I'm amazed. Stupefied. Bumfuzzled.
I've never seen a woman react to Harley that way. Usually, his hundred pounds of brute force tends to scare most people.
Emily gently lowers his front paws to the ground and continues to rub his ears as people come up to her to say hello. She clearly knows a lot of the hockey players here and I'm wondering if she's one of those women that are looking to get laid tonight or walk off with a potential husband.
The thought does not set well with me.
And then I see Ryan Burnham turn to her and whisper in her ear. She punches him in the shoulder over whatever he said, and it hits me like a ton of bricks. That's Ryan's sister. Duh...Emily Burnham. Watching them stand next to each other, there is no mistaking the family resemblance.
She must have been here at Linc's place when she hit me that day. He never said a word to me and he usually tells me about all of his sexual exploitations. Maybe Emily is special to him and he's keeping her under wraps.
As I watch her though, she looks over at Linc, who is still wrapped up in the double-trouble beauties. She just shakes her head with a fond smirk. She's clearly not upset that he is with other women. No...she had to have been here for something else that day. Not that I care nor is it any of my business.
So I just sit back...and I watch her.
***
I never leave my spot, leaning up against the wall. I finish my beer but I don't make a move to get another one. I'm fascinated watching Emily work the crowd. Ryan brings her a glass of red wine and a bottled water for Danny. Emily then proceeds to mingle around. She clearly knows most of the guys, and even makes small talk with some of the girls. I notice she laughs a lot and it's hard not to notice the way her eyes light up when she finds something amusing.
Probably twenty minutes of her laughing and joking with other people goes by, and then the inevitable happens. She glances my way and locks eyes with me. Instantly, the gregarious smile on her face melts and she actually looks disappointed to see me there.
Can't say as I blame her. I was a real prick to her the last time we met.
Oh, well. It's no skin off my back. That's who I am.
I turn away and walk into the kitchen to get another beer. After opening it up, I take a long swallow and lean back against the counter top. No one is in here and I'm enjoying the blessed quiet. It's my solace. I look down to study the Frye boots I'm wearing. They're getting pretty scuffed, and there's a nice gouge on the heel of the left one, compliments of Miss Emily Burnham running me over.
"Hey, Nix."
My head snaps up and Emily is standing there.
Up close, she's even more beautiful that I remembered. She's wearing a dress but it's not the hooker wear that most of the women in the living room have painted on their bodies. It's butter yellow, fitting nicely across her br**sts—which are not surgically enhanced, by the way—and flows softly around her legs. The thin straps showcase creamy, sun kissed skin. The dress comes demurely to her knees and she has on a pair of gold sandals I notice after dragging my gaze down her shapely calves.
Emily is tall for a girl. She must be close to five-foot-six, as the top of her head comes about to my shoulder. It's the perfect height to pull a woman in close and press up against her body.
I shake my head. What the hell am I thinking?
I f**k women and leave them. I don't take stock of the beauty of their clothing, or how soft their skin looks.
I look her in the eyes and I make myself be me. "Well if it isn't the lady that likes to run people over."
She blushes and averts her eyes from my gaze. I watch as she clasps her hands in front of her then grabs her lower lip between her teeth. The move is innocent and wrings of nervousness, but damn if it doesn't make me want to take her lip in between my own teeth and bite down softly.
I wait for her to say something. Finally, she looks back at me and says, "I have to talk to you about the money I owe you."
I raise my eyebrows at her. "What's to talk about? You owe me the money and you have about three more weeks to make the first payment."
"Yeah, about my ability to get the money...my source has sort of dried up."
"What do you mean?" I ask. I really shouldn't care about it but I find I want to talk to her more. So this is the perfect excuse.
"I...well...um..." She's stammering with pink cheeks and I find it adorable. Normally, that would be a major turn off for me.
"Spit it out, Emily."
She takes a deep breath and plunges forward. "Okay, here's the deal. I'm a trust fund baby. No surprise there, right? Well, I'm allowed to take out two thousand dollars a month until I turn twenty-one, which is in ten months. When I turn twenty-one, I get full control of the trust. I had planned to just turn over that two thousand every month to you. Unfortunately, I've managed to piss my parents off completely and they cut me off."
Emily blows out a long, slow breath and I see that it is painful for her to admit this to me. But I'm not moved. "You know this isn't my problem. Why don't you just give me your insurance information?"
"No," she exclaims. "I can't."
"Oh, that's right. Mommy and daddy will take away your Beemer, right?" I can't help the sneer in my voice.
She shakes her head. "It's worse than that. If you file an insurance claim, the police will have to do a report. And if I have another accident, I'll lose my license."
I watch her for a minute and she's chewing on that lip again. It makes me want to suck it into my mouth and see how she tastes. I start to feel movement below and holy hell, I'm getting a f**king hard on just by looking at her lower lip. I realize, all of a sudden, that I want this girl.