Page 59 of That Kind of Guy

Emmett set his napkin down, stood up, and walked over to Chuck. I inhaled sharply.

What was happening? What was going on?

“No, Emmett, don’t—”

Emmett stepped up to Chuck, leaned down, and said something quietly to him. He wore a pleasant, friendly smile but his gaze was hard. He leaned one hand on the wall and the other clenched into a fist at his side. Chuck’s expression changed from exasperated to defensive. Chuck spat something back at Emmett. I could only see the side of Emmett’s profile, but his jaw hardened, his hand flexed, and whatever he said to Chuck caused the guy to look terrified.

My gaze flicked back to Emmett’s expression. My lips parted, studying his set jaw and clenched hand, and again, my mind was flooded with images of last night in his kitchen, his mouth furious against mine and his hands all over me.

I shivered.

“What’s happening over there?” Max asked at my side. “Are they going to fight?” He lowered his voice. “That would be so hot.”

“I know,” I murmured before catching myself. “I mean, no, we don’t want a fight here.”

Chuck said something to his wife and the two turned and left. Emmett watched them leave before returning to his seat like nothing happened.

“God, I can’t stand that guy,” Emmett muttered, reading through his menu. “I always take clients out to restaurants because seeing how someone treats serving staff tells me what they’re like as a person. If they’re assholes, we don’t work with them.” He glanced at me. “What? You don’t agree?”

I frowned. “No, I do. You’re right.”

Holden returned. “I gotta go.” He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “McKinley site,” he said to Emmett by way of explanation. “A water line broke.”

Emmett waved his hand. “Go, go. I’ll bring your lunch to the office.”

I said a quick goodbye to Holden, and he left.

Emmett and I ate our food and a funny peace settled over us. Perhaps it was only funny because it was brand new to us. People stopped by to say hello, to say congratulations, and Emmett made brief small talk with them while I listened. I watched how people interacted with him, how they wanted to share with him, and how he remembered small details about their lives. If he was schmoozing, he was damn good at it. I suspected that maybe he wasn’t schmoozing, though. Maybe this was just Emmett.

I couldn’t stop picturing the way his jaw tensed and his fist clenched, howhotEmmett looked when he was mad. Hot enough to threaten this whole plan we had concocted. I would have to be very, very careful from here on out.

“You’re actually interested in people.” I tilted my head at him after someone from his company had just left. “You actually care about these people. It’s not an act.”

He gave me an amused look. “Of course it’s not an act.” He checked the time. “We should go.”

I nodded and moved to clear our plates, but Emmett put his hand on mine to stop me.

“It’s fine,” I told him. “Max is busy.”

Max appeared at my side. “I’ve got it.”

“Thanks, Max, I appreciate it.” Emmett wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me towards the door. “Come on, Adams, let’s go get you a restaurant.”

14

Avery

“Everything seems to be in order,”Harold, the loan specialist, told us in his monotone voice before he cleared his throat. “Ms. Adams, if you’ll please sign there,” he said, pointing to the line for my signature on the paperwork.

I leaned forward and scrawled my name. Harold nodded with satisfaction.

“And Mr. Rhodes, if you’ll please sign there,” Harold said, pointing to the line beside my name.

Emmett leaned forward and paused.

This was it. This was the moment everything went wrong. I had been waiting for this moment all day. The floor was about to fall through or there’d be an earthquake or the pen would explode in his hand. Something would get in the way of Emmett cosigning on my loan.

He gave me a quick, cheeky grin and signed his name in scratchy loops before setting the pen down.

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