Chapter Fourteen
Emma
Panic was the only thing I could contribute to leaving the away games early.
I’d woken to an empty room and slipped from the bed to find myself in my tank top and panties and my boy shorts laying on top of the dresser.
I didn’t even remember coming back to the room. I certainly didn’t remember taking my clothes off. The last thing I remembered was talking to Colton in the restaurant, which could only mean one thing: he’d been the one to take my clothes off, and he’d put me to bed.
God, I wanted to die of embarrassment. I never allowed myself to get like that.
Glad to be alone, I grabbed my clothes and made my way to the washroom where I quickly showered and dressed before returning to the room.
I’d slipped my shorts and tank top in my top drawer and made my way over to my computer to go through the images and interview from yesterday when I saw a piece of folded paper on my laptop.
I picked up the paper, opened it, and almost immediately my hands began shaking and a wave of embarrassment flooded my body as I stared at the words he’d written.
I swallowed hard, my eyes fixed on his handwriting.
Can’t wait to hear all about that tattoo.
That was all that it said.
I could feel my heart rate speeding up as I continued to stare at the words he’d written. Then, without any thought, I crumpled up the paper, gripping it in my hand as my mind raced.
A knock on the door quickly pulled me from my racing thoughts, and I heard a woman yell, “Housekeeping.”
“Sorry, I’ll um, be out of your way in a few minutes!” I yelled out.
“No worries, take your time. I’m sure I can find another room to clean.”
I went over to my laptop, quickly emailed Pamela and Larson, letting them know I had an emergency that I needed to tend to, then I quickly packed and left the room. I called a cab and took it to the airport, where I booked my flight back to Vancouver.
I now stood in Colton’s living room, eating an apple while I waited for the rental furniture I’d ordered to arrive. I’d figured it would be best for them to drop everything off while we were gone. That way I could stage the house once we returned for the Off Ice Affairs interview.
I walked into the kitchen and threw the apple core in the garbage when my phone vibrated. I quickly grabbed it, wondering if it was an update on the furniture, but saw an email from Kerry instead. Dread filled me as I saw the subject line.
There were so many things going on now, I seriously felt as if I were living someone else’s life, and to be honest, I wanted to face none of it.
To top it all off, I felt like I was failing at the most important assignment of my career, which I’d like to say wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t help but feel I was partially to blame.
I wasn’t focused; I hadn’t been focused since I walked into the room the morning I’d arrived in Vancouver and laid eyes on Colton.
No matter how much I’d told myself the man meant nothing to me, every corner I turned said differently.
I could tell myself that I was the one with all the control, I could even force myself to try to believe it, but the way the memory of that kiss we’d shared in that interview yesterday had scarred its way into my brain told me everything I needed to know. Or it should have.
I knew why she wanted to talk, so I dialed her number and waited for her to answer.
I’d meant to send her an email explaining about the forty thousand I’d donated to the charity, but with everything else on my plate, I’d forgotten, and I knew that the check had probably already hit my account.
Which meant that, more than likely, she needed to approve it before they’d clear it.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Kerry,” I said, taking a breath.
“Emma, finally, listen, we need to have a little chat,” Kerry said.
“I agree, and I meant to email you, but I forgot,” I replied, sitting back in the chair while taking a sip of water. “It’s been an interesting few days.”
“Sure has. It certainly was interesting to receive an email late Saturday night for an approval request for a forty thousand dollar check on your spending account without hearing a word from you about it. I tried calling you last night, but it kept just going straight to voicemail.”
I thought back to the previous night, vaguely remembering sending her incoming call to my voicemail when I’d been drowning my sorrows.
I was quiet. I should have emailed her the second I’d written that check and handed it over to Larson; instead, I allowed many things to interfere with my job. I had also allowed my own feelings toward Colton to interfere as well.
“What is going on? I’ve seen some things in the paper regarding the two of you, and while I understand how the media works, they don’t normally drop things this quickly. Need I remind you again how important this case is for the firm?”
“You don’t need to remind me. I am on top of it. As a matter of fact, I am just sitting down to go over and approve the interview we ran yesterday morning, which should clear everything up from the fundraising event.”
“That’s funny, because an article was published a few hours ago from an interview you ran yesterday.”
“WHAT?” I said, panic setting in.
“Yes, you two look very happy together. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you two actually were a couple at one point. I mean that kiss…it’s also all over Puck-Lit-Love.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s a good thing, right?” I said, my voice shaking.
“I never said it wasn’t. I just don’t feel you are taking this seriously.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Well, because you’ve really pulled nothing together that is of any substance to clear his name quicker. His own PR team could have come up with these things.”
“Well, I know, and I’m working on that. Mr. Fox can be somewhat of a handful, and while I’ve come up with something that I know will clear his image and force the media to focus on the good he does for good, he has refused to allow me to use the information for now.”
“Emma, you are more cutthroat than this. You just do it.”
“Just trust me on this, please, give me the benefit of the doubt. It will come out. It’s just a matter of when.”
“Don’t play games. Why are you not with Colton now? He is at the away games, but I saw the charge on the company card for the flight back to Vancouver.”
I closed my eyes. “Yes, you are correct. I had to return because I needed to make sure I was here for the company to come in and stage his house for the in-home interview.”
“Right…Emma, I’m not paying you to be back in Vancouver. I’m paying you to be in the presence of Colton Fox to take care of things regarding your assignment.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“I promise you—”
“Emma, if you couldn’t handle this assignment, you should have told me, and I’d have gotten someone else.
Now, I have to go. You need to get your ass back to Colton before this man fucks up his entire career and mine in the process if we fail.
I will approve this check, and once you are back in the office in the fall, we will then discuss a repayment plan. Talk soon.”
She was gone. I didn’t even reply.
I’d worked tirelessly for the last two days arranging furniture, unpacking many boxes of accessories to fill the main part of Colton’s house. I’d just placed the two blankets on the back of his couch and looked around the properly lit room now.
I was so happy with how the house had turned out. My choices had been perfect, working with the dark colors of his furniture, adding other furniture in the same dark wood tone and mixing it with neutral colours. This space finally had a comforting and inviting look to it.
I glanced at the time. Colton would be back in about three hours, so I got up from where I sat and made my way toward his bedroom. I slipped through his room and into his ensuite and looked over the large inviting jacuzzi tub in the corner.
My body ached the more I looked at it, and I knew that a shower wasn’t going to do anything to soothe my aching muscles.
“One bath won’t hurt,” I whispered to myself.
I walked over, turned the faucets on, and began filling the large tub with hot water. I ran to my room and grabbed my bath salts and then, once it was full, I climbed in and allowed the hot water to seep into my body.
When I’d had enough, I climbed out of the tub and caught sight of my reflection in the mirror, that stupid heart tattoo with the initials CF staring back at me. I swallowed hard.
I could still remember going to get it. I hadn’t been old enough to consent on my own, so I’d forged a note from my mother. I knew she’d kill me if she saw it, and so I made sure she never did. It had been a stupid mistake, but then that’s what teenagers did.
I ran my fingers over the heart and initials once again.
I hated staring at it, for all it did was remind me of how stupid I was to actually think I’d ever meant anything to Colton Fox.
I tore my eyes from the mark and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
I wanted to die knowing that he’d seen it, and more than ever I needed to find someone who could remove it—sooner rather than later.
I reached over to grab the towel I’d brought in with me when the bathroom door flung open and Colton walked in completely naked.
I froze as my eyes skimmed over his body. The man was immense in every aspect. We both stood there, eyes locked on one another, each of us taking the other in, and then, as if a light switch went off, shock and horror filled me.
What the hell was he doing here? His flight wasn’t scheduled to land for another hour yet.
“Oh my god!” I screamed, scrambling to cover myself. “Get out!”
I stepped over and shoved the door closed and then turned to look at myself in the mirror. I’d never be able to look at him again, I thought to myself, mortified that not only had I seen him naked but that he’d seen me.