He closed his fingers over the keys as she turned to the steps. “How are you getting home?”
She pointed to a blue sedan idling a few cars behind his truck. “Lindsey to the rescue.”
Tyler nodded, but as he took a step back to close the door, his ribs felt like they’d shrunk in the wash. This wasn’t from the bruises. How many times had he walked a girl out and watched her walk down the steps like this? Never once had he dreaded closing the door.
“What about a do-over?” he blurted after her.
Emma stopped and had to grab the handle on the stairs to keep from slipping. She looked back. “What do you mean?”
He took a step out onto the frozen porch. “I’m just saying, your fake date kind of sucked. For me, at least. You asked if there was anything you could do, and I actually have a thing I could use help with tomorrow.”
Her eyes narrowed. “A thing?”
He ran a hand through his bedhead and ignored the ice under his toes. “I have to go out to dinner with my dad and his girlfriend. You wanted to make a point with Sean, and I need to make a point with him.”
She ascended a step. “What kind of point?”
“You asked the other night if I moved here for my dad. He and my mom were divorced when she died, and he’s been married six other times.”
Her jaw dropped. “Six?”
Tyler nodded. His feet were going numb. “He’s convinced I’m exactly like him and likes to make that point every chance he gets. Says I like my freedom too much to settle down. He doesn’t think I’m capable of holding a long-term relationship—”
“Let me guess, you’re inheriting his kingdom, and you have to be married by the time you’re thirty or you lose everything.” She leaned against the porch column, her eyes dancing.
“I’m thirty-three.”
She scoffed. “Weird age to bequeath a kingdom, but what do I know?”
Tyler laughed out loud.Who was this girl?“Yeah, something like that.”
“So you want me to come to dinner and pretend to be your long-term girlfriend?”
“Something like th—”
“Somethinglike that?”
“Yes. Exactly like that.”
She grinned. “Just wanted to hear you say it. At least I’m not the only psycho.”
“Always happy to keep you company on that front.”
Emma chewed on her lower lip. “But won’t it be worse when your dad sees I’m not in the picture anymore?”
Good point.Tyler leaned over the porch railing to take the pressure off his feet. “So come twice. Once now and then again in six weeks or so. Two free dinners.”
“Six weeks? That will convince him you’re in a long-term relationship?”
Tyler chuckled. “Three times longer than any relationships of mine he’s witnessed.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Seriously?” He held out his hands as his body started to shiver. Emma motioned at the hockey bag. “That’s two favours, and I cleaned your fluids—”
“Fluids?Blood. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Emma blushed and pursed her lips. It made him want to kiss her again to force them to relax. “Don’t you think doing something like this kind of proves your dad right?”
Tyler stiffened, then pushed off the railing and stepped back to the door, picking up his hockey bag.Had she seriously washed his gear?“I’m working on that, but I’ve only lived here a year—”
