Best Dating Rules: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 2) (31 page)

“Except, I have to go digging through your drawers and closet to get my things back.”

“Claire’s worse than I am,” defended Hannah.

Grace told Emily, “At least I’m safe from the marauders.”

“That’s not really true,” said Olivia. “Since her clothes don’t fit, we all steal her jewelry.”

Spencer was relieved the attention had been drawn away from him. He eased his hand back onto Emily’s leg and resumed his ministrations to her soft skin. When she failed in her attempts to remove his hand, she stood up swiftly, forcing him to withdraw.

“I’ll get dessert.” Emily ripped him to shreds with her eyes. His gaze followed her all the way to the counter and back. When she bent over to throw away her napkin, he almost choked. He quickly grabbed his water and gulped it down

“Grace, don’t you have papers to grade?” he asked.

“Oh, no. I got it all done Friday night, when I was here at the house. Don’t you remember, Spencer?”

He glared at Grace, trying to imagine his revenge. But she held all the cards right now, and she knew it.

He kept his hands to himself during dessert, rehearsing his speech in his mind. If only he knew for sure Emily felt the same way about him, it wouldn’t be so intimidating.

When the family had attacked and eliminated all traces of the Ginger Crinkle cookies Emily had brought, Spencer began to clear the table.

Grace grabbed the plates from his fingers. “We’ll get the dishes. Why don’t you and Emily go sit on the porch so you can talk?” She ushered them outside and the door clicked shut behind them. Spencer resisted the urge to check to see if she’d locked it as well.

“It seems they don’t want us inside. Shall we sit?” He eased onto the glider and patted the space beside him.

Emily sat down cautiously, tugging her skirt to cover as much of her legs as possible.

“I really like this skirt.” As Spencer moved his hand toward her exposed thigh, she locked fingers with him. He chuckled. “Oh, so it’s look but don’t touch? That’s fine, I’ll be good… for now.”

“I’m beginning to wish I’d worn something that covered a bit more.”

“Seriously, I’ll behave.” He opened his mouth to speak, choked, coughed, and cleared his throat a few times. “I... uhmm... How’s your mom?”

“She’s fine, I guess. I haven’t actually talked to her this weekend.”

“Oh.”

Emily squirmed a bit in the uncomfortable silence. How could she start the awkward conversation about their feelings? Maybe with a question. “So, how long do you think we’ll date?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

“I wanted to talk about that, too.” Spencer smiled, squeezing her hand. I mean, I was thinking maybe a year. Maybe less. Even a year seems like a really long time to me. But, I thought, since I graduate in December. Then I’d get a job and save some money. But, you know, I might not even get a job here. It’s all sort of complicated.”

Her heart turned upside down. He was planning to give her a year, and even that seemed like a long time to him. She should be glad. That was probably longer than he’d dated any other girls. But somehow, talking about how it would be over after he graduated and got a job, made the end seem so certain. So, Grace was wrong after all. He didn’t love her. And she’d done exactly what she’d tried not to do. She’d fallen in love with a guy who didn’t love her back.

She struggled to stop the flood of tears. She shouldn’t be crying—she was going to ruin the time they had left. Hadn’t she decided she was going to enjoy him while she could? And who knew—maybe if they dated for that long, he might fall in love with her, too. Or maybe he was in love with her, but didn’t realize it.

His eyes were huge. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know,” she sniffed. “A year... I guess a year is good. I was actually hoping for longer.”

He turned to her and picked up both of her hands in his, tenderly lifting them to his lips. “It can be two years if you want. I’m willing to wait.”

That’s right. She’d forgotten he’d be going without having sex for as long as they dated. No wonder he only wanted to date for a year. She took a long shuddering breath. It was too late now—she’d lost her heart to him. So if he offered her a year, she’d take it. And when it was over, if he hadn’t fallen in love with her, she’d pick up the pieces of her heart and move on.

He reached with one hand and brushed a tear off her face. “I know you think I’m a big player, but that’s more reputation than truth. I’d never cheat on you. You believe me. Right?”

“Even if...” She hesitated. She had to get this question off her chest. “Even if it means no sex the whole time we’re dating?”

“I’m not dating you for sex. I know you don’t believe in sex before marriage. That’s fine with me. But...”

“But what?”

“But, I’m hoping you’ll let up on the no-kissing thing now that we’ve talked.”

“Actually, I decided to change that policy yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” he groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I thought you’d guess somehow. You kissed me on Monday, before I lifted the hiatus.”

“I think maybe we need to work on our communication skills.” He shook his head.

“Well, at least we talked tonight.”

“Yes,” he smiled. “Yes, we certainly did.” His hand moved under her chin and tilted her face up to his. Then he leaned toward her and bent down to touch his lips lightly against hers. He kissed her upper lip and then her lower lip, sucking it gently into his mouth. “You taste so good.”

“It’s Ginger Crinkles,” she said.

“No, it’s you. You taste good. You smell good. I love everything about you.” He returned his mouth to hers, gently kissing her lips. She felt an ache in her heart. He’d almost said he loved her—almost, but not quite. Then her mind became a blur as he deepened their kiss, tasting the inside of her mouth with his tongue, sending electricity down her spine. He played with her tongue and enticed it into his own mouth. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears and feel the thud in her chest. Abruptly, he broke the kiss and pulled away.

“I don’t know if I can make it a year,” he teased. “I’d really like to do a lot more than kiss you.”

Her face must have looked as stricken as she felt at his words, because he quickly backtracked. “I’m just kidding. I can wait. Please don’t cry.”

He bent down to kiss her again. His lips caressed hers gently. “Emily...” he moaned and then he was kissing her forcefully, bruising her lips with his passion. “Emily, I...” he breathed the words across her lips.

The door cracked as Claire flung it open, and they sprung apart, sporting guilty expressions. “We’re gonna play charades,” she announced. “Come on.”

Spencer rubbed his elbow where he’d slammed it against the arm of the glider. “I guess our talking time just ended.” Then he whispered in her ear, “But I enjoyed it while it lasted.”

Anne watched Emily pushing her food around on her plate. She and Steven had decided to keep their news a secret from the general population for a while. But they’d agreed to tell the family members when the time seemed right. Anne had thought tonight might be a good time to tell Emily, so they’d invited her up for dinner. It was Wednesday, and they hadn’t had a chance to chat since the previous week. But now, watching her distracted movements, she knew they needed to talk about other things instead. There was something wrong, and it was probably an affair of the heart.

“So, how’re things with Spencer?” she probed.

“Fine. They’re fine.”

“You’ve been going out a lot lately, right?”

“Well, we had been until recently. But he’s been busy every night this week.” Her voice whined even as she attempted to appear nonchalant.

“What’s he busy doing?”

“How should I know? He doesn’t tell me,” she snapped.

“Sorry. I just wondered.”

“Can’t you ask him what he’s doing?” asked Steven.

“Oh. He always has an excuse. Tonight, he’s volunteering at a homeless shelter. But when I offered to go with him, he didn’t think it was a good idea.”

Steven frowned. “Well, it might not be safe for you. He’s pretty protective.”

“No. He’s lying to me. I know he is.”

“Are you sure?” asked Anne. “That doesn’t sound like Spencer.”

“I didn’t think so either, but I think he’s changed.”

Steven couched his words in a stern tone. “I don’t like this at all. If he’s lying to you, you should definitely break up with him. You deserve better. Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No, I’m in love with him—at least, I think I am. Why else would I feel this miserable?” Her lower lip trembled.

Now Steven started laughing. “As best I can recall, you’re probably right. It made me pretty miserable at first. And that probably also means you’re jumping to all kinds of wrong conclusions.”

“He’s right, Honey,” said Anne. “You two probably need to talk. I’m sure he’s in love with you. He sure looked it when you were in the hospital.”

“But we talked, and he didn’t say he was in love with me.”

“He said he wasn’t in love with you?”

“No, but he said he didn’t want to date any more after he graduated and got a job. Because he might not even get a job in New York and he might have to move.”

“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Anne.

“It does to me. He doesn’t want to commit because the future’s uncertain. And I respect that. I guess there’s always a chance he might decide he loves me before then. But now... Now I think he’s getting tired of me. He’s avoiding me a lot. Why else would he lie to me?”

“How do you know he’s lying?”

“I just feel it.”

Anne shook her head. “I know you think this is trite, but you can’t depend on your feelings. Especially when you’re highly emotional. You’ll get all kinds of misinformation sent to your brain.”

“Let me talk to him,” suggested Steven. “If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s getting information out of people. I’ll find out what he’s up to.”

“No, because if he’s going to hurt my feelings, you’ll probably kill him.”

“No, I wouldn’t—”

“Yes,” said Anne. “You probably would. I’ll talk to him.”

“No, neither of you are going to talk to him. I’ll handle it myself. Let’s change the subject.” She turned her attention to her mom. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good. I’m developing a little pooch.” She stretched her shirt around her belly. Emily studied it, cocking her head to the side.

“That’s great, Mom. I’m sure you’ll start actually showing soon.”

“Yes, I’m certain I’ll be showing. Eventually, no one will doubt I’m pregnant.” She laughed. “I almost wanted to wear a fake belly when I spoke at the fundraiser on Saturday.”

“Oh, I forgot you did that. How did it go? Were you petrified?”

“Not at all.” Steven’s eyes crinkled in a satisfied smile. “I teased her so much about not being believable because she didn’t look pregnant, she waltzed right through her speech.”

“I can’t believe I fell for it. He suggested multiple times I shouldn’t even speak because people would think I was faking the whole pregnancy and illness.”

“She was so ticked off she wouldn’t speak to me all the way home. Even after she did a great job on the speech and I confessed I was only trying to distract her.”

“Well, it will never work again. Next time, I’ll know you’re distracting me.”

“Maybe you should take a sedative next time,” suggested Emily.

“Oh no,” Steven said. “Her body overreacts with any type of drug. Evidently this is true for all of you Best girls.”

“I feel like taking something now.” Emily dropped her head into her hands. “Maybe Steven can think up a distraction for me.”

“I have an idea for a distraction. Why don’t we see if we can get Charlie on Skype?” Steven raised questioning eyebrows to Anne.

She nodded at him. “Let’s do it.”

“I don’t want you to tell her what I told you. Okay? She’s too sympathetic to Spencer for some reason.”

“We won’t, but it will be fun to talk to both of you together,” said Anne. “You’ll see.”

Their luck held and Charlie was on the computer screen in minutes. “Hey, Mom. Let me see your stomach.”

Anne smoothed her shirt over her small baby bump.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” said Charlie. “Next time, I want to see some real progress. What’s going on up there? We had a fantastic rafting trip today. The water was up high and fast. Out of seven rafts, mine was the only one that didn’t turn over. You should have seen the video.”

Anne watched Emily brighten a little at her sister’s enthusiasm.

“Yay, Sister! And all the other guides were guys?”

“Yep, every single one. And all of them bragging before we started.” Her voice tinkled with laughter. “I said, ‘We’ll see—may the Best woman win.’ And I did, of course. And now I get to pick my crew for the next week.”

Steven laughed. “All men should beware when a Best girl decides to compete.”

“I’ve kind of beaten the odds myself,” said Anne.