Praise (Salacious Players Club #1)(59)

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Sophie, this is my…friend, Emerson. Emerson, this is my sister, Sophie.”

I watch his expression as he holds something out toward her. “Happy birthday, Sophie.” It’s a large purple envelope, and I try to imagine him walking down the aisles of a drug store, picking out a birthday card for a fifteen-year-old girl. A smile stretches across my face.

“Thank you!” she beams. “Can I open it?”

“Of course,” he replies.

Sophie tears open the birthday card with purple glittery flowers all over the front and smiles as she reads it. When she opens it, something falls onto the floor. As she’s picking it up, I glare at him with wide eyes, assuming he slipped some cash in there for her.

“You really didn’t have to do th—”

“Oh my god!” Sophie screams.

As she jumps up holding a piece of paper, I ask, “What is it?”

“Two tickets to the Anime Fest!”

“What?” I shriek, grabbing the papers. And they’re not just two regular tickets, they’re two VIP tickets. “Emerson!”

“Thank you so much!” Sophie squeals, bouncing on her skates.

“But…how did you know?” I ask, completely baffled.

“You told me about it when you first started.”

My mouth falls open. I remember that day, when I was rambling on and thought he wasn’t even paying attention. He was actually listening. I have chills running up my arms as I stare at the tickets then look back up at him.

Does he even know how much this means to me? That after having my car fixed, I couldn’t really afford to get the VIP tickets any longer, even with the salary he’s paying me. Does he know that the fact that he listened to me and remembered after all these weeks means more than anything?

Tears spring to my eyes, and I quickly turn, blinking them away.

“What’s this?” my mother asks after hearing Sophie’s reaction. I hand her the tickets and Sophie proudly announces that she’s going to the Anime Fest. And I’m trying to smile and act normal, but I feel his eyes on me, and can’t shake this feeling that while this is all so amazing, and he is so incredibly perfect, on some level, I hate him for it.

I hate him because, at the end of the day, I can’t keep him.





RULE #26: DON’T BE AFRAID OF A LITTLE DIRTY TALK.





Charlotte





“Emerson, are you joining us for movie night?” my mother asks as he helps carry all of Sophie’s gifts out to the car after the party.

My eyes widen. Emerson and I had pretty clear plans for his place after the party, so I shoot him a quick, but wordless, look that I hope translates into ‘just say no.’

To my utter dismay, he quickly replies, “I’d love to,” and my expression morphs into one that says, ‘what the fuck?’

But then he smiles, and I just don’t get to see that smile very often, and it’s such a nice smile.

“I’ll ride with you,” I tell him as Sophie and her two friends climb into the back of my mom’s sedan. And I definitely don’t miss the sly look on my mother’s face as I disappear with him toward the back of the lot where he parked his car. After climbing in, we watch my mom’s car drive away before he grabs me by the back of the neck and drags my face to his.

We kiss with the vigor of two people who’ve been waiting for this exact moment for hours. All of that stored desire comes spilling out in one very hot make-out session over the console of his car. His lips are merciless and demanding, devouring my mouth and barely leaving me without enough air to breathe. Oh well, I don’t need to breathe. I just need him.

His hands roam down to my breasts, but when I reach for the bulge at the front of his jeans, he grabs my wrist.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” He growls against my mouth.

“I think it’s a great idea.”

“You want me to fuck you in the front seat of this car, in front of people passing by, so we both get sent to jail? Because if you touch it, that’s exactly where this is going.”

“Worth it,” I mumble, reaching again.

“Behave, Charlotte.” The use of my other name makes me instantly obey. Like ringing a bell, he can just tame me with one word and a little change in the inflection of his voice. And just like that, I’m his submissive.

Pulling away with a pout, I lean back in my seat. “You know, we really don’t have to go to movie night.”

“I know.”

“Then, why are we doing it?”

He reaches across the console and squeezes my thigh with his hand. “Because I like seeing you around your family, and I like your family.”

As he starts to drive away, I want to tell him that he’s just making everything worse. We’re supposed to be keeping this a secret, and we should be accepting that this will never work. It was just supposed to be sex.

When we reach my house, I tense in anticipation for the moment when he walks inside. I love our house, but it’s our family house. It’s a little bit chaotic on a normal day, but now there are three very excited teenage girls in it, and this is just not Emerson’s speed.

We meet my mom in the kitchen, who is busy making popcorn and snacks while the girls pile into the living room, picking out a movie. They agree on the Japanese animation, Spirited Away, honestly one of my favorites, but will Emerson appreciate it? I can’t seem to relax because I’m too busy worrying about if he notices the dirty dishes in the sink from breakfast or the pile of laundry still stacked on the stairs, waiting for Sophie to put it away. And my mom’s cockapoo won’t stop jumping on his leg, sniffing his jeans, and I just want to take him out of this place.