Best of Three (Counting on Love) (25 page)

Matt, Ben and Jessica were hardly the type of people that Emma needed to watch her manners and her mouth around. They were fun and laid-back. Moreover, Nate knew that Matt and Emma had talked—and flirted and danced—in the past. He certainly hoped it hadn’t been more than that, but they were both regulars at Trudy’s Tavern and both were known for short-term meaningless flings.

However, conversation was polite and pleasant. It wasn’t exactly exciting, but it also wasn’t tense. Matt was attentive to his date, who was quiet but seemed nice. They all talked football and about the hospital. Ben and Jessica were a great couple and had the rest of them laughing with stories about their kids and their twin nieces.

And not once did Emma put her hand on Nate’s leg under the table or whisper something naughty in his ear.

Nate was getting more and more irritated by that.

She was perfectly pleasant and polite. Not at all like the Emma he knew and wanted to the point that he had barely tasted the rib-eye steak with Portobello relish or the flourless chocolate cake with raspberry coulis. Which also irritated him. He loved chocolate cake.

Though even as he ate it and tried to concentrate, all he could think was how much he’d like to smear it all over Emma before eating it. And he had some specific ideas about that raspberry coulis.

“Olivia sick tonight?” Matt asked.

Nate focused on the other man, finding that his date had excused herself from the table. Matt was regarding Emma over the top of his beer bottle.

Emma looked up from spreading the raspberry sauce around on her plate with her spoon. “No.”

“But you got to come to the fancy party instead?” Matt asked. “I’ve never seen you so dressed up.”

Nate bit into his cake firmly. Matt was also known for being mouthy and irreverent. His insinuation that he knew Emma well enough to know how she typically dressed made Nate want to stab him with his dessert fork.

“This dress is overkill at Trudy’s and since that’s the only place we’ve ever hung out, the fact that you haven’t seen me more dressed up makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Nate took a long drink of water to hide his smile. Her clarification had been polite but clear.

Matt grinned. “That dress is overkill anywhere,” he said. “My heart about stopped when I saw you.”

Nate frowned at the other man. Emma was obviously here with Nate, and Matt had a date, but he was hitting on her anyway? The guy had balls.

Nate waited for Emma to say something—something to put Matt in his place or something sassy and flirtatious or something more than…

“Thank you, Matt. That’s sweet.”

Sweet? Matt basically telling her she looked hot as hell was sweet?

Matt grinned again. “I’m guessing you borrowed it from Olivia though, right?”

Emma took a bite of her cake and chewed as she looked at Matt. When she’d swallowed she said, “Why is that?”

“It’s about a size small for you, isn’t it? Not that I’m complaining. That dress lets every guy in here know what he’s missing or brings back a great memory, you know?”

Nate straightened quickly and stared hard at Matt. Had the asshole really just said that? “Dawson,” Nate said, his tone low with warning. “You’d better—”

He felt Emma’s hand on his thigh and he glanced at her.

She didn’t look at him but she squeezed his leg, then lifted her napkin to her mouth and dabbed. “Do you know what I remember?” she asked Matt.

Okay, he could let her handle it. In fact, Nate couldn’t wait to hear her put Dawson in his place.

“What’s that, sweetheart?” Matt asked.

“That you’re a great dancer. Will you dance with me now?”

What the hell? Nate watched with amazement as Matt agreed and came around the table to pull Emma’s chair back and help her up. They walked to the dance floor hand in hand. Nate felt his blood pressure rising as Matt took Emma in his arms.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Ben said, standing and taking his wife’s hand. “Let’s dance, babe.”

Nate realized he was gripping his fork in a position more conducive for inflicting puncture wounds than for eating cake and made his hand relax. He gave the Torreses a smile. “Enjoy.”

As Ben and Jessica made their way to the floor, Nate’s eyes were immediately back on Emma and Matt. He was about ten seconds from cutting in, but he needed to get his temper under control before he did it or Matt Dawson would end up on his ass in the middle of the Britton Hotel’s ballroom.

Matt’s ear was close to Emma’s lips and she was whispering something. Nate sat up straight. He didn’t like that one bit. She was fucking here with
him
. And she was supposed to be having a hard time keeping her hands off of
him
. And she was supposed to be suggesting dirty things she wanted done to her by
him
.

Nate stood and started for the dance floor as Emma ran her hand from Matt’s shoulder, down his chest to his fly. Nate’s blood pressure climbed to dangerous levels as he stalked toward them, but when he was about to grab Matt’s arm, he saw Emma clench her hand.

She had Matt Dawson by the balls. Literally. And was squeezing.

Nate saw Matt’s eyes widen and heard the squeaking sound he made.

“This is a nice place, full of nice people, and if you can’t act
nicely
then you need to get the hell out of here. Got it, Dawson?” Emma asked him.

She flexed her hand and Matt nodded quickly.

“The next time you think you want me up close to your cock, keep this in mind,” she said with one final squeeze. She let go of him, pushed him back and smoothed her hands over her dress. “Now I have a date to get back to.”

She turned and nearly ran smack into Nate.

He took hold of her upper arms and stared at her. God, she was something.

She looked sheepish. “Sorry about that.”

“About putting Dawson in his place? Don’t be.”

“I’ve been working hard to not embarrass you tonight. That’s why I took him out here away from Ben and Jessica. But I had to shut him up.”

“I know.” It was crazy but he loved that she’d been thinking of him and not embarrassing him even while he hated that she’d changed her personality to fit in here with him tonight. He loved that she was unpredictable and spoke her mind and did whatever she wanted to do. He’d appreciated the more demure Emma tonight, but he hadn’t
enjoyed
her the way he did the usual Emma.

“Do you want to dance?” she asked, giving him a sweet smile.

“No.”

She instantly frowned. “Dammit, Nate. There are other words in the world.”

“How about these?” he asked. “Do you remember how I told you I’d give you a signal when it was time?”

Her eyes went wide with understanding and she nodded.

“This is the signal.”

“What is?”

“Me telling you that this is the signal.”

Her mouth curved up and her eyes sparkled. “That’s not a very good signal.”

“It’s communicating clearly, isn’t it?”

“That you’re ready to finally get naked with me? Yeah, it’s communicating clearly.”

“Then it’s a perfect signal.”

She was still smiling as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

“I should warn you, my physician says I have to wait six more weeks before I have sex.”

He grinned. He should have known that would come back to bite him. “Your physician sounds like an asshole.”

“A controlling one,” she said, nodding.

“So…screw him.”

She snorted and Nate’s grin grew.

“This is a hotel,” he pointed out.

“Yes. A very nice one.”

“Hotels have beds. And showers.”

“And walls and dressers and chairs,” she added.

He moved in close and dropped his voice, running his hand down her bare arm. “You want me to take you up against the wall or on the dresser or bent over a chair?”

“Yes,” she said breathlessly.

Heat and desire hit him low in the gut and coursed to his cock.

He was a fool if he’d thought for even two seconds that this would never happen. And the fact that he preferred the Emma who didn’t hesitate to take a conceited surgeon by the balls when he got mouthy over the Emma who made polite small talk with the chief of surgery, was one more indication that fighting his feelings for her was impossible.

He didn’t say anything more, simply took her hand and led her out of the ballroom and across the lobby to the front desk.

“I need to book a suite for tonight,” he told the receptionist.

“Of course.”

As they took his credit card and plugged information into the computer, Nate felt Emma shifting from foot to foot beside him.

“Nervous?” he asked her calmly, not looking at her because he couldn’t trust himself not to start something he couldn’t finish here in the lobby.

“God no,” she said with a laugh. “Eager.”

That pulled his eyes to hers. It definitely wasn’t nerves. As she looked up at him, Nate saw a combination of things that made him dizzy—excitement, desire, trust. And the thing that hit him hardest—happiness. He made her happy.

“We’re also going to need room service to bring up some of the chocolate cake with the raspberry coulis,” Nate said, turning back to the front desk attendant. “Two pieces. Big ones.”

Chapter Nine

He heard Emma giggle and his palms itched with the getting-more-familiar-all-the-time tingles.

“Of course, Dr. Sullivan,” the woman behind the desk said.

They got on the elevator and rode to the sixteenth floor without talking or touching. They walked to the door to the suite. He inserted the key card, surprised but pleased that his hands were completely steady. He pushed the door open and Emma stepped past him. He moved in behind her and let the door swing shut.

Emma turned to face him in the alcove. She spread her arms. “I’m all yours.”

Those three words hit him directly in the chest. There were so many things good about those words.

He’d had fantasies about having Emma to himself in a hotel suite. He had lots of things he wanted to do to and with her. But he was also having an urge he hadn’t had in a long time—almost too long to remember.

“Emma,” he said in that low voice he knew she liked.

“Yes, Nate?” she asked, kicking one of her shoes off.

“You know how much I like being in charge.”

“Yes, I do.” She gave him a sexy smile that said she was fully on board and kicked her other shoe off.

The fact that she was here and ready to do whatever he told her to do made his heart thump. But at the moment there was something else he needed more.

He hadn’t trusted a woman since Trisha, and it had taken him a long time to get there with her. They’d been together for more than two years before he trusted the idea of making it permanent. Her trial period had been
two years
.
And it had still blown up in his face.

After that, trusting another woman with his heart, with his life, had seemed impossible.

But Emma Dixon made him believe he could do it. She made him want to do it. After only a week.

Yes, he’d known her for much longer but it had only been since the night in his truck that he’d let himself think about having anything with her beyond their teasing and arguing and sexual tension. He’d tried to resist it, but the idea had been there in the back of his mind, digging in and taking root.

He trusted her and that meant he could let go, let things happen…let Emma loose.

“That means that you’re expecting me to tell you what to do,” he said.

Emma reached behind her to the zipper on her dress. “Yes, I am.”

“I want you to do whatever you want.”

She froze and stared at him. “Excuse me?”

He grinned, tucked his hands into his pockets and leaned back against the door. He wanted to see Emma unleashed. On him. “That’s what I want. I want you to do whatever you want.”

Her hands dropped away from her zipper.

“Are you serious?”

“Very.”

“I’m totally in charge?”

“Oh, I intend to cover you in chocolate cake later,” he promised. “And then I’m going to bend you over that chair to lick it off.”

She sucked in a quick breath and blew it out through pursed lips.

“But, right now, it’s all you.”

Slowly a smile curled one side of her mouth and she stepped close. “That’s really nice of you.”

“That’s exactly why I’m doing it—to be nice.”

She licked her lips, perusing him from head to toe. “Okay, let’s go.” She gestured with her thumb toward the bedroom.

Nate pushed off the door and sauntered into the bedroom, holding back from sprinting.

He started to sit on the bed but Emma stopped him with a simple, “No.”

He turned to face her. “You’re getting awfully comfortable with that word yourself.”

She pushed him back from the bottom of the bed and took a seat herself. “Take your jacket off.”