Page 51 of The Interns

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You have a rough night last night or something?” she teased.

“It wasn’t all bad.” A satisfied smiled crept onto his lips.

She fought the urge to press her lips to his right there in the middle of the bar and in front of all of his friends.

“—maybe she’s knocked up?”

They both turned at the sound of the words that cut through their own conversation and glanced at each other before staring at Dustin in disbelief. Willa, Dev, and Sara averted their eyes while Dustin shrugged.

“Don’t knock that over there, hun,” he cautioned Sara as he slid the glass that was nowhere near her even farther away, trying to cover up his faux pas. “She’s so clumsy. Always knocking things over.” Sara smiled and laughed a little too quickly and loudly which pretty much blew his cover.

Reed’s eyes went steely as he stared Dustin down. It was that Officer Stanton mode that she found insanely hot, a newly discovered turn on thanks to him. She wasn’t nearly as bothered as he was, though. On their walk, he had given her a rundown of who would be at the bar and what to expect. Dustin was described as the group gossip. A loud, borderline inappropriate guy who you could count on to both embarrass the hell out of you and give you the coat off his back. She could never be with someone like Dustin, herself, but guys like him could be harmless fun to have around every once in a while. Her own group of friends certainly wasn’t immune to messiness and gossip anyway. She took a sip of the scandalous glass of water while Willa and Sara tried to fill the awkward silence with chatter about upcoming holiday plans.

Luckily the game started soon enough, and the only words being exchanged became yelling or cheering at the screen or talking about the Georgia Bulldogs’ impressive offensive line and new head coach.

Reed, or maybe still Officer Stanton, remained standing behind her the entire time, his chest at her back as they watched the game on the screen on the back wall. He would tap on her shoulder and lean over to explain the plays to her or just check in periodically to see if she had reached her limit with college football yet. And eventually she found herself leaning back into his chest, even staying there between their chats. She wasn’t sure whether it was the influence of being around other couples or the fact that they were sort of in their own world with the game getting all of the attention, but it was nice, and he didn’t seem to mind it either.

21

Reed

By halftime, Reed had his arm slung around Maya and her back snug against his chest, a lingering hug from a touchdown celebration a few minutes earlier that they never quite ended. With a break in the game, she patted his arm to ask for an out so that she could slip away to the restroom. He only hoped she’d settle right back in the same spot when she came back.

“So let’s get real here Mr. Stanton. Is she pregnant?”

Willa’s eyes darted to Dustin. “Pregnant? Who’s pregnant? Nobody’s pregnant.”

“Maya,” Dustin clarified.

Reed looked to Willa who seemed strangely flustered by Dustin’s usual messiness, then he focused on Dustin leering at him from a barstool away. Willa covered her mouth and stopped what she was doing to listen in.

“You’re way out of line, Dustin.”

“You bring this new lady friend in here out of nowhere, you’re all sweet on her, she’s been drinking water all night, and so have you. Come on, man. Somebody has to ask!”

This right here was one of the things he didn’t love about his hometown. The minute you so much as laid eyes on a woman, or had eyes laid upon you, you were pretty much married off. It’s how people were defined around here. As so-and-so’s wife or so-and-so’s husband. And it’s not that he didn’t want a wife and children someday, it’s just that there was more to him than that. And there was a hell of a lot more to Maya than that. Never mind the fact that all they had done was kiss, not that that was anyone’s business.

“There are tons of reasons people don’t drink, Dustin, and none of them are your business,” Sara reminded him as only she could.

Willa took a sip of the ginger ale she kept behind the bar and nodded emphatically.

“What’d I miss?” Maya asked as she came up behind Reed.

“Nothin’,” Reed said quickly as he shook his head at Dustin while Maya climbed back in her stool.

He put his arm around her and she eased right back into him as he hoped she would. He tightened his hold on her as if that would shield her from this ridiculousness.

“Can I get you something else to drink, Maya?” Willa offered, seeing her empty glass. “Anything you want. It’s on the house.”

“She makes a mean rum and coke,” Dustin said. Reed shook his head. The man just couldn’t help himself.

“Or a coke,” Sara added.

“Or just another glass of water,” Willa offered with a smile. “Maybe with a little squeeze of lemon?”

Reed groaned at his friends’ antics. She must have felt like a pinball being knocked around between the three of them, but somehow she seemed to be taking it all in stride.

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