Chapter Fourteen
"That dress is beautiful," Jill said as she leaned against the doorway of Emma's room.
"Isn't it?" Emma gushed as she smoothed the front of it.
"The man is hooked," Mandy said as she pushed past Jill and walked over to sit on Emma's bed.
"I'm not so sure about that," Emma said with a laugh.
"Oh yes, he is. Men don't buy clothes for women they don't care about."
Emma frowned as she turned to face her friends. She'd never really thought about it that way, and if she really thought about it (something she'd tried not to do over the past year), Tristan hadn't bought her anything until after she left him. In fact, they'd rarely gone to dinner, and she could only recall one movie they ever saw together.
What was I doing with him? She wondered for the thousandth time. How had she gotten trapped in such an unhappy relationship and convinced herself it was good?
Her parents were incredibly loving, they rarely fought, had a happy marriage, and her father was one of the most attentive men she'd ever encountered. But somehow, she'd ended up with a manipulative, cruel, unfaithful, and unstable ass who was still trying to ruin her life.
"I suppose they don't," she murmured as she ran her hands over the front of the dress.
"Nope, they don't," Jill agreed.
Emma stepped in front of the mirror; she pulled her hair back and twisted it into a loose knot resting against the nape of her neck. Jill walked over and began to sort through her earrings on the dresser.
"Wear these," she said and held up two dangling butterflies interwoven with the colors of green, purple, and blue. They matched the dress perfectly.
Emma smiled as she took them from Jill's hand. "Perfect," she agreed.
A knock on the door brought up all their heads. "I'll get it, finish getting ready," Jill said and fairly bounced out of the room.
"Where are you going tonight?" Mandy inquired.
"I don't know, Ethan just told me to wear this dress, and that it was a surprise."
"Sounds like it might be fancy," Mandy teased.
Emma enjoyed the feel of the earrings dangling from her ears as she shook her head at her friend. "Let's hope it's not too fancy."
Jill appeared in the doorway again; she was fanning herself with her hand as she walked into the room. "He is so hot," she whispered. "From the look of that man I don't think you're going to make it to dinner tonight."
"Jill—" Mandy started.
"No seriously, I almost jumped him when he walked through the door."
Emma tried to stifle her chuckle, but Mandy and Jill's laughter did nothing to help her hold back.
"There's something wrong with you," she told Jill as she slipped her feet into her sandals.
"With me? There's something wrong with you if you make it past the salad," Jill retorted. "Public place or not."
Great, just what she needed, to be tempted by him in a public place again. She'd been able to turn him away last time, but now she knew what it was like to have him on top of her, inside of her...
Ugh, even now her mind was wandering down treacherous pathways, and her body was beginning to heat.
Emma wiped her suddenly damp hands on a towel and took a steadying breath. She was incredibly curious to see what it was making Jill so enthusiastic about his appearance. Mandy climbed to her feet and looped her arm through Emma's.
"Now let's go, I have got to see what has Jill practically drooling like a bulldog," Mandy said.
"Oh, you'll be drooling too, believe me," Jill replied and led the way out the door.
Emma followed them and had to keep her jaw from dropping when she spotted Ethan standing by the door. His hair was brushed back to reveal the broad planes of his face. The black shirt he wore hugged the muscles of his chest; the sleeves were close fitting around his biceps and flexed as he adjusted his position. His black slacks hugged an ass she'd held in her hands before. The hungry gleam in his emerald eyes made her want to retreat to her room with him right then and there.
"You look beautiful," he told her as he strode toward her.
Was she supposed to speak? Apparently, she was as Mandy nudged her in the back. "Thank you," she managed to get out.
He held his arm out to her, and she took it. "Hope you don't mind walking, it's not far."
"Not at all," she assured him with a smile.
She glanced back at Jill and Mandy only to find them both fanning themselves. ‘Told you so,’ Jill mouthed, and they both bit their bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.
Emma had to agree with them as she closed the door behind her. Keeping hold of his arm, she leaned against his side as they walked up the hill.
"Where are we going?" she inquired.
"Patience," he told her.
They were still a couple of hundred feet from his house when she realized that's where they were heading. "Are we meeting Isabelle and Stefan?"
"No."
The fact he didn't elaborate on his answer piqued her curiosity more as he stopped outside the door to his house and unlocked it. He made an elegant sweeping gesture with his arm for her to enter first. A giggle escaped her, something she couldn't remember doing in years, as she stepped into the foyer and waited for him to close the door. He locked the door, took her arm, and led her across the beautiful living room.
She frowned at him as he stopped her before the French doors leading out to the pool area and pushed the doors open. Her hand flew to her mouth as she spotted the two-person table set up on the patio with a single white candle in the middle of the red tablecloth. Beyond the table and patio walls, the ocean and setting sun provided the perfect backdrop for a dinner scene she only thought existed in romance novels or movies.
A lump formed in
