Hers for the Holidays

Chapter Five

“So, who's keeping you up all night?” Eva questioned the moment that she and Emily had a slight lull in customers.

“Not Seth, we broke up,” Emily said as she finished filling up the salt shakers, she looked over at her friend taking in her new hair color change, her blue and lavender box braids had been pulled into a large bun on top of her head.

“I like the blue and purple you’ve added, it looks good. I didn’t know you were planning on changing it.” She said smiling at her friend as she admired the lavender and violet shades and the way the complimented her mocha skin.

“Thanks, I've got to look good for Thanksgiving. I need to get my living room look ready, but that doesn’t change the subject. Spill girl, tell me about him.” Eva said as she leaned over the polished table surface resting her elbows on the smooth surface the rag she had been cleaning with sitting forgotten off to the side.

“Just gaming, I did meet one of the guys in my guild yesterday.” She said almost shyly.

“Oh, like in real life and I know that look. He was pretty wasn’t he?” Eva smirked as she resumed cleaning the same spot on the table she had been cleaning before.

“He was super handsome, I went to Gino’s last night to get pizza-” Emily started to say but was cut off by the other woman.

“And you didn’t invite me?” Eva said with a playful glare.

“You were working, next time though.” Emily teased.

“Back to the hottie,” Eva said making a continue on motion with her hands.

“It was Vincent, our group's tank. He looks like he spends all his time at the gym, I’m super shocked that he games after seeing him. He's tall, dark and handsome.” Emily said blushing as she talked about the man who would be pretending to be her boyfriend for the holidays.

“Ooh, did sparks fly? And is he single? Looking to date?” Eva fired off rapidly.

“I think they did, I’ve never felt like that before. You know when you first meet someone and it feels almost electric? He asked for my number.” Emily said looking away from her friend's copper-colored eyes. She didn’t want to tell her friend how they talked well into the night, setting up a background for their pretend relationship that would be believable for her family and his.

“Don’t leave me hanging, what happened next?” Eva said, giving up all false pretenses of work.

“I gave it to him, and then headed home. We talked for a bit, table three looks ready for their check.” Emily said as she finished filling up the last salt shaker and nodded towards the couple that were just wrapping up their meal.

“Dang it, I’ll be back and I want more details, you are not getting out of this that easily,” Eva said turning away and walking quickly towards her customers.

Emily bit her lip as she thought of the handsome gamer, it turned out that their families lived in the same state as each other. So traveling together wouldn’t be that bad, although she hoped Vincent would agree to take her car, the idea of hours spent on the back of his motorcycle made her nervous. Or maybe he wouldn’t want to travel with her, they still needed to work out that.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, maybe she should send him a text to see what he wanted to do. She worried her lower lip between her teeth as she unlocked the screen and typed out a quick message.

***

Vincent placed the heavy dumbbells onto the carpeted floor, a fine coating of sweat covered his bare chest. He walked over to the small wooden table his phone was stashed on and his stereo. He paused his loud rock music, Cannibal Moon’s latest song, to check his messages.

He smiled as he noticed a text message from Emily, she was asking how he wanted to travel. He liked the idea of her arms wrapped around him as they flew down the highways on his motorcycle, it made his body twitch in response. His wolf liked that idea very much as well.

Or maybe she would want to fly, it would be a long drive. Four hours at minimum just to get to his family’s home, her family was another good hour away in Dallas.

He shot her a message back, letting her know that he was good with whatever she was comfortable with.

He hoped she didn’t choose to fly, being trapped in an airplane's cabin with all those smells and people it was overwhelming to him and his wolf. He would be okay with it though, maybe he could get a drink or five before the flight. The drinks would help him talk to Emily, maybe he would be able to talk to her without being so nervous. He shook his head, he didn't want to seem like some crazy drinker.

Vincent had come to realize in the short time since he had met her face to face and the months that they had spent talking that he liked her. He didn’t know where that would lead or if she liked him as well, he could hope that she did.

Vincent grabbed his metal water bottle and took a long drink before sitting the container down, the sharp cling of metal on wood making him frown. His phone chimed again and he looked at the screen, it was Emily.

***

Emily smiled as she put her phone back into her back pocket, she had let Vincent know that she had a car and didn’t mind driving together if he didn’t mind. She made a quick stop at the restroom to fix her peach lip gloss and make sure her hair was still in place. She headed back out to take care of her customers with a happy grin, she needed to make some good tips.

Fuel would be expensive, but she was glad she wouldn’t be traveling alone. She started making a mental list of snacks she could pick up for the drive next week. Emily wondered if Vincent would consider it weird if she made a travel playlist for them to listen to as well. Maybe she wouldn’t do that, she had no idea what her fellow gamer liked music-wise.