29. Chapter Twenty-nine ~ Chris
Chapter Twenty-nine ~ Chris
I wasn’t entirely sure how I’d feel about having Emma’s mom and sister here all the time. But it’s been relatively easy.
In fact, it’s been almost too easy because it’s almost like they’re not even here.
They prefer to stay in their own place a lot of the time. So they only come see us for meals occasionally. Other than that, they come into the house to spend time with Emma, but mostly in her rooms.
And it all seems to be having a good effect on Emma because she seems even happier now. It’s a lot of stress taken off of all of them, I’m sure.
But it’s getting closer and closer to the time the baby is going to come. We’re still a couple months off, but before too much longerwe’re all going to be in an entirely different world.
“I got you something.”
She looks up, startled, and gives me a small smile, though it’s clear she’s at least somewhat confused. “Okay, what is it?”
“You have to come with me.”
Now she looks even more confused but sets down the book she’s reading and follows me through the house, and out the front door, where the new car sits.
“I don’t understand,” she says, glancing around the driveway. And she certainly looks like she’s confused. Though that doesn’t surprise me. The small gifts I’ve bought her have often surprised her. She’d have no reason to believe I would buy her something so large.
“The car is for you.”
“The … car … you bought me a car?” She stares at it in shock, her eyes roving over every inch of the thing in complete and utter disbelief.
“You need a new one. The one you’ve been driving isn’t safe. And with the baby coming, I want to make sure that you’re both going to be safe.” I invoke the baby’s safety because I can see in her eyes that she’s going to refuse. She wants to refuse. But the safety of the baby is the most important thing for both of us.
“I … I can’t accept this. There’s no way.”
“You have to. It’s for the baby as much as for you.”
“I … it’s your car. I’ll drive it. If I have to.” She still doesn’t look pleased about that. “But it’s your car.”
“I bought it for you, Emma. It’s in your name already.”
“Why … how …”
“Come on, let’s go check it out.”
Even though she lets me lead her to the car, I can tell she’s still not sure what she’s doing or what she’s seeing. But as I get her to take a closer look and sit behind the wheel, she starts to come around. Or at least, she starts to look at the car like she actually likes it.
“This is still too much, Chris.”
“It’s not,” I insist. “I have the money to spare and I’d rather spend it on something for you and the baby than anything else.”
Still she shakes her head but she seems to have run out of arguments because she doesn’t actually say anything.
“And I’d like you to go out with me. Tomorrow night.”
“I’ll have to check my schedule. My boss may want me to work tomorrow night,” she quips and I can’t help but grin.
“He doesn’t. I already checked.”
“Now you’re talking to my boss, too?” She grins at me and I can’t help but pull her in close, my mouth finding hers like it’s practically magnetized. And just like every time, nothing feels as good as her mouth on mine.
When it’s time for our date I’m more than pleased to see the beautiful dress she’s put on. It’s one that makes her look even more amazing than I would have thought possible.
There’s also a softness in her eyes as she looks at me, something that I see every now and then that always gives me hope … makes me think that maybe things aren’t all in my head.
Tonight there’s an event at another club in town. One that I want to make an appearance at and I’m more than happy to have her on my arm when I do. Which seems to surprise her when she realizes where we’re going and she sees the décor.
“We’re going to Madison’s? I didn’t think that you two liked each other very much.”
I laugh at that. “It’s all a bit of showmanship. We have rival businesses, after all. But surely you’ve seen her in our club a few times.”
“I … well, I guess I thought I did but I thought I was wrong.”
“She comes to the events at our club. I come to the events at hers. It’s the polite way to go, after all. Even though her events are not nearly as good as ours.”
“So say you,” Madison replies, walking up to us as soon as we walk in the door. “And who is this?”
“This is Emma.” I’m not really sure how to introduce her, so I stick with just her name and let Madison infer what she likes from that.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Emma. I hope you enjoy yourself and see why my club really is the best one in town.” Madison gives me a grin and strides off to the rest of her guests.
“It’s a nice place,” Emma says, looking around.
“It’s nice enough,” I agree. And in truth there’s nothing at all wrong with Madison’s club. It’s beautiful on the inside and she runs a great establishment. But I’m partial to my own, of course. And our friendly banter works well for that.
Tonight, it’s all about dancing with Emma. Enjoying the ability to hold her and move with her. To sway and kiss and whatever we want because we can just … be together.
“This is fun,” she says after we’ve been out a couple hours and I smile, pulling her in closer again.
“It’s definitely fun,” I agree. “But then again, I like any excuse that I can get to hold you.”
She blushes slightly and I can see it even in the dim light. But she also wraps her arms around me and presses her mouth to mine in a rather hot and heavy kiss, especially for being semi-public like this.
Not that I’m complaining.
I want to get even closer. Want to have all of her. But I also don’t want this moment to end. The fun that we’re having.
So I stay a while longer, dancing to all the familiar songs that we play back at our club and some new ones that I haven’t heard before.
“You’re running up quite a tab for a guy who’s usually in and out in 10 minutes,” Madison says on one of my trips up to the bar.
“It’s not much of a tab. The lady doesn’t drink,” I reply, raising an eyebrow and Madison shakes her head, laughing at me.
“Well, anyone can see that she doesn’t drink.” She casts a pointed glance at Emma and I shrug. “But that’s not the point.”
“I figured it was time to give your place an actual chance. See what it’s about. See if it’s actually any good.”
“And?” She raises an eyebrow like she’s expecting the punchline of a joke but I decide to give her at least half the truth.
“It’s a nice place. Not as good as mine, of course, but a nice place, nonetheless.”
She grins at that. “Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree there because I’m rather convinced that mine is the better place. But you run a decent establishment, too.”
With that I grab the drinks for myself and Emma and head back toward the dance floor. But it’s only a few more songs and she’s wrapping her arms around me again, her mouth hard against my own and I know that she’s getting ready to end this evening.
But so am I.
“If we’re not planning on continuing this right here we should get back to the car,” I tell her finally, because I want nothing more than to slide that dress off of her and enjoy every inch of that body.
“There are quite a lot of people all around us,” she says reluctantly. “We’re definitely not alone.”
“Which means anything we do here could be a spectator sport, and I’m not into that kind of thing,” I tease.
“I want you all to myself,” is her response and I feel it shoot through me, making me tug her upright a little more firmly than necessary and rush her off the dance floor and out to the car, all of which makes her laugh aloud and steals the breath from my lungs.
By the time we make it back to the house I’ve managed to cool my passion slightly. At least, cool it to the point where I feel more in control and I reach across the console of the car to kiss her more slowly, deeply, drinking her in.
The soft moan that spills out of her very nearly snaps my tightly held control but I lean back, moving around the car to help her out and into the house.
I’m mindful of the fact that we could have guests here anytime now. That her mother and sister could stroll through, even though they’ve never done it before. And so I quickly lead her upstairs to my room before slowing it all back down again. A fact that she seems to enjoy as well.
“You are exquisite.”
“Tonight has been amazing,” she tells me in response, her eyes still shining with pleasure at all of it.
“I wanted to do something special. Something I knew you would enjoy.”
“And I did. Very much. I never would have expected it.”
“I’m also glad I could surprise you. Even just a little.” My lips find hers and for a long moment I do nothing but kiss her. My hands are at her waist, enjoying this slow moment, savoring it before the even more intense parts to come.
But I can’t hold back forever and my hands move almost of their own accord, sliding over her back and up to the zipper at the back of her neck. It’s easy to slide down and then my hands are able to move over smooth, soft skin, sliding the dress away from her front and allowing it to move down her arms.
Which means I have to release her, if only for a moment, to get it all the way off her.
As I step back and the dress falls around her feet, however, I take that moment to appreciate everything that I can see of her. Her figure has filled out slightly more. The baby is still growing, which means that her body is growing in different ways as well. And she looks … amazing.
My lips move to hers but then to her cheek, down her jaw to her neck, then over her breasts that have certainly filled out since that first time in my office. Down over her stomach, which I can’t help touching and caressing ever so carefully.
When I look up at her there’s a softness in her eyes. Something that’s almost like … love. But is it for me? My heart surges at the thought, but I try to tamp down my enthusiasm. It’s the baby. The baby she’s thinking about. Or rather, it could be the baby and I don’t want to get my hopes up too much only to have them broken.
She doesn’t say anything, but she reaches down and pulls me back upward, back to her mouth. Her hands move to my shirt, unbuttoning it and shoving it down to my wrists where it sticks for the moment because I’m not done touching her.
Her hands on the button of my pants, however, are certainly going to spur things along because there’s so much more that I want at this moment.
Once I’m fully naked as well it’s only a matter of moments before I have her lying back on the bed, crawling up beside her to explore her body.
Lying side-by-side it’s even easier to do that. To touch her and tease her. To draw her higher and higher, her body tensing with every touch. And to really see that look in her eyes. The one that I’m hoping is love, because as I stare at her now, as I enter into her and set a pace between us that’s slow and sensual, I know that I’m hopelessly in love with her.