Page 65 of Last Night Was Fun

But Emmy was already laughing. She pointed to the leafy grass beside the path where a thick, spiky iguana grumpily looked at them like they were interrupting his night. “It’s just an iguana. I saw its tail move out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a snake.” Hercackle echoed off the building and out to sea. Drunken tears dotted her eyes.

Gabe looked down at her with a narrowed gaze, and she realized they were perfectly modeling the famed clinch pose from romance novel covers. Her hands pressed into his chest, and one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders and the other, her waist. She’d even jerked her knee up on reflex lest the not-snake try to slither over her exposed toes.

“Sorry,” she said, and removed herself from his grip. A tiny smile twitched her lips at his momentary reluctance to let her go.

Gabe cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets. They started walking again. “So, what’s on the docket for tomorrow?”

“Negotiations, apparently.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Since the hotel screwed up so royally, their suggestion is both wedding parties sit together to come to some kind of agreement about how to share. My job is to keep my sister from combusting.Speaking of my sister...” Emmy said, and spun on her toes to face him, continuing to walk backward. She’d wanted to clear the air since that night on the bachelorette cruise, and she was drunk enough to have the courage to do it right now. “I still feel really bad about what she said that night on the boat. I don’t hate you, Gabe. It wasn’t true.”

He blinked at her, looking caught off guard. Then he let out a long breath that surprised her. “I think it was partly true.”

“No, it wasn’t. I promise. I mean, sure, you make me want to scream and throw things sometimes, but I don’thateyou. I—”

He held up a hand to stop her and stopped walking. “That’s not the part I meant.”

This time, she blinked at him in confusion.

“She also said I take things from you at work all the time, and the truth is,I’vefelt bad ever since.” A look of sincerity softened his handsome face. “I know it can’t be easy being the only woman allthe time, Emmy. And I know we can act a littleboys’ clubsometimes. Between that and what you texted me about feeling like you don’t fit in, I’m really sorry if I’ve ever made you feel like you weren’t part of the team. Like what I said the other week about you never having been on the field; that was a real jerk thing to say. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and you absolutely deserve all the same things I get, if not more. I’m going to be more sensitive to how you are treated—by everyone—from now on. I promise.”

Emmy’s mouth fell open. She blinked in shock. It was like he’d read lines from a script titledThe Exact Right Thing to Say to Emmy Jameson. When she managed to close her mouth, she cleared her throat and found her voice. “Thank you. That means a lot to hear, actually.”

“Well, I mean it.”

“Good.”

They continued walking in silence for a few more moments.

“Scream and throw things, huh?” Gabe asked, and shot her a sly grin.

She flushed over the admission she’d made. “Only on your best days.”

Gabe laughed a warm, throaty sound and turned into the breezeway of their building.

Emmy’s heart kicked up a notch because they were now one elevator ride away from the inevitable.

“You swindled an extra room key out of the front desk too, I see,” she said, and nodded at the band around his wrist.

He lifted his arm as the elevator arrived. “Yes. Celia was very generous.”

“I’m sure she was,” she said, casting him a sly grin.

“What’s that face for?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just sure you shamelessly sweet-talked your way into that key, because I never gave them your name at the front desk.”

He scoffed as they stepped into the elevator. “Are you accusing me of being a flirt, Jameson?”

“If the shoe fits, Olson,” she said as the elevator doors closed and lifted them off the ground. The small space made her aware of every breath. She felt his heavy gaze on her. It sent a signal straight to the pleasant burn low in her belly that had been growing hotter all night.

“It goes both ways, you know,” she said.

“What does?”

“I get it now. Because of what you texted me, I know why you are the way you are at work. The wholeformative years in a competitive sportthing. Makes total sense why you always want to win and have trouble connecting with people.”