Page 7

E merson

Anthony convinces me to walk around Chicago with him for a few hours before we climb back into the car to drive the final stretch to New York. I cave, partly because I’ve missed Chicago since I left after college, but mostly because I’m not looking forward to another fourteen hour day in the car.

“This is where I went to college,” I tell him as we pass by the University of Chicago.

“Yeah? Did you like it?”

“Oh yeah. I’m from this super tiny town in Idaho and I couldn’t wait to get out and into a big city.”

“Do you go back home a lot?” he asks and I shake my head.

“No, not really. I’m not that close with my parents. They fight all of the time and after a while, it gets hard to be around them. I’ve spent the last few holidays with my best friend Layla. She’s not that close with her dad either, so we’ve just hung out in our apartment in Los Angeles.”

I point out my old dorm room and we walk in silence for a block.

“What about you? Where did you go to school? Was it close to home?” I ask him.

“Nope,” he says with a laugh. “I grew up in upstate New York but I went to Tulane University in New Orleans.”

“Why there?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“Cause it was a good school but was also known for its parties. I had been to New Orleans with my parents when I was a kid and liked the city.”

“I’ve never been,” I admit.

He buys me a breakfast sandwich and coffee and we check out the bean in Millennium Park and the Navy Pier. By the time we’re packing up the car and getting ready to head to New York, it’s close to noon.

“Want me to drive?” Anthony asks as he shoves the last bite of deep dish pizza into his mouth.

“Yeah,” I say and he seems surprised that I agreed.

I climb into the passenger seat, picking out some music as Anthony climbs behind the wheel and pulls out of the parking lot. It doesn’t take us long to hit the highway.

“Did you find a hotel for tonight?” Anthony asks an hour into the drive.

“No, I guess I should do that now.”

I’m pulling up the site on my phone when he clears his throat. I look over at him, noticing that he seems almost… nervous. I’ve never seen him as anything but cocky and it makes me wonder what he’s about to say.

“My brother and his wife live in New York. He’s some bigshot real estate investor and he has a penthouse on the Upper East Side.

I mean, what I’m trying to say is that he has plenty of room if you want to stay there…

with me,” he finishes awkwardly and I bite back the giggle that’s climbing up my throat.

“Are you sure your brother won’t mind?”

“Full disclosure?”

“Yeah.”

“He doesn’t know that I’m going to be staying with him.”

I throw my head back, laughing at the sheepish expression on his face.

“Are you sure that I shouldn’t be making a hotel reservation and offering to let you stay with me tonight?”

“I’m family. He can’t turn me away. I’ll tell our mom on him.”

“How mature of you,” I deadpan and he chuckles.

“It’s the truth.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You won’t be. You’ll actually be saving me. My brother just married his wife, Eden, and the last time I saw them, they were in that honeymoon phase where they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.”

“Oh, so you want to subject me to that then?”

“Yeah, be my distraction. With you there, they’ll have to be on their best behavior.”

I think about the money left in my savings account and chew on my bottom lip. I don’t want to spend too much of my money in case I have to move all of my things out here and put a deposit down on an apartment. If I’m being honest, I also don’t want to say goodbye to Anthony just yet.

“If you’re sure that he won’t mind…”

“He won’t,” Anthony says right away and I smile.

“Then yes, I’d love to stay with you and your brother.”

We talk until we hit Pennsylvania.

“Do you mind if we stop off in Pittsburgh? My other brother, Ames, lives there. I’ll make him buy us dinner.”

“So is this the portion of the trip where we just use your brothers for stuff?”

Anthony laughs, hitting the turn signal and pulling onto the off ramp.

“You don’t want a free meal?”

“I think I just want to meet your brothers. Find out if The Anthony Bronson has always been funny like he claims.”

It’s seven p.m. and the traffic is just starting to lighten as we drive down the main street.

“Where are we going?” I ask when Anthony pulls the car over in front of some tattoo parlor.

“My brother Ames is a tattoo artist. He works here,” he says, pointing up at the glowing pink sign.

“Eye Candy Ink,” I read as Anthony gets out and walks around to open my door.

“Yeah, come on. Hopefully he’s between clients.”

“Are you sure he’s even working?” I ask as Anthony grabs my hand and drags me inside.

“Yeah, he’s always working.”

There’s a girl sitting behind the counter talking on the phone and she holds up a finger to us, letting us know that she’ll be with us in just a second.

Anthony peeks down the hallway and as soon as some guy walks out of a room and I see the smile on Anthony’s face, I know that that’s his brother.

“Ames!” Anthony calls and the other guy jerks to a stop, spinning around with a shocked look on his face.

I can see the family resemblance right away. They both have the same dark brown hair and blue eyes. Even their grins are the same, although Ames’ isn’t as cocky.

“Holy shit! What are you doing here, asshole?” Ames asks as he grins and heads our way.

Anthony drops my hand to pull his brother into a hug and I smile as they do that manly clap on the back thing and then pull apart.

“Who is this?” Ames asks, giving me a charming smile.

“I’m Emerson,” I say, holding out my hand for him to shake but he surprises me and pulls me into his arms instead.

“He’s going to hate that I’m hugging you,” Ames whispers in my ear and I can hear the grin in his voice.

“That’s enough,” Anthony says a second later, pulling me away from his brother.

“So, what are you two doing here? Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming to town?” Ames asks, crossing his arms and leaning against the front counter.

“We’re just passing through. I thought that you might like to buy us dinner and hang out for a few minutes before we have to leave.”

“Buy you dinner?” Ames asks with a laugh. “I’ll buy the pretty Emerson dinner,” he says, shooting me a wink and I grin at him.

I know that he’s just doing it to mess with Anthony, but clearly Anthony doesn’t know that because I swear he growls as Ames grins at me.

“Where are you two headed?” Ames asks and I answer before Anthony can say something sarcastic.

“New York.”

“Oh, are you visiting Alexander?” Ames asks and Anthony nods.

“I just got off the phone with him and he didn’t even mention that.”

“He doesn’t know that we’re coming,” Anthony admits and there’s a beat before Ames responds.

“Oh, he’s going to love that,” Ames says with a wide grin.

“Do you have time for dinner?”

“Yeah, my next client is in half an hour though so it will have to be quick.”

“Same for us,” Anthony says as we head out the front door.

There’s a pub down the street that Ames leads us to. I guess one of his friends owns it and we head inside, snagging a table right away.

I’m mostly quiet during dinner, letting the two brothers catch up. We all order burgers and I scarf mine down, surprised at how hungry I am.

The pub is starting to get busy and Ames asks for the check when an older man saunters over to our table.

“I thought that was you, Ames.”

“Hey, Max! How’s it going?” Ames asks as he shakes his friend’s hand.

“Good, I didn’t know that you were coming in tonight. How’s the shop?”

“It’s good. Busy,” Ames says as our waitress comes back to the table.

“Dinner is on me,” Max says to the waitress and she nods, giving us a smile before she heads over to help another table.

“Anthony and Emerson, this is my friend Max. Max, this is my brother Anthony and his girl, Emerson,” Ames says and I look over to Anthony, wondering if he’ll correct his brother.

“Nice to meet you,” Anthony says with an easy smile, and we both lean over to shake Max’s hand.

“Thanks for dinner. It was delicious,” I tell him, and he gives me a warm smile.

“My pleasure. You’ll have to excuse me. I’m about to head out. I’ve got to get home to the wife. Ames, tell Cat that her mom expects her at dinner on Sunday,” Max says, pointing a finger at Ames before he waves goodbye to us and heads for the front door.

We leave right after him and I hug Ames goodbye before I climb behind the wheel for the last leg of our road trip.

“I like your brother,” I tell him as he climbs into the passenger seat.

Anthony’s head whips my way, a scowl on his face and I hold my hands up in a don’t shoot gesture.

“Not like that! I just meant that he was nice.”

“Uh huh,” Anthony says suspiciously, buckling up as I back out of the spot and head toward the highway.

“Are you ready for the last six-hour stretch?” I ask as we hit the highway.

I laugh as Anthony groans in the passenger seat next to me.

It’s just after one o’clock in the morning when we pull into the underground parking beneath his brother’s penthouse. He directs me over to one of his parking spots and we both climb out, groaning as we stretch.

“Maybe you should have called your brother. So he was expecting us, you know?”

“He’s going to be so happy to see me, the time won’t matter.”

“Somehow I don’t think that you’re telling the truth about that.”

Anthony just gives me a cocky grin as we both grab our bags from the trunk and then head over to the private elevator. Anthony punches in some numbers on the keypad before we start to move up, up, up.

We hit the top floor and the doors slide open. Anthony walks in like he owns the place, and I can’t help but smile as he swaggers into the living room.

There’s a woman in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water, and her eyes widen when she sees us walk in. She grins, ripping the earbuds out of her ears and runs toward us.

“Anthony!” She hugs him, grinning from ear to ear. “What are you doing here? Alexander didn’t tell me that you were coming for a visit.”

“He didn’t?” Anthony asks, acting surprised as a man who looks like a younger version of Anthony joins us in the kitchen.

“That’s because I didn’t know.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Anthony says and his brother gives him a dry look.

“Remind me to change the code to the elevator tomorrow,” he whispers to his wife, who elbows him.

“We’re so happy that you’re here! And you brought someone with you!”

“This is Emerson. Emerson, this charming asshole is my brother, Alexander, and this is his much better half, Eden.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” I tell them, hugging Eden back when she steps toward me.

“Can we crash here for a couple nights?” Anthony asks them.

“Yes.”

“No,” Alexander says at the same time but then he rolls his eyes.

“The guest rooms are made up,” Eden says, as she starts to lead us up a set of stairs.

She shows us to a room and I set my bags down next to the dresser.

“Anthony knows his way around and we’ll be right downstairs if you need anything. It’s late, so we’ll catch up in the morning,” she says, stifling a yawn as she heads out the door and back toward the stairs.

“‘Night!” I call after her.

Anthony closes the door and points out the attached bathroom.

This whole penthouse is huge. I think the guest room is bigger than Layla’s and my apartment back home.

“This place is awesome,” I say, poking my head into the walk-in closet before I head into the bathroom.

“Right? Apparently I’m in the wrong line of work.”

I snort at that. “I can’t picture you in a suit, going to a nine-to-five day job.”

“Yeah, I’d be miserable. Besides, my talents and perfect comedic timing would be lost on everyone.”

I roll my eyes and open up my suitcase.

“Did you need the bathroom? I was hoping to take a quick shower before bed.”

“No, I can wait. Go ahead,” Anthony says, opening his own suitcase and sorting through it.

I grab my pajama shorts and tank top before I head into the bathroom. The shower has about four heads and more buttons than a spaceship. It takes me a minute to figure out how to turn it on but I figure it out, getting the water temperature just right before I strip and step under the water.

I think I moan as the water hits me. It eases my sore muscles and washes off the yuck of the day. I’m so happy that I don’t have to get back in my car for a few days at least. I stand under the water so long that Anthony knocks on the door and asks me if I’m alright.

“Yeah! I’ll be out in just a minute!” I call.

It takes me another minute to figure out how to turn the water off. I dry off and then change into my pajamas, carrying my dirty clothes back into the bedroom with me.

Anthony slips by me, and I hear the water turn on a minute later. I grab my outfit for tomorrow, smoothing out the wrinkles as I hang it up in the closet. I’m just finishing when Anthony comes back out of the bathroom, his hair wet and sticking up slightly.

He’s just wearing a pair of sleep pants and my mouth waters at the sight. A stray drop of water slides down his chest and I can’t help but watch as it runs down over his stomach.

“Ready for bed?” he asks and I nod, tearing my eyes away from his bare chest to climb beneath the sheets.

Anthony turns off the lights but the blinds are open and the lights of the city cast a glow around the room.

“It’s going to be weird not to share a bed with you in a day or two,” Anthony jokes and I swat him.

“I’m going to miss you too,” I whisper, and the mood changes between us.

The fun playfulness shifts and turns serious.

“We can still keep in touch. Maybe we’ll both be living in New York soon.”

“Maybe,” I say and I feel the bed dip as Anthony scoots closer to me.

“I’m not going to disappear on you, Emerson,” he whispers as his hand runs up and down my arm.

I know that he’s trying to comfort me but the closer his hand gets to my breasts, the more turned on I get.

Anthony shifts even closer, our legs brushing against each other and tangling together, his warm, minty breath fanning over my face.

The energy in the room shifts again and I can feel the tension, the sexual attraction, filling the air between us until we’re both breathing it in, getting lost in the haze.

“Anthony,” I whisper as his lips brush against mine.

“Emerson,” he whispers back and the way that he says it, like it’s both a plea and a curse, has me throwing caution to the wind and wrapping my arms around his neck as our lips crash together.