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She swung the doors of the bathroom wide with force and stepped back out into the darkened room. Harry, who had been waiting nearby, saw her return and rushed to her side but stopped short when he saw her expression. Taking in his features, she felt an absence of any feelings for him other than pure rage. His cheeks now seemed pudgy and childish. His hair too perfect and toy-like. And his eyes that she had dreamed about a million times, were not ocean-blue as she had imagined but were rather like an ice cube, weak and pathetic and likely to melt.
“Hello, Harry.” She stared deep into his face and watched his cheeks turn pink under her glare. “So, when were you planning on telling me about Cassie and the baby? Or does a boyfriend not need to share that kind of information?”
His face lost all color, and his mouth opened and closed like a goldfish that had been thrown from its tank. “I... Um-mm...” he stammered.
“Oh, yes, I guess you would have told me, eventually. The only saving grace in this whole debacle is that I never slept with you, so I never have to stare at her face in the magazines and feel guilty for the rest of my life.”
Her whole body was shaking as she watched him try to form words. He didn’t dare reach out to her, nor did he seem capable of moving away. Instead, he was stuck there, immobilized in her fury.
“Emily.” She felt Jimmy’s warm hand reach out from the darkness beside her and rest on her shoulder. “Come on, it’s time to go.”
She couldn’t pull her eyes away from Harry’s face as Jimmy softly moved her away from the scene. She followed him with reluctance, her pent-up anger keening to be released but her mind was overridden with the need to escape the world and the pain that now settled deep in her chest. As they stepped together outside of the room and into the brighter light of the hotel’s foyer, she found it was an internal battle to keep her limbs in check. They seemed to be stiff and unwilling to move of their own accord. He guided her to the lift, and as the doors opened and they stepped inside, she took her first breath again.
Jimmy’s face was reflected in the door’s mirror, the strong lines of his jaw hard and his green eyes darkened. “Come on, Ems, let’s go to your room and get you a stiff drink. I think you deserve it.”
As they stopped off at her floor, he helped her along the hallway to her door. Sliding the room key from her purse for her, he let them both in and then walked her over to her bed, placing her carefully on the edge. She watched him move across to the mini-bar and pull the door open, yanking out too-small bottles of whiskey. He scrounged around for some glasses and tipped them into each one before returning to sit beside her on the bed. It sank under his weight.
“Bottoms up,” he said, passing a glass to her before putting his to his lips and throwing the contents down. She copied his move, feeling the burning sear and then the softer warmth radiating from out of her stomach.
“Good girl.” He smiled, taking the glass from her hand and placing it on the bedside table. “Now tell me what happened.”
She could feel them again. The hot, pressing wetness of tears threatening to leak out. She took a deep breath. “It was all a lie. Everything. He didn’t care about me, he just wanted information about the Carter contract.”
“And did you give him information, Ems?” Jimmy probed.
She nodded, feeling the first tear trickle down her cheek and plop toward the bed. Staring up at his face, she saw a frown form on his eyebrows and his mouth draw into a tight line.
“I see,” he replied, his green eyes swimming before her own before he reached out and wiped the tear from her cheek. “It’ll be okay, Ems. I promise. We’ll get through this.”
She felt the lump in her throat grow larger and sobs threatened. “I know. But I feel like such a fool. I should have realized he was married, but I never really thought about it, you know? That he always wanted to meet in secluded places and during work hours. He never once asked me out to dinner or a normal date. How could I have not seen it?”
The sobs escaped, and her shoulders heaved from the efforts of crying as Jimmy tucked her into his side and placed his head beside hers.
“I shouldn’t have encouraged you to spy on him. I didn’t realize you were that serious about him. I thought you just had a little crush. And I didn’t realize you didn’t know about Cassie.”
He let out a large sigh which made his shoulders slump and his arm pulled her in closer. “I’m so sorry.”
“So you knew too?” Emily’s heart felt like it would explode. She looked up at his face to see him watching her with a deep sadness. Somewhere in the middle of her pain and anger, she knew she needed to touch him. Her hand snaked up and touched the side of his face and she watched his eyes deepen into a forest green. Her gaze went down to his lips. She leaned forward and pulled them to her own.
As their lips met, she felt a fire rage within in. Deep embers of pain melted into lust, and it unleashed the yearning her heart had been holding. His mouth was soft and warm, the hint of stubble tickling the sides of her cheeks and inflaming her need for him. A low growl emanated, but she was unable to determine if it was from him or her as their lips sucked and nipped, and their tongues tickled and tore at each other.
She pulled at his shirt with a need unlike anything she had ever experienced. Gratification only came in the form of feeling his smooth skin under her fingertips as she threw aside the remnants of the top half of his clothing. His lips and teeth were now exploring the crevices of her neckline and plunging toward her ribs, which made her stomach clench with appreciation. The world as she knew it had disappeared into a single focus of the touch of him against her.
Then just as suddenly as it had begun, there was a space between them. Jimmy sat there, his chest heaving as he held an arm up between them. Small goosebumps lay on his skin as he caught his breath.
“Ems, we can’t,” he murmured. The absence of his skin on hers was causing an ice-cold rush to hit her, and she stared at his face in disbelief.
“But—” She reached out for him, and he stood up and moved away as if she had scolded him. He reached down, picking his shirt up from the floor and refusing to meet her eyes. He tugged it back on, his hands shaking.
“Look, I’m your boss, Emily. And you’ve had a very upsetting night, and you have been drinking. Both of which would indicate you aren’t thinking straight. So I’ll leave you now...”
“Don’t go,” she whispered. “Please!”
He paused and looked down at her. His eyes were dark and moss-hewn, his face angular and distorted. He seemed to be fighting himself, and she reached a hand out, hoping he would take it. With a grimace, he stepped back. “I have to go.” His voice was guttural, as if the words were being torn from inside him. “Please, Emily, just let me go.”
And with one last hungry stare, he turned and walked out the door, closing it softly behind him. A moan escaped her lips, the total despair of the evening settling into her bones and erupting from her mouth. Tears, hot and heavy, flowed along her cheeks as she curled into a ball on the bed and let the sadness consume her. Now, she had officially lost everything she loved. Harry, the respect of her colleagues and friends, possibly her job, and finally Jimmy. As she cried herself to sleep, she wondered how she would ever face the world again.