Page 49 of Sweet Passions at Bayside
“I’ll see your clients here at Summer House, if that’s okay with you guys. I’ll still give the resort a commission from each person you refer. I feel really bad about letting you down, but I swear I’ll teach just as many classes, and—”
“You didn’t have to quit,” Drake said with a hint of frustration as his gaze slid to Dean.
“I fired her,” Dean mumbled.
“No, you didn’t. I quit,” she insisted.
“We could have worked around it,” Drake said. “We’re all friends, after all.”
The relief of not having the pressure of working for Dean hanging over Emery’s head was indescribable, and she wasn’t about to go back to worrying about that. But she owed them a better explanation. “Thanks, Drake, but I wouldn’t have asked you guys to do that, and I couldn’t have done it. I had a really bad experience back home when I made the mistake of going out with my boss. I couldn’t take the chance of ruining everything if for some reason Dean and I don’t work out.”
Dean squeezed her shoulder. “We’re going to work out.”
“By that twinkle in her eyes, I’d say you alreadyworked out,” Violet teased.
“Vi,” Dean warned.
Suddenly Emery worried that she’d put Dean in a difficult position by quitting. “Drake, if it’s a problem, I can…”Not see Dean?That wasn’t even an option anymore. “I can find someone else to teach at the resort if you want me to. I’m sure there are lots of yoga instructors here.”
“No, it’s fine,” Drake said. “And don’t worry about the commission. We don’t need it. I just didn’t want you to think you had to quit.”
“It’s fine, Emery. It’s not like we went to any great expense to prepare for you to work there,” Rick clarified. “We might have to repaint the office you were going to use, because Dean insisted on painting it buttercup yellow, but that’s not a big deal.”
Emery’s heart filled up. Dean hadn’t mentioned that he’d chosen the color. “You did that for me?”
“I would have built you an ashram,” Dean said casually. “Painting a room your favorite color was hardly difficult.”
“No, but it was the most thoughtful thing you could have done.” She mentally corrected herself.The second most thoughtful thing. Talking to Chloe about me was even more thoughtful.
“Does this mean I can use the office? You don’t even have to paint it! I love buttercup yellow,” Serena piped in. “I’ve been talking to Shift Home Interior about working with them part-time. Having an office here would allow me to see clients without having to drive all the way to Hyannis.”
“You have a job,” Drake reminded her.
“Atemporaryjob,” Serena said. “I told you guys I’d get the resort office up and running, but hopefully by next summer I can find a replacement and get myrealcareer back on track.”
As Serena and Drake discussed the office, Emery felt a weight lift from her shoulders. With the morning sun shining down on them and the bay kissing the shores in the distance, she thought about how much her life changed in just a few days. How much she was changing. Was she really doing this? Reorganizing her life around a man? Her brothers would have her head on a platter if they found out. Either that or they would keel over from disbelief.
Dean speared a piece of crepe from his plate and offered it to her. She glanced down at her empty plate and at his, which was overflowing with fruit and crepes.
“My girl thinks everything tastes better when it’s mine,” he said. “So I doubled up.”
Oh yeah, she was rearranging her life, all right, but not just for any man. For one of her closest friends. A very patient, caring, sinfully hot, and talented man.
AFTER A LONG day of running around town and setting up her yoga studio at Summer House, Emery raced home to shower for her and Dean’s date.Example outing, she corrected with a smile.Example, right!The bugger had known exactly what he was doing when he’d offered that up. And when he’d sent her sexy texts throughout the day. She’d been revved up all afternoon from his playful texts, which had made her imagination work overtime, like,Looking forward to getting dirty with you later.
She hurried into her room, which still looked like a tornado had hit it. Tango and Cash were curled up in her open suitcase. She really needed to unpack. This morning she’d run around the house looking for her keys for twenty minutes before giving up and borrowing Desiree’s car to pick up the plants and picture hangers for her yoga studio. While she was out, she’d handed out a few flyers—and got lost.Twice.She’d called Dean and he’d patiently directed her better than any fancy GPS system ever could. She’d probably find her keys buried somewhere beneath the clothes, but she didn’t have time to look now. It was almost six, and she promised Dean she’d be ready on time.
She moved the kitties to the bed and dug through her suitcase, choosing her favorite pink miniskirt, a cute cotton number that went perfectly with the new flowy gray tank top with a colorful dream catcher embroidered into it. She’d bought it from her friend Morgyn Montgomery’s boutique before leaving Oak Falls.
Her toiletries were scattered on top of her dresser, but for the life of her, she couldn’t find her razor.
She showered, used Dean’s razor so she wouldn’t have furry legs, and then quickly dried her hair and got ready to go. She took one last look in the mirror. Her hair was perfect, fluffy and wavy but not overdone. She smoked up her eyes the way she had the night they’d gone to the bar. A few bangles around her wrist and a pair of pretty dangling earrings and cute strappy heels took her outfit from beachy to beautiful. She was excited to go out with Dean. No matter what they were calling it, in her mind, it was adate.
Hoping to make a grand entrance so she could see his appreciative expression, she straightened her spine, inhaled a calming breath to combat the butterflies swarming in her belly, and opened her bedroom door.
DEAN LIFTED HIS gaze slowly, drinking in every inch of Emery’s long legs to the edge of her pinkultraminiminiskirt, which covered the light brown birthmark he’d discovered on her inner thigh earlier that morning.Mm.He’d spent the day in a state of heightened desire, remembering those addicting sounds she’d made that morning.
He continued his visual feast, moving up her torso to the outline of her curves in a cute tank top that would look even cuter on his floor. His gaze trailed up her long, graceful neck. His mouth watered with the memory of how sweet and hot her skin tasted.
