Back to December (Ward Sisters Book 1) (7 page)

Eventually, Emily stifled a yawn and Rob noticed.

“I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep you awake. You must be exhausted,” Rob apologized.

Emily nodded. “I'm still on Eastern time, so it's nearly 2 a.m. for me. I don't usually stay up this late on a work night.”

“Well, let's get you to bed, then.” He stood, hugged her, kissed her sweetly, took her hand and walked her to her room.

“I can't wait to see you in the morning. Any idea what you want for breakfast? Or should I surprise you?” he asked.

She didn't want to leave him and a part of her wished she could just tell him to come to bed with her. But a bigger part knew that it was too soon for that, not to mention the conversation she needed to have with Josh. It was a small consolation to know he was nearby and that she would certainly see him for breakfast.

“Why don't you surprise me. I'll need to eat pretty early, though. I have to be at the museum at 9 a.m. so I have to leave when Rick gets here at eight.”

“Will seven be early enough?” She nodded. “Good. I'll see you then.”

He kissed her again, and for a moment, it was sweet and gentle. But then, at the same time, they both leaned into the kiss. Their hands wandered and caressed, their tongues searched. Rob pulled away and Em was flustered. He breathed heavily.

“I need to go. Now. Or else I won't let you sleep alone.”

He turned and walked toward his room, saying goodnight over his shoulder with a look that said he wished he was still kissing her. She watched him leave until he closed his door.

Em had a feeling neither of them would sleep well that night, but she had to try. Her career was on the line, and no matter how amazing and sexy Rob might be, she couldn't jeopardize that. She had worked too long and too hard to blow this opportunity.

For anyone.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, two days before Christmas Eve...

Emily woke to the sound of
Itsty Bitsy Spider
, the ring tone for her sister Annie, whose childhood nickname had been Itsy after the song she sang incessantly as a toddler. She looked at the clock as she felt for her phone on the nightstand. When she answered, she said with a groggy voice, slightly hoarse from all the talking she had done the night before, “Annie, this better be important. It's only 6 a.m. in Minneapolis.”

“What the
hell
are you doing?” Annie shouted.

“Well, that's a nice way to greet someone you've just woke up. And how are you this fine, very early morning?”

“This is
not
time for games, Em. What on God's green Earth were you
thinking
?”

Emily couldn't fathom what her sister meant. “What are you talking about, Annie? Maybe you can spell it out for me. I just woke up and I can't read your mind across the country.”

“Why would you do that to Josh? You've barely been gone for two days and you're already sleeping with someone else? Don't you have any shame, Em?”

“I'll repeat myself, Annie,
what
are you talking about? I didn't sleep with anyone but myself!”

“Really? Because the video on YouTube of you making out with Deac Roberts at The Glass Door last night sure looks like it ended up that way.”

“What video? Where did you see something like that?” Emily quickly pulled herself to a sitting position. She
had
kissed Rob and she did
want
to sleep with him, but she hadn't, primarily because of Josh.

“I got an email from Charlie five minutes ago. She found a link in her Twitter feed this morning. You know how hot Charlie thinks Deac is, so she clicks on every single link she finds about him. She couldn't resist something that said, 'Deac and new mystery woman hot and heavy at The Glass Door.' Imagine her surprise when she finds that the mystery woman is none other than her sister, who, until a couple of days ago, was living with her boyfriend of five years!”

Emily didn't know what to say. She had thought they were safe at the club – wasn't that one of the reasons he went there? It didn't occur to her that they might be seen, that word of her being with Rob would get back to her family. Being with him felt so normal in so many ways, it wasn't any different than meeting any other guy.

Except, he wasn't any other guy, he was someone famous – not just a local, but an international, celebrity. And one who, by his accounts, didn't date often. Of course him being out with someone, anyone, would be news for the gossip hounds.

“Aren't you going to say anything for yourself?”

“I don't know what to say. Yes, I kissed him. That was me with him last night. But I didn't sleep with Rob...I mean, Deac.” It was the truth, and that was all she had at the moment.

“Then where are you right now? Because I tried you at the hotel first and you didn't answer your room phone.”

“Um, well, I'm...in his penthouse suite.” When she heard Annie scoff, she added, “But I'm sleeping in my own room. There are three bedrooms here and he's in another room. We came back here to escape the photographers last night and I stayed because it was easier.”

“Sure, and I bet
nothing
happened after you left the club, right? The person who took that video got the only kiss between the two of you?”

Emily didn't respond. Either she would have to lie or else she'd have to excuse something that she couldn't explain.

The passion between her and Rob in that limo was beyond her comprehension at the moment, and that had nothing to do with waking up minutes ago. In fact, it was something she refused to justify to her sister. Annie was the one person she had always been able to tell anything and yet, Em felt she just couldn't adequately describe what had happened between her and Rob without it sounding defensive.

“Your silence tells me all I need to know. It doesn't really matter, what's done is done. But you better call Josh right now and tell him yourself that it's over, because he deserves better than to hear it from anyone else.” Without waiting for a reply, her sister hung up the phone.

Emily didn't have even a minute to think about what she would say to Josh when the phone chirped, 'Hello, Mr. Ranger, sir!' at her, the
Yogi Bear
ring that was for only Josh.

She clicked answer, but before she could utter a word, Josh said, “How could you, Em? How could you do that to me after
five years
together? When you left, I had the impression that we were still going to try to make it. If you really wanted things to be over, you could have just been honest with me! Instead, you had to cheat on me with some bozo actor for all the world to see? I thought you'd have more respect for me than that! I thought you had more respect for yourself!”

“Josh...”

“No. Don't make excuses, Emily. It's over. I see that now. Even if you wanted to try and work it out, I can't forgive this. It would be bad enough if you'd kissed someone else while we're on a break. Maybe that I could forgive and forget. But sleeping with another guy when you knew I thought we were still together? No. I can't forgive you for that. Goodbye.” And then he hung up.

Emily tried to call him back, but his phone was off and he would have already left for work, so she didn't bother try the apartment.

Frustrated that he wouldn't let her explain the truth of what he saw, but also relieved that things were finally over between them, Emily was just getting ready to swing her legs off the bed when her phone rang yet again. This time, it was the classic Nokia tune she'd set for her mother's cell phone. Sighing, Emily answered this time ready for a tongue- lashing.

“Yes, Mom,” she said, trying to sound less annoyed than she felt.

“Emily, what have you done? I thought I raised you better than this! Cheating on poor Josh? With that...that
Lothario
Deac Roberts?”

“I didn't sleep with him, Mom.”

“Really? Because that's what the gossip sites said.”

“Mom, you have to know that most of what they print is false and that half the time the pictures are taken at inopportune moments from weird angles that imply things which aren't true.”

“Emily, I hardly think you can say a video of you...making out...with that man is a photo taken from a bad angle. It shows you leaving with him and it shows his arm around you in a very possessive way as you head out a back entrance. You can't tell me nothing happened.”

“I never said nothing happened, Mom. I said I didn't sleep with him. Josh and I are on a break. We're on a
break.
He just broke things off for good, so it's over now, but we were taking a break. I was clear on that when I left. And I didn't sleep with... Deac because I wanted to be sure Josh knew it was a
permanent
break before I moved on to another relationship.”

“You're not telling me you plan to engage that man in a
relationship
! He's known to be a player, Emily!”

“Right, Mom, because you know him so well. I don't want to discuss this with you any further. You have your opinions on it and I know the truth. It's over between me and Josh. What I do now isn't up to you or anyone else. Don't bother trying to get us back together, because Josh made it quite clear he won't forgive me for what I didn't do. And if he can't even listen to my side of things, to the
truth
, then frankly, I think it's best if things are over between us.”

“You're making a mistake, Emily. Josh is the best thing that ever happened to you.”

“Yes, well, that's now irrelevant, and I think you're wrong. I have to go. I need to get ready for work.”

With that, Emily hung up on her mother for the second time in just a few short months. She had never imagined that her relationship with Josh would end so badly. And she was suddenly very angry with her family and with Josh for believing the worst of her when she had purposefully avoided what they believed took place.

She got up to tell Rob what had happened. It was only 6:30, so she assumed he would probably still be sleeping after their late night. She went to his door and knocked softly, opening it just a crack to see if he was awake yet. As she suspected, he had been sleeping.

Just as she was getting ready to leave, he said, “Wait, don't go. What's the matter? I thought I heard you talking to someone.”

He sat and she could see every bit of his sculpted, beautiful chest. Her girl parts clenched. He did look better than he had in
Freedom Isn't Free
.

Suddenly, she couldn't remember why it was that she had waited to sleep with him. Oh, right – Josh, who was no longer part of the equation. She walked over to the bed and sat next to him.

He tilted his head to the side. “I think I like what you have on your mind, but can I ask why?”

“That was my sister. And then Josh. And then my mom. Apparently,” Emily continued, her voice cracking with tears, “there is a video...a video of us kissing last night at the club. It's on YouTube and is already making the rounds among my family. No one wants to hear the truth, that I didn't sleep with you. They just assumed it was true because that's what the gossip sites are saying.”

“Oh, Emily,” Rob said sympathetically, grabbing her hand, “I should have warned you better. I'm so, so sorry.”

“You told me about the photographers, I just assumed that inside the club we were safe. I guess that's why you were holding back until we were in the limo, right?” He nodded. “You knew there was always a chance that someone would take advantage.”

“Yes. There always is. I should've made sure you knew that before I kissed you. It wasn't fair to assume you'd understand that. I should've known you'd think of it differently, just by virtue of the fact that you had no idea who I was until I'd told you.”

“Don't blame yourself. We were both there. I got caught up in the moment.”

“You weren't the only one.” He looked down at her hand as he rubbed it with his thumb. “I won't blame you if you don't want to see me anymore.”

“No, no that's not it at all. In fact, the opposite is what I want. If you'll have me?”

“Really? Are you sure? Your family must be irate. Don't you want to smooth things over with them?” He seemed genuinely concerned.

New Emily stared down Old Emily. “
No.
I'm tired of smoothing things over with them. Half the problem with Josh and me was the fact that I felt trapped.”

She sighed heavily, then continued. “My family adores Josh. To them, he practically walks on water. He and my sister's fiance, Dan, are the sons my father never had. I felt like I
couldn't
end things with him, even though I haven't been happy for at least a year, maybe more.”

She explained how she had thought Josh would be different when they got out of college and had more money, had real jobs, but after the first year of living together, she began to understand that Josh was who he was and that wasn't going to change. And as much as she cared for him, she slowly realized that he wasn't the one. She just didn't know what to do about it.

“So, you came out here to get away?”

“No, I came out here for the gala and the opening, and to make a big step in my career. But it was good timing for us to take a break. I just realized on the flight out here that for me, it was the permanent kind. I had intended to tell Josh after the holidays, so that he wouldn't be miserable for Christmas. I didn't anticipate meeting...you the first day I was here.”

Rob curled an arm around her shoulders and pulled her down to the bed so he could hold her. “I didn't anticipate meeting you yesterday either. It threw me for a loop. If I wasn't such a veteran of this life, I'm sure I would have made even more mistakes. I'm more sorry than you can imagine that this is causing strife in your family, especially at the holidays. No one needs added stress.”

The lust she'd experienced when she walked into his bedroom barreled into her like a linebacker's surprise tackle from the sidelines. Her desire pooled quickly and needed release. Emily turned her face up to his. Her hand was on his chest, where she could feel his heart thud inside. He was as nervous as she was. That somehow made her feel better about what she said next.