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Clearly Emma didn’t mind. But as soon as I saw his hand on her ass I saw red. And it seemed like someone or something else took possession of my body. I had to stop it.
But from the way she looked at me in that hallway, it’s clear that she didn’t entirely mind my interference either.
“So what just happened down there?” Ethan barges into the office and I turn on him with a scowl.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “Because one of our regulars is down there complaining about being accosted by someone who looks a lot like you. I had to get him a drink on the house to get him to stop whining.”
“Well if he’s stopped whining it doesn’t matter, does it?”
But Ethan isn’t about to let this one go. He’s still staring at me. Still waiting for a response.
“I lost my temper. It happens.”
“Sure, I’ve seen it happen. But usually it’s when there’s something to actually get upset about. Not because a regular slapped one of the girls on the ass and she didn’t even complain.”
I grit my teeth together and turn back toward my desk. “It’s handled. So let it go.”
“What’s going on with you and this girl? I’ve seen her up here a lot. And now you’re down there defending her honor when it doesn’t even need defending?”
“It’s … complicated,” I reply, conscious of the fact that she didn’t want Ethan to know about our agreement until it became absolutely necessary for him to know.
“Complicated? Are you actually dating one of our girls?”
Ethan is a partner in this club, but his referring to Emma as one of ‘our girls’ sets my teeth on edge as well. Even though I know that he doesn’t mean anything by it.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“If whatever is going on between the two of you is causing you to act like a crazy person I’m going to be worried about it. You can’t be chasing off the clientele. So either you need to chill about the behavior or you need to let her go. Because this kind of thing can’t keep happening. Word will get around and it’ll be bad for business.”
He’s right of course, but that doesn’t make me any happier about it.
Luckily he seems to think he’s made his point and instead of continuing to badger me he heads out of the office, closing the door behind him.
I groan and settle in behind my desk. They’re both right of course. But that doesn’t mean that I have to like it.
That evening when I get home, it takes a long moment for me to place in my mind the car that’s currently parked in front of my house. And when I do, I take a slow stroll around it and frown, shaking my head.
Whatever this thing is supposed to be it’s clearly seen better days. And I don’t like Emma driving around in it. I certainly don’t like the idea of my child being driven around in it. I’ll have to do something about that, too.
Walking into the house I can hear the TV on in the living room. So she’s made herself comfortable here, which I’m pleased with. I want her to enjoy herself in my home and not be a prisoner in the wing I’ve assigned her.
“Hey, I was wondering if you were going to come home tonight,” she says as I walk into the room.
“I always come home at night.”
“Oh? No overnight … excursions?”
I raise an eyebrow in her direction. Is that her way of asking if I spend the night with other women? “No. I don’t do overnights,” is my response.
“Ah, well, that’s your prerogative I suppose.” She looks a little uncomfortable, but perhaps a little pleased as well.
“And nothing else, either,” I add. “This arrangement between us is all I’ve got going right now.”
At that she definitely looks pleased, though she’s trying to hide it by glancing down at the book in her hands before she responds. “Well, that’s your prerogative as well.”
“You had nothing else to do after work?” I ask, changing the subject slightly and she shakes her head.
