Page 52 of What Happened Last Night

He sounded so calm. He shouldn’t be. “My entire family will know about this within the next hour,” I explained. “I mean everyone. Cousins I haven’t seen since I was fourteen will know that I’m dating my millionaire boss, and that Mom and Tanner caught us half naked in the kitchen. Aunts and uncles will know, even the ones who live out of state. Reggie will know. Your name is being Googled as we speak. You’ll be expected to come to at least one family dinner. You’ll be interrogated repeatedly.”

Will had let the pan heat while I talked, and now he added butter to it. “Hmm,” he said noncommittally.

“I’m thirty, I’ve had three boyfriends, and my family believes I should settle down,” I continued. “Like, now. They’ll assume you’re it. We’ll be asked when we’re getting married and having kids, probably starting tomorrow, and it won’t stop. We won’t have any privacy with Reggie living below me. She can hear everything. They’ll have a million questions about how we met and how we got together. They’ll analyze everything we say to each other in front of them, every scrap of body language. Did you say too much? Or not enough? Are we fighting? Did you look at another woman for a second too long? You see? Not to mention, my brothers will team up to put you through some kind of torture.”

The butter had melted, and Will poured the eggs in the pan. “Physical torture?” he asked, curious.

“Definitely physical torture. Probably psychological, too.”

“You make them sound like criminal masterminds.”

“They aren’t. They’re the dumbest men on earth. But each of them has five brain cells, so when they get together, they have fifteen. Fifteen brain cells dedicated to making you wish you were dead.”

“Duly noted,” Will said.

I put my hands on my hips. “Don’t you get it? Until a few minutes ago, we weren’t even dating. Now you’ll be judged on whether you know my birthday, whether you know my favorite food, whether you buy me the right Christmas present. We’re going to be studied and picked apart until we can’t stand each other anymore. It won’t take long.”

Will picked up the shredded cheese and sprinkled it into the eggs. “Is that why you haven’t dated in a while? The pressure?”

He was so calm, and the eggs smelled delicious, and I was starving, and part of me was still freaking out. “Can we not talk about my dating life, or lack thereof? How about we talk about your dating life?”

Will expertly flipped the eggs. “I haven’t dated anyone since Lizbeth,” he said. “In case you’re wondering, I haven’t slept with anyone since her, either.”

I tried to ignore how my insides wanted to melt when he said that. I remembered last night, when he’d said I was the first woman to see his tattoo. “I can’t just date casually,” I explained. “I can’t meet a guy and try him out, see where it goes, or he’s instantly enlisted in dating Survivor whether he wants it or not. It isn’t fair to any guy I date. Which now, after what just happened, includes you.”

Will grabbed two plates from the cupboard. He seemed very at home in the inn’s kitchen. He portioned the eggs and slid my plate over to me. “Eat these. I have questions, and you’re going to answer them.”

I sat on one of the stools at the counter and picked up my fork. I’d seen Will when he was calm, when he was angry, when he was relaxed, when he was all business. But even though I worked for him, I’d never seen him as bossy as I had since last night. Will was hot, but bossy Will made my brain short circuit and my breath go shallow. Bossy Will was scorching.

I squeezed my knees together and ate my eggs.

Will picked up his own plate, oblivious as ever to the fact that he was making me ovulate. “Your mother said that you rearranged other bookings for me. You didn’t have to do that. So why did you?”

I poked at my plate. “I didn’t have to rearrange too much. Just a couple of people. I rebooked them somewhere else and gave them a voucher for a free night as compensation.”

“I could have gone to New York,” Will said.

“I didn’t want you to go to New York.”

He lifted his fork. “You didn’t want me to visit my parents?”

“That isn’t it.” I sighed. “I figured if you went to New York, you’d see Lizbeth.”

I’d shocked him. He stood frozen, his fork in the air, as he stared at me. “You’re worried about Lizbeth? You thought I’d—what, exactly? Sleep with her?”

“Not precisely. I thought you’d realize you still have feelings for her—or something. It wasn’t logical, Will. I’m not logical when it comes to you.”

He put his plate down, still shocked. “Luna, I’ve explained Lizbeth to you. It wasn’t arranged between her and me, but it may as well have been. It was nothing like it is with you.”

“She still calls you, though,” I argued. “She’s clingy. It’s weird. You explained why, and I feel for her, I really do. And I don’t think there’s anything going on between you. But she had her chance. She had you for five years, and I’ve been into you forever, and now we’ve been officially dating for barely an hour, and I’d just rather she got lost and you didn’t visit her. Okay? That’s the honest truth.”

“She isn’t going to call me anymore,” Will said. “I talked to her about it. We had a good conversation, actually. She agrees that she needs to find a healthier solution to her problems. And what do you mean, you’ve been into me forever?”

“Oh, my god, Will.” I put my hands over my eyes. “Since the job interview, okay? Can we stop now? I've had enough embarrassment for one morning."

There was a long silence, while I wished I could turn into a wisp of fog and dissipate into the air. Finally, I dropped my hands.

Will was leaning against the counter, his arms crossed, watching me, coffee in hand. “Eat your eggs,” he said.

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