Falling Like The Stars (Book 3)

Chapter 25 - Is It Alright?

" Is it alright if I lay with you
Just for one more night? Let's evade the truth
And go back to first time that we both felt the same
And we were just fallin' like tears in the rain. "

'Is It Alright?' - James Arthur

*****************************

Emily's anxiety was going ten to a dozen after she had sent the message to James. She doom scrolled around on her Instagram for a little while, liking a new post that Shannon had posted up earlier in the day of his Harley with the caption, 'Beautiful weather in LA today'.

She scrolled around for a little while longer before flicking back to the message she had sent James, re-reading it again. She sighed before clicking off her phone tossing it onto her coffee table, then picking up the glass of water she had set there and downing it all.

Getting up, she made her way to the kitchen and dumped the glass in the sink, ready to put in the dishwasher tomorrow. A stain on her satin camisole caught her eye, so she picked up the dish sponge, wetting it and dabbing at the spot until it seemed to disappear.

A sudden knock on her apartment door made her jump, and the sponge flew from her hand bouncing off the countertop, landing with a thud in the sink. She frowned, thinking she had misheard things, but then the sound of knocking again made her realise she hadn't.

It sounded again, causing her to call out, "coming!", then instantly wincing, thinking of Alex and hoping her shouting hadn't woken him.

Standing on tiptoe to look through the peephole; which was a force of habit after being with Jason, she saw that James was standing there, looking a little flustered and leaning against the corridor door with his hands in his pockets, gaze cast down at the rich, ruby red carpet, kicking at it with the toe of his boots.

Emily slid the safety chain from its holder and found her hand was shaking as she turned the lock to the door, her mind racing a thousand times a minute knowing they need to talk, but not having actually planned what she had wanted to say to him.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves, she cracked open the door and made to open her mouth to speak, before she found herself being propelled backwards down the hallway, the door clicking closed with a clack and the cold hard surface of the hall wall on her back.

The scent of James's aftershave enveloped her like her own little personal bubble of ecstasy before she realised his lips were on hers and he was kissing her. It took her a while to understand that she was actually kissing him back before a fleeting feeling of worry crossed her mind. Eventually, she allowed her mind to calm, centre, and focus on the present moment of the here and now.

His lips moved away from her own and worked their way downwards, kissing the underside of her jaw, before trailing their way down her neck to her shoulder. He removed them momentarily before replacing them once more and moving his mouth to her ear and whispering, 'I know we do,' into it, in response to the text she had sent him.

She could feel his breath was shaky, as were his hands on her hips, gently caressing them with his fingertips, almost as though seeking permission from her to be allowed to slide them up and under the slippery fabric she wore to gain access to her skin and be ever closer to her.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings earlier." Emily told him quietly, her hands sliding up his chest to the open V of his shirt, her palms coming to rest on the warm tattooed skin she found there. "I just suddenly felt very overwhelmed by everything that's happened in the past few days."