I smooth my hand over his shoulder, keeping my voice low. “You look handsome tonight.”
He grins lazily. “Thank you.”
“And you and Miller looked sweet together on the dance floor.”
“Crazy to think that the next time I’ll be dancing with her will be at her wedding.”
The mental image has me smiling, but it drops the same time Emmett’s hand sinks an inch lower on my back.
“So, what were you two speaking about earlier?”
It’d be a lot easier to lie to him. To make something up so we don’t get into that kind of conversation here—while on the dance floor. In front of the entire Warriors organization, both past and present.
But he’s always honest with me, so I don’t how I couldn’t be the same.
“She thinks you want me around.”
I’m hesitant to look up and meet his eye, but when I do, I find that he has no issue watching me in the same way.
“I do want you around, Reese.”
“No, I mean—”
“I know exactly what you mean. And my answer is still the same. I want you around. All the time, really. I just wantyou, but I think you already know that.”
Oxygen has a tough time finding my lungs. There’s no shyness to his statement. No hesitation. He’s a man who knows what he wants and apparently, he wants me.
I discreetly check our surroundings. “Em, not here.”
“Fine, but where I say it won’t change my answer. I want you, Reese.”
My eyes bounce between his. “Why?”
The question is out before I think better of it. Before I have time to remind myself to hide that insecurity. Before I can remember where we are.
Emmett’s brows pinch together. “Is that a real question?”
Unfortunately, yes. It is. I didn’t know there could be a why. I once thought you just loved someone for who they are until I learned that some people do have another reason why. An ulterior motive.
His palm on my back sinks another inch lower, and at the same time, he pulls me closer to him. Hard stomach to my soft. His hold on me is firm and unrelenting. Comforting in a way it shouldn’t be with so many eyes nearby. All while continuing to sway us to the soft melody.
“You should never have to ask that question, but I understand why you are.”
A small wave of relief washes over me that I don’t have to explain myself. It’s not talked about enough. How settling it is to be understood without needing to make someone understand.
The realization that Emmett hasalwaysunderstood me has me pliable when he takes my hand that’s held out to the side and hooks it to meet my other around his neck.
His palm strokes against the bare skin of my arm until it also drops to my lower back.
“I don’t know if my why is a tangible thing I can pinpoint, Reese. I don’t know that I have a good answer for you to overanalyze. But I know some of the reasons why Idon’twant you.”
Craning my neck, I look up at him, desperate to hear the next words out of his mouth. His mouth that’s too close to beconsidered professional, but all I can seem to care about is the next thing that’s going to come out of it.
“I don’t want you for what you can offer me,” he says. “I don’t want you for job security. In fact, I think we both know that me wanting you will provide me the opposite of that. I don’t want you because you suddenly brought me back to life or anything like that. I’ve had purpose. I love my life. I love my job. And I love my family. I don’t want you for anything that you can give me, other than the hope I’ve been unable to ignore since you walked into this building.”
My heart races in an unhealthy way, and I try to calm it by focusing on the small circles he’s drawing with his thumb against my back.
“For someone who has gone twenty years assuming that I would spend the rest of my life only being a dad and only being a coach, there’s a nagging hope I feel when you’re around that I could also be...”
