Page 53 of Emeric

“Oleander,” Emeric bit out.

I stood my ground, slightly leaning forward, about to step closer to Jordan. This wasn’t right. The longer I stood here, the more pissed I became.

Emeric pulled on my hand the moment I took a step toward Jordan. Turning me to face him, Emeric backed me up until my shoulder blades were against the wall. I could have overpowered him, but I was so shocked by the move that I let him do it.

He put his face directly in front of mine, blocking the others in the room. “This is between Jordan and me. I have it handled. You would have been filled in as soon as they left, but you inserted yourself, and now I have to handle you.” His body was flush to mine, us touching from chest to toes. “Will you calm down and let me wrap up my conversation?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I shouldn’t have to do this with you. You need to trust me.”

I couldn’t answer. I was torn between wanting to strip my clothes off so he could fuck me and pushing back at him for talking to me that way in front of the others. And trust him? Didn’t he understand I already did? For him to tell me that meant he didn’t know. That was on me. How many ways could I fuck up in the span of an hour?

Instead of using words, I nodded.

Emeric released me and turned, keeping his body in front of mine. The adrenaline I’d felt as I rushed here started to leave. I sagged, my forehead meeting Emeric’s back as my hands fisted the fabric of his suit jacket.

“I won’t give reasons why I do what I do in my personal life, Jordan,” Emeric said. “That’s off-limits. I understand Ollie works for you, but the minute he entered my hotel with the sole purpose of finding out what was going on with me, not to protect you or someone in your family, he became mine. As a matter of fact, he was mine the moment he agreed to be in a relationship with Sylvan and me. I won’t meddle in your personal life if you don’t in mine.”

“Fine.” I couldn’t see Jordan, although from his tone, I could tell he’d cooled down… just a tad. “Back to the previous matter, Lawson is on it.”

A phone rang from somewhere in the room.

“My hotel manager,” Emeric said.

“I’ll take it,” Lana offered. It was the first time she’d spoken since I’d arrived. I heard the door open and close.

“If that’s all, I’d like to continue my conversation with Ollie in private.” God, even Emeric’s voice turned me on.

“He still works for me,” Jordan pointed out, as if it wasn’t obvious. The man had to assert his dominance. He was territorial toward everyone under his protection, including his guards.

“He loves his job, but he’s mine when he’s not on the clock.”

“He’s on shift in the morning guarding Vail.”

“Yes, sir,” I said calmly from behind Emeric. I had zero interest in moving.

Once the door opened and people left, I heard someone come in.

“I’ll talk to Lawson and get your employees signed back in.” Lana.

“What I need to know is why the hell you stayed quiet the whole time,” Emeric bit out. “This was your meeting. I didn’t want to involve Jordan.”

“Yet, he made things better. I’m not in the mood to argue with you, Em. Talk to Oleander, find Sylvan, and get into a better mood. I’ll speak to you tomorrow. Oh, and the words you’re looking for are thank you, Lana.”

“If you weren’t my sister…”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The door closed, signaling Lana’s exit.

I didn’t want Emeric to turn around and yell at me for barging in here, which he could have. I would have pled my case, concern for him at the forefront of my mind. My arms wrapped around him, putting my chest to his back as I stood to my full height.

“Ollie,” he whispered, his fingers threading with mine on his stomach.

“I should have done that better, but I’m not going to apologize for inserting myself into this. It’s in my nature to protect, Emeric. I was so torn leaving Syl. We have to go to him.”

“We will, but we need to talk about what just happened. I can’t have you putting yourself in front of me and fighting my battles and your boss. I’ve worked for him long enough that I can handle myself. It’s not like someone was here ready to take me out. The threat was online; my hotel’s system was hacked. Lawson is working on it. Apparently, Jordan will take care of it. Who the fuck knows? I’m not sure who’s after me or why. Right now, I really don’t care.” He might not care, but I did.

“They’ll find them.” I’d hound the fuck out of Lawson until he did. When he figured out who threatened Emeric, I’d put my gun to their head.

“I’m not going to apologize either for handling you the way I did. You were over the line. We’re going to need to work on a balance here. Later though. We need to go see Sylvan, as you said.” It wouldn’t be the end of the conversation. At least he wasn’t angry with me.