in this man. “Is this what you do with all the pretty girls you invite to your house? Get in the hot tub and then convince them to get naked?”
“If I invited any of those women to my house, I might because I enjoy a good soak in the hot tub. But I don’t invite anyone to my house. You’re the first woman I’ve kissed that’s been here.”
That’s a hard line to swallow. Why wouldn’t Emery bring women home? I’m sure that in all these years, he’s dated some celebrity for more than a night. Women want more than just a roll in the sheets with a man like Emery, and at least one of them had to have convinced him to do just that.
“I don’t believe that at all, Emery. Why would you have a spectacular home like this if it’s not for inviting people to?”
He just chuckles. “It seems like you need to do a little more research into me, Miss Carter. I bought this house because it’s what Emery Brooks, New York City’s most eligible bachelor, would have done. It’s a nice house, but it’s a little much. I’d rather not have to pay an entire crew of maids to keep the thing cleaned.”
I just stare at him, and he shrugs. “Well, believe it or not, but I want to go for a dip in the hot tub. You can come or not. You can get in or not. It’s your call, Madison.”
He starts walking out of the room, and for just a moment, I hesitate. What else am I supposed to do in his house?
Then I notice him pull his pants down and step out of them as if it was no big deal. I jump out of my seat and hurry to catch up. I decide right then that I’m done saying no to what my body wants. “You really haven’t dated any of those women?” I ask.
When he turns around, I can’t help but glance down and notice the long bulge running under his boxers. He doesn’t seem to care that I’m looking, though. “I don’t date, Madison. The last girlfriend I had was my sophomore year of college. Every other woman I’ve been seen with has simply been an acquaintance. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t fuck a lot of them, but you’re thefirstwoman I’ve ever invited to this house with any kind of romantic or sexual intentions.”
The way he gives his voice that intensity it had during my interview with Aspire makes my body throb. At the same time, he seems so carefree as he spins around. God, how does he go from childish antics and banter to staring into my soul?
I quietly follow him through the house, taking it all in. I slowly realize that he probably is telling the truth. I’d thought it strange that he’d bought such an expensive home only to wash his personality from it, but I’m beginning to understand that it’s never had his personality. He’d have changed small things if he’d cared about it.
Instead, everything is exactly how the interior designers set things.
When he opens the door to an outdoor pool area, I’m not shocked at all. It’s just as perfectly billionaire-esque as I’d imagined it. A flowing waterfall takes the water from the hot tub to the pool. Purple underwater lights turn the crystal-clear water into a glowing fantasy. Around the pool, instead of plastic or metal lounge chairs around it like I’m used to, there are tables and chairs carved out of trees. Not wood. There aren’t any screws or nails or glue. They’re just solid pieces of wood.
The ground is made of purple and gold glass tiles like a kitchen backsplash, and when I step on it, I expect to slip, but they’ve somehow been made to be slip resistant.
Above us, clouds obscure the moon and few stars that would normally be shining, and we’re left with the only light coming from the glowing water. A bright purple that turns the world into something even more alien than it’d be during the day.
