Em laughed softly. Looking at him through lowered lashes, she jerked her head toward the booth. “I should probably get back to everyone before Finn sends out the search party. Bye, Grant.”
This place wasn’t so big, and Finn could see her from his spot in the booth, but Grant nodded. “I’ll see you around, Em.”
With his back pressed against the counter, Grant rested his elbows on the bar and watched as Em returned to her seat. She was only a few feet away when Bastian stepped directly in front of him blocking his view. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Grant grinned. “Doing what you said. Interacting with the fans.”
Bastian scowled. “Didn’t you hear me when I said that she’s his sister?”
“I did.” And Grant was thrilled with that bit of information.
He’d thought Em was off-limits because she was dating Finn. Knowing that the mutual adoration he’d seen on hers and Finn’s faces was strictly sibling love was great. And to think he might have missed out on talking to her if Bastian hadn’t cleared that up.
Grant craned his head around Bastian to try to get another glance at Em.
“That makes her off-limits.”
Grant’s head snapped back toward Bastian. “What are you talking about?”
“Finn’s really protective over his little sister.” Bastian rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’re new, so let me make this one thing crystal clear before you do something dumb. You cannot date Emmeline O’Brien.”
This had to be some kind of joke. Grant laughed. “Not sure what century you’re living in, but my sister would tear me a new one if I tried to tell her who she could and couldn’t date.”
“I’m serious. This dude, Parrera, tried to date Emmeline without permission and ended up with a broken nose.”
Grant’s smile fell. “Sounds a little extreme.” He glanced over at the booth just in time to see a guy stop by the table. Finn gave the man a fierce look that said go away. Grant swallowed hard.
Having also witnessed the exchange, Bastian shook his head. “Like I said, he’s very protective of her.”
Grant opened his mouth to ask more about it, but Silas started hollering in their direction.
“Bastian, get over here! You still owe me a rematch in darts.”
“I’ll be right there!” Bastian turned and faced Grant once more, his face hard. “Consider this your one and only warning.”
Without another word, Bastian walked over to where everyone sat together. A minute later, Silas and Bastian were taking turns throwing darts at a board on the wall while Miriam cheered them on.
Grant took a long sip of his beer as he glanced over to where Finn and Em remained in the booth. He wondered what Finn’s deal was. Breaking someone’s nose because they tried to date your sister sounded more like something Vinny would do—not their cool-headed captain.
But it would make sense if that was the reason Em didn’t date players. Not wanting a repeat of that, she might have thought it was easier to avoid athletes altogether.
Grant would just need to feel out Finn and see if he still felt that way. It was possible that Finn had relaxed since that incident happened. If that was the case, maybe he could convince Em that it was okay to date players.
But he wasn’t looking to date her, was he?
The more he replayed their flirtatious encounter, and the more he observed her through the night, her red hair drawing his eye and her eyes sparkling with laughter as she teased her brother, the more he realized that he did want...something.
Maybe dating, maybe not, but definitely more than one bar conversation with Emmeline. Now, he just needed to find out how to make that happen.
Emmeline
There wasa reason people hated Mondays.
Half the class forgot their homework, three kids fell asleep at their desks, one had thrown up all over Em’s shoes, and that was all before lunch. Teaching wasn’t always the easiest job, but Em enjoyed being in the classroom and making a difference in these children’s lives.
But Mondays were still Mondays, no matter how much you loved your job.
With so many of her third graders dealing with struggles too difficult for their age, Em was happy she could be a bright spot in their lives. She just didn’t like being the spot in the middle of the bullseye when it came to projectile vomit. Her students were lucky she didn’t start dry heaving right then and there.
