Page 128 of Sin With Me

Chapter4

Eric

I nearly felloff my chair when the door to the conference room swungopen.

“You!” shesaid.

“What the…” I immediately stood up. I would have for any woman who had walked into the room, as I was expecting Julian and Tristan’s sister to do at any moment. Wait, was she their sister? Was Emma the frivolous and rebellious girl I had been told about? Was she the spoiled little brat? She sure hadn’t given me that impression three nights ago. If this was her, this could be complicated, and I seriously didn’t want to mess thisup.

And then the door slammed shut. Was she mad? Why? Standing there in her slick business suit, cut specifically for her beautiful shape, she looked so hot, I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming. Had the room gotten hotter and my pants tighter? Her yellow blouse underneath the black suit matched her beautiful hair, which was up in a bun. Emma had that ‘hot office chick’ look patented without even trying. And why was she standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, frowning at me? What had I done? She was the one who hadn’t come back like she’d promised. I’d been worried about her for days. Dreaming about her every night since the evening we’d met, about caressing her body, kissing her skin, savoring every piece of her flesh she had to offer with my mouth, including the dampness between her legs that drove me to relieve myself every night that she invaded my dreams. Shit! I was getting hard already, and she’d barely spoken tome.

Emma lifted her head up and walked forward with a stone-cold face. She pulled her hand out saying, “Emma Cross. I’ll be working on your case, Mr.?”

“Waters. Eric Waters. It’s nice to formally meet you, Emma.”

Fuck! It was as if we’d just seen each other for the very first time. Had she swum in a pool of liquid nitrogen this morning and had ice cubes for breakfast? She was acting as if I hadn’t seen her nearly naked, or made a connection with the few words we’d spoken. She couldn’t have dismissed me that quickly, could she? I’d felt it, and I knew she had too. We were like two souls who’d found each other in weird circumstances. Yet she was acting as if the connection we’d had never existed. As she stood there, shaking my hand for longer than necessary, the tightness in her neck and stiff shoulders told me she was trying to hide her emotions from me. Was she actually feeling something? Was there any way I could matter to her as much as she mattered to me? I swear, if anyone ever found out this woman brought me down to the level of a love-struck puppy, I’d never live thisdown.

“Please sit down,” shesaid.

I waited until she took her seat across the table before lowering to my chair.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Waters?”

“Emma, I’ve been worried about you,” Isaid.

She paused for a moment, obviously surprised by my statement.

“You were supposed to come back and let me walk you to yourcar.”

“Mr. Waters.”

“Eric.”

“Eric, I’m quite capable of taking care of myself.”

“I didn’t mean to insinuate you’re not, but the place we were in… a lot of bad stuff happens there.”

“I’ve seen bad, and I can handle even worse, including whatever business you have with Cross Enterprises, which I’m assuming can’t be good since you’re here.” Her reply nearly iced my veins.

“I’m sorry, I just wish you’d let me know. I was worried.”

She considered my statement for a moment, and I saw her guard lower for a split second.

“You weren’t there when I came out. I left you a note at thebar.”

My eyes widened. “I had to use the washroom, and I never got a note. Only your name from the waitress.”

Her face softened. She drummed her fingers on the table, waiting patiently as if contemplating whether she should cross the business line we would sign on today and venture into the personal territory I so desperately needed her to be in. “Would you have called if you’d gotten it?” she finally asked. The vulnerable side of her was unreal – definitely not the way she’d presented herself the night we met. I was important to her. Allowing herself to ask this question had to mean that she thought I was special. I was now certain I was the only one capable of breaking through the sheet of ice she’d covered herselfwith.

I leaned forward, saying, “Over and over again, until you’d agree to see me. When I realized at the bar I had no way of contacting you, it was like getting stabbed – actually, worse than that. I felt like I’d just had a bomb explode yards away, making me numb and dead for seconds before I realized that I’d live but would never know how to go on without seeing you again.”

A shiver of goose bumps appeared along her neck, and I imagined kissing each one away. God, what was she doing to me? And how? Sitting here all the way across the table, I might as well have been behind bars. The urge to touch her and just be close to her was becoming more like an unbearable itch you had under a cast and couldn’t scratch.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Waters?” she asked, bringing me back to the conferenceroom.

“You’ll be working on my case?” Of course I knew she’d be working on my case. That’s why I was here. The irony of my situation was that she was now my case as well. This couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. And hopefully I wouldn’t screw thisup.

“I’m one of the best,” she said with confidence.

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