Page 45 of Worth the Risk

“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Her cheeks flush slightly.

“I wanted to.”

“Thank you, will you drop it off before you leave on Saturday then?”

“No.”

“Huh?” She looks puzzled, rightfully so. “How will I open it then?”

“You’ll come home with me.” There we go, right out with it. Maybe since I didn’t phrase it as a question and more of a statement she won’t be able to argue with me.

“Liam. What do you mean?” She shakes her head, causing her hair to fall in front of her face. I can’t help it, I reach out to brush it gently behind her ear.

“Come spend the holiday with me and my family, Emi.” My hand is still touching her cheek, I slowly let it fall to my side. “I hate the thought of you here alone. I want to spend Christmas with you. I’ll bring you back the day after if you want. Just spend a few days with me, please.” I am practically begging. Fine, there’s no practically about it I am begging but if she says no then I guess I’ll just be spending Christmas here as well.

“I…” Emilia starts but I shake my head.

“Nope, before you can even say it I need to let you know you are not intruding. I want you there. My mom wants you there.” The room is silent apart from my heart beating so loud I’m pretty sure it’s going to come right out of my chest.

“Okay, then. I’ll come.” She looks up, eyes meeting mine, with that beautiful smile on her face. I can’t help but break into the biggest smile too, lunging forward and picking her off the ground spinning her around. She giggles, the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard, her smile is bigger than any I’ve managed to put on her face thus far and I’ve put a fair amount on there. It hits me hard that I want to keep her smiling forever and I know I need to show her how much she means to me and soon.

Chapter 30

Emilia

Liam asked me to come home with him for Christmas. Oh my gosh. I’m trying really hard to not read into that but it can’t mean nothing, right? Meeting his parents is a big step and he said his mom wanted me to come, who does she think I am to him? Oh gosh what is Rosie going to think? Is she going to be pissed at me for not going home with her even though she offered? To be fair, that's before I knew Nico’s was shutting down for ten days. Since it’s a family restaurant the owners want to take time off to celebrate the holidays and new year together.

All these thoughts run through my mind while I shower off the day after my date with Liam. I wonder if he refers to them as dates in his head? To me they’ve been dates, platonic I guess, but dates nonetheless. After I shower I throw on a pajama set, topped with Liam’s hoodie and head to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. I need to relax right now and not let these thoughts in my head overwhelm me. As I’m finishing making my cup of tea, with a light drizzle of honey, Rosie finally comes home from her day.

“Hey Em. How was your day?” Rosie asks, toeing off her shoes, shedding her jacket and heading into the kitchen, next to me. Hmm, what’s the best way to approach this topic?

“Liam asked me to come home with him for Christmas.” The words tumbling out of my mouth before I can even think twice. Rosie stares at me in disbelief. “And I said yes.” That’s when her eyes bug and her jaw drops.

“I’m going to need you to make another cup of tea and I need a couch debrief in five minutes. Okay?” I simply nod as Rosie heads to her room, probably to change into comfy clothes and absorb the information I just dropped in her lap. Grabbing another mug and tea bag, I make Rosie’s tea with extra honey.

As I finish steeping her tea, she emerges from her room in a comfy set of pajamas, just as I had guessed. She plops down on the couch, burying herself under one of our fuzzy Christmas throws and I do the same after handing her a cup of tea.

“So,” Rosie takes a long sip of her tea. “You’re going home with Liam for Christmas?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Ro. I don’t want you to be mad since I said no to you. I just found out Nico’s is closing for a bit for the holidays. I can come home with you instead, I just need to come back around the third so I can get back to work when they open.” The words fly out of my mouth again.

“Woah. Emi. Slow down.” She shakes her head. “I’m not mad at you, actually, I think this is amazing.”

“You do?” I quirk one of my eyebrows.

“Um, yes. Have you seen the way he looks at you?”

“Ummm, what?” I take a long sip of my tea, letting the hot liquid warm my throat.

“C’mon Em. Don’t play dumb with me.”

“Fine.” Sighing, I drag my eyes from my cup over to look at Rosie. She hates it when people can’t look her in the eye. “I feel like there's a possibility he could see us as more.”

“I’m telling you he does.” Rosie declares like it’s fact. “You saw that picture from homecoming, right? That man looks at you with stars in his eyes.”

“I like him a lot, Ro.” I can’t help the small smile that spreads across my lips when I think about him. I’ve only known him for seven months and we’ve only really been friends for just over three but I can’t help but feel like he really knows me. Not a lot of people do, Rosie is one of the few who knows me deep down. Knows my family history, knows why I’m guarded.

“This is so exciting! I’ve never seen you actually like a guy.”

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