Grant pressed his hand against his chest. “Ouch.”
She rolled her eyes.
But the smile on her lips encouraged him to press his luck further. “Wanna hear a secret?”
Emmeline lifted a brow.
He leaned in a little and lowered his voice. “I was asking about you too.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Should I be worried?”
“Nah, I was just wondering who that pretty girl sitting next to Finn was. Emmeline, right?” He flashed a smile.
Instead of smiling back, she kept a flat expression and stuck out her hand. Grant shook it, feeling oddly formal. “My friends call me Em.”
Did that include him? “Nice to officially meet you,Em.” He waited to see if she would tell him to call her by her full name.
She didn’t.
Before either of them could say anything else, the bartender returned with Em’s drink. He set the glass on a coaster in front of her. “Do you want to run a tab?”
“I’m only getting the one drink.” She slid her purse from her shoulder and started digging around inside. “I’ll just pay now.”
Grant put his hand on her arm. “Let me get it.”
Em’s hand stilled as she looked down at where they touched. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
“But—”
“Put it on my tab,” he said to the bartender, not giving Em the chance to argue.
“Sure thing.” The man nodded at him before walking off to talk to another customer.
Em put her purse back on her shoulder, pulling away from his hand. Her eyes were trained on the drink in front of her. “That was really nice, but you should know I don’t date players.”
Grant pushed down his disappointment and leaned in. “It’s just a drink. You could say thank you and leave it at that.”
Her lips twitched. “Thank you.”
He stretched his arms and turned to face the room, elbows on the bar. “Besides, I’m not looking to date either.”
Though I would have made an exception for you.
She faced Grant with wide eyes. “You aren’t?”
“Nah, I was just happy to make amends for bumping into you earlier.”
Em stared at him another moment before a corner of her mouth lifted. “If I got free drinks every time someone bumped into me, I might start leaning over the boards during games.”
“If you started leaning over the boards during games, I might not be able to pay attention to the ball.”
She pressed her lips together. “You know you’re not doing a very good job of stating your case of not hitting on me with comments like that, right?”
“And you know that a little flirting doesn’t mean I’m trying to date you, right?”
That was a lie. Grant was thoroughly enjoying their playful exchange and wanted more.
