Page 58 of Objection to Love

Em looked around. “The kitchen table?”

He speared her with a dry look. “We are not sitting on kitchen chairs while watching a movie.”

“Well, okay then. Maybe…” She ducked into the doorway of the living room. There was a couch and a potted plant. A fake one.

That was it. Not even a side table or coffee table. She met Garrett’s incredulous look with a semi-apologetic shrug. Come on, it wasn’t a bad thing to be a minimalist. Even if she was only a minimalist by default.

“Really? There is nowhere in this house I can put a TV?”

She thought for a minute. “Well, there’s a dresser in my room, but—”

“That’ll do.” He turned and walked down the hall, peering into the spare room before turning into the master.

“Hey! It’s not gentlemanly to barge into a woman’s room!” She hobbled behind him, catching up as he stepped back from the dresser, the TV sitting nicely on top of it.

“I would be more than happy to drag the dresser out to the living room.”

“You’d scratch my floors.”

He laughed. “Okay, any other suggestions?”

“We could have gone to your house.”

His mouth dropped open just a centimeter. “Huh. That would have been smart. I’m just so used to bringing thingsherethat it didn’t even cross my mind. Now I feel a little stupid for walking across the lawn with the TV. Thanks a lot.” He shifted, eyeing the TV. “Too late now though. I’m committed. Anyotherideas?”

Em thought a moment, leaning forward on the crutches as she did so. They could just put the TV on the floor in the living room. But…

Her bed was comfy—the perfect place to watch a movie, and the couch was made more for looks than for sitting. Plus, Garrett seemed natural in her room, which was weird and something she refused to dwell on.

“Seriously, September, we can do something else if you want.” His statement held a hint of a question as he watched her and her apparent indecision.

“No,” she said, the word chasing itself out of her mouth. “This is fine. Plus then I can keep my ankle up.”

“I’ll be back with the snacks then.” With a small smile, he weaved around her and out the door. He didn’t touch her. But the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck lifted with the proximity.

Maybe they should have just put the TV on the floor in the living room.

“Okay, I have ice cream, popcorn, chocolate, soda, and chips. Which do you want first?”

“All of them?”

A surprised laugh escaped him, bringing out that dimple again. “And here I thought you were a health nut.”

“Just because I like vegetables does not mean I don’t like junk food just as much. It’s called balance.”

“A pretty good balance, I’d say.” He smiled at her as he moved to set the various food offerings on her bedside table. Then he removed a backpack that Em hadn’t noticed, and reached into it, pulling out a few DVDs and a DVD player, which he plugged in. “Alright. I brought all eightHarry Pottermovies, and if you tell me you don’t like Harry Potter, you had better believe I will take my TV—and snacks—and leave right this instant.”

Em lifted her hands. “Calm down, big guy. I happen to be a lover of Harry Potter. I think my eleven-year-old birthday party was Harry Potter-themed. My grandma threw it for me as a surprise.”

“That’s a good grandma. Did she get you a Hogwarts letter?”

“I was eleven—the age everyone gets their letters. Of course she did.”

“I like this woman even more.” He shifted through the DVDs, pulling outThe Sorcerer's Stoneand popping it in the player. “I considered bringingLegally Blonde,but I thought you might take offense.”

“You thought right.”

“Aw, look at us, we know each other so well.”

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