Chapter Nine Ryan
Alternative rock music fills my ears as I walk down the sidewalk toward the office with my earbuds in, all other noises being shut out. How I usually like to start my mornings.
The cold wind bites at my nose and ears as it blows against me, but I trudge on, adjusting the collar of my coat to protect my neck more. I’m borderline miserable from the winter until my eyes land on Emma as she heads down the sidewalk from the other end, her red hair dancing in the wind.
We’re due for a marketing strategy meeting in fifteen minutes, and the days when we’re scheduled for meetings together are my favorite work days. We only have so many of them left.
It weighs me down more than I could’ve ever expected. She’s so damn smart and creative, and that pushes me to be better. To think more openly. To take risks.
But not all the risks that I want to take.
Emma pauses when she spots a food truck parked in front of the office, a small line leading up to it. She lifts up on her toes to look over shoulders at the menu, the wind making her skirt flutter around her pantyhose-covered thighs.
Those damn thighs. I should stop this now.
These thoughts. These feelings. I’ve tried to rationalize them away, tried to tell myself it’s just a phase, just admiration.
But every time I see her, the truth settles deeper in my bones—I want more than this project.
I want her. And that’s a problem. A big one.
I pause my music and take out my earbuds before heading over to her. “They have some pretty good sweet stuff.”
Emma jumps a little, her hand flying to her chest. “You scared me.”
A half smile forms on my face. “Boo.”
Emma pushes my arm. “Well, what do you like from here? I know you have a major sweet tooth. My mom’s chocolate chip cookies never stood a chance around you.”
“I like sweet things,” I reply as I peer at her. Her cheeks are already red from the wind, but I swear they become pinker. “They have really good cinnamon rolls.”
“Tempting,” Emma says, her eyes not leaving mine.
Very tempting. So tempting that neither of us notice that the line has moved forward.
“What can I get you guys?”
Emma looks away first and heads up to the window of the food truck, her eyes lingering on the menu. “I heard your cinnamon rolls were good.”
The young woman at the window smiles and nods. “I’d have to say they’re some of the best in the city.”
“We’ll take two of them,” I say as I hand her a twenty-dollar bill. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you!” the woman quips before disappearing into the food truck.
Emma faces me with a pointed look. “You guys have to let me pay for something. You can’t keep loading me up with hot chocolate and sweets without something in return.”
“Your company is more than enough,” I assure her as my hand briefly grazes her elbow.
Curiosity lights up her face. “My company or my help?”
“Both,” I reply as I step toward her, hearing her inhale sharply. “We don’t have you for long. Let us spoil you a little.”
Emma’s teeth briefly catch her bottom lip as she smiles, and it makes my stomach flip. She can’t be biting her lip around me. Even if it’s only for a second.
“Here you go!” the woman says as she holds a paper bag out of the window.
“Thank you,” I tell her as I take the bag and motion for Emma to follow me into the office.
When we get to the penthouse, we say a quick hello to Max as we head toward the meeting room, nodding toward Josh as he rambles on a phone call.. I push down my annoyance at the sight. I can tell it’s a personal call. Not a business call.
Emma steals the bag from me once we sit down next to each other at the conference table. She slides over one box to me before opening hers, revealing a huge cinnamon roll covered with white icing. “It smells amazing.”
“Wait until you taste it,” I say before picking up mine and taking a bite at the same time as her.
Emma’s eyes widen in wonder. “That is the best thing that I’ve ever put in my mouth.”
My eyebrow uncontrollably shoots up, making her swat at me.
“You know what I meant, Ryan,” she scolds me before licking the icing off her lips. “Dirty mind.”
I tear my eyes away from her tongue as it darts out to lick icing off the corner of her mouth. Heat floods the lower part of my body, and I have to dig my nails into my palm under the table to keep my arousal at bay.
“You thought it too,” I point out before taking another bite to busy myself.
Emma smirks but drops the subject to talk about social media posts instead, which is probably for the best. I actually focus pretty well until she sheds her coat, pushing her chest out as she slips it off her shoulders.
I direct my attention to the notes she has pulled up on her tablet. “We’ll go with your idea. We definitely need new, updated graphics for our social media posts.”
Emma nods in agreement before trying to swipe to another page, but she hits another tab instead, pulling up a sketch of a man.
It’s Max.
“Oh, whoops,” Emma says with an embarrassed laugh as she switches back to her work tab. “I was just messing around with him the other day.”
The tiny flicker of jealousy in my chest is quickly extinguished by curiosity. I know that we’re all drawn to her in one way or another, but does she feel the same way for us? There are times when I think she is, but maybe I’m making things up in my head to be hopeful.
Emma grabs the remaining last quarter of her cinnamon roll and takes a bite, leaving a streak of icing just above her top lip. “That’s pretty much all of my notes, though.”
“Hold on,” I tell her as I turn in my seat toward her.
Emma pauses as I reach out and gently wipe away the icing above her lip, her breathing halting. Her eyes lift to mine as she automatically licks where I just touched her.
That mouth of hers is going to kill me. I can’t stop staring at it, imagining how sweet she tastes. How she’d melt the moment I kissed her.
Oh, fuck it.
Before I can move forward, the door to the room opens, and Josh pokes his head in.
“Hey, Emma. Can I get your help with something? I have to leave in a few minutes,” Josh says.
“Oh, sure,” Emma replies, sounding surprised, but I’m not.
“Why are you leaving? You’ve been here for like two hours,” I question him as I stand.
Josh sighs and waves me off. “I’ll be right back.”
“You’re running off to see Stacy, aren’t you? She calls, and you come running like a puppy,” I say with bitterness in my voice.
Josh looks between me and Emma as her face falls a little. “It’s not like that. I’m trying to get a big opportunity for us, and her dad is at the head of it.”
“Remember that we have a project to finish,” I tell him with narrowed eyes. “That means working here.”
Josh rolls his eyes at me before leading Emma out of the room.
“Damn it,” I mutter under my breath as I shut the door behind them, my jaw tensing hard enough to make my teeth ache. It pisses me off that he lets Stacy eat up so much of his time. He missed a deadline this week!
Now, he’s taking Emma away to pick up his slack. Just before we…fuck.
What?
The thought of her lips invades my mind, making my cock start to harden. I close my eyes and press my forehead against the door, my frustration burning into demanding desire. The more that I’m around her, the more that I want her.
And I can’t have her. Not in real life at least.
I lock the door and drop down in one of the seats at the conference table, hastily undoing my belt and my slacks so that I can slip my hand into my briefs. My fingers wrap around my growing erection, and I have to stifle a moan as a bolt of pleasure hits me.
This is so damn wrong, but I can’t stop. Not when the image of her on her knees in front of me fills my mind. Not when I picture her lips replacing my hand as I stroke myself from base to tip. Over and over. Faster and faster.
I tilt my head back as my breathing quickens, waves of heat and bliss crashing down on me. I can picture her eyes looking up at me. Her tongue drifting up the underside of my cock. Her hair gathered in my fist.
“Fuck,” I breathe out as I stroke myself faster, nearing the edge.
In my head, she gives me pleading eyes, begging me to finish. To give her everything that I can.
With a muffled grunt, I spill into my hand—heat and need and frustration all unraveling at once. It should feel like release.
But it doesn’t.
The second it’s over, I’m left with nothing but the weight of what I’ve done. My chest heaves. My skin’s too tight. My thoughts too loud.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
This isn’t just about attraction. I know her. I know who she is. She’s smart, ambitious, kind as hell—fighting for a future no one in her family seems to believe in. And I just… used her like a fantasy.
She’s not that. She’s more than that. And I crossed a line, even if it was only in my head.
The problem is, I don’t know if I can uncross it.
I wipe my hand with a tissue, zip my pants, and force myself to breathe. But I can’t shake the truth: something’s changed. I don’t just want her. I’m starting to feel something for her. And that’s so much more dangerous.