Loving My Best Friend

Ch 8 - Solace

They were talking fine one minute and the next minute Emily looked torn. Raymond Artair looked at her and frowned. “Is everything okay?”

Emily was lost in her thoughts, and he called her name to get her attention.

“Emily?” Raymond Artair said.

“Huh?” She looked at him and saw the concern on his face.

“You have turned pale. What happened?” He looked around to find the source of her sudden dejection but he couldn’t spot any.

“N-nothing. I don't feel well. Do you mind if we can have coffee some other time?” Emily asked and got up from her chair, making Raymond Artair’s eyebrows shot up.

“Let me drop you to your room, then,” Raymond Artair also stood up, leaving their coffee behind.

“Okay,” Emily said and together they left the cafe.

~~~~~~

As Emily entered her hotel room, she felt the darkness inside the room and inside her as well. She almost felt grateful that Oliver wasn’t around to see her misery. Throwing her purse on her bed, she sat heavily.

The scene at the restaurant replayed in her mind like a broken record. It was like the first time she had seen him with another woman. She should have known it wasn’t the last time. By now, she should have been immune, but everytime it broke her heart and her belief in the sanctity of love.

Tears fell from her eyes, and she sniffled. Angry, she picked up her phone to confront him but a voice startled her.

“Why are you crying?”

Startled, Emily looked around in the darkness and saw a figure emerging from the shadows.

It was Oliver.

Her hands quickly wiped the tears across her cheeks but Oliver had seen enough already to know something was incredibly wrong.

“What happened, Emily?” He asked with concern evident in his voice.

She only shook her head and avoided his probing gaze.

He walked closer and sat in front of her on the bed. “Why are you crying? Did Artair do something? I would break that bastard’s neck if he laid a finger on you!”

Emily shook her head again. “No, no, he didn’t do anything. It’s not about him.”

Oliver moved closer to look into her eyes. “Then what is it?”

Emily looked at her hands and she felt the knot in her throat tighten. Only tears fell from her eyes and she could only shake her head.

Oliver saw her distress and thought about what could have upset her this much. She was fine when he last saw her. Then what happened all of a sudden? Then a thought came to him and, much to his distaste, he had to ask her.

“Is it an ex of yours?” He asked and Emily again shook her head, making him perplexed.

“Please, I can’t tell you. Stop asking me,” Emily pleaded, and he nodded, respecting her privacy. But he couldn’t just let her cry her heart out. He promised himself he would find out the reason for her distress later, but right then she needed his support.

With one of her arms in his grip, he pulled her close and took her in his arms. He felt her stiffen at first, and then she melted against him. She cried into his chest and hugged him tighter.

“You might feel better after letting it out,” Oliver said.

“I can’t tell you, I am sorry. I want to but I can’t,” Emily said, and Oliver didn’t press further. He let her cry her heart out.

“I feel so broken, Oliver,” Emily mumbled, and Oliver caressed her head.

“I will break the one who has caused you distress,” Oliver promised, but Emily looked up at him and shook her head.

Emily stayed silent after that and Oliver only heard her sniffles through the silence. Gently, he laid her down trying to calm her and the more he thought of her suffering, the angrier he became. It drove him mad to think that there was someone who could hurt Emily in such a way and get away with it. It worried him as well to think that there was someone else who could affect her this way. She must love that person a lot, Oliver thought.

But he promised to himself that he would find out the reason for her anguish and he would make that person suffer.

~~~~~~~~

The next morning…

Emily woke up from the sun shining on her face, and opened one of her eyes to peek. She felt a warm grip around her waist and a comfy warm pillow cuddling her back. Content with the feeling, she sighed and relaxed back.

Upon moving, she realized it wasn’t a pillow. It appeared to be a body. Hastily, she struggled to turn her head and look behind her and gaped at the sight of Oliver snuggled up against her.

Flustered, Emily picked up his arm from around her waist and began to scoot away. In her attempt to flee, the arm she had just gotten rid of from around her waist, tightened around her midsection again and dragged her closer to him.

His warm breath fanned her ear, sending dangerous shivers down her spine. His lips began to graze the skin around her ear and neck.

“Relax, I am not going to eat you,” Oliver said, and Emily’s eyes widened. Gulping, she gently pulled at his arm but to no avail.

She wondered how they ended up together in bed and then closed her eyes recalling last night. She was upset and let her guard down. Though she was grateful that nothing else had happened, she couldn’t let anything like this happen again.

She let out a breath of relief and tried to move Oliver’s arm away.

“Oliver, let me go,” Emily said when he didn’t loosen his grip. She smacked his arm playfully to wake him up.

“Oliver!!!” Emily said loud enough to wake him up.

It was then he retracted his arm and grumbled. “Emily, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“You weren’t letting me go and wake up. We have a flight to catch,” Emily said, and looked at the clock. They still had some hours, but the speed at which Oliver got ready, she doubted they would be on time.

At the mention of flight, Oliver rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock.

“It’s only 8:00. Let me sleep,” he said and covered his ears with another pillow.

“Fine, sleep all you want. I am going for breakfast,” said Emily, and went to the bathroom to freshen up before breakfast.

“As you wish,” Oliver mumbled.

Emily got inside the bathroom and decided she needed a shower since she was still dressed in the clothes from yesterday’s conference. She also needed to think and clear her head so that she could focus on her work.

After taking a relaxing shower, she dried her body with a towel and looked around for her clothes. To her mortification, she realized she hadn’t brought her clothes to the bathroom and had randomly decided to take a shower at this time.

Groaning, she cursed herself. What was she going to do now?

She couldn’t prance around naked in the room to get her clothes. Oliver was sleeping right there on her bed. Her eyes fell on the towel and she stomped her foot angrily, realizing this was the only way.

~~~~~~~~

Oliver woke up to the strange noise from the bathroom of someone groaning in agony or something. He moved the pillow slightly to peek at the bathroom and his eyes widened seeing the sight.

He couldn’t believe his eyes and blinked to clear the remainder of the sleep from his eyes. This was a sight he didn’t want to miss.

Emily was walking out of the bathroom dressed in nothing but a little towel wrapped around her body. The towel barely reached the middle of her creamy thighs and Oliver felt his mouth going dry.

She glanced at Oliver and he realized that she couldn’t see him looking from under the pillow and a devilish smirk formed on his lips. She quickly walked towards her bag and began to rummage through it.

Oliver carefully removed the pillow from his face and sat up. He was going to see her face when she realized that he was awake all this time.

Emily, oblivious to Oliver gawking at her body, continued to rummage through her bag in haste and then suddenly the bra she had clutched in her arm fell to the floor. Oliver’s eyes followed the garment lying on the floor and he cleared his throat, making Emily stiffen in alarm.

She turned around abruptly and her eyes went wide. “Oliver? You’re awake?” She squeaked.

Oliver stared at the bra lying on the floor and then looked up at Emily. “Weren’t you a size A in university? What size are those?” His gaze trailed from her face to her breasts and he wondered how big they would be. His palm itched for the touch and he reminded himself that Emily would rather die than let him touch her.

“I grew out of them,” she snapped at his remark.

“Oh, I know,” Oliver said with a knowing glint as his eyes raked her from top to bottom. Oh, he loved teasing her this way. The way her mouth fell open in shock at his words, he wanted to close his mouth over hers.

Her hands clutched the towel to her chest and Oliver’s eyes followed their movement and a smirk formed on his lips.

“What are you trying to hide?” He asked and lifted an eyebrow. “I have seen it all… but would love to freshen up my memory.” His voice had a husky ring to it.

Emily gulped and rushed to gather her clothes. She knew what she was seeing and there was no mistaking the s****l promise in his words. She hardly had any trust in her resolve against him.

“I don’t think so,” Emily whispered and ran with her clothes to the bathroom.

Oliver glanced at the way she took off and shook his head at her denial. He couldn’t deny the reaction his body had to hers. Then why was she? Her not accepting the attraction between them only made it enticing for him. He loved a challenge and that was what Emily was becoming for him.

But he reminded himself that not only Emily was his boss but also his supposedly best friend. He might tease her now and then, but the sensible thing would be to stay away from the physical attraction. It would only complicate things further. He wouldn’t want that and hurting Emily was not an option. He could have any women but not Emily. She was forbidden territory. But how was he going to tell that to his body which always reacted to Emily?