"We should move to the bed. I want more of you, all night." He slid out and helped me stand, and I was putty in his grasp.
The way this man made me forget everything felt like a spell he'd cast on me.
I would regret this tomorrow, but I knew if I pushed him away, somehow, I'd regret it more.
8
NATE
Before I even settled into my office for the day, I knew things had shifted.
All weekend, I'd been dreading my return to work because of the way Ember reacted to the tabloids.
Clearly, something in her past had really shaken her and it had to do with rumors and gossip.
And after seeing a few posts on local Facebook groups about the festival and images of Ember and me shared in those groups, I knew people were talking.
The comments were rude and inconsiderate and there was nothing I could do to stop people's ugly judgment.
I passed through the outer office of senior administration and past Ember's desk which was vacant at the time.
Whispers seemed to follow me, though perhaps I was too worried about it and my mind was playing tricks on me, but I swore I heard someone snickering over the phrase "Who's your daddy?"
All of it was a bit much for me to try to process in light of the new information I had about Ember's past.
I sank into my chair and pulled my phone out of my pocket, laying it on my desk, and turned on my computer.
What I needed was to focus on the day and my work and put all of that behind me, but in a cluttered stack on the corner of my desk lay the festival schedule, which only pushed those thoughts back to the front of my mind.
I had promised Ember to get her out of this tradition and I hadn't even attempted it yet.
Now after learning how sensitive this sort of thing was for her, I knew I should try to.
Surely, there were a slew of other women I could call upon who would love the chance at such an honor.
So rather than logging in to my email and getting down to business, I opted for the web browser where I could sift through a few profiles on social media to determine who might be a good fit.
The problem was, the instant I signed in, I saw a dozen notifications all from the Beacon Hill community group where I'd been tagged in a picture.
I tried really hard not to pay attention to it, but after looking over just two women's profiles, I couldn’t resist the curiosity and temptation.
I clicked on the notification only to see the image snapped of us outside the hospital gala had been posted here too.
And worse than that, people were asking questions like "Hearthkeeper or heartbreaker?" with rude replies on every instance.
Ember never asked for negative attention from this.
In fact, she never wanted to be a part of this at all.
She didn't like cameras or media attention, and I was the one who dragged her in against her will without knowing anything about her.
These people were heartless, the very sort of crowd I hoped would've gotten the message of light and love, and they were showing how hateful and dark humanity could be.
Something fierce rose up inside me at the idea of Ember being hurt by this and all I wanted to do was stop the madness and protect her.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath to relax away the tension forming between my shoulder blades, but my phone rang, interrupting my moment of silence.
I didn't recognize the number on caller ID immediately or I would never have answered it, but as it was, my job required me to converse with people by phone regularly.
