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Emmy’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Eat as much as you want. Truly. It’s the least I can do.”
She glanced away, and an awkward silence fell. It would be so easy to close the distance between us, wrap my arms around her from behind, and make her forget all about her worries.
But I couldn’t do that.
The smart thing to do would be to keep up the awkwardness. The distance would keep us safe and stop me from doing anything stupid.
But as I watched her face, Emmy biting that lucky bottom lip again, I said fuck it. I could be friendly and still keep my dick in my pants. I couldn’t promise my dreams wouldn’t be dirty as hell, but I’d jerk off in the shower and be ready for the day, no one the wiser.
“What do you plan to do today?”
She blinked. “Um, what?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned my shoulder against the wall. “We can’t access the event space until early tomorrow morning. So what had you planned to do today?”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to arrive before the rush and thought I could read or watch a movie or something.”
I’d come early for the same reason since my tolerance for annoying people had its limit, and hotel check-ins always seemed to have a lot of them. But staying inside on a nice day wasn’t in me. “I was going to drive down to Lake Tahoe, since it’s an easy day trip from Reno. Have you been back since you were a kid, when both our families went together?”
I hadn’t thought of that day in a long time. But I remembered a little six-year-old girl smiling, chasing my sister, and swimming as if she were a fish.
That carefree girl’s world hadn’t yet crashed down around her. I wondered if any of her remained.
Emmy shook her head. “Only once. Abby and I went with Katie’s family and stayed in a cabin, but that was more than ten years ago.”
For a beat, I wondered what it would be like to book a cabin and stay for a few days with my kids and Emmy. They’d love that.
So would I, but I wasn’t quite ready to admit that to myself. Not only because my heart had been stomped on before, but my mistake had also caused lasting damage to my children.
Not wanting to think of my late wife, I focused on the present and raised an eyebrow. “Want to come with me?”
She bit her lip again. I hoped it didn’t turn raw from all the attention. I’d just have to find a way to make her less nervous around me.
“I-I don’t know if I should.”
“We could even brave the freezing-ass water, if you want. Or just hike or bike around it. I’m sure the sunset will be fucking gorgeous.”
Damn, I was being chatty, wasn’t I?
But as Emmy’s eyes lit up at the mention of seeing the sunset, I decided being chatty for Emmy wasn’t a chore. Not at all.
“I’d love that. Especially since…”
Her voice trailed off, and I grunted. “What? Just fucking tell me, Emmy.”
She rolled her eyes at my tone, and my lips twitched. Being a grumpy asshole had chased away her nervousness.
“I love sunsets. I have pictures from the different places I’ve been, especially when I had to travel for my clients’ weddings. But I never snapped one of Tahoe when I was younger. It’s beautiful there, and I’d love to have that image to put in my office.”
It was a small admission. And yet, hearing the words stirred an urgency inside me, as if I needed to do whatever the fuck it took to make sure she got that picture.
Maybe if my kids were here, they’d say something and distract me. But for the next three and a half days, they weren’t. So I didn’t have my usual buffer.
Which fucking terrified me.
“Then we’ll get you one. Let’s change, and I’ll drive.”
“What, you’re saying I can’t wear a sundress and flip-flips to go hiking?” she teased.
