Chapter 14 - The Bed Intruder

Three days. Three fucking days and he still hadn’t heard a peep out of her. Honestly, what did he expect? She had treated him like shit every second during their trip over here and then he had to go and insult her. Of course she wouldn’t want to hang out with him.

The trip was an absolute mess so far. Sure, he had done plenty of sightseeing during the day and even hung out with Teresa a few times but there was only so much he could handle with her. She was best to see in small doses. To top it off, Leo had emailed him letting him know he was coming with Mia for a few days at the end of the week. Apparently, his trip had made Mia nostalgic and all of a sudden everyone was into the idea of having a big fucking reunion. Only problem was he would be flying solo again for it. Great.

He entered his hotel room after a long night out and went to insert the key card into the electrical outlet for the room, when he noticed a card was already in place. Weird. Had he left the spare in there by mistake?

Placing his card back in his wallet, he turned on the lights and stopped dead when he saw Emma sleeping peacefully in his bed. God, she was a sight for sore eyes. Her chocolate silky hair draped in contrast with the white bedding and she looked so damn adorable. He dimmed the lights to not wake her and checked his watch. It was just after midnight. Why did she suddenly take him up on his offer?

Deciding it was best not to overthink it and that he was just wasting precious time, he stripped down to his boxers and quickly got into bed with her. A huge grin crossed his face when he saw she was wearing one of his t-shirts to sleep. It was a surreal image he never expected to see. If he wasn’t as surprised as fuck right now, he could almost let himself believe this was a natural everyday occurrence. As if he were simply coming home to his girl after a night out.

He turned off the lights and carefully scooted up against her, letting his arm wrap around her waist as platonically as possible. She felt so warm and perfect it wasn’t long until he fell into a long and peaceful sleep.

Eight hours later and he was amazed to wake up completely rested in the same exact position with Emma still tucked securely in his arms. Not only that, but their legs were tangled up and her bottom was pressed tightly against him. He sucked in his breath at the sweet sensation and knew he would need to back away from her in a matter of seconds before she woke up and witnessed him in all his morning glory.

She beat him to it when she suddenly shifted in his arms and turned around to face him with sleepy eyes. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“Hey,” she said looking up at him shyly through those incredible emerald green eyes.

“Hey, yourself,” he said trying to contain his shit-eating grin.

“Are you still mad at me?” she asked softly.

“I was never mad at you, sweetheart.”

“Oh,” she said and left it at that. She lowered her face, presumably to look at their intertwined bodies. Even before then, he was very much aware he was still holding onto her waist and her legs were folded in between his. Even more surprisingly, she didn’t make a move away from him and locked eyes with him instead.

“I borrowed one of your shirts. Hope that’s okay.”

God, he loved this version of Emma. She was all sweet and innocent and most importantly, all his at the moment. Was he dreaming? “It’s more than okay. What’s mine is yours.”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was waiting for you to come back and then I saw one of your shirts and it looked a lot comfier than what I was wearing and then I just sort of dozed off,” she rambled in explanation.

“It’s fine, Emma. You’re just lucky you didn’t catch me bringing a girl back with me.”

Her eyes instantly widened looking somewhat horrified. “Oh my god, I didn’t even think about that.”

“I’m just kidding, Em,” he said chuckling. “You know I wouldn’t do that to you.”

She sighed, looking very relieved. “Jerk,” she said playfully nudging his bare stomach.

He immediately grabbed her by the wrist and pinned it against her pillow between them, wishing her touch didn’t do crazy things to him. She giggled and finally gave him the smile he had been waiting for since the beginning of their trip. Yep, he was definitely dreaming.

“So are you going to tell me what happened for you to finally grace me with your presence?”

“Can’t a girl just decide to make a friendly visit?” she said with a smirk.

“That’s obviously not what happened sweetheart, so fess up.”

“It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“You know I can easily pin your other wrist to the pillow, right?”

A pink streak flushed her cheeks. “I kinda, sorta, got locked out of Alex’s apartment.”

“Is that so? How did you manage to do that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been carrying the keys in my bag all this time. I think I might’ve lost them. Alex is going to kill me.”

“You didn’t try calling him?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t answer as usual. He was probably either working late or out with some girl. I’ve barely seen him the last few days.”

Max frowned deeply at that. “Why didn’t you call me then?”

“I didn’t want to bother you and I thought you were mad at me. I remembered what you said so I came to the hotel to see if you might be here. They ended up giving me a key downstairs at reception and well, you know the rest.”

“Sweetheart, call me next time okay? Seriously, what would you have done otherwise?”

“I don’t know. I thought of getting a room somewhere but I didn’t have enough cash on me.”

“Emma, you could have ended up on the street. God, just thinking about it...” he trailed off and shook his head. All of a sudden he was very pissed off. How could Alex be so careless about her? He could punch him right now.

“Max, I’m fine. It didn’t happen, so don’t worry about it.”

Ignoring her comment, he let go of her and reached for the phone on the bedside table. That’s how angry he was that he had actually given up touching her. “What’s his number?” he huffed.

“Who’s?”

“Alex’s. What’s Alex’s number?”

“I’ll handle him, Max.”

“The hell you are.” He stormed out of bed and went searching for her bag. Her cell phone had to be in there somewhere.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Emma asked behind him as he searched inside her bag on the couch.

He turned to face her once he had her cell phone in his hand. Surprisingly, Emma was still wrapped inside the covers on the bed and her eyes were trailing down his body in what could only be approval. It was a semblance of a look he had seen before when he was injured. But this time he wasn’t beaten and half drugged and could fully appreciate it. Hell yeah, she was checking him out.

He smirked at her, getting momentarily distracted from the task at hand, and then quickly searched for Alex’s number. As he made the call, he wondered why she wasn’t trying to stop him.

“It’s pointless, Max. He’s not going to answer,” she finally said looking away from him.

He listened as the call went to voicemail. He hated when she was right. “Alex, it’s Max. Answer your damn phone and call Emma back. I don’t care if you’re out screwing girls or whatever it is that you do all day, she’s your sister so fucking call her, dickhead.”

He threw her phone back in her bag and took a deep breath. He couldn’t stand to see another person close to her, let alone her brother, treat her like crap. Someone had to put an end to it.

He went to sit down next to her on the bed. She looked confused and shocked as hell as he went to cup her cheek. “Hungry?” he asked as softly as possible.

She closed her eyes and nodded hesitantly at him.

“Good, I’m fucking starving. Now go put some clothes on before I haul your cute ass out of bed. We’ll get you something else you can change into later.” Before she could protest, he headed to the bathroom to give her some space and time to process his sticking up for her. Clearly she wasn’t used to it.

They ended up having breakfast at a nearby diner. Emma had mentioned it was one of the things she missed the most and he was instantly sold. Besides, you could never go wrong with unlimited coffee.

They headed towards Union Square afterwards to do some shopping. Emma confessed she had an interview later that afternoon so she needed to get something appropriate to wear. She dragged him to H&M saying it was all she could afford, even though he would have gladly bought her anything she wanted from the most expensive store.

She found a black pencil skirt pretty quickly and he convinced her on a green buttoned down shirt that matched her eyes. When he saw her in the dressing room, he suddenly felt jealous of the moron that would get to interview her while she wore that outfit.

If it were him, he would think about lifting up her skirt and ripping open her blouse. Hell, he was already in the middle of those thoughts right now. He was positive her interviewer would think about the same exact thing, and gripped the door he was leaning against until his knuckles turned white. He groaned, unbelieving he could get so worked up over some imaginary scenario that played out in his mind.

“So what time is your interview?” Max asked her, trying to get away from the gutter his thoughts were currently in.

“At 4pm,” she sighed. “I hate that it’s so late. I would have much preferred having it in the morning and getting it over with. Instead, I have to think about it all day.”

“Do you want to check out the pool at the hotel after this? You can take your mind off of it until then.”

“There’s a pool?” she asked excitedly. “I don’t have a bathing suit though,” she said a bit dejected.

“So we’ll get you one. I’m sure they have a bikini section here or something.”

“Who said anything about a bikini?” she teased.

“I did. But get whatever you want. I’m sure you’ll look good in any type of bathing suit, so go surprise me,” he said with a wink.

“Not to burst your bubble, but I don’t know if I have enough to buy all of this.”

“It’s on me, Em. Don’t worry about that.”

“I’ll pay you back, okay? If I ever manage to get into Alex’s apartment again.”

“Just go get the bikini, sweetheart. I’ll meet you at the checkout,” he said heading towards the men’s section.

Max chuckled at his specific mention of a bikini again and shook his head. Just the thought of seeing her in a bathing suit had him all riled up again and having wayward thoughts. He wished to god she ended up choosing one with strings that could play into his fantasies of untying it and stripping her bare. Damn, first the work outfit and now this? He was such a fucking bastard.

He found some light blue trunks for himself and didn’t even bother trying them on. They were size medium so they would definitely fit. He headed towards the register and spotted a dress Emma had been looking at earlier. He thought it would look really sexy on her so decided to get it for her. He just needed to find a way to convince her to wear it.

Back at the hotel, they changed and made their way up to the pool deck. Max was glad to see it was pretty empty besides a few other people lingering about. After all, it was a work week during the middle of the day so he hadn’t expected it to be packed with people anyway.

They found some lounge chairs and to his surprise, Emma quickly arranged her towel and settled right in. He had barely taken his shirt off, when a waiter came rushing by asking if they wanted anything. It irked him how much he was blatantly staring at Emma, so he sat up to get in his line of sight. He turned to ask her what she would like and he literally felt his jaw drop at the sight of her.

She was wearing the sexiest little golden bikini he had ever seen. She looked flawless in it and it hugged her in all the right places like a second skin, accentuating every wicked curve in her perfect body.

“Max?” he heard somewhere in the distance.

“Hmmm?” he said in a stupor, trying to force his vision away from her body. It was an impossible task. Thank god he was wearing sunglasses, otherwise she would have called him out on it.

“Are you okay?” she giggled. “I just ordered lemonade. Did you want anything?”

“Um, yeah. That sounds nice.”

She laughed again and looked up at the waiter. “I guess we’ll have two lemonades. Thanks.”

She sat up in her lounge chair, directly facing him. Suddenly her perky tits were front and center and entirely on display. Was she trying to kill him? Wicked images flooded his mind, mainly of him running his tongue all over and in between them, while gripping her tiny little waist and digging into her flesh.

Max took off his sunglasses and massaged his temple, trying to get the images out of his mind...or at least store them for later. Get it under control you idiot, he thought.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little...flushed.”

“I’m fine. I think the sun just got to me a bit too quickly. I’m going to take quick dip in the pool,” he said looking away from her and standing up. He really hoped it was ice cold.

“I’ll go with you,” she said. All of a sudden, she was next to him and grabbing his hand. “Wow, you’re so warm.” She reached up to touch his forehead and then his neck, presumably checking for a fever. He closed his eyes, almost in pain. Her touch was sizzling and he was burning up fast.

“Not now, Em,” he said hoarsely, removing her hand from his face. How could she be so clueless to the effect she had on him? He practically ran the rest of the way and jumped in the pool, pulling her in with him.

The minute he felt the water surround him, he felt like he could finally breathe again. Yes, this was a million times better.

“Max! A little bit more notice next time, would you?” Emma said sputtering water away from her face.

He laughed. “That was your fault for clinging on to me. What happened to your PDA rule anyway?”

“Oh, I guess I forgot. You were looking ill and I got worried. Sorry.”

“So I guess I’ll forget, too. You know, just so that we’re even,” he said pulling her towards the shallow end.

She playfully splashed water in his face when he got too close. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah, definitely.” As long as the twins were not in his face and were kept concealed under the water where they belonged, he would be fine.

“Good, you scared me for a minute,” she said shyly.

“I’m all good now,” he said trying to give her a reassuring smile. It didn’t seem to work, so he grabbed her hand and pressed it against his neck which was several degrees cooler now. He gave her palm a quick kiss before dropping her hand.

She looked away from him as the waiter arrived with their drinks. He tried to not pounce at him as he stared at Emma again. Couldn’t he see that she was taken? Well, technically not by him but still he didn’t know that. He really wanted to tell him to get lost as he signed the bill, but it wasn’t his place to say anything.

“Easy there, tough guy,” she said as the waiter left.

“So you noticed, huh?” he said a bit embarrassed.

“I think the slight growl emanating from your chest gave it away,” she said grinning.

“I’m sorry, Em. After last night, I’m just feeling...protective. He shouldn’t be staring at you like that.”

“And you should?” she asked, her lips turning up in a full curl before taking a sip of her lemonade.

Fucking hell. “Uhm...” he trailed off after running his hand down his face and rubbing his stubble. What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

“I’m just teasing, Max,” she said bursting out in laughter.

“God, Em. Quit messing with my head. There’s only so much I can take.”

“You can stare all you want. It’s flattering, really.” As if to drive the point further, she leaned back against the stairs, letting the water trickle down her chest.

Scorpion woman. “Quit it, Em. I’m serious.”

“Or what?” she said giggling.

Enough is enough. He wanted her so badly. He leaned in to her, grabbing her lower back and pulling her legs around his waist. “Or you’ll force me to do very bad things to you.” He selfishly ran his hands around her bottom, pulling her tightly against him so that her chest pressed up against his. “Is that what you want, sweetheart?” he whispered against her ear.

He heard her slightly whimper and then she shivered slightly against him. She placed her hands on his chest and he nearly moaned at the contact until he realized she was pushing him away. He loosened his grip on her but didn’t let her go entirely. She sat back on his legs and peeked up at him cautiously. His heart hammered against his chest under her scrutiny and he could swear she felt it too.

She looked at him in confusion, as if not understanding what was going on, and then her expression turned soft and almost sad even.

He waited in anticipation for some type of response, but it never came. Had he taken it too far? Maybe he should apologize to her for being such a Neanderthal. “Em, I...”

“I should probably go back to the room,” she interrupted as if nothing had happened. “I need to start getting ready.”

He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Okay, beautiful,” he sighed. “Just give me a minute.” He reluctantly set her down on her feet and adjusted himself, as discretely as possible. Good thing the water was at least pretty cold.

Eventually he took her hand, leading her out of the pool. The air seemed cooler now, so he hurried back to their spot and wrapped a towel around her before grabbing one for himself.

He tried to ignore the sinking feeling inside him as they walked back to the room in silence. He had really done it this time. She would probably leave for her interview and never come back. How did he manage to screw things up so quickly?

Emma swiftly headed towards the bathroom without another word, so he plopped on the couch and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels aimlessly. He heard the shower turn on and he groaned, thinking of Emma soon to be getting all soaped up in there. God, he was becoming pathetic. Every little thing about her set him off.

He leaned his back against the couch and tried really hard to pay attention to the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” showing on TV. Apparently there was some type of marathon going on for the day but he could barely follow what was going on with some Nene character.

He heard a buzzing noise coming from Emma’s bag. Thinking it might be Alex, he reached for her phone to finally give him a piece of his mind. He soon realized it wasn’t him, but rather an email she had just received about her interview. It looked important.

He knocked on the bathroom door, before letting himself inside. “Em, sorry to barge in but you just got an email from a Sarah Jones?”

“Holy shit, what does it say?” she said peeking out of the shower in alarm. “Can you read it to me?”

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down at the fact that she was completely naked behind that shower curtain. “It says, ‘Hi Emma. Sorry for the last minute email, but it’s been a hectic day today at the office. Would you be able to swing by on Friday instead? We’re wide open from 10-2pm. Hope that still works for you. Thank you, Sarah.”

“Ugh, are you serious? That’s so unprofessional. I feel like they’re brushing me off,” Emma said.

“You don’t know that. Yes, it’s unprofessional, but maybe they were busy and wanted to give you a proper interview.”

“You think I should respond?”

“Of course. I can write back to her now. What do you want to say?”

“I guess...Hi Sarah. Thanks for reaching out. I’m available Friday at 10am so I’ll come by then. See you soon. Emma.” She sighed and said something under her breath. “Does that sound lame?”

“No, it’s perfectly fine. Anything else before I send it?” Max asked.

“Did you write it in American English? Meaning no weird U’s or Z’s in there or anything like that?”

Max laughed. “Let me double check, but I don’t think so. I never thought my British upbringing would turn out to be a hindrance one day.”

Emma poked her head out again. “Here, show me real quick.”

Was she crazy? He walked closer towards the shower and held out the phone for her, trying to look in the other direction.

“Max, I can’t see anything,” she said grabbing his wrist and pulling him closer.

“Sweetheart, I’m trying to be considerate here. Plus, you’re getting me all wet.”

“I’m still wearing my bathing suit, so relax. Nothing to see here.”

“Why are you...Jesus Em, why didn’t you just say that?”

“Max, we’re dealing with more important things right now so hush.”

This woman was unbelievable. He bit his tongue though, and let her read the damn email.

“Okay, looks good. Can you send? Thanks Max.”

“You’re welcome, crazy girl.” He hit send and placed her phone down on the counter next to the sink. He was about to dry himself off from the spray of water on his arm, when a better idea popped into his fuzzy brain.

Before he could think about it too much, he was pushing back the shower curtain and stepping inside the tub with Emma.

“Max, are you insane? What the hell are you doing?” she shrieked.

“Saving water. What does it look like?” he shrugged, acting as if it wasn’t a big deal. It was.

“I could have been naked!”

“Well, you’re not. You just told me you weren’t like five seconds ago.”

“Still, this is totally crossing the line.”

“Last I checked it wasn’t in your silly rule book, so we’re good,” he said nonchalantly reaching for the shampoo and began lathering his hair before she could stop him.

She huffed and crossed her arms.

“You know when you do that, your boobs push out very nicely,” he grinned.

She immediately put her arms back against her side and stared him down. “When I laid down the rules, I didn’t include showering because it’s obviously beyond the ground rules!”

“Sorry, you should have specified. Can you move to the side? You’re hogging all the water,” he said doing his best not to smile.

Emma stepped aside, possibly more in shock than anything.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he said rinsing out the shampoo out of his hair. “Why are you showering with your bikini on anyway?”

“I don’t know. Habit I guess,” she said watching him intently as he soaped his chest.

“Hmm, okay.” She obviously didn’t want to talk about it. “Are you bummed about the interview?” he asked, shifting the conversation.

She sighed and finally relaxed her stance. “Yeah, a little. I’ll just have to wait some more until Friday.”

“How about we do dinner and a movie? Take your mind off things?” he proposed, with a hopeful look.

“Um, sure. That would be nice...and normal for a change.”

“Great, it’s a date then.”

“It’s not a date, Max. Don’t even think about stealing a kiss at the end of the night.”

“Fine. It’ll be a massively boring date,” he said with a wink.

“My favorite kind,” Emma mused.

“I guess I can’t really complain after already getting to spend the night and shower with you. I’d say my chances are looking pretty good.”

“Don’t get any ideas, tough guy.”

Later that evening, Max found himself begrudgingly taking Emma home. He had been really relieved when Alex had finally sent her a text during the movie saying he was home, but at the same time it would have been nice to keep her for an extra night, as selfish as it was. Besides, he had been at his best behavior the rest of the evening, and didn’t cross any other lines as much as he itched to the entire time. He deserved some type of medal honor at this point.

“Well, look who it is!” Alex said enthusiastically as he opened the door.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to call you since last night!” Emma yelled at him.

“I told you I was busy, Em. It’s not my fault you left your damn keys in the apartment. Be more careful next time.”

“They’re here? So I didn’t lose them?” she asked incredulously.

“No, they’re on the coffee table, sis.”

“Oh, thank god,” she said, practically running inside the apartment.

“A word, Alex?” Max huffed at him.

“Give me a minute. I’ll meet you downstairs,” he responded in a calm, low voice.

Max nodded, taken aback. He had expected Alex to blow him off.

“Later, Em,” he called out towards her, trying to play it cool. He really hated leaving her, especially after spending all day together.

To his surprise, she walked back towards him and gave him a hug followed by a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for today, Max,” she said shyly ducking her head.

“Anytime, little lady,” he answered warmly and then turned to Alex, who was smirking at their exchange. “See you, Alex,” he said giving him a pointed look.

“Later, dude,” he responded with a slight nod.

Five minutes later, Alex came down to meet Max. He immediately held his hands up at him. “Before you say anything, let me explain.”

“What is wrong with you? Is that how you always treat her? I’m sick of you people thinking you can just walk all over her and pretend like it’s nothing! She gets locked out of the apartment and you don’t give a shit? Some brother you are.”

“Are you done now?” Alex responded, seeming bored.

“Not even close. I can’t believe you would just - ”

“Max, I took her keys, alright?” he quickly interrupted.

“You...what? Why would you do that?”

Alex shrugged and looked down the street, as if collecting his thoughts. He stared at a yellow taxicab as it dropped off some passengers and then rounded out the corner. “I figured I would help accelerate whatever it is that’s going on between you two. She obviously likes you, but won’t admit it. She can be quite stubborn at times.”

“So you did it on purpose? So she would stay with me?” Max asked trying to process the information.

“You’re welcome, dickhead,” he said borrowing his choice word from his voicemail earlier. “And just so you know, I fucking love that girl. She’s my baby sister and I would do anything for her. So don’t tell me I’m a shitty brother. She already has enough to deal with between our asshole father and that fucking meathead.”

“Shit, man. I didn’t realize...so you prefer me over...I guess I should be thanking you, huh?”

“Save it. Just don’t fuck it up. I’m rooting for you, but if you end up hurting her I swear to god I’ll fly out to Spain just to kick your ass.”

“I understand. But just so you know I would never hurt her,” Max replied.

“Good. Then keep it that way,” he said with a slight grin.

“I will. Thanks, Alex. I owe you one.”

He shrugged it off this time. “To be honest, I think you would be doing us all a favor. I still don’t understand what she’s still doing with that douchebag.”

“I ask myself the same question all the time. If you figure it out, let me know.”

“Yeah. Well good luck, bro. I gotta bounce. I told Emma I was getting something from the deli,” Alex pointed out, looking at the time on his cellphone.

“Okay later, man,” Max responded, clasping his shoulder.

He walked back to his hotel with an extra pep in his step and shaking his head in amusement. It was reassuring to know he had one of the Blake siblings on his side. Now if he could just somehow get through to the other one.