Chapter 13
Luke
I n a few more days , it would’ve been a month since Hurricane Emmalina swept into my life. After that kiss, she developed a habit of following me, of tagging along after me, and trying to get me alone.
It went against my efforts of trying to get her out of my mind. I didn’t want to think about her. I didn’t want to be stuck in this loop of reliving how perfect she fit against me, kissing back like her life would end if we parted.
I wanted her. I dreamed about her. Thoughts of her entered my mind when I wasn’t preoccupied with something else. Like a virus, she’d infiltrated my mind.
But none of that changed the fact that I couldn’t have her. I knew better. I should’ve listened to that bit of common sense when she kissed me, but I didn’t. I hadn’t been strong enough to resist.
The fact remained that I didn’t have time for a lusty guest tagging along after me while I tried to work. She was careful not to ever get in the way, but merely seeing her broke my concentration. Sleeping with guests was highly frowned upon. Many employees had been fired for it, and I wasn’t going to risk losing my job over her. I couldn’t when Jimmy was still holding me back on fights.
I had another successful fight last night, and I was due a damn rest. I looked forward to sleeping in, but at the same time, not working meant less money. Riding the thrill of last night’s success, I felt like I was closer to reaching out with Ben to propose a fight with someone like Orsen.
I saw him at last night’s fight. He wasn’t participating, just observing, and I had to laugh at how easy it had been to get him taken down. Surprisingly, I didn’t face any backlash from fighting those men. They had representation. Repercussions should’ve followed, but they hadn’t.
Unless they’re watching and waiting to strike back.
I wasn’t eager to get involved with drama like that. I’d fight whoever would take me on, and I’d do my best to win every time. That was all there was to it.
If Jimmy knew that I was talking to Ben about better fights, he’d be pissed. He stood by his belief that I had to wait a while yet before I’d be qualified, but I was getting impatient. I was determined to enter for a spot in a bigger ring of matches at the end of the summer, and seeking out a chance to enter the preliminary considerations was the first step.
Before I could call it a day and go home, I had to settle an issue with a broken window at the bar. Randy joined me, there to help clear up the mess that a drunk guest left.
“I’m surprised to see you without your shadow,” he teased.
I shook my head, slightly amused. If nothing else, it proved that she enjoyed me kissing her.
“You gotta be careful, man.” Randy looked around, checking if anyone was listening. “You can get fired for that shit. If you’re hooking up with the pain-in-the-ass VIP, tell her to tone it down.”
“No worries there.”
He laughed dryly.
“No, seriously. We’re not hooking up or anything.”
“Does she know that?”
I had a hunch she didn’t want to accept it, but that was my stance on it. If I could torture myself and resist her, she could, too.
I couldn’t understand why she’d be so stuck on me anyway. I wasn’t her type. I wasn’t a pretty boy she could control and manipulate, to get what she wanted from me.
Maybe that’s it. It could be that she wanted the unobtainable and that heightened the allure of it.
After Randy and I finished with the window, we left to go clock out. I walked another route, taking my time to do one last patrol even though I was already off duty. As I strolled along, I found Emma. For once, she was in front of me, not behind me, trying to follow me. Keeping my feet light on the path, I stalked after her. A slow smile pulled at my lips. Knowing that I’d be the one to get a jump on her was half the fun. We could just see how she appreciated being followed.
Coming up behind her as she peeked around a garden, I was taken back to the memory of seeing her backside for the first time. A month ago, when I entered her condo and saw her in nothing but panties.
I held in a sigh, wishing that...
Forget about it. There was no point in getting my hopes up high. That kiss lit me on fire, but that didn’t mean anything else should happen. Sooner or later, she’d move on. Temptation wouldn’t be within reach anymore.
Acting on this desire that wouldn’t quit was a bad idea.
“Lost?”
She squeaked, whirling around on the garden path so quickly that she nearly toppled into a rose bush. I kept my hands behind my back, enjoying her scowl of annoyance.
“No, I’m not lost,” she bit out. “What are you doing back here?”
I raised one brow. I didn’t often take this path, but I wanted to do another patrol this way anyway. Changing things up helped prevent boredom. Walking home via an alternative route kept things from being monotone and dull. “My job.” I wasn’t technically. I was already off, but she didn’t need to know that.
“But—” She frowned. “I’ve been trying to get you alone for days now.”
I shrugged, stepping to walk past her. My fun was over. In fact, it wasn’t all that fun, surprising her and startling her. Being near her thwarted my goal to resist her, and I felt like an idiot to seek her out at all.
I know better.
“Are you ignoring me?” Her light steps chased after me.
“Why are you ignoring me?” she asked after I didn’t reply.
My patience waned for her nosiness.
“You can’t speak now?”
“Shut up,” I muttered, aggravated and kicking myself. I shouldn’t have taking the bait and sought her out. “I recall telling you to leave me alone and stay away.”
“I’m waiting to hear a good reason why.”
“Because nothing would ever last between us.”
“Who says I’m looking for something lasting?” She tipped her chin up, defiant.
I ground my teeth together, irked that she’d push my buttons like this. As we walked though, her tailing after me, I kept an eye on movement to the west.
Someone was walking along another path, but the thick hedges and flowering bushes served as scenery, blocking anyone from that edge of the resort from looking in on this VIP area. Every now and then, though, I spotted someone peeking through thinner spots.
Is someone following her?
“What’s going on?” I asked her, noticing that while she kept up this haughty, bratty tone with me, she couldn’t hide the nervousness and fear in her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
I narrowed my eyes, becoming more alert when things didn’t add up. For most of today, she hadn’t been tagging along after me. Like Randy said, she wasn’t shadowing me.
Why?
I glanced around this garden space, already darker with shadows. She never came here. I didn’t either, but the only places on the resort property that she and her friend cared about was the pool and the beach. Sometimes the restaurants and bar.
“Are you hiding?” I asked.
She opened and closed her mouth, seemingly put on the spot and at a loss for words. “What? No.”
Liar. This woman was trouble with a capital T. And like all other times in my life, I struggled to walk away from it.
“Emma.”
She made eye contact, cringing as she faced me. “What?”
“Don’t lie to me.”
She smirked. “Don’t call me a liar.”
“Why are you back here?”
She licked her lips, looking anywhere but at me. “I like flowers.”
“I didn’t ask you if you did.”
“Well.” She shrugged and gestured at the row of roses that ran parallel to this path. “It’s a garden, and it has flowers. I like flowers so it’s perfectly justifiable that I’d want to be in a garden.”
“Liar.”
She scrunched her face. “Nothing of what I just said was a lie.”
“But you’ll admit in not so many words that you have lied to me.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t answer to you.”
I snorted. “So you lied.”
“Look, forget I said anything. I wanted to talk to you about... about that night at the club. Where you, um, helped me out.”
I tilted my head to the side. “What’s there to talk about?”
“The man you fought—” She froze at the sound of a twig snapping from the other garden path. Cringing again, she brushed past me, knocking into my arm with her haste to leave. “Never mind.”
I stayed right where I was, watching as someone tracked her. The person on the other side of the mazelike area followed the direction Emma went. I registered the sound of their footsteps.
Someone was following her.
I chased after her, snagging her hand and stopping her. Touching her skin shocked me. Making contact seemed so forbidden, but I didn’t let go. She whipped around, glaring at me, and that pinned me in place. Those blue-green orbs so full of fire and sass. And fear.
“Em—”
She reached up to cover my mouth. “Shut up,” she hissed, clearly annoyed.
I moved my head, dodging her hand. “Is someone following you?” I whispered.
Just like that, a streak of defensive energy filled me. I had a chronic problem of wanting to be everyone’s hero, but with her, something about her being distress made my protective instincts flare too hot. The thought of someone pursuing her didn’t sit right with me.
“What’s it to you?” she sassed.
I tightened my hold on her hand. “Tell me.”
She furrowed her brow. “I don’t get you. You tell me to go away. You act like—” She huffed out a breath and shook her head. “You helped me get away from a situation at the club, twice. You pretend to care about my well-being. Then you ignore me for days and treat me like I’m a pest.”
“Because you don’t listen. I told you to back off.”
“You. Don’t. Tell. Me. What. To. Do.”
I stepped closer, wishing I could shake sense into her. I didn’t need her to challenge my hero complex.
“Is someone after you?” I thought back to how adamant she was that someone broke into her condo when she first arrived. Perhaps more danger was tagging along with her all this time.
“No.” She frowned, looking past me, then cringed. Tucking closer to me, she kept her focus on whoever was on that other path.
Panic emanated from her.
“Yes,” she whispered.
If you’d just fucking said so in the first place...
She gripped the front of my shirt and tugged on the material to whisper again. “Where can I hide?”
I held her hand and guided her away.