was able to understand what her closest friends and family had pushed aside in favor of civility? What did it say about her that she’d allowed them to?
“Do you think all of that will fit on a sticky note?” she asked.
Emmitt’s gaze lazily roamed over Annie’s body and down, and Annie felt zips of awareness follow in its wake. “You strike me as the type of woman who, once she sets her mind to something, doesn’t let anything stand in her way.”
The confident way he said it sent a rush of tingles racing through her body faster than her mom checking out a Black Friday sale.
“That’s a bold statement to make about someone you’ve spoken to twice.”
“What can I say—they’ve been insightful conversations. Plus, you’re pretty easy to read.”
Annie snorted—twice—because she was about as easy to read as a darkened street sign to a glaucoma patient.
Born Asian and raised by white parents, Annie came into the world a walking oxymoron. In fact, the more people came to know her, the more their initial assumptions were proved inaccurate. Annie was proof that you can’t judge a book by its cover. So she was embarrassed she’d done the same to Emmitt.
If being mysterious was considered intriguing, being a never-ending surprise was off-putting. People liked to rely on their judgment, and Annie was often misjudged.
“You laugh, but I bet I know more about you than most guys would after six dates.”
“This should be impressive, since I doubt you’ve been on six consecutive dates in the past six years.” When he opened his mouth to argue, she added, “With the same woman?”
“I’m so observant, I don’t need the same amount of time other people do to know if it’s a forever kind of thing,” he said, which surprised her because when he said “forever” he didn’t look as if he wanted to gag or would break out in hives.
“Are you saying you’re open to commitment?”
“If it’s the right person who came along?” He shrugged. “Why not? But I don’t need to string someone along to figure out if they’re right for me. I don’t play games with the people in my life, making them jump through hoops in order to figure out where they stand. Nah, that’s childish and pretty shitty, if you ask me.”
Annie saw a flash of fresh pain cross Emmitt’s face and realized that beneath the confident swagger lingered an uncertainty that drew Annie in. Her gut said he’d been played by someone he trusted and cared for. Based on the new sadness lurking beneath his words, that someone had deeply hurt him. And recently.
The caretaker in Annie wanted to ask if he was okay, but the pragmatist in her understood better than to pry. The more she knew about him, the more human he’d become, and the harder it would be to kick him out of his own house.
After a night like tonight, a smart girl would cut her losses and go straight to bed. Only Annie was tired of playing things smart, because instead of wishing him good night, she said, “Okay, wow me with your observation skills.”
If she was going to steer clear of charming players, then she might as well learn how to recognize the signs.
“Oh, you’ll be wowed,” he said and she rolled her eyes. “You don’t believe me? Then let’s make this a little more interesting. If I wow you with my superior observational skills, then tomorrow I get the bed.”
As far as she was concerned, Emmitt wasn’t going to be living here come tomorrow. So what was there to lose? “Wow me.”
“This is going to be good.” He rubbed his hands together like a kid in a candy store. “You have a thing for British mysteries, Shemar Moore, and reality dating shows.”
“Knowing what’s on my Hulu account doesn’t make you observant, it makes you a snoop.”
“No rules were stated at the beginning of the game as to how I come by my information. But I will lay off your horrific taste in television and get back to what a romantic you are.”
“Of course I’m a romantic,” she argued. “I was recently planning my own wedding. I’m sorry to say, Emmitt, you’re just another man whose talents have left me wondering why I bother.”
“You’ve clearly been hanging around the wrong men,” he tsked. “I was going to say, your romanticism goes far deeper than dream weddings, Goldilocks. Most women would jump at the opportunity to blow a few grand on a new dress, yet you