Emily plopped down in her chair glad the situation had ended with the HT surrendering. She leaned back and let out a big breath and sighed. That had been one of the more stressful negotiations recently. She rested her head against the back of the chair hoping for just a few minutes to regain her bearings. She thought about the conversation she had just finished with the HT. Did she really just admit that Matt meant as much to her as Karen obviously meant to Doug? She couldn't believe it. She knew HRT would never let her live this one down. She looked up when she heard the door open. Matt walked in with a sly grin on his handsome face. Emily looked at the man she had been referring to in her speech and let a small smile cross her face.
"What?" She asked as he approached her chair intent on breaking many of the rules Cheryl had laid out for them when the announced they were dating…still.
"Nice speech." Matt replied, his grin growing larger as he leaned on the desk next to Emily.
She looked into his deep brown eyes allowing the fullness of her smile with the deep dimples grow before answering.
"You liked that huh?" She responded as Matt put both hands on her shoulders. He moved around behind her so that he could properly massage them knowing that she needed it to relax.
"Yeah, I thought it was cute." Matt stated trying not to hide the emotion in his voice. As he stood there rubbing Emily's shoulders, he realized that he had fallen in love with this woman. Now what he thought.
"I only said it to get the HT to surrender." Emily said turning to see Matt's expression. What she saw was unexpected. She saw a mix of emotions from hurt, anger and then sadness race across his features. She quickly grabbed both of his hands and looked into those beautiful eyes.
"Matt, I was joking. I meant what I said." Emily said whole-heartedly.
"Okay. Sure." Matt replied unsure of how to proceed. Emily stood so that they were face to face. She tightly held onto Matt's hands.
"Matt, I was being honest in what I said to Doug. I like knowing that you're there." Emily had no intention on revealing the depth of her feelings because she was afraid she was in this much more than Matt was. He looked around to make sure no one was watching before leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek. Cheryl chose this moment to interrupt the couple's moment.
"Hey I thought I said I didn't want to see that." She reminded them.
"Sorry." Emily replied a little embarrassed.
"I'm not." Matt responded earning him an elbow in the side from Emily.
"Well I just came in to tell you both to go home and relax. You did a great job today." With that, Cheryl turned and walked out of the small radio station. Matt looked at Emily holding her gaze long enough to know that they had just moved to another level in their relationship. For some reason, this thought didn't scare him as it normally did. Maybe because he finally found the woman he'd been looking for. Emily realized that the more she opened up to Matt, the closer they became and she liked that feeling. As they held hands on the way out of the radio station, Matt asked, "So are we going to the Marriott or the Westin now?" Emily's response was a simple, " Follow me." Matt did exactly that. When they got to the Marriott everything else was forgotten and the Matt and Emily got lost in each realizing just how special what they had was.