A flutter took off in my stomach that turned into a nervous laugh, and I winced, not wanting to relive that part of the date. “Oh. You noticed that?”
“It was difficult to miss, considering our server was male.”
I braced myself, figuring there was no better option than the truth. “I was being petty. She said something in the bathroom, and I just… I don’t know. It got to me.”
Noah’s jaw tightened before he asked, “What’d she say?”
Yeah, I wasn’t about to admit she’d mistaken me for a bathroom attendant.
“It doesn’t matter. Actually, I think that’s enough of this game.” I cleared my throat and dusted off the front of my skirt. “What do you say to a little Pictionary?”
“I say you’re avoiding the subject. You can tell me, Emma.”
My lips twisted in protest at his knowing gaze, and I wondered if it was worth pleading the fifth. But it couldn’thurtto tell Noah the truth, and I didn’t want him thinking I was hiding something. “Blaise didn’t recognize me from class, okay? She thought I worked for the restaurant.”
Noah’s brow rose, and he shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure I’m following. You were upset about being mistaken for a server?”
“Well, a bathroom attendant.” I tried to hold back a grimace. “But it wasn’t that. It’s stupid, but she was making fun of my outfit.”
He cocked his head to the side, and if it were any other topic, I might’ve enjoyed the struggle he had grasping what I said. “So, you pretending Blaise was our server was a way of shaming her the same way she did you?”
I winced, wishing he hadn’t made it sound so juvenile.
“You know, for being an academic, you sure could use a few lessons in female social interactions,” I muttered under my breath before tilting my chin up. “It was childish, but it made me feel a little better at the time.”
“The list of things that cheer Emma Fox up is getting longer,” Noah said as he counted off on his fingers. “Coffee with two scoops of sugar. Getting back at redheaded bullies. Waffles—”
“Chocolate chip waffles,” I corrected. There was a big difference.
His lips twitched, and he dropped his hand back to the blanket. “And Pictionary?”
I swallowed at the warmth in his gaze and picked at a piece of lint on my skirt for something to focus on. “Yeah. Pictionary, too.”
Noah meticulously folded his take-out container closed and brushed off his hands before responding. “Game on, then.”
CHAPTER18
A Duet
I blinked.Then shook my head and blinked again, because I must’ve been hallucinating. Either that, or I could’ve sworn Noah was drawing a… acertain partof the male anatomy that surely wouldn’t be included in the family-friendly game of Pictionary.
Then he added another circle next to the existing one on the whiteboard, and it was a miracle I didn’t choke on my sparkling grape juice.
Noah’s intense gaze turned to mine before he glanced at the timer for the eighth time. He tapped the marker pointedly against his unfinished drawing.
I could only sit there gaping.
“Uh.” I stalled as Noah tapped against the whiteboard more urgently. His eyes were pinned to mine, and he was doing some sort of meaningful dance with his eyebrows, as if he could telepathically send the answer to me.
But surprise, surprise—Noah Kincaid wasn’t telepathic. And it still looked like a penis to me. A bit of an oddly shaped one, but I’d never been one to judge.
I stalled again, pinching my arm in case this was a dream and I was about to wake up. No luck. “Noah… I, uh… are you sure you’re drawing the right thing?”
Surely, it wasn’t actually a penis. Even if the card said penis—which I was positive it didn’t because this was kid-friendly game—there wasno wayNoah would’ve purposely drawn a penis on our date.
But it really,reallylooked like a penis. There were even small dots coming out of the top to resemble—
“Mmmph!” Noah mumbled emphatically through closed lips, taking the whole ‘no talking’ rule to heart as he continued to tap the marker rapidly against his drawing.
