Page 29 of On the Fly
“Possibly,” he said, trailing after her. “Have I told you I like your ass? You need to always wear that dress from now until forever. It really clings in all the right ways.”
“Stop it!” she said at the head of the stairwell where she waited for him to catch up. He made her more self-conscious, if that were even possible. She waited until they were able to walk side by side down the steps. At the bottom, Ander stuck out the crook of his arm, offering his elbow.
“I would have preferred you walk down those stairs in front of me. You’re a fun-ruiner,” he whispered as they took the final few steps to the dinner.
“You have no idea,” she quipped, letting the idea of keeping perspective attempt to drown out everything else around her. He barked out a laugh and ushered her in front of him, his palms landing on her hips as he guided them to their seats.
~~~
Hours later, with one hand tucked in his slacks pocket and the other lifting a beer bottle to his lips, he watched Emma from the edge of the dance floor set up on the back lawn. Currently, she danced with the groom’s brother who also happened to be the best man. He, along with the groom’s college buddies, had arrived late to the dinner and taken the place by storm. Since then, they had captured the whole wedding party’s full attention. Ander had allowed himself to be side-lined, repeatedly, forced to watch Emma dance with pretty-boy after pretty-boy. He hoped he pulled off the patient, loving, secure boyfriend, even if he felt an obsessive need to elbow the latest punk in the face and run off with his prize.
“I haven’t seen her like this before,” Julia said from right beside him, drawing his attention. Ander looked over at her. He hadn’t even noticed her approach.
His gaze traveled back to Emma. He had to agree with Julia. He’d only seen the fighter side of Emma. The scrappy, sharp, meet-the-world head on woman who challenged him at every turn. Tonight though… Hell, all day long, he’d been captivated by a relaxed Emma who had put her defensive tendencies aside and just enjoyed the world around her. He wondered if this was the woman his father had seen, the one he had offered such an important job to, based on nothing more than her charm and beauty. At least with Emma, his father might have been on to something.
“You’re good for her,” Julia added. Hopefully, his immediate burst of laughter was only in his head, not out loud, or Julia would doubt his role in Emma’s life.
“She’s a handful,” he managed and lifted the beer bottle back to his smiling lips.
“Being a handful is the biggest struggle between her and my mom. My mom likes to control everything, and we all allow her to run the show. Just look at this wedding. Have you ever seen so many events? It’s like wedding-palooza.” Julia shook her head ruefully, then sighed. “Except Emma. The two of them battle something fierce and always have.”
Ander let a chuckle roll from his lips. Every guest who knew anything about the Chadwick family dynamic had found a way to pull him aside and explain Emma’s hardheaded ways. He had categorically disagreed with every example they gave, showing him that no one had ever taken the time to understand Emma. She was smart, down-to-earth, and beautiful. More so, she was a good person. She needed someone to hold her loosely, let that constantly scrutinizing brain of hers do its thing until she was comfortable…
“You’re scowling. Did I upset you?” Julia asked.
It took a second for Ander to register the aggression building inside him. He ticked back over his thoughts, zeroing in on where he stopped thinking about sex with Emma and had grown jealous of Emma’s possible future mate.
“No…” He started to say more but didn’t finish the thought as he examined the intensity of the green-eyed monster blooming within him. What an odd emotion—one he couldn’t remember experiencing before and seemed to have no control over. What the hell? He had no desire to be chained to a woman but imagining Emma in another man’s arms made his chest constrict in a way that bothered him.
“It wasn’t my intention.” Julia had turned fully toward him, her concerned eyes scanning his face. “Ander, I’m sorry…”
“You didn’t upset me,” he said, knowing he didn’t sound convincing, but he couldn’t explain his feelings to himself much less Julia. He knocked back the bottle, draining the beer in two solid gulps. Luckily the song ended as he tried to force all the unwanted emotion away. “Excuse me, I’m claiming my next dance.”
He put the bottle down on a nearby tray and started toward Emma as her current dance partner kept her encased in the circle of his tight embrace when she attempted to step away. Based on the smiles on both their faces, the guy was teasing her. Ander’s scowl intensified as he lengthened his stride across the dance floor. He narrowed his eyes, watching Emma laugh and nod, most likely agreeing to a second dance. Ander didn’t ask her permission nor employ politeness when he took hold of Emma’s hand and pulled her from the other man’s embrace.
“One’s enough,” he grumbled to the guy. He trained his gaze on Emma and didn’t miss a single step as he drew her snugly against his body. He locked a free arm around her waist in a vise-style hold, pinning her against his chest where she belonged. She tilted her pretty face upward, a half smile frozen as she studied him closely.
“What’s happened?” she asked, concerned.
He lifted his gaze above her head. She was too alluring and all these caveman, primal urges made it hard to think of anything more than tossing her over his shoulder and declaring to the room that she belonged to him and only him. He lectured himself to tone it down. Even then it still took several long moments to say, “My girlfriend’s ignoring me, and I don’t like it.”
“I was just dancing…” she started, and he shook his head, cutting her off.
“With everyone but me.” He ventured a guarded look down again. Her smile was gone, and her brow furrowed. He could almost see the wheels turning, trying to understand what she had missed. His gaze landed on her full lips as they wilted into a solid frown. As far as he was concerned, their cat and mouse games were over. He didn’t let himself think as his heart beat a drum in his chest. He slowed their steps and released her hand to slide his fingers into the silky hair at the base of her neck, the pad of his thumb caressed its way to just underneath her chin. He lifted her face and leaned closer to her. In one swift move, he captured her lips with his.
He missed the mark on the chaste kiss he’d planned. Instead, he stood rooted in place, the dance forgotten as he pushed his tongue through her parted lips. He unleashed his pent-up desires, showing anyone who could see them that she belonged to Ander. Lucky for him, she didn’t balk while he plundered her mouth unrepentantly. Emma ran her hands the length of his chest before circling his neck and melting against him. The move was perfect, fanning the flames of his desire, his arm at her back crushed her against his body.
He bent, sweeping Emma’s legs out from underneath her and scooping her into his arms. She let out a gasp, tightening her hold around his neck when he made a beeline straight for the back-door entrance of the house.
“What’re you doing?” she exclaimed, he hoped with excitement.
“Enough is enough…” he managed to say while adjusting her in his arms. Maybe this wasn’t the exact right move to make. She looked much lighter than she actually was, and it was a long way up the stairs to his room. One second, her face was directly in front of his then in the next, she tilted her head to the side, looking back over at the party guests like she might argue. He picked up the pace, ducking them inside the house as her lips then met the skin of his neck and she mouthed a trail to his ear.
“…is enough,” she whispered before her tongue plunged into his ear. She ran the pads of her fingers across his cheek, caressing as she held his head and sank her teeth into the soft skin of his earlobe. He gasped. She was too much. His hard cock punched against his slacks, straining as it stretched the material tightly across his hips. All he could do was let her legs go and crush her against the hallway wall. He encased her jaw in his hand, keeping her perfectly positioned to drive his tongue straight into her mouth. He lost sight of everything when Emma hooked a leg around his waist, lining them up at the perfect angle to grind his rigid, needy cock against her hot core. A moan slipped free, but he couldn’t be sure which of them it came from, and Emma’s arms encircled his neck, anchoring him right there while she gave as much as she took.
“You two need to move along,” Gina said from behind him. He had no intention of heeding her warning, content to continue. But Emma pulled away on a gasp. He followed her lips, trying in vain to re-engage her in the sexiest kiss of his life. She pushed his shoulders, then laid her palms on his cheeks, managing to push him backward only maybe a fraction of an inch.
“Upstairs or my family will see.”
