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Harrison goes right back to puffing on his joint, unbothered.
Emmett nudges my arm and nods toward the doorway.
“Did you know she was going to be here?”
I turn to see where he’s looking, thinking we’re still talking about Lainey.
“Who?” I ask, not seeing anyone.
“Emelia.”
My pulse jumps.
“She just walked by.”
I want to leap to my feet, but I hesitate. “No, I didn’t. Alexander must have invited her. Are you going to go apologize?”
“Not tonight.” His eyes are on the doorway. Apparently, he’s still waiting on that someone he doesn’t feel like discussing.
I push off the couch, not bothering to tell him where I’m going. He knows.
If Emelia just walked by the sitting room, that means she’s not far, but I don’t spot her right away. The crowd’s only grown since my arrival, and I’m waylaid by some guy begging to find a bathroom, and then a girl who wants to know if I’ve seen Luke. I tell her I don’t know a Luke, and she throws her hands up in annoyance like that’s my fault.
In the hallway, I spin around, looking for a lithe brunette with big doe eyes, but she’s nowhere.
I turn again, scanning, and—there. I find her just at the door to the kitchen.
She looks back and catches my eye over her shoulder. There’s no trace of shock in her expression. She knew she’d turn and find me coming after her. There’s the faintest spark of excitement in her brown gaze before she ducks her head and disappears into the kitchen.
That spark confirms what I already suspected. Chastising emails be damned.
You like to be the mouse, Emelia. You want to be chased.
The crowd is dense, but I push through people to get to her.
She’s at the bar where I stood earlier with Emmett, fixing herself a drink. I linger a few feet away and watch as her hand shakes as she lifts the heavy vodka bottle to the lip of her cup. A little spills over the side, and as she sets it back down, I walk right up behind her, until my chest touches her back, then I lean down and press my words into her hair.
“Come play with me.”
