Page 60 of Knocked Up by Mr. Grump Lawyer

“Please?” Riley begged.

“Yes, we’d love to have you join us,” Robert added, facing me and gazing into my eyes.

I felt my heart skip a beat. “Uh, sure,” I said, breaking into a smile. Deep inside, my chest was bursting with joy and excitement.

I could not believe that earlier that day, I’d already convinced myself that this situation wasn’t for me and I should just avoid Robert altogether.

Now things were different. Because of Riley’s accident, Robert and I seemed to have forged our own deeper connection.

Soon it was getting dark outside.

“Maybe I should go now,” I said, not wanting to overstep my boundaries. “I’m really glad Riley’s okay, but I’ll certainly be back tomorrow.”

“No need, Kayla,” Robert assured me. “You’ve done so much already. Remember, you have another life to also take care of. You need lots of rest too.”

His eyes shifted from my face to my tummy. I blushed a bit, feeling quite ashamed that I’d almost forgotten I was pregnant. “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

“Please let me take you home,” Robert offered. “It’s the least I can do.”

I looked at Riley uncertainly.

“I don’t think he’ll wake up any time soon. We can catch dinner on the way.”

“Oh,” I said in surprise. I couldn’t help feeling hopeful.Shut up, Kayla. He’s doing it out of courtesy and as a way of saying thank you. It’s not because he’s finally starting to consider a relationship with you.

My head and heart kept battling even as we walked to the parking lot. Robert asked Willard to look after Riley in the meantime while he took the SUV to drive me home.

“You don’t have to do this for me,” I said.

“But I want to,” he answered quietly, slightly touching my face and causing me to shiver. My whole body seemed to light up with electric energy and intensified heat.

My heart was winning, silencing my brain. I found myself just letting go of all my doubts and inhibitions.

I should just enjoy the moment because it might never come again, I told myself.

Fate seemed to be playing a game on us. Most restaurants we passed by were already closed. Only one was open — an old diner that was decorated like the one at Fantasy Flicks.

To my bewilderment, he actually parked the car there and got out to open the door for me. I wondered if he had the same thoughts as mine, if he was remembering the one and only time we had sex — which had gotten me pregnant.

He asked me what I wanted, but I didn’t have any preference. My hunger had suddenly taken a backseat to the whirlwind of memories playing in my head and the heat that was spreading like wildfire across my body.

We got into a small booth where our knees touched beneath the table. He didn’t intend for that, I’m sure. Looking around, I noticed that the booths were all compact-sized.

Every time we made any movement, our knees rubbed against each other and caused electric currents to shoot up my limbs.

“Do you want me to just pick the pizza?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and trying to look calm and unaffected even though my heart was beating wildly.

He ordered some meat-filled pizza, a plate of chicken pesto pasta, and two ice cream shakes. I didn’t really care, because at this point, I was more concerned aboutus.

Is there an ‘us’? Would this lead to something? Do I want it to?

My head kept on spinning with these questions. Meanwhile, he simply smiled at me and leaned forward on the table. He looked more relaxed than ever. There was a brightness in his eyes and a glow on his face that indicated that something had shifted within him.

“Thank you, Kayla,” he murmured, taking my hand with his across the table.

I could feel my entire body reacting to his touch. “You’ve already said thank you many times,” I replied with a laugh.

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