Page 17 of A Little Bit Extra

“I think I’m going to head out. You two going to be okay?” Tyler asks with raised eyebrows.

I look at Emmett. Emmett looks at me.

I look back at Tyler. “Yeah, we’ll be okay.” I smile.

Tyler winks at Emmett. Goodness. You’d think we were high schoolers being left alone for the first time. It feels like that a bit. This little crush that I’m trying hard to push down is slowly making its way to the surface.

It doesn’t take much for my stomach to flutter. The entire night Emmett has been doing things that make it hard to ignore him. Every glance and small touch is enough to drive me insane.

With Tyler gone, we both just stand facing the front door. I suddenly realize he may want me to leave soon also, since it’s getting late.

“Do you want me to leave?” I turn to face him to try to read his expression.

His eyes are soft. His lips curl into a smirk, the kind of smirk that makes my stomach do flips.

“No, I don’t want you to leave, Cassie. Do you want to leave?” He poses the question as he walks past me into the kitchen.

I turn around and follow him.

“I should leave, but no.”

Emmett glances over his shoulder and smiles in my direction.

It seems neither of us have a clue what’s going on. I know I should have left already. There’s no reason I need to be here this late, but I can’t bring myself to say goodbye. The pull between Emmett and me is… something else. It’s clouding my judgment. It’s making me want to be pinned against the counter and have his lips pressed against mine.

We move to sit on the couch, plopping next to each other. The brush of his leg meeting mine, enough to feel his warmth.

We spend the next little while just talking. I’m learning a lot about Emmett.

He opens up about his childhood and tells me about his parents. I always thought they depicted a picture-perfect family. I only saw the pictures online, of course, but they just looked happy. He tells me how he likes to write, but when I ask about it, he says it’s just a hobby right now. Him opening up to me is a sign that he trusts me. Even just a little.

I tell him about Annie and how she wants to move out here this fall. I also tell him about my mom. That’s a hard subject, but I feel comfortable around him. I only talk about my family to Lucy, but she knows everything about me. If I ever meet someone new, they don’t get to know me like this. They get the public-facing version of myself and not my inner demons.

The Emmett I’m getting to know is different from how I thought he would be. I didn’t think he’d have such a soft interior.

His arm is on the back of the couch, and his fingers lightly caress my shoulder. I let him. It’s comforting. He’s not trying to make a move or push any boundaries. His affection is subtle, yet endearing and intentional.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about Emmett, but I hope we get to have more nights like this.

5

Emmett

The sun peeks through my curtains, blinding me as I squint and find myself not in my bed. I’m still on the couch. I try to move my left hand, but it’s trapped. What the…Oh. Right. Cassie.

We talked into the early hours of this morning. She asked for a blanket at one point and eventually asked me to move over so she could lie down. Her head started next to me, but during the night, she shifted it to rest on my lap.

I free my hand without her stirring and trace the pattern of freckles on her arm. She slowly blinks awake. Her eyes go wide as her gaze meets mine.

“Ah!” she yells and rolls backward, landing on the floor at my feet.

I lean over, place a hand under her arm, and help her back onto the couch. She pulls both of her legs up, sinks her elbows on either leg, and places her head in her hands.

Cassie turns her head to the right, enough to peek at me. She’s blushing. “Well, I guess we fell asleep, huh?”

“Seems that way.” I smile at her.

Standing up from the couch, I make my way to the kitchen. “Coffee?”

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