“Of course I know that. I wasn’t worried about that at all.”
“You were worried about something, though.”
“Yes.”
A beat of silence while he waited. When she didn’t say anything further, Will made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. “Just tell me.”
“After dinner.” It would be a brief reprieve, but she refused to ruin his night right before a fun meal with friends. “I’ll tell you when we’re back home. Promise.”
“Fine.”
“It’s nothing, Will. I swear. Just set it aside for now. Jared’s going to want a demonstration of your Maine accent.”
He didn’t smile as she’d hoped he would, but he did let out a long breath that took a lot of the rigidity out of his body. A couple minutes later, he pulled into the restaurant parking lot and found a spot. Though he turned off the car, he made no move to get out. Emmy waited, giving him the time he needed. Finally, he reached out and pulled her across the divider and into his arms. She held herself still as he buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply. Though the position was awkward, she made no move toextricate herself. He still smelled like salty sea air. His body rippled with strength and emanated comforting warmth. She couldn’t fight the way she felt about him when he was holding her like she was everything that mattered to him.
Finally, he spoke quietly, his lips against her hair. “You are not responsible for me, Emmy. Not when it comes to my mental health or my emotional wellbeing. You can’t try to shoulder every burden for me. Let me take my share. I can handle it. Whatever else I am, I know I am a grown man who was raised with a solid support system. Don’t treat me like I’m fragile.”
“Okay.”
He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. “Okay?”
They were still so close. She could feel the whisper of his breath on her lips. Would he kiss her again? Would she let him? “Okay,” she repeated quietly. She didn’t know whether she was agreeing with his previous plea or if she was giving him permission to kiss her. Or both. All she knew was, when he pressed his lips against hers, softly and sweetly, it was more than welcome. It felt right. He pulled away instead of deepening the kiss. Probably for the best since she didn’t want her hormones to ruin dinner.
They got out of the car and the sounds of the lively restaurant, the bright lights, the upbeat murmur of a hundred conversations, poured into her consciousness. Everything increased when they went through the door. Jazz music mingled seamlessly with the clink of glasses, the shouts and groans of people watching sports on the TVs over the bar, the laughter of the patrons, and the chatter of the servers as they swept past each other or stopped to check in at their tables. In place of traditionallighting, brightly painted mason jars had been placed over lightbulbs and suspended from the ceiling. The walls were covered in brass instruments, Mardi Gras beads, and splashy paintings.
Emmy was, quite simply, dazzled.
When she finally finished gazing around the space, it was to find Will watching her with a soft smile.
“What?”
“You’re beautiful.”
Emmy felt heat rush up her neck to settle in her cheeks. “Th-thank you. So are you.”
Will laughed. “At least call me handsome.”
“Sure, if you’ll only accept gender-normative compliments.”
“I don’t know much about romance novels, but something tells me gender-normative is the name of the game.”
“Yeah, fair enough. But only in the mainstream ones.”
They saw Jared waving and wound their way around booths and tables to join him and Bright. His fingers were threaded through hers on the table in a casual and adorable gesture of affection.
“You guys get lost?” Jared asked.
“We were in Maine,” Will replied as he slid into the booth.
“Uh… okay. I’ll bite. Why were you in Maine?”
“Tah have the lobstah rolls, of cahrs.”
Emmy burst into laughter and heard Bright giggling along with her. Jared just shook his head, but he was smiling. “I bet they took you for a native up there.”
“Oh yeah. They all thought I was born and raised in Portland.”
“A long way to drive for lunch,” Bright commented, her eyes full of humor.
