Page 97 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

•Twenty-Nine•

Juliet

Will shuts the truck’s door behind me and clasps my hand. “Thanks for wanting to come.”

“You kidding?” I squeeze his hand and smile. “Thanks for letting me tag along.”

“You are hardly tagging along, Juliet.” His expression turns serious, his thumb gently stroking the back of my hand. “I’m real happy you wanted to come.”

Staring up at him, I feel those butterflies soar through me, wild and free. We were only apart for an hour, while I freshened up and threw on a dress, and Will dashed home to change into clothes that weren’t an eighteenth-century Highlander’s, but I missed him, and now I’m a giddy jumble of joy to have him back until I have to see him off tonight.

I press up on tiptoe and kiss him. “I’m excited. I get to see you in action, all intense Mr. Business, talking whiskey.”

He grimaces, gently pulling his hand from mine. Setting it low on my back, he guides me toward the pub a couple of buildings down the block. “Please keep your expectations low. It’s a simple conversation, an obligatory whiskey at the bar, nothing interesting.”

“Maybe to you.” I peer up at him. “But to me, this is new andveryinteresting. You’ve spent time with my parents, my sisters, myfriends—you’ve seen my life, but I’ve seen so little of yours, and now I get to. I can’t wait.”

His cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink as he shifts the small box of Orsino whiskey he brought with him, tucked under his arm. A soft smile lifts the corner of his mouth. “You can’t be sweet like this in the pub. I’ll turn bright red.” He points to one pink cheek. “Again.”

I bite my lip against a smile. “But Ilovewhen you blush.”

“Easy for you to say. Your face doesn’t turn bright red at the drop of a hat.”

“Okay, point taken. I’ll behave myself.”

Will’s smile widens, and he wraps his arm around my shoulders, drawing me close, as we walk toward the door. “Well. Don’t betoowell behaved. We want to have some fun, don’t we?”

“So,” I whisper as we step inside the pub. “How do you want to play this?”

He snorts. “It’s a business call, Jules, not a bank heist.”

“Aw, come on. You said you wanted to have some fun. We could do a little role-playing. You’re the silent, serious, gorgeous ginger sitting at the bar sipping a whiskey. I’m the bubbly brunette who sidles up to you and asks you to tell meallabout it.”

His eyebrows jump up. “Role-playing, huh?”

My cheeks heat as I smile up at him. “If you’re into that kind of thing.”

“Can’t say I have been,” he says, his gaze dancing over my face. “But, not for the first time when it comes to you, I’m inclined to reconsider my stance.”

“What’s that mean?”

Will brushes his knuckles gently down my cheek. “It means you have a knack for inspiring this gramps to get off his rocker—out of his rocker? You know what I mean.” He frowns. “Hopefully.”

I beam up at him. “I think I do.”

Gently, Will nudges me forward. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

We settle in at the short end of the bar, away from the crowded string of people filling the long portion of the bar that stretches the depth of the building. Will rests the box of whiskey on the bar, then tugs my barstool close. I pat his thigh, smiling encouragingly. I can see his nerves setting in as he clocks the bartender down at the other end.

“What is it?” I ask.

Will scrubs at the back of his neck. “It’s easier, when I know them, but this is the first time I’ve met this owner—Mari’s her name.” He nods his chin toward the woman at the far end of the bar and clears his throat. “I just get nervous, when making introductions, trying to get an initial read on clients.”

I squeeze his leg gently, searching his eyes. “So it’s getting started that’s hard.”

He nods. “Harder. It’s generally hard, or maybe not hard, but…draining, the socializing. It’s just less so, once they’re familiar and we have…rapport, I guess.”

“So, when we met, when you first talked about what you were looking for in your future…”

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