Page 16 of Risk It All

“I’m Emerson,” I say, holding out my hand for him to shake but he surprises me and pulls me into his arms instead.

“He’s going to hate that I’m hugging you,” Ames whispers in my ear and I can hear the grin in his voice.

“That’s enough,” Anthony says a second later, pulling me away from his brother.

“So, what are you two doing here?Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming to town?”Ames asks, crossing his arms and leaning against the front counter.

“We’re just passing through.I thought that you might like to buy us dinner and hang out for a few minutes before we have to leave.”

“Buy you dinner?”Ames asks with a laugh.“I’ll buy the pretty Emerson dinner,” he says, shooting me a wink and I grin at him.

I know that he’s just doing it to mess with Anthony, but clearly Anthony doesn’t know that because I swear he growls as Ames grins at me.

“Where are you two headed?”Ames asks and I answer before Anthony can say something sarcastic.

“New York.”

“Oh, are you visiting Alexander?”Ames asks and Anthony nods.

“I just got off the phone with him and he didn’t even mention that.”

“He doesn’t know that we’re coming,” Anthony admits and there’s a beat before Ames responds.

“Oh, he’s going tolovethat,” Ames says with a wide grin.

“Do you have time for dinner?”

“Yeah, my next client is in half an hour though so it will have to be quick.”

“Same for us,” Anthony says as we head out the front door.

There’s a pub down the street that Ames leads us to.I guess one of his friends owns it and we head inside, snagging a table right away.

I’m mostly quiet during dinner, letting the two brothers catch up.We all order burgers and I scarf mine down, surprised at how hungry I am.

The pub is starting to get busy and Ames asks for the check when an older man saunters over to our table.

“I thought that was you, Ames.”

“Hey, Max!How’s it going?”Ames asks as he shakes his friend’s hand.

“Good, I didn’t know that you were coming in tonight.How’s the shop?”

“It’s good.Busy,” Ames says as our waitress comes back to the table.

“Dinner is on me,” Max says to the waitress and she nods, giving us a smile before she heads over to help another table.

“Anthony and Emerson, this is my friend Max.Max, this is my brother Anthony and his girl, Emerson,” Ames says and I look over to Anthony, wondering if he’ll correct his brother.

“Nice to meet you,” Anthony says with an easy smile, and we both lean over to shake Max’s hand.

“Thanks for dinner.It was delicious,” I tell him, and he gives me a warm smile.

“My pleasure.You’ll have to excuse me.I’m about to head out.I’ve got to get home to the wife.Ames, tell Cat that her mom expects her at dinner on Sunday,” Max says, pointing a finger at Ames before he waves goodbye to us and heads for the front door.

We leave right after him and I hug Ames goodbye before I climb behind the wheel for the last leg of our road trip.

“I like your brother,” I tell him as he climbs into the passenger seat.

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