Page 84 of Ramsey & Emerson

I walked over to the man, then stuck my hand out to shake his. “Nice to meet you.”

Adrian took my hand in his, and knowing better than to start a pissing match with me, he kept his hold firm and professional. When I let go of his hand, he took a step back as Emerson saddled up next to me again. While she was doing her best to keep me from making a scene, it was barely working.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he lied, his eyes giving him away. “Emerson and I were just going over the list of children’s charities that she emailed me earlier.”

“Yes, there’s no one that knows more about the local children’s charities than Emerson,” I replied smoothly. “Her passion is a benefit to local children everywhere.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he replied just as smoothly.

“So, where are you taking me to lunch?” Emerson asked, trying to lighten the mood.

I looked down at her. “Wherever you want to go.”

She grinned, her smile genuine. “I think a cobb salad from Demitri’s would make me happy.”

“Then a cobb salad from Demitri’s it is,” I replied easily, willing to give her anything.

“A person can never go wrong with Demitri’s,” Adrian chimed in, and my animal instinct was telling me that I was going to need to watch this man.

“Do you eat there often?” I asked civilly.

Adrian shook his head. “I’m so busy that I’m lucky to grab a sandwich out of the vending machine to eat at my desk.”

“I understand completely,” I said, ignoring the implication that I didn’t work as hard. “Luckily, I was able to put those around-the-clock workdays behind me years ago. Nowadays, I’m able to rearrange my workday around having lunch with my wife.”

“It must be nice,” he remarked, his jaw ticking a bit.

“It is,” I agreed. “In fact, it’d be nothing to cater lunch for the entire building today if that’ll help get some of you through the day.”

Now, was it crass to throw my wealth in his face? Yes. Yes, it was. Did I give a fuck? No. No, I didn’t. As far as I was concerned, there were no rules when it came to my wife. Emerson was the only thing on this planet that I couldn’t live without, so there wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t do to make sure that I kept her by my side.

With Emerson watching, Adrian smiled graciously. “While that’s very generous, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

“Well, in that case, I think we’ll be on our way,” I told him, my voice as even as possible.

“Of course,” he replied simply before looking at Emerson. “Enjoy your lunch.”

As soon as Adrian Cossacks walked out of Emerson’s office, she shot me a look. “Seriously, Ramsey?”

“I didn’t like the way that he was standing so close to you,” I told her, not bothering to lie.

“We were going over the charity list that I sent him,” she replied, repeating what he’d said earlier.

“I don’t care if you guys had just discovered more of the lost Dead Sea Scrolls,” I retorted. “I did not and do not appreciate how close he was to you.”

“While I can appreciate that you’re not right in the head, that was very unnecessary, Ramsey,” she said. “The man is not interested in me.”

She was wrong.

She was so fucking wrong.

Nonetheless, I wasn’t about to get into an argument with her at her work. While a lot of people didn’t learn from their mistakes, I liked to believe that I’d had. Years ago, I had humiliated Emerson in one of the worst wayspossible, and I’d done it in front of hundreds of people. While my motives had been honest at the time, when I’d found out how wrong I’d been about the entire situation, I had tracked her down, then had begged for forgiveness in a way that had surprised even me. Before Emerson had walked into my life, I’d sworn that I’d never get on my knees for anyone, but she’d proven me wrong, and I thanked God every day that I’d had a big enough throat to swallow my pride back then.

At any rate, ever since that day, I did my best to act like an asshole only in private, but I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t a constant struggle. Luckily for me and our marriage, Emerson wasn’t weak. If she were, then it’d be easy for people to believe that she was in an emotionally abusive marriage, but she wasn’t. Emerson’s demons were just as twisted and unhealthy as mine were, and if anyone ever saw one of our fights, they’d start taking bets on who would win. Granted, Emerson would always win because there was one very important fact in our marriage that was quite simple; Emerson could live without me, whereas Icould notlive without my wife. At least, not without turning violently rabid.

“Can we just go to lunch?”

Her silver eyes regarded me carefully, narrowing a bit. “I mean it, Ramsey. The man is not interested in me.”

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