Speaking of…he sighed and grabbed his cell phone, turning it on. He’d purposefully shut off his cell last night so he could focus all of his attention on Emma but he had to return to the real world eventually. As he’d expected, he had multiple voicemails but it was the one from Nolan that had him bounding from the bed.
Emma peered at him as she yawned, saying, “What’s going on?”
“Shit!” He stubbed his toe on the dresser as he ran by picking up clothes and jerking them on. “I missed a really important phone call from my brother. Get dressed. Hurry.”
Emma frowned and rushed to find some clothes. She grabbed the first thing she could find of the clothes Vince had brought to her and followed his lead. “Is it about the club? Have they found who attacked me and Lana?” she asked.
“No, it’s Penny….she’s in labor. Or at least she was around 10 p.m. last night. Hell, how long does it take to pop out a kid? Maybe the baby’s already here? Crap. I’m going to catch shit for not taking that phone call.”
“Baby? Wait a minute…you want me to come with you to the hospital?”
“Yeah,” he answered, running a toothbrush across his teeth. “I can’t leave you here.”
“And why not?”
“Because I don’t trust you not to run off. Regardless of what happened between us last night, the fact remains that I need you here with me until we figure things out about the club.”
She stared, openly wounded. “Oh, I get it. Last night was just sex. Nothing has changed between us. I’m still a prisoner and you’re still an asshole.”
“C’mon, cut the crap. I never promised a happily-ever-after after one night of sex. Get over yourself.”
“You get over yourself,” Emma shot back but her eyes glittered. “I can’t believe I thought for a second that you weren’t the cold-hearted dick that you seem to be. I was wrong…you’re worse than a cold-hearted dick — you’re an unfeeling bastard!”
“That’s right sweetheart,” Vince said, fighting against the feeling that he was fucking something up that could be really great. Screw that. He didn’t need this kind of entanglement in his life. Besides, it was better to douse that sappy look in her eyes now than later when she’s more attached. He was doing her a favor, which she would realize after she’s had some distance. “Now get dressed. I want to leave in five minutes, no later.”
And then he walked away as if he’d already forgotten she was there, even though his heart was telling him he was making a huge mistake.
#
Rotten, arrogant, bastard!
Everything she’d ever discovered about Vince Buchanan was true and yet she’d somehow been blinded to the plain truth. It was her own damn fault for being so gullible and a closet romantic. She dashed angry tears from her eyes and dressed quickly, hating him for awakening a part of herself that she hadn’t known was there and yet craved all the same. She stared hatefully in his direction, until he gestured with a curt motion to hurry up and then she flipped him off.
“Is that an invitation for angry sex when we return?” he asked with a smirk and she wanted to throw something at him. “No? That’s a shame. Angry sex can be hot.”
“Fuck off.” She shouldered past him, too wounded and shamed to offer anything more scathing. Her mind was screaming at her for being so stupid as to allow Vince past her mental defenses when she clearly knew him to be a wretched human being.
They rode in the Towncar to the hospital and it was difficult to forget what they’d done on this very leather last night. In fact, Emma took a delicate sniff, was that sex she could smell? Oh good Lord, please no. Could her mortification be any worse than it was now? Maybe her brain was playing with her nose. With as many women as Vince dallied with, he probably had instructions to his driver to swab the seats regularly to avoid leaving any tell-tale evidence behind. Ugh. The thought made her queasy. She was just one more notch in his belt. Nothing special or different. Had she thought that she would be? Maybe a little. The truth stung.
“You will be on your best behavior around my family,” he instructed as the Towncar pulled into the hospital parking lot. “Do you understand?”
“I’ll just wait in the car so as not to feel compelled to ruin your family get-together,” she countered sweetly. He scowled and she followed with a small smile. “I mean, there’s no need to explain our awkward relationship to anyone. I would imagine it might look bad for you.”
“They already know about you and nothing I do surprises my family.”
“Oh? Do they know you’re holding me hostage? Prisoner? And that to compel my cooperation, you’ve kidnapped my sister as well?”
“Yes.”
Her mouth snapped shut. Of course they knew. Wretched bastards, the lot of them. “Ugh. Whatever. You’re all going to hell.”
“Maybe. But in the meantime, you will behave yourself. Got it? This is a big day and I don’t want it ruined for Penny.”
“And who is this Penny?”
“Dillon’s wife.”
“And if I don’t behave?” His menacing glower actually sent an excited shiver down her spine. Even when he looked mean enough to strangle kittens in his spare time he was ridiculously handsome. Oh, damn her hormones. He was pure evil with an angel’s body. “Oh fine. I’ll behave myself but not because you’re ordering me too but because babies are a blessing no matter who their parents are. So you can stop glaring at me like that.”
“Good.” They climbed from the Towncar and entered the hospital, detouring to the gift shop where Vince attempted to pick out a present but after several moments of total uncertainty, ended up looking less formidable and more panicked. “I have no idea what to buy for a baby,” he admitted, looking to her with what looked like a plea for help.
She ought to let him twist in the wind for being such an insufferable jerk but in spite of herself, she sighed and decided to help. “The present isn’t for the baby, it’s for the mom. Here,” she walked over to the large walk-in freezer and selected the biggest bouquet there and thrust it at him. Then went to the stuffed animals and picked out a generic brown bear with sweet eyes. “And pair it with this. So you have something for mom and something for baby. Done.”
Vince nodded as if her explanation made sense and approved of her selection. After paying, they headed for the maternity ward. They rounded the corner and saw the balloons festooning the entrance to the room and suddenly, it occurred to Emma that she was about to meet the entire Buchanan clan as if she were a girlfriend or something more permanent than the true circumstances. A sadness pulled at her when she found herself wishing that it were true. Was this neediness a consequence of mind-blowing sex? She’d never felt this intense pull toward anyone in her life. Not to mention, she’d never been so insanely attracted to the same man she wanted to murder in the same breath. The whole situation was confusing. Even now, the idea of angry sex had begun to have some appeal. And that was plain crazy! One thing was for sure, she was going to have to gird her female loins because her hormones were dancing a lively tune that was hard to ignore, no matter all the good reasons why she ought to run as fast as she can in the opposite direction of wherever Vince was standing.