Chapter Twelve
Emily
I watched as Grant drove away and then turned to Terra.
“You bitch!” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I am sure there would’ve been a kiss if you didn’t open the door,” I said. But I wasn’t angry, and Terra knew it. “Ever since I said I’d marry you if I didn’t find anyone by thirty, you’ve been all over me.”
She chuckled as we walked inside. “It’s true. I don’t want anyone to come and take you away from me.” Then she looked at me with suspicion. “Have you had a lot to drink? Because you look sober.”
“Just a glass of wine. And we ate pizza too, so I’m not drunk at all. Why?”
“Because I have a bottle of wine with our name on it. Too tired or do you want to join me?”
I laughed. There was no way that I could go to sleep just yet. I still felt wired from the date. “Wine with you sounds amazing. Hey, is this my second date for the night?”
“It sure is. He gave you a glass of wine. But I’m giving you a bottle.”
“Ah, you might be winning.”
“Take a seat. I’ll be back with the wine. And then I want to hear all about it.”
She came back moments later holding a glass of wine in each hand. The glass was huge. I took it from her and held it up. “This thing is like the size of my face,” I said. “How much is in here?”
“Half a bottle in yours, and half a bottle in mine.”
I burst out laughing. “Seriously? Wow, these glasses are impressive. If I ever ask you for just one glass of wine, you know what to give me.”
“Hey, listen, I’m sorry about opening up like that. I didn’t mean to ruin your night. Although, you might want to thank me for it.”
“First, you didn’t ruin my night. And second, why would I thank you for stopping a kiss?”
“Because you, Miss Emily Wessler, are the sweetest girl that I know.”
“What does that have to do with the kiss?”
“We don’t even know who this guy is. I mean, usually, with the other men in this town, we know what we’re getting. But this guy is not from around here. We don’t know if he’s one of the good guys or not yet. I think you should save the kiss for until you know more about him.”
I laughed. “You have a point. But since when did you get so protective? I thought you were all for dating and having fun.”
“I am. Trust me. But I guess I’m just protective over you.”
“You just want to marry me,” I said and laughed.
“This is true. I mean, you do make the best mac and cheese. Also, what if you kissed and then you wanted to do something more? I mean, I like you staying here and all, but I don’t really want to listen to you having sex with the man. This house is small.”
I could feel the blush rising to my face. “Terra! I’m not going to have sex with him on the first date. And I’m certainly not going to have sex in your house.”
She chuckled. “I bet you thought about it.”
“I did not!” I lied.
“Sure, whatever. Hey, he’s really cute. I’ve got to say, Em, you have good taste.”
“He is cute,” I said. “It’s weird though; he’s super clean cut, and yet he comes across as a bad boy to me. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, he definitely comes across as a bad boy.”
“But then he speaks, and he’s so nice. He’s pretty confusing.”
“So, tell me about the date. First, where did he take you?”
I told Terra all about Wyo and she squealed with delight.
“I didn’t know they had reopened that place. Wow, it sounds like they did a good job at renovating it too. I need to go one of these days. If I don’t find a date, then you’re coming with me. Deal?”
“Deal. Trust me; it’s worth it. Their pizzas were so good. I stuffed my face.”
“You stuffed your face on a first date?”
“How else am I going to figure out if he’s the man for me?”
“That’s true. I like the way you think. I think I’m going to employ the same tactics on my future dates. The last thing I need is a man who thinks I’m going to eat salads all day.”
I pulled a face. “You and I are not salad girls.”
“We are mac and cheese girls,” she said and giggled.
“You seem drunk already. Whoa, how did you drink so quickly?” I said and looked at her glass, which was already missing half the wine.
“Oh, I’m a master at this. And anyway, it’s only one glass, what’s the big deal?”
“I really like living with you.”
“I must say, that was nice of Grant to thank me for taking you in. He’s quite the gentleman. And I like living with you too.”
“It won’t be for long, though. I’m waiting for the insurance to pay out, and then I’ll start looking for something else.” The last thing that I wanted to do was to overstay my welcome. Also, as much as I enjoyed living with Terra, I was used to living alone, and I needed my own space.
“You don’t have to leave so quickly, Em. I don’t want you to think that I don’t want you here.”
I smiled at her. “I know. You’ve made me feel nothing but welcome. Thank you. I’m honestly not sure what I would’ve done without you. I would’ve been a wreck.”
Just then we heard a sound outside, and we both looked at each other. Terra lived on a quiet road..
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No.”
We were about to go look through the window when we heard a knock at the door.
“That’s strange,” Terra said and went to open. I heard her talking to someone and then she came back into the living room and grinned at me.
“What?” I asked. “Who is it?”
“There’s someone at the door to see you.”
“Me? Who?”
“Go look,” she said. She was still grinning.
I walked over to the front door and saw Grant standing there smiling at me.
“Wow, that is one big glass of wine,” he said.
“I told you it was fun to live here at Terra’s place. What are you doing back here? Is everything okay?” I asked. I was surprised at how good it felt to see him again. How could I miss someone that I had only just met? How could I miss someone that I had seen not so long ago? It was the first time that I had ever felt that way, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
“I came to see you.”
“You did? I don’t understand.”
“I went all the way back to Brady’s house, and I started telling him about how the dinner had gone when I suddenly realized that I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight without kissing you goodbye.”
“You . . . what . . . kiss,” my words came out staggered as if I’d just suddenly lost the ability to speak.
“I had a wonderful time with you, Emily. One of the best nights I’ve had in a very long time, actually. And I’d love to kiss you goodnight if you’d let me.”
I just nodded. The words had now left me.
He smiled at me, leaned in and with one hand on my cheek he kissed me. The kiss was gentle, and sweet, and moved quickly from soft to passionate. When he pulled away, I had to lean against the door for support.
“Even better than I thought it would be. Well, Emily, thank you for a wonderful evening. I’ll call you tomorrow. Goodnight.”
I smiled at him. “Goodnight,” I managed to whisper and bit my lip.
I watched him go and then turned to go back inside. Terra came flying around the corner, and I almost dropped my glass of wine.
“He came all the way back to kiss you? Did that really just happen?”
I stared at her, still speechless, and just nodded.
“Have you lost your words?”
I nodded again.
She chuckled. “Well find them already. Tell me what the kiss was like.”
I grinned, walked over to the living room and fell to the sofa. “Amazing.”
“By the look on your face, I’d say it was even more than amazing.”
I nodded. Took a sip of my wine and sighed happily. I still couldn’t believe that he’d come back for the kiss. For a while, I’d almost forgotten that my house had burned down. That’s how good the kiss had been. I thought about telling Terra how Grant’s other name was Patriot and how he was part of a motorcycle club that always wore black. But I felt like keeping that information to myself that night. I liked that there were other facets to Grant’s personality. I liked that he had a past. I could feel it in his kiss, which was part sweet and soft, and part hard and rough. I found him fascinating.
“You know,” Terra was saying. “You should’ve just invited him in. You could’ve gone to your room, and I would’ve put some headphones in or something.”
I burst out laughing. “And this from the girl that tried to stop us from kissing earlier.”
She put her hands in the air in surrender. “I take back what I said. He’s super-hot.”
I chuckled and remembered his lips on mine. “He sure is.”