Rascal (Rascals Book 1)(33)

Liam looked impressed, which, combined with the pride that had been evident in Emerson’s voice, made me all warm and tingly inside.

“I’m almost a lawyer,” I corrected. “Still waiting on my bar results.”

“What can I do?” Liam asked.

Emerson tossed him a credit card. “Order us pizza,” he said. “We’re probably going to be here all night.”



An hour later, we all reconvened at the bar for food and a break. Even though everyone looked tired and a little stressed, there was nothing but smiles and laughter as we all sat down to eat.

“So how do you two know each other?” Chase asked, gesturing between Kelsey and me with a slice of one of Chicago’s best deep dish pizzas.

“College,” Kelsey said. “We were roommates.”

She then launched into an appropriately embarrassing story about how the two of us had gotten drunk off of wine coolers one night and decided to crash the open mic happening at one of the on-campus coffee shops.

“And that’s how Alex’s one-woman show ‘Law briefs are better than sex’ was born,” she finished as I put my head in my hands.

The guys roared with laughter.

“Those must have been some pretty sexy law briefs,” Liam noted.

I shook my head. “Nope, just a pretty lousy ex-boyfriend.”

All the guys winced in masculine comradery. As they did, I felt a hand on my leg. It was Emerson, his fingers flexing on my thigh. My upper thigh. My upper, upper thigh. I hoped my face wasn’t too red as my thoughts veered into extremely naughty territory.

“What about you guys?” Kelsey wanted to know. “How did you meet?”

This time it was Chase who regaled us with the story of Dante’s underground poker game.

“Completely accidentally,” he insisted, winking at Kelsey. “I am a good, stand-up citizen, who would never willingly be caught in a den of depravity.”

“Not unless there was free beer,” Liam quipped, holding up his own beer.

Chase threw a breadstick at him.

“Not unless there was good free beer,” he corrected. “Some of us have standards.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Bud Light,” Liam said, much to the obvious horror of the rest of the guys. “In the right situation.”

“There is nothing right with Bud Light,” Chase told his friend. “Nothing.”

“Snob,” Liam shot back.

“Baby palate,” Chase retorted.

Everyone broke down laughing.

“What?” Chase looked around the room, confused.

“Baby palate?” Emerson managed. “That’s your insult?”

“It’s a good one,” Chase insisted, but everyone shook their head.

It was getting late, but I could see that the guys still had a lot of work ahead of them. My own long night was catching up to me—despite the nap I had taken a few hours ago—and I couldn’t stop yawning. Kelsey looked pretty tired too, but I could tell she was having too much fun to leave.

“Tired?” Emerson leaned in, his voice low so only I could hear him.

I nodded.

“Want me to walk you to your place?” he asked, his voice full of promise.

Immediately I perked up.

“Alex had a long day,” Emerson said, standing. “I’m going to walk her home.”

Everyone exchanged looks that said they knew exactly what Emerson was talking about when he said he would “walk me home.” I was too turned on to care. We said good night, and I grabbed my things.

Emerson and I barely made it to the second floor before we were kissing in the stairwell, my fingers all over his chest, his hands on my ass. But as soon as we got to my door and I fumbled to get my keys out, Emerson pulled back.

“I can’t come in,” he said, looking more than a little disappointed.

“Why not?” I hated the slight whine in my voice, but goddammit, I was so fricking ready to sleep with him.

“There’s a ton of work that needs to be done before tomorrow,” he told me, his hand on my hip, his voice dropping to a husky murmur. “And I know that once I’m inside of you, I’m not going to want to rush. I’m going to want to take my time.”

My mouth went dry.

“I guess I can wait,” I somehow managed.

“It will be worth it,” he told me. “I promise.”

“OK,” I said breathlessly.

“You’ll be at the opening tomorrow night?” he asked, his thumb slipping under my shirt and stroking my bare skin.

“Mmhmm,” I sighed, the sensation almost too much to bear.

“I’ll make sure you’re on the VIP list,” he said, dropping a kiss on the corner of my mouth before capturing my lips with his.

When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing heavily.

“I should go,” he said.

I didn’t want to, but I let him go. After all, there was always tomorrow night.

And good things came to those who waited.





13





Emerson





It was opening night, and everything looked amazing. Somehow, with Kelsey and Alex’s help, plus an almost-all-nighter with the guys, we managed to get the bar ready for its debut.