Page 43 of Breaking Emily's Rules
“Without me?” He flashed his illegal grin.
I had no idea what he was talking about. “Huh?”
“Never mind,” he said. “Are you going to let me in?”
“Of course.” I moved aside then glanced at my jeans and suddenly began to question everything. I should have asked where we were going—surprises were not acceptable for people who were going on a first date.
“I could have used a little more direction on how to dress. There are at least one hundred different levels of casual, and if you were a woman, you’d know that. And did I mention I don’t like surprises?”
“You look great,” Stone said, apprising my clothing, even though he lingered a little too long on my northern parts. “Perfect.”
He was checking out my home, a place which I’d thought of as temporary a year ago. But I was still here. While the loft was small, basically a studio apartment with a small kitchenette, Grammy had countrified it for me, putting Southern hospitality touches—including yellow curtains and rooster touches everywhere. It wasn’t exactly what I would have chosen, but it hadn’t mattered at the time. Now all I could see was a place I’d lived in for a year which had turned out to be more of a hiding place than I’d realized. A fort in which I’d figuratively pulled up a drawbridge and hibernated.
For one year.
Stone took it all in and, as far as I could tell, wasn’t making any judgments.
“Cozy.”
“When I moved back home, my grandmother thought I might like a little privacy.”
He glanced at my bed, and I felt a tingle go up my spine. The worst thing about a studio apartment was having one’s bed in the room like it was part of the decor. I hadn’t had this problem since my college days. This was so awkward.
Yeah, there’s my bed.
What did one do with a man like Stone? “Um, would you like something to drink?”
“I’m good. We should go.”
I grabbed my purse. “Right. Where again?”
“Nice try.” With one hand on my back, he steered me to the door.
Within a few minutes, we were in his long-bed truck driving to who-knew-where to do who-knew-what. “Any hint for me?”
“There will be food,” he offered, giving me a sideways glance.
“Oh, good. I like food. Thanks for being specific.”
I relaxed a little, until he got on the freeway. There were plenty of eating establishments nearby, but we were obviously going somewhere else. Like, out of the area.
I swallowed again, and turned to him. “How far is this place? How long will we be gone?”
“Do you trust me? You do know I’m bringing you back,” Stone said with a smile tugging at his lips.
“Of course I trust you.” If becoming airborne with him didn’t demonstrate trust, then I didn’t know what did.
“Good, because I don’t know if I trust myself.”
He did have an air about him at times, not that I didn’t trust him to do his job. No, far from it. But at times a hard veil passed over those normally kind eyes, and let’s say that I wouldn’t ever want to get on his bad side.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Maybe I’ll keep you.”
He was kidding now. Flirting even. And the sexual innuendo from earlier had just hit me. Oh. Sex jokes. I wasn’t any good at them, but I understood flirting.
“You may keep me, but will you know what to do with me?”
