Her eyes softened as she looked at me. “You were worth it…always.”
My arm moved around her chair, and my fingers touched her shoulder.
Dex’s eyes shifted back and forth as he looked at us before he grabbed his beer and brought it to his lips. “Damn…”After dinner, we said goodbye on the sidewalk.
“You want to go out?” Dex asked me.
“I’m not really part of that scene anymore.” I glanced at Emerson, who was speaking to my parents about the signing.
Dex glanced at her too. “Yeah, I picked up on that. Nothing too crazy. Just a bar or something.”
I hardly ever saw my brother, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to spend time with him. After he went off to college, he was hardly ever in the city, so we only saw each other over the holidays and sometimes the summer. “Sounds good. Where are you staying? You can crash with me.”
“Yeah?” he asked. “I don’t want to intrude on you and Emerson.”
“She doesn’t live with me.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure she sleeps there.”
I wished. “It’s fine. Really.”
“Cool.”
“You didn’t ask to stay with Mom and Dad?”
“I wouldn’t mind but…the food.”
I chuckled because only my siblings understood.
“And, you know…” He shrugged. “Need my privacy.”
“You can bring a girl to my place if you want.”
He grinned. “You’re the best, you know that.” He clapped me on the back before he turned to my parents and Emerson. “We’re gonna go out. Maybe we can get dinner on Sunday before I head out?”
“That sounds great.” Mom hugged him, and Dad followed.
I turned to Emerson. “My brother is going to stay with me for the weekend.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“I’ll take you home first.” I felt weird letting her just walk home alone. She could handle herself, but I still didn’t like it.
My dad gripped my shoulder. “We’ll drop her off. You two go have fun.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said with a smile. “We don’t mind at all.”
I turned back to Emerson. “I’ll see you on Monday, then.”
She moved into me and gave me a hug. “Have fun tonight. Can’t wait to hear about it then.” When she pulled away, she gave me a quick kiss then walked away with my parents.
I watched her go, walking beside Mom as they headed to where their personal driver was.
Dex gave a quiet whistle. “Damn…you’re whipped.”
I turned back to him, my eyes narrowed. “So?”
He looked confused for a second before that smile stretched his mouth. “You own it. I like that.”We sat together at the table in the bar, loud voices around us because the city was alive with festivities. Dex scanned the bar to see the talent but turned back to me like I was more interesting. “You two seem pretty serious.”
“We are.” The relationship wasn’t just sexual, and even though we had a great physical connection, the thing that kept me around was the emotional aspect, the way she made me feel. It was just as satisfying to have a conversation with her, to hear her thoughts about anything. I wouldn’t get involved with my assistant, a single mom, if I didn’t think it would go somewhere…someday. The idea of getting married seemed like too much because I’d already gone down that route once, and it was a fucking mistake. But Emerson was different…I knew that.
“How long has this been going on?” His teasing nature was gone, and now he was serious, no longer making jokes. His fingers were wrapped around the base of his beer, and he was in a long-sleeved shirt with dark jeans. He wasn’t as thick as I was because he probably didn’t have the time to hit the weights like I did, but being on his feet all day clearly kept him in shape.
“About two months.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “That’s it?”
“Well, officially, it’s been two months, but it’s been going on a lot longer than that.”
“What?” he asked blankly.
“I was in a relationship with her for a long time before we were actually in a relationship.”
My brother was brilliant, but he clearly wasn’t following.
“The first time I kissed her was two months ago. But I pretty much stopped sleeping around like three months before that…because she was the only one I wanted to be with. So, we’ve really been together a lot longer…at least, for me.”
He took a drink as he considered what I said. “Why did it take you so long to tell her how you felt?”
I shrugged. “She’s my assistant, and I didn’t really understand how I was feeling at the time. I’ve never been interested in having a relationship, so it took me time to get my feet back in the water, I guess.”
“Because of that girl?” he asked bluntly.
I shrugged in response, not opening up the subject for conversation.
He seemed to pick up on the way I shut him out because he didn’t press me on it. “What is it about her?”