Vivienne reached to take her daughter from Will. Scarlett barely stirred, flopping across her mother’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Don’t worry about the rest of the mess,” Will said. “I can help Maureen.” He looked over to see if I would object, but I nodded my head at him. There were still a lot of dishes, and I’d need to tackle the patio once the guests departed.
“Be careful outside,” I warned Vivienne. “It’s really slippery, especially now that the sun’s fully gone.”
After the Bloxhams departed, I handed Will a heavy dutch oven. “Here you go. Have fun scraping off the last of Mr. Lemon’s tuna noodle casserole.” He pulled up his sleeves and made a show of wrinkling his nose but didn’t complain as he stood over the sink and began scrubbing.
We worked for a few minutes in silence. I stood next to him while he washed and I dried.
“So here we are again in the kitchen.” Will spoke lightly, but I heard the edge in it.
“Hmm.”
“It seems like we’re doing okay, you know, being normal around each other.”
“Uh-huh.”
The sounds from the party melted into the background. I sucked in my lower lip and tried not to notice his forearms flexing as he worked. Tried not to think of how endearing it had been to see him playing Go Fish with Connor. “Normal” wasn’t the word I’d use to describe the way I felt around him.
Will’s breath made waves in the steam rising from the hot water. Placing the sponge on the counter ledge, he turned off the tap and ran an arm across his damp forehead. He wiped his hands on a dish towel.
“Maureen—”
Our hips brushed as he turned to face me.
I flinched at the contact.
“Listen, Will. It's cool that we’ve made some progress here—” Twisting to look at him, I moved a finger back and forth between us like a seesaw. “Except you need to remember that, like, twenty-four hours ago, I seriously still hated you.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “But you don’t hate me now?”
Slowly, I exhaled, speaking with more confidence than I felt. “I’m…conflicted. But one thing I’m sure of is I don’t have the capacity to put a label on this right now, other than ‘not hate.’ My career is in limbo, if you hadn’t noticed. Plus, the holidays. And not having a permanent place to live. So please don’t add to my load by saying anything else about wanting tospend some time together, alright?”
Will winced. “I’m not trying to push you. I promise.” He blew out his own loud breath. “You can do what you want with it… Do nothing with it. I just needed to put it out there—” He gazed at me intently, our chests inches apart. “Make sure you…had the information.”
He paused, the silence deafening.
My breath hitched as hooded gray eyes bored into mine.
His nostrils flared. Other than that, he didn’t move. Warmth radiated from him, the walls of the kitchen our cocoon. I blinked slowly, understanding the next play was mine. He wouldn’t take it from me. Not this time. I knew what I needed to do.
Get away. Protect yourself.
I took a small, infinitesimal step…
Toward Will.
My eyes drifted to the tick of his pulse beating a visible symphony in his throat. He swallowed.
Finally, cautiously, his hand crawled through the air near the side of my face.
When I didn’t flinch or pull away, he grew braver. He pinched my ponytail between the thumb and pointer of his right hand,giving me a close-up view of his missing fingers. As his palm trailed back down my cheek, just barely touching—the contact couldn’t even be called a graze—I had to close my eyes against the tidal wave of sensation. I shouldn’t want this, yet my body said otherwise.
“It’s okay,” he said hoarsely. “I know it’s kind of gross.”
Huh?My hazy brain required a few seconds to sort out his words. What was gross?
He started to pull his hand away.
