Love Emerged Read Online Free

tight smile. Not original at all, and I really hope she’s better at coming up with ad campaigns than she is at flirting.
    “Yes. He’s older and very taken.”
    My brother just recently went back to Colorado with the girl who had won his heart at the age of six—our next-door neighbor, Piper Ashby. That left me with Piper’s twin brother, Brad, as my roommate since he called off his wedding.
    “And what about you?” She walks a little closer, and occasionally, her shoulder brushes my arm.
    “Yes, I’m taken by Deacon Advertising.” I see Tim in the hallway, standing outside his office, waving me over. “If you’ll excuse me, Yasmin, I have to earn my reputation.” I smile over to her and don’t wait for a response.
    “I’ll be waiting for you,” she hollers over at the exact time I pass the restroom.
    Bea walks out. She stops dead in her footsteps and stares between Yasmin and me.
    “Hmm . . . you making the rounds?” She breezes by me, leaving that smell of vanilla behind.
    There goes my dick again, and if I didn’t care so much about its well-being, I’d smack it down to submission.
    I look up, and Tim’s waiting for me at the door of his office, impatience spreading through his bushy eyebrows.
    I need to work Bea out of my system because I need this job. I have to prove that I’m worth the double salary I’m being paid, compared to everyone else in my position. That I’m the man who will eventually run this company. There’s one, and only one, thing I need to focus on, and that’s work.
    Tim ushers me into his office, closing the door behind me.
    “Dylan, I need you to be frank with me. Are you seeing Bea Zanders?”
    Seriously, shit around here is fierce and fast. They give high school a run for its money.
    “No, Tim, but I do know her.”
    “You do? You mind me asking, what is the nature of your relationship?” He leans back, his hands wrapped around the edge of his desk.
    Watching his knuckles turn white, I wonder why exactly he cares so badly.
    “Would it be a problem if we were involved? I don’t remember reading anything about fraternization within the company.” I cross my leg, resting my ankle on my opposite knee, and lean back into my chair.
    This douche isn’t about to intimidate me—even though a growing fear inside of me is rising that this guy wants, has, or still is very much in Bea’s life and not just as a boss-employee relationship.
    “There’s no policy, but it’s frowned upon. Maybe not so much with the ordinary people out there.”
    Are we really calling Bea Zanders ordinary?
    “But with you, me, and the execs, there should be no veering over that line.”
    “I’m technically not an exec yet.” I fight even though I have no intention of dating anyone in this company, including Bea. I just don’t like the way Tim’s pissing around her, like a damn dog marking his territory.
    “Dylan”—he sighs, his fist clenching one more time along the edge of the ornate desk—“when we hired you, you were given what we expected and what we promised. If all goes like we’ve planned, you’ll be an exec before the year’s end.”
    Shit, I’ll be running this place, including you, Tim.
    “Listen, Tim”—I stand up, towering over him by at least two inches—“I’m at Deacon for one reason, and that’s to gain new accounts, work your old ones, and make this the number one company for advertising in the Midwest. As far as my personal affairs, they’re my affairs and my business. I don’t see the two ever crossing over, so I think we can put an end to this conversation.”
    I wind around the chair toward the door.
    “Dylan?” he calls out.
    I stop, turning around.
    “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that someone said they saw the two of you huddled in the corner.”
    “It’s strictly platonic. A friendship of sorts. That’s all.”
    The dickhead smiles, victory staining his face. The urge to tell him how nice her ass fit in my hands is