Page 22 of Always Mine (The Barrington Billionaires 1)
Emily nodded.
“I’ll see you before then. Bye,” Celeste said and left.
Emily stayed and continued to walk from display to display and ran her hands over each one. It didn’t feel real, but it was happening. Her mother’s dream was becoming a reality.
Two strong arms slid around her waist from behind. She spun and warm lips kissed her neck. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound died on her lips when her eyes met Asher’s. Anger replaced fear. “Don’t touch me.”
He tucked a wayward curl behind her ear and gave her a knowing smile. “That wasn’t what you were saying when I left you in Paris.”
Emily slapped his hand away. “Left is the key word. I have nothing to say to you.”
He grabbed her arm. “That’s a shame, because I have a lot to say to you. The most important being, I made it clear I wanted you to stay away from my family.”
Emily tried to yank herself out of his hold. When that failed, she straightened her shoulders and growled. “What you wanted stopped mattering when you didn’t call me.”
He pulled her against him. “Playing games with me is a bad idea, Emily.”
Being near him again set her heart racing wildly. She told herself it was purely from anger. “Doing anything with you is a bad idea. You proved that pretty clearly.” She struggled again to free herself.
He took her chin in his hand and held her face still. “God, you’re beautiful. I want you so much I could fuck you right here and not care who is watching on those monitors.”
Emily clung to her anger, but her stomach clenched with sexual excitement at his comment. She glared up at him and said, “I couldn’t be less interested.”
He ran his thumb firmly across her lips. “Liar.” His eyes burned with a desire that added to the electricity between them. “I want to be angry with you, but I’m so turned on by you that I’m willing to forgive you.”
I know the feeling. Emily gave herself an inner smack for wanting him as much as he wanted her. He’s been gone for weeks. One call. One text. And he thinks I’ll fall right into his bed? Not this time.
Even if I want to.
No. No. No. I don’t want to.
Wanting is weak. Why doesn’t my body get that?
“Get your hands off me,” she said tersely, turning her head away from him. “I told you, I’m not interested.”
He raised his head and turned, pulling her with him. He closed the door of the exhibit as they left it and kept walking, forcing her to double step to keep up with him. “I would believe you, Emily, but if you never wanted to see me again, you wouldn’t be living with my parents, telling everyone we’re in a relationship.”
Emily dug her heels into the rug and brought them both to a stop. “Your mother asked me to come here. She organized an exhibit for me. I’m here because she is helping me, not because of you. I don’t know what she’s telling people about us, but I told her we were over.”
He glared down at her. “You can walk or I can carry you, but we are not having this conversation here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Emily said, raising her chin in defiance.
“Carry it is.” He bent to pick her up, but she started walking.
“Oh, I’ll have a private conversation with you, but you won’t like what I have to say. You have the manners of a Neanderthal. If I ever did find you attractive your behavior cured me of that.”
He turned toward her and lowered his mouth until it hovered above hers. “Kiss me and prove it.”
Emily took a step back, but he stepped with her. “Why would I do that?”
“Because one of us is wrong, and a kiss would reveal who.”
Emily put a hand on the middle of his chest and gave him a shove backward. In surprise he let her go. “You make me so angry I can’t think straight.”
He held her eyes. “I have a similar issue around you. I enjoyed our time in Paris very much. I told you I had work I had to attend to. I told you to wait for me. I went to my apartment first. How do you think I felt when I found you’d left, or even worse, that you’d come here?”
Emily pressed her lips together angrily for a moment then said, “I. I. I. Do you know what isn’t in what you’re saying? Any thought of me and how I felt when you ditched me. How it felt to not know when, or if, you were coming back. Don’t tell me what to do or how I feel. There may be an attraction between us, but I don’t like you. The next time you lay a hand on me I will do my best to make sure you can’t have children. I don’t need a kiss to tell me which one of us is wrong. It’s you. Talk to me when you can see that.”
Emily spun on her heel and strode away from him, tears of anger blurring her eyes. In her haste, she ran full into Dale, who had walked into the room unnoticed.
He steadied her and asked, “Are you okay?”
Dale had been nothing but kind to Emily, and she felt awful as she pulled away from him. “Yes . . . no. I need to get out of here.” He let her go, and she bolted out of the building.
Asher knew his father had heard too much by the way he folded his arms across his chest and waited for Asher to explain himself. It was a stance he remembered well from childhood but hadn’t seen in many, many years. “I should go talk to her.”
His father shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t. Not yet. Your mother and I have never gotten involved in your business or your relationships, but we like Emily. Right this moment, I like her a whole hell of a lot more than I like my son. You hurt that girl, and you don’t care. What does that say about you, Asher?”
Asher’s head snapped back beneath the smack of his father’s words. “I refuse to discuss Emily with you.”
His father gave him a long, hard look. “Why? Because you know you’re wrong?”
Anger rose within Asher. “Of course I’m wrong. Everything I do or have ever done in your eyes has been wrong.”
Dale’s face twisted with emotion. “That’s not true.”
Asher held his father’s eyes angrily. There was no use debating what his father would never acknowledge.
His father sighed and shook his head. “They say children are made from the best and the worst of their parents. You can’t see it, Asher, but the reason we butt heads is because you’re too much like me.”
“I’m nothing like you.”
His father raised an eyebrow. “I know what you think of me, Asher. You’ve always thought I’m weak because I let someone tear down my political career. I could explain myself and change what you think of me, but I’m too damn proud. Always have been. Tell me, who does that sound like?”
Most of Asher’s anger dissolved in the face of the raw honesty of their conversation. It was the first time his father had ever addressed the event that had changed all of their lives. “Why didn’t you fight for your career, Dad? Why did you just give up?”
“I fought for what was more important, and I’ve never regretted that decision. Your mother asked me not to take on the one who was spreading lies about me. That’s all you need to know. A strong man takes care of those who need him, even when their needs oppose his own. Be the man I know you can be, Asher. Little Emily doesn’t need a hammer; she needs a good man who will treasure her. If you can’t be that man, I’d like you to go back to Europe until after the auction.”
Asher frowned. “Isn’t tomorrow the start of the mandatory week with Mom? The one none of us can miss?”
An expression he’d rarely seen on his father’s face appeared. It looked like rage. Pain. Before Asher could apologize, Dale rubbed a hand over his temple, then after shaking his head, spoke with controlled anger. “Is that what you consider it? It’s not mandatory, Asher.” He shook his head again and seemed resigned to be disappointed.
Disappointed in me. Always in me.
In a quieter tone Dale added, “Your mother always feels better when her children are around her during this time, but you shouldn’t feel that you have to be here.”
“I don’t understand why you’d w
ant Emily here for a week that has always been about family.”
“Your mother enjoys being with Emily. She and Emily have both experienced great losses. I think that’s why your mother really wants Emily’s museum to work out. She wants Emily to be happy. Your mother is also convinced she’d make the perfect daughter-in-law.”
“I have no intention of getting married,” Asher said forcefully.
His father smiled and gave Asher a pat on the shoulder. “Your mother’s not picky about which one of her sons Emily chooses. Grant has been helping her organize the finances of her museum. Maybe something will develop there.”
Oh, hell no.
His father chuckled at his son’s expression. “Your mother was holding dinner until I returned with Emily. If you can bring better than I witnessed here, your mother would love to see you.”
Asher thought about everything Emily had said. He was fairly certain he could seduce her back into his bed without changing a thing about himself. Even she’d admitted there was a strong attraction between them. However, he didn’t like the man she’d described.
