Since I already uploaded this chapter accidentally yesterday, might as well give it to you guys. It's not like you don't deserve a double update for all the support you've shown me. I love you guys. Stay happy & healthy as it becomes colder and colder these days.

Episode 33: Meeting The Parents

Disoriented and undeniably exhausted, Emily practically collapsed onto the back seats of her manager's car. Her bare face felt the roughness of the material but she could care less. She was finally getting the rest she had longed for.

Rolling up into a ball like a caterpillar, her eyes fluttered shut. The engine of Talia's car sounded and they were well on their way back to Nicholas' place. She smiled at the thought of him. Her mind went back to this morning when he greeted her with the surprising news of her and Taylor.

The newspaper fell onto the coffee table with a thud. Emily's eyes focused on the contents of it as soon as she caught sight of her remorseful face on the front cover. But not just feeling sorry for someone.

She was in an embrace with them as well!

Her caramel eyes flew up to meet Nicholas' acerbic ones. On autopilot, she stood up and took his hands in her own.

"I swear, it's not what it looks like."

"And what do you think I'm thinking it looks like? Certainly not that the two of you were sharing an intimate moment that was unfortunately captured on camera."

She pouted. "Taylor and I are just friends."

"Good friends, I see."

"Nicholas..." Her face fell with the expression he was giving her. She didn't like it one bit. It made her feel awful when in truth, she had done nothing to feel that way. "Stop looking at me like that."

The man's defenses fell at the plea in the little woman's words. He knew he trusted Emily, enough to know that she would never pull a stunt like cheating on him. However, seeing her wrapped up in the arms of another made him feel an inexplicable amount of jealousy. His throat burnt as he glanced back at the article on the table below.

Upon seeing his lingering gaze, the woman before him took one of her hands out of his and turned the item face down. That way he couldn't see what he didn't want to.

She grasped back his hands in her own and looked up at him earnestly, hoping that he could see the honesty in her stare.

It would really tear her apart if there was to be this type of misunderstanding between them.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry. It's just-"

"I get it."

Nicholas looked to her quietly. Before he knew it, his hand was reaching up to rub at the side of her face daintily. She shuffled closer to his touch but it had disappeared before she knew it.

Her hard gaze met his.

"Why did you stop?"

"To do this instead."

His big hands took ahold of her waist and lifted her against the wall nearby. She looked up at him with her pupils blown as his head lowered and came in for a kiss. When their lips met, as cliché as it may sound, sparks flew between the two of them. Like, an electric power surge kind. It had Emily trembling in his strong arms and she would have slipped to the floor if he hadn't caged her in so well.

She felt herself moaning as her fingers travelled upwards and began their ministrations to his soft hair. Nicholas made her grin like a fool against his lips when he released a tortured groan.

Did she really have that much of an impact on a man like him?

He pulled away and his nose rubbed against the length of her neck as he peppered kisses there confessing, "You're driving me insane."

It seemed like she was.

She cried out in pleasure and sheer anticipation as his hips began to roll themselves against her. As a woman that was with him every day, Emily had an idea of just how much Nicholas had been holding himself back from claiming her. His wife really didn't see why he was being so hard on himself when she had already made it known that she was ready.

Maybe he wasn't then?

Emily laughed mentally at the thought.

There had to be a better and more credible explanation than that, because there was no way he wasn't ready.

His lascivious gaze alone gave away how much he wanted her on a daily basis.

Why the hell was he holding himself back when he said he wouldn't?

Like a jinx, Nicholas pulled away from the kiss and leant his forehead against Emily's. She felt her body burning with the heat of lust as she felt his breath fan her face.

Her lips pursed in thought.

Could she really endure him only giving her pieces of himself anymore?

In the blink of an eye, the car had entered the private district of the house and Emily was home for the day.

She was awoken by Talia who gave her a few assuring words on her performance today, while dropping in hints on where there could be room for improvements.

"Bye, Emily."

The actress bade farewell to the woman whom she watched drive out the front gates before she went inside the house.

It was impeccably clean, as always, and still managed to make her feel excited by the grandeur of it.

Just as she entered the foyer, she saw Nicholas there. The clock above them told of it being only half past six so she wondered why he was home so early today. She didn't bother asking and took her shoes off before throwing her bag and coat onto the hanger.

"Hey," she greeted softly.

She swore she saw him smile a little. "Hey."

"So, how was your day?"

"It was fine. The usual paperwork. I'd go into detail but I don't want to bore you to death."

Emily shook her head, laughing at the seriousness in his words.

"What you do never bores me, Nicholas. You're a hardworking man who puts a lot of consideration into every aspect of his company. Why would I be bored by that?"

His eyebrows raised, but he said nothing other than, "How was your day?"

She stifled a yawn as she walked past Nicholas and into the kitchen. He followed closely behind to hear her answer.

Taking out a container of water, she poured some into a clean glass for herself. She drank some before she responded, all the while he leant against the door patiently.

"It was busy. I had been filming for the series plus a photoshoot for a magazine that wants to feature me as the star of next week's issue. I literally just finished for the day from the moment you dropped me off this morning."

She felt him coming closer to her as she raised the glass to drink once more.

Her body froze when she felt a pair of hands coming to massage the areas of her shoulders. She swallowed quickly as Nicholas gave careful kneads to the junction beside her neck. Her eyes rolled back in bliss.

A man's hands on her body have never felt more good.

"That sounds awfully stressful." He remarked.

All Emily could do was nod as she looked up at him, starstruck.

Was it possible that he was getting even more handsome as the days went by?

Her lips parted and said the first thing that came to mind, "May I kiss you?" She asked bluntly.

His breath hitched at her forwardness as he took his hands off her. He hadn't seen that one coming. Not even from a centimetre away.

"No. It's going to escalate." He declined with all of his willpower, noticing the temptations in her body language as she blinked up at him.

"No, it won't."

"It will. Trust me." He grunted and gave her a stern look which said there was no room for discussion on this.

Admittedly, it wasn't Emily that he didn't trust. It was himself.

She gave him a defeated smile and nodded as if she understood.

"I feel like I'm always doing and saying the stuff men should have the balls to in this relationship."

Nicholas choked on air.

"W-What?"

Emily smiled sugary sweet at him.

"Nothing!" She piped out before she was on her way, dragging his bruised ego on the floor behind her.

All he was trying to do was be a gentleman. He wanted to wait for the perfect time, maybe even make some preparations, before he accepted her giving herself to him fully. It would be her first time after all, he wanted her to have no regrets about it.

But here he was being stabbed in the stomach for being too considerate.

If he was supposed to act like the caveman he knew he could be, hold her down and take her from behind like he's always wanted to, the narrative would totally shift.

He would become a public enemy. An asshole who didn't know better to control his carnal desires.

Now that idea sounded more appealing because he was being bashed either way.

Having her out of plain impulse isn't going to make this situation any better, his conscious argued.

It was right.

He knew Emily just wanted to share her everything with him, including her body, and was saying things out of frustration, but it still affected him.

Of course, he didn't have a fragile masculinity, but any man who heard something like that from his woman would be losing their minds.

Nicholas ran a hand over his face.

It seemed he had to speed up the process before things got more out of hand.

Though he wondered just how sexually frustrated she could get before she would start jumping his bones.

Or worse...

The phone ringing in the direction Emily went and broke his train of thought. He heard as she answered it not long after as he made his way to the bedroom.

"Hey, Chels. What's up?"

Chels? He thought in bewilderment, then it hit him.

Chelsea.

Emily's sister.

"No, I'm not busy. You can go ahead and tell me." Emily said as she stopped in front of her door, her eyebrows furrowing in wonder.

"Mom says to remind you that Friday is Grandpa's birthday. I heard you two met and...talked."

"Yeah, we did. We kind of cleared the air between us as well."

"I'm honestly so relieved. It was way overdue but you humans and your stupid pride."

"And what are you? Wait. Let me guess. An animal?"

"No, peasant. I'm a goddess. I'm not worthy of the status of a mere human as I'm more important and too sophisticated to hold grudges."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the younger sibling dismissed, "What time did mother say I should arrive by?"

"So you're actually coming?"

The surprise in Chelsea's voice was as clear as day.

Emily bit down onto her lips, beginning to wonder if this was really a good idea.

Maybe she should give it another week or so...

"Should I not come?"

"Of course you should!" Chelsea affirmed strongly, making her feel a sense of reassurance.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Grandpa and Grandma will be absolutely thrilled to see you, not to mention dad."

There was a moment of contemplation.

"Emily?"

"Yeah?"

"They really do miss you. Don't doubt that for a second."

She felt her eyes watering at the confirmation she truly needed to hear from a trustworthy third party.

"I'll be there on Friday then."

Chelsea grinned.

Her little sister was finally growing a pair and facing her problems like an adult. It made Chelsea proud to see her gaining these mature attributes she herself never did, and probably wouldn't for a long time to come.

"Great! It's at the old mansion. Grandma insisted on having a birthday party for Grandpa this year, so there's gonna be the whole excitement in the lot. Don't forget to bring your asthma pump."

"I stopped having those attacks since I was six years old."

"I'm just telling you in case you have a relapse or something with all the drama that's bound to take place among our family members being present in one space. Oh, and even Cousin Jason is coming."

"Ugh! Really?"

Emily despised her tacky older cousin with a passion. He never had anything good to say about their side of the family, always making his side out to be more perfect and intellectual because all of them successfully studied medicine. His pompous ass really knew how to tick off someone as calm as she normally was.

"Yeah, but look at it this way. At least he'll take the spotlight off you a bit as he's gonna bring his fiance to the party too."

"He's getting married?!"

Who'd want to marry someone like him? she thought in shock and disgust. She didn't know which emotion was the superior one in the moment.

"Horrified? Yeah, that was my same reaction. I wonder what kind of woman must be so knocked up in the head, or belly, to willingly marry someone like Jason."

Emily shook her head, still in state of disbelief. "Well, I guess we'll find out on Friday."

"Yeah. Good night, Ems."

"Good night, Chels."

Emily slid the icon on her phone screen and ended the call. As she looked up, however, there was a pair of resilient chocolate eyes which bore into her soul.

Nicholas looked at her confidently as he said, "Take me to meet your parents."

***

A/N: Thank you for reading. Don't forget to share this story with your friends & family if you're loving it (which I'm certain of if you've read this far).

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