Authors: Samantha Chase
So he had to keep her here with him for one more night. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he promised himself and then he’d be fine with walking away.
As Emma slid her body beneath his on the couch and wrapped herself around him, Lucas let all thoughts of tomorrow fade away so that he could fully embrace and enjoy the present.
****
By Sunday afternoon, they were on the road. Neither felt much like talking and so most of the drive was spent in silence. Emma knew that this time was going to come; there had been no way to avoid it, and yet she wanted very much to. How was she supposed to see him at the office and pretend as if this weekend had never happened?
There was the perk that he only came in once a month and if she had enough advanced warning, she could keep herself busy to the point of not having to really be around him. Chancing a quick look at Lucas from the corner of her eye, Emma gave herself a mental kick. Who was she kidding? When Lucas came to the office she was going to do as she’d always done; she would smile and bring him his coffee
just in hopes of him giving her one of those slow, soft smiles that she loved.
She was pathetic.
If Lucas wasn’t sitting right beside her she’d be berating herself profusely out loud. Instead, she turned her attention to the passing scenery and just hoped that when they got to her home, that she wouldn’t do something completely foolish like beg him to stay.
Lucas wished that he could figure out what was going on inside Emma’s head. She’d been sitting there like a damn statue since they’d pulled out of his driveway and she was making him crazy. He expected some sort of scene; he expected her to try and reason with him on all of the ways that they could continue their relationship once she was back at home. But she hadn’t said a
damn word.
He thought that maybe she’d have regrets and want to tell him how he should have had more self control and how, as her boss, he should have never taken advantage of her. But she never said a word.
Dammit, the woman had been a chatter box all weekend and now that he really wanted her to talk, to tell him what was going on in her mind, she had clammed up! Women! Gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were white, he drove on. The faster he got her home, the better. They’d had their time, their fun, and now it was over. She didn’t want to talk about it? Fine.
No, he was lying to himself. It wasn’t fine. It was anything but fine. Lucas thought back to just this morning when he’d found her in the kitchen dressed in one of his t-shirts and making pancakes. She’d looked so damn perfect standing there in his home and after he’d caused her to burn the first batch, he’d helped her make the second.
That batch had gone cold before they even got to it.
By the third batch Emma had wielded the spatula like a weapon to keep him away. He smiled at that picture. They’d finally sat down to eat and then had showered together but once he’d left her so that she could pack it was as if a switch had been flipped. There had been no more silly bantering; they both had gone somber. He’d loaded her stuff into his truck and silently climbed in. Emma had programmed her address into his GPS so they didn’t even have to talk about where to go.
For a man who had thrived on silence for almost two years, it was killing him now.
To break up the monotony, Lucas switched on the radio. It didn’t take long to realize that every song had a message of loving and losing and it irritated the crap out of him. He
slapped the system off and his action must have shocked Emma out of her own reverie because she gasped and turned toward him.
It was the first sound she’d made in almost an hour.
“Why’d you turn the music off?” she asked quietly.
“Nothing on that I wanted to hear.”
“Oh.”
And then the silence was back. How was it that they had talked all weekend and now there was was nothing to say? How was he supposed to just drop her off at her place without having spoken a word to her?
He groaned inwardly. This was why he shouldn’t have gotten involved. This whole thing had him looking like some sort of stereotypical player; he’d had his fun with her, his dirty weekend, and then he was done with her. Was that how she was going to remember him? No, he had to do something, say something to clear his conscience.
“So,” he began awkwardly, “
those papers that dad had wanted, did he mention anything about them when you talked to him on Friday?”
Work. Of course he’d choose to talk about work, Emma thought; it was a safe topic.
And one that they’d talked about before. Clearly Lucas had forgotten. “Actually, no. We talked more about how I was feeling and he apologized for all of the confusion with the directions. I know he said it was a simple mistake but that was still kind of odd for him, wasn’t it?”
Lucas agreed but didn’t share his thoughts on his father’s motives. “
Yeah. He’s not usually that careless. And it’s still bizarre to me that he never mentioned needing them before leaving to come up here.”
Emma nodded. “I thought so
, too. You’re father is very organized and meticulous in his planning; to just sort of throw something like that out there was a little weird.”
“Well, clearly he was able to do without whatever it was since he didn’t call back and ask you to go over it on the phone with him.”
“I don’t think it was something he wanted to discuss.”
“Why would you say that?”
Emma could have bitten off her own tongue. William had specifically said that he didn’t want his sons to know about this but how could she possibly say that to Lucas? “Oh, um, you know, he was feeling bad about my accident so he probably didn’t want to bother me with work stuff.”
Lucan made a noncommittal sound and put his full attention back on the road. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“I guess.”
“Will you be at the office tomorrow?” he asked
suddenly.
“Of course; why wouldn’t I?”
“I just thought that maybe you would want to go to a doctor and just get checked out to make sure that you’re head is healing okay and your ankle too.”
“Oh,” she sighed, secretly hoping that maybe he had been leading up to asking her to lunch or something. “My ankle is just fine and other than an ugly bruise, my head is fine too. My hair hides it so no one has to see it.”
Lucas had seen it plenty all weekend and it broke his heart a little every time. He thought of the many times her hair and been fanned out on his pillows and he’d wanted to kiss the injury away. He knew it wasn’t possible and yet he’d wanted it to be.
“I still think you should see your doctor,” he murmured.
“Please don’t start with that again, Lucas,” she replied wearily. “We’ve been over this like a hundred times and I am fine. Please just leave it alone.”
Lucas felt confident that this was the better way for them to leave things; with Emma being angry and irritated with him for nagging her. He could live with that. He shot one last glance at her but Emma’s attention was back to the passing scenery and so he let them be.
He’d lived with the silence for two years, what was another thirty minutes?
****
Monday morning Emma woke up and went about her usual routine. She had spoken to Mr. Montgomery the night before and he promised her that a car would be there for her this morning to get her to work. She had showered and dressed and was pouring herself a glass of juice when she heard car doors slamming in her driveway. A quick peak out the window had her heart pounding.
There in her driveway was Lucas and Jason. They had dropped off a car for her to use and were getting back into Lucas’s truck. She hadn’t expected the Montgomery’s to lend her one of the company cars; she’d expected a rental car company to meet her here this morning to drop something off. She’d have to talk to her boss this morning because she didn’t feel right about driving one of their luxury cars.
Before she could open up her front door to say thank you, the men were gone. What had she expected? Lucas had barely said two words to her when he’d dropped her off last night. He’d helped her bring her things into her house and then said a very quiet ‘good bye’ before simply walking out and closing the door behind him.
She wanted to strangle him.
If she were honest, Emma had thought that Lucas would simply turn around last night and go back to his place. Knowing that he was here and he had Jason in the car with him, she figured she’d have to face him at the office this morning.
Not something she was looking forward to at all.
Walking back to her kitchen she dumped her untouched juice down the drain and placed the glass in the sink. The thought of eating or drinking anything right now only made Emma nauseous. She walked back toward her bedroom to finish getting ready and when she couldn’t put it off any longer, she walked out the door and toward a car she didn’t want to drive and to a place she didn’t want to be, to see a man she wanted to avoid.
Happy Monday.
Something wasn’t right. William Montgomery looked around his office and knew without a doubt that something most certainly was wrong. It was only ten a.m. and the tension in the office was enough to make him scream. His plan had been perfect; there was no way for anything to go wrong! One look at Emma, however, had told him that something was off and Lucas had pretty much scared anyone who had tried to talk to him.
He was just about to go in search of his son when Emma knocked on his door. “Emma! Come in!” he beamed, hoping to get one of her famous smiles out of her. She came to stand in front of him but her expression was fairly strained. “I take it you got the car this morning. No problems, right?”
“Oh, no, Sir. The car was waiting for me right on time. But, um, I was a little concerned that you sent me one of the company cars. I had thought that you would just get one from one of the rental companies in town.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Well, you tend to only use the company cars for family. It’s far too luxurious for me. I would have been more than happy with one of the economy cars from the rental agency.”
“Emma, it’s not a big deal. We have the cars and you needed one. There was no need to go through an agency.”
She sighed. “I just…well, I’m not comfortable driving such an expensive car that’s all.”
William laughed. “I don’t think you’ll have a problem. In all of the years you’ve worked for us, you’ve never been in an accident; until I sent you out in dangerous conditions.” His tone became serious. “I cannot apologize to you enough. I never meant to put you in harms way.”
“I didn’t think that you did it on purpose, Sir,” she replied kindly. “It was an accident; no one’s fault. But about the car…”
William waved her off. “It’s one of the safest cars on the market. Please, I’d feel better knowing that at least for a short time, I’m protecting you while you drive.”
Her expression remained wary and she was standing ramrod straight in front of his desk. William noticed the large white envelope in her hand. When Emma saw where his attention was at she spoke. “Oh, I forgot to give this to you earlier; it’s the paperwork I was trying to get to you.”
“Oh, right, right,” he said distractedly as he took the envelope from her hands. William sat back and studied her. “Are you sure you’re all right, Emma? Have you gone to a doctor to make sure that you’re okay?”
She smiled sadly at him. Like father, like son. “No, I don’t think that it’s necessary. I feel fine.”
“I know you’ll think I’m just being crazy but I would really feel better if you went and had a check up. A head injury is nothing to take lightly.”
“I’ll see if I can get an appointment after work…”
“I’d feel much better if you went now. Rose can handle whatever we have going on; it’s my fault that you’re hurt and it would ease my conscience a little if I knew from the doctor that you were truly all right.”
How could she possibly argue with that? “I hate to miss out on any more work; I have some stuff piling up…”
“I’ll have Rose take care of it; it’s more important that we take care of you. Paperwork can wait.”
“I hate to inconvenience anyone,” she said, searching for a way to convince her boss that she really didn’t need to go and see anyone.
“Emma, it’s not often that I have to use a stern voice with you or demand that you do something but I’m doing it now. This is non-negotiable. I need you to go and see a doctor and get a clean bill of health before I allow you to come back to work.”
Emma’s mouth gaped. In the years she’d worked for William Montgomery he had never spoken to her like this and in her fragile, emotional state right now it almost brought her to tears. She mumbled a quick and quiet “yes sir” and quickly left his office.
William felt as if he’d just kicked a puppy but he really needed to know that Emma was okay. She was definitely out of sorts and while it could have something to do with the accident, he had more than a gut feeling that it had something to do with Lucas. Once he was certain that Emma was gone, he called Rose into his office to go over his schedule for the day and then summoned his sons to his office.