Page 30 of A New Chapter

Chapter 16

“So nothing happened?” Kelly asked incredulously.

“Nothing,” Emma repeated.

“Wow, Em. You might be the only woman I know who could resist a naked man who makes your breakfast. Impressive.”

“He wasn’t naked. He had boxers on. Besides, I was a mess. I don’t know why he stayed with me as long as he did.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious,” Kelly said.

“What is?”

“The guy is just biding his time until he can get in your…”

Emma’s eyes grew wide, and she made a frantic motion to cut Kelly off.

“Hello, ladies,” Zack said as he sauntered up to the counter.

Kelly swiveled around in her chair and smiled sweetly. “Good afternoon,” she said.

“Hey,” Emma said, praying that he hadn’t overheard their conversation. Emma couldn’t recall hearing the door chime, and Zack had slipped in undetected, which is kind of difficult for a man of his stature to do.

Kelly hopped down from her chair and mumbled some excuse about having paperwork to do in the office.

“So, what brings you in?” Emma asked. This was the first time that Zack had popped into the store unannounced. Shouldn’t he be at work?

“I had to go meet with a client in White Lake, so I thought I’d stop by and say hi on my way back to the office.”

Did I imagine it, or do his gray eyes hold an extra sparkle today? “Oh. Well, hi then.”

Zack chuckled. “Emma, you’re not embarrassed about the other night are you?”

She shifted uncomfortably, glad that he couldn’t see her wringing her hands behind the counter. “Which part? The part where I threw up or the part where I begged you to stay over?”

The corners of his mouth curled slightly. “You didn’t beg me. I wanted to stay.”

They were interrupted by a frazzled-looking mother of two toddlers who approached the counter. Emma held her index finger up to Zack and answered the woman’s question about a popular book on child-rearing.

After the woman walked away with her kids in tow, Emma turned back toward Zack, who gave her a full-on smile. “What?”

“I like to watch you work,” he admitted. “You’re in your element here, and it’s cool that you get to do what you love. In fact, I should let you get back to work.”

“So that’s it? You just stopped to say hi?”

“Yep. Oh, and I wanted to ask you what night is good to come over and have dinner with Gracie and me?”

Emma relaxed her shoulders, glad to steer the conversation away from the wedding fiasco. “I’m free on Thursday or Friday night this week.”

“Let’s do Friday. I already mentioned the idea to Gracie, and she seemed excited. She asked me if you liked macaroni and cheese, and I told her yes, since that’s what we ate at The Union. I hope you don’t mind the boxed kind, though, because that’s Gracie’s favorite.”

Emma smiled. “No problem. Do you need me to bring anything?”

“Just yourself.”

The way he looked at her when he said that… “What time?”

“Six o’clock?”