Page 63 of Ruthless Edge

"Lunch time!"

"We should get on the road⁠—"

"Emma, we drove two hours. We aren’t getting in the car without eating something."

"We can stop somewhere on the⁠—"

"The restaurant here has a view of the little lake outside," I say, walking. "Which we drove two hours to get to. It would be a waste."

"We came for the ballroom, not the⁠—"

"I'm starving." This is partially true. "I can't drive four hours on a protein bar."

"You didn't have a protein bar, you had⁠—"

"Emma." I hold the door open. "We've earned lunch. Plus, it’ll be good to test out how their food tastes. Come in."

She stands in the doorway with her binder and looks at me like she’s not sure what to do with me.

"One hour," she says.

"Absolutely," I say.

She goes in.

I follow, and the host takes us to a table by the windows, and the lake is right there, grey-green and moving, and Emma sets her binder down and picks up the menu and I watch her decide to let herself enjoy this.

One hour, she said.

I have things to say and I'm going to be terrible at saying them, and I know that about myself, but I've got Emma laughing and The Hawthorne venue locked and the whole drive home still ahead of us. I know she's been thinking about Owen as the safe choice, the one that makes sense, and I can't make a case against Owen in words without sounding like exactly the guy she's trying not to trust.

But I've got the rest of the afternoon. And Emma is still wearing my hoodie under her jacket, which I noticed when she came outside this morning and haven't mentioned once.

I'm going to be patient.

I'm going to be so patient.

"The salmon looks good," Emma says.

"Get whatever you want," I say. "This one's on me."

She looks up. "Knox⁠—"

"Consider it the co-chair contribution to event site research."

"That's not a real thing."

"I just made it real." I pick up my own menu. "Get the salmon, Emma. It looks delicious."

She looks at me for one more second, and then she looks back at the menu, and I can see the corner of her mouth move.

I count that as a win, too.

Chapter Sixteen

Emma

The restaurant is nicer than I was prepared for.