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Chapter Eighteen

Emma slammed her apartment door behind her just to have the satisfaction of listening to it bang She threw her handbag across the living rooh!" she shouted to the eht for a e she had been sending hi her mother’s name on the caller ID, she knew there was no such luck

"Hello, Mom"

"Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine today, Eed the phone between her shoulder and neck while pulling an old bottle of wine fro to be duht, she ht as well have some alcohol in her system She popped the cork and sniffed the bottle as herher shoulders, she poured a glassful and downed half of it in one sip When the line went silent, she knew she hada question "What was that, Mo? Is he there now?"

"No," E her eyes, E late"

"Oh," herelse Honey, like I said, we just love hi about you But my offer of a breast job is still on the table if you need it It’s the best thing I ever did for e andto change the subject, she asked, "How’s Boston doing? Is he on the chain gang yet?"

"Very funny; he is doing fine Your uncle is confident that he can finish up so as he keeps out of trouble"

"If that’s the case,like co to hiusted snort before saying, "Honey, I think you need sorumpy Do you have PMS?"

Emma rolled her eyes Boston was the baby of the fa a pot farm in their parents’ bathroo to wonder if Boston was actually the slacker he pretended to be Maybe it had served him well all of these years Poor Boston, it’s just who he is She was fast coht be the sh when hera di froht

When she finally es to make sure she hadn’t missed one froes for Suzy during the day and had heard nothing back That was really strange, considering that Jason and Gray also see fro the day, but since Jason hadn’t been at the office, she hadn’t seen Claire either She really ement and would have loved to share this latest develop to be hurt that she had been excluded once again by Brant First the business dinner when the others had been taking their wives, and noas having some thank-you dinner with Alexia? He hadWas it silly that being excluded once again hurt her feelings?

Last night had been so a It was the first time they had been free to really explore each other Their first tiether in the hotel in Miami had been fast and furious, and their other encounters at her parents’ house had been explosive but rushed She had also held back to soh, had been so else entirely The first tiradual build of passion They had made love, not just had sex, and for the first time, Emma knew the difference between the two She had felt cherished afterward as she had lain in Brant’s ar to the steady beat of his heart He had stroked her hair with one hand while the other hand had drawn lazy circles against her side She had slept curled into his side, with his arhthad turned out to be so lih, but she knew the fires that raged beneath the calm surface He took her breath ahen he touched her She didn’t want to drive hiirlfriend He had been honest enough to tell her about Alexia staying with hiht She didn’t think he was hiding anything The only thing that bothered her was not knowing if Alexia was hiding soht had just confirmed it If she needed to be patient to win hiht, then Alexia Shaw had better watch out You didn’t grow up as the daughter of Kat Davis without learning a thing or two

Chapter Nineteen

Brant stuht he had drunk entirely toothe week Dinner with Alexia had started off so aardly that he had turned to alcohol to relax Alexia had stuck to water, which was part of her postrehab treatuely recalled that they had been joking around about old ti to do with that Luckily, Alexia had driven theht kiss thathad been fine He had fallen into bed around ht have had phone sex with Emma before he went to sleep A quick look at his cell phone confirmed that he had called her Well, at least she wasn’t likely to believe that he had been sleeping with Alexia while talking dirty to her He shook his head in amazement--phone sex? What had happened to his perfectly ordered life? He couldn’t find it in hie Life was better than it had been in a long tierator and downed it in one long guzzle He tossed it in the trash can and grimaced as it popped back out and onto the floor Shit He’d never been one to have overflowing trash cans, but since Alexia had been staying with hione downhill She was aup after herself The trash bag had slipped into the can and heof profanities as he slid his hand down the side, trying to pull the plastic back up