Page 86 of Blitzing Emily

The female anchorperson gave the sportscaster a smirk. “Isn’t Emily Hamilton also a redhead?”

“No comment,” he said smoothly. “The Seattle Mariners are celebrating a nine-game winning streak with the latest victory by their red-hot closer ...”

Brandon shut off the television. “Best twenty-five thousand dollars I’ve ever spent.”

Her stomach churned. So far, he was taking the brunt of this, and it wasn’t fair.

“Brandon, we’re in a bunch of trouble, and that’s a lot of money. I feel really badly about this.”

He put the coffee mug down on the nightstand with a thud, and gathered Emily into his arms. “Listen. Am I sorry that we did it? No. Am I sorry we got caught? Only because it might affect you.” He pulled her closer. “One thing’s for sure, it was pretty damn memorable.”

Emily laid her cheek against his. “I’m worried about the photos that guy says he has—”

“He doesn’t have any damn photos. He’s a liar.”

“I’m sorry about the money.”

“Don’t be sorry. I talked you into it.”

“Your fingers talked me into it,” Emily said. She felt heat rising in her face.

He tipped her chin up and waggled one hand in front of her face. “They’re still here.” The phone rang again. He ignored it. His fingers were already a bit busy. “I should shut that damn thing off.”

“Oh, yes,” was all she could say.

He reached over and pulled the cord right out of the wall. “Kiss me, sugar.”

Emily was only too happy to comply.

They didn’t get out of bed for the rest of the day. The next morning, though, Emily found several messages from Amy on her cell phone. “David’s looking for you. What happened yesterday, anyway? If he was with another woman—call me. Call menow.”

David also left a message. “Sweetie, you’ve gone from famous to red-hot. You’ve had three more booking requests already this morning.”

The sheer irony that getting caught naked in public with her fiancé would bring additional bookings wasn’t lost on Emily.

THE NEXT MORNING,Brandon and Emily made a quick trip to her house on their way to Sharks headquarters. She insisted she needed a change of clothes. After a day and a night together he didn’t want to get out of bed, but they had to face the world at some point.

“I’m writing a check, sugar, not accepting the Nobel Peace Prize,” Brandon called out from the kitchen, and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee. Emily had already discarded three different outfits on the living room sofa.

“I need an outfit that works for meeting your coachandmy voice lesson this afternoon.”

“This isn’t that big of a deal. I believe business casual will suffice,” he teased.

Emily bolted from the room. He could only imagine the carnage she wreaked on her bedroom closet. Every time he went somewhere with his little diva, she required at least two costume changes before making up her mind about what she was going to wear. Maybe it was best to keep the truth about today’s appointment to himself, or they’d never make it out of the house.

He should feign annoyance. It wouldn’t do to let her believe that he would happily wait all day for her. A man had to draw the line somewhere.

“Let’s go, Miss Hamilton,” he shouted up the stairs.

A few minutes later, Emily reappeared in the first outfit she tried on, a long sleeved, V-necked, floral print knee-length dress that showed off her curves to perfection. “Here I am,” she said, pulling on a pair of bright red high heels. She spun around in front of him. “How do I look?”

He reached out for her hand, and twirled her into his arms. “Like my every fantasy. Where’d you find that dress?”

“It’s a Ralph Lauren.” She glanced up at him under her lashes. “You don’t really care about designers.”

“You got me. It’s a nice dress, but I’ll like it even more when you take it off again, sugar.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. He took a deep breath of the scent that always reminded him of warm peaches and freshly mowed grass. “I can’t go naked all the time.”

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