(3 months later. Paris, France)
"Oh my God, I can't believe that's the Effiel Tower!" Emma was in awe as she stared out of the hotel window. Justin chuckled and shook his head. Riley was taking a nap. It was nearing 4pm and the group had been in Paris for a total of 4 hours already and Emma was still caught up on that tiny fact.
"Are you laughing at me?" She turned around and glared a Justin, mock anger written on her face. "Just because you've been here a bajillion times and couldn't care less, doesn't mean I can't be excited." She told him off and continued to stare out the window.
"We'll the show isn't until next week, so hopefully by the time we leave you'll be over it." he laughed a little more and stood up from where he'd been sitting on the chair in her hotel room. "I'm going to go take a nap and relax. How about we go sight-seeing tomorrow. I'll show you all the sites." He smiled.
Emma adamently agreed and finally walked away from the window to turn on the television. "Okay. Are we set to go anywhere for dinner tonight or is it a room service night?"
"They didn't plan for anywhere today or tomorrow, but I can make arrangments for the rest of the week." Justin replied.
"Okay. Well I'll be around the rest of the night then if you need to go anywhere or whatever." she said.
"I'm in for the night, but maybe me and Riley will come have dinner with you later." he smiled and left her alone as she aimlessly flipped through the channels. Emma smiled to herself. He had done almost a complete 180 in the past 3 months. He stopped going out and getting drunk after shows, he spent every free minute he had with Riley and coincidentally with Emma as well and they had really become close. The only problem with that was, Emma was slowly but surely developing a school-girl crush on her boss. She giggled and mentally scolded herself for looking forward to spending the evening with him. The prospect of spending the next 8 days practically alone with Justin, in Paris of all places, was making her giddy.
An hour later she heard a quick knock on her door and she got up to answer it, smiling brightly when she saw Justin and Riley at the door and big bag of what appeared to be Chinese take-out in Justin's hand.
"Where in the he... heck did you find Chinese food in Paris?" Emma immediately asked.
Justin laughed to himself and walked into the room. "You can find anything here if you know where to look... or have 20 people you can pay to do it for you." he grinned at her and got comfortable in one of the armchairs. "Every major city is multi-cultural now." he stated matter-of-factly. "I originally thought of wining and dining you with french cuisine but I figured by the end of the next week here you'd have had enough so I ordered Chinese instead. You'll get France food tomorrow." he popped open a pint of sweet-and-sour chicken and set it in front of Riley. "Here you go Sweetie." he lovingly patted his hand over her blond curls as she dipped a piece of the chicken in the bright red sauce and took a big bite.
Emma smiled at Justin's actions and took a seat in the empty armchair. "So, what did you get me?"
"I got a bunch of stuff, 'cause I didn't know what you liked." He replied absentmindedly as he popped one of the fried chicken peices in his mouth. "There is some lo mein, a ton of this... stuff." he said, his mouth full. "and a couple egg rolls too."
"Yum." Emma sighed as she grabbed the pint of lo mein and dug in. "So what's on the agenda for tomorrow exactly?"
"Oh no no, I am not telling." Justin smiled. "you'll just have to wait and see." He winked at her and she turned her head away so he wouldn't see her blush. He caught it anyway, but to be honest that was a normal occurance, at least from most women, and he really thought nothing of it. He shook his head and reached for the remote to find something on television that wasn't in French.
"Oh my God I am exhausted!" Emma dropped her numourus bags on the floor of the hotel hallway next to her door. It was nearing 9:30 at night and Justin, Riley and herself were just returning from spending the day climbing the Effiel Tower, dining on French cuisine and exploring all that the Lourve had to offer.
Justin chuckled and shifted a sleeping Riley from one arm to the other. He smiled at the little girl and kissed the top of her head. Emma couldn't help but smile at the picture they made.
"Wait right here." He said softly to Emma and held up a finger with his free hand, his other arm cradeling Riley against him.
Justin unlocked his hotel room, dissappeared inside, assumably to put Riley in bed and then returned a few seconds later with a little plastic bag. He held it out to her and after she took it, he leaned against the wall with one shoulder, to watch her peek inside.
Inside the bag was a cheesy, touristy, Effiel Tower shot glass, but Emma smiled anyway.
"It's not much." Justin said, "but you've been such a big help with Riley, and I... don't know where to begin to thank you." he trailed off.
"It's great, thanks." Emma smiled and tucked it in her purse. "And you're paying me to help out with Riley, or have you forgotten that?" she giggled and he smiled.
"No. No. My bank statement reminds me of that every two weeks." he grinned.
"Shut up!" Emma playfully shoved his shoulder "Like you ever see your own bank statement." she said sarcastically.
"Yea, I know, that's what Trace is for." he held out his arms. "But thank you anyway." he wrapped his arms around her in what was supposed to be a friendly hug.
"You welcome." Emma hugged him back, tightening her arms around his neck, as his held on to her waist.
Neither of them moved.
Neither of them made a motion to move.
Justin pulled back a little and stared into her eyes, He was instantly lost, transfixed on her eyes, and unintentionally he leaned closer. Emma inhaled and her eyes closed in anticipation.
At the last second Riley's voice inturrupted the moment and both of them backed away from eachother in the blink of an eye.
"Daddy!" A scared questioning yell called to him. He glanced back at Emma, with an apologetic shrug and whispered a hurried "goodnight" before he jogged into his room.
Emma blinked, shook her head and scoffed at herself. She reached for her bags, unlocked her hotel room and went inside. All the while mentally screaming at herself for what she had almost let happen.
Justin was her boss. She worked for him.
She took care of his daughter. A daughter that he had produced with another woman somewhere down the line. Sure maybe that didn't matter now but she was already involved enough in their lives, she didn't need to worry about playing 'Mommy' to Riley as well as nanny.
Emma didn't really stop to realize though, that she already was doing exactly that.
Emma was already curled in bed reading when the phone next to bed rang about an hour later. She gave it a strange glance, silently wondering who could be calling her in France, before she reluctantly picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Em, it's Jay." She recognized his voice almost instantly and couldn't help the small smile that formed.
"Hi."
"Hi." He repeated but said nothing else. They were both completely silent for a minute or so.
"Um Justin?" Emma finally asked.
"Yea?" he asked in reponse.
"You... called me." She said.
"Right." For some reason he was having an unbelieveably difficult time forming his words.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yea, everything is... fine."
"Okay..." her eyebrows furrowed and she could almost imagine him spralled out on his bed, rubbing his hand back and forth over his buzzed head trying to form a comprehendable sentence. "Well, did you have anything else to say?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Okay?"
"I'm sorry." He sputtered out after a moment.
"For?"
"Before."
"Huh?"
"In the hall."
"Oh."
"Okay?" He asked.
"Yea."
"Okay." he paused. "Goodnight then."
"Goodnight." Emma hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute.
What the hell?!
She was definitely confused. She giggled and shook her head simply because she could think of nothing else to do. With a happy sigh she put her book on the nightstand, turned off the light and soon enough was drifting off to dreamland.
