She thought for another moment and then offered a small shrug. “To be there in the morning.”
He blinked, the words like a blow against his chest. He leaned back, taking a long sip of his beer before answering. “Then it won’t be complicated.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because the person you decide to be with will know what he wants too.”
“And what will he want?”
“You. All of you.”
She swallowed, her lips parted slightly as she stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“He’ll want all of it. To take you home and sleep with you,yes. But make love to you, too. Wake up next to you. Go out for brunch. Argue over what color to paint the bathroom and who should load the dishwasher. You’ll know what he wants because he’ll tell you. And he’ll know what you want because you’ll tell him that’s what you expect.”
He could see her pulse point in her neck, thundering as the rest of her body stayed stone-still.
“So,” she said, nodding once. “Not complicated.”
His gaze fell to her mouth, her bottom lip now trapped between her teeth, and it occurred to him that right now it would taste like chocolate ice cream. He wanted to kiss it. The thought was like a lead weight falling in his chest. He should have hated how it turned him on, but he didn’t; all he could think about was kissing her. Fuck the conversation, fuck whatever this dance was that they found themselves in lately, he just wanted… her.
And that’s when it hit him. He wanted Emma.
The realization was so startling that all he could do was sit there and take another sip from his beer. The bottle was empty.
“It’s late,” he finally said. “You should head home.”
She blinked. “Right. Yeah.”
She stood, abandoning the ice cream on the countertop as she made her way to the sliding glass door. She stopped there and turned back to him, waiting for him to escort her home as he usually did. But if he stood up, she’d see the full evidence of his thoughts. So he stayed seated and only nodded goodbye.
There was disappointment on her face, but it stayed only a moment before she forced another smile and walked out the door. He watched as she made her way across the yard, disappearing between the trees. And he kept watching for a few minutes after that.
CHAPTER 11
By the time Monday arrived, Knightley had come to an executive decision: he was over it. He wasn’t even sure what “it” was, only that it had taken up residency in his brain, occupying a corner of every thought, every moment. It whispered the wrong things at the wrong times and flooded his mind with images that should decidedly not be there, so much so that he had made an excuse to miss Sunday dinner again last night, just to ensure that no one saw his face, in case they could read his thoughts.
But he was over it now. The decision was made in the car ride down to his office, and by the time he sat down at his desk it was settled. Emma Woodhouse would stay firmly planted in her position as a friend, and that was that.
He threw himself into work then, already powering through the files on his desk before his computer had time to wake up. When Kate arrived at nine, he was pacing his office, asking to go over the day. Will and his team from Hampshire M&A would be here to meet about the Wentworth Hydroponics acquisition at eleven, and he wanted to go over any outstanding issues, review every printout. When she left with a list of things to do, he madephone calls and set up meetings for later in the week… but he could still feel it. That energy, that tightness in his muscles like if he stood still for too long it would burst forth and this decision would fall to pieces at his feet. So he kept moving.
“You look like shit,” Will said when he walked into the conference room at eleven, taking a seat at the other side of the table. Per usual, his gray suit was impeccable, his dark blond hair was brushed back. Even his signature frown was in place.
“Good to see you too, Will,” Knightley replied wryly, leaning back in his chair and unbuttoning his jacket. Will’s comment wasn’t an insult; Will didn’t insult people. He was just brutally honest.
The rest of Will’s team filed in, with his partner Charlie bringing up the rear. His usual smile was in place as he came around to shake Knightley’s hand before taking the chair beside Will.
Charlie’s excitement was palpable from across the table. Despite working in mergers and acquisitions, Charlie was still a science geek at heart. And while Will saw the long-term potential in Wentworth’s business structure and revenue model, Charlie reveled in the chance to spend the next hour talking electrical conductivity and hydroponic fertilizer.
The rest of Knightley’s team arrived and introductions were made before the lights were dimmed and Charlie began a PowerPoint presentation outlining the prospective acquisition of Wentworth Hydroponics by Blaxton Agriculture.
Wentworth had been one of Knightley’s first investments, back when the hydroponics start-up was just a recent college dropout who was growing microgreens in his parents’ basement and selling them to Ben’s restaurant. Now they had over three hundred people on staff, offices in New York and Los Angeles, and a prospective acquisition by the third largest agricultural company in the country.
Knightley should have been ecstatic. He should have at leastbeen listening. But as they flipped to the next slide and Charlie began to review Wentworth’s technical advancements, his eyes glazed over and his brain flooded with Emma’s breathless voice.
Do you sleep with them?
The question pulsed in his brain, as if she were sitting there next to him, whispering it in his ear.
