Hard to Come By by Laura Kaye Page B

hips were tight against his. Suddenly, the warmth of the early May evening flashed red hot.
    God, she wanted . . . she wasn’t even sure. Something. From him. With him. For him.
    A car tore down the narrow street, throwing Emilie out of the moment. She pulled back and righted herself, but she didn’t look away from his gaze. “Well, not tonight. Tonight it’s the two of us,” she said. “Remember? I’m saving you from wandering the streets of Annapolis all alone.”
    His lips slowly quirked up into a playful smile. “You sure are. Come on,” he said, offering his arm again.
    Silently now, they made their way to State Circle, where the big colonial statehouse towered over everything. On the far side of the circle, she led him down a hill toward Main Street, which was bustling with diners and window shoppers. This was the touristy part of Annapolis, and the streets, shops, and restaurants were always busy.
    “The water taxi’s just down at City Dock,” she said, pointing toward the water.
    Fifteen minutes later, they were on the squat red-and-white boat cruising across the harbor. The warm breeze tousled Emilie’s hair until she turned her face into the wind, which forced her to look at her handsome and somewhat mysterious seatmate. Where in the world had Derek come from? It was like he’d dropped into her life out of the sky or something.
    Maybe she was overthinking it.
    He turned and smiled at her. “It’s beautiful.”
    Her gaze scanned over the harbor, from the bustle of City Dock, to the stately buildings of the Naval Academy, to the three soaring radio towers that stood as sentinels over the open Chesapeake Bay. “Yes,” she said. “It is.” When she turned back to him, he was still staring at her.
    “Yeah.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
    Before she even realized it, they were docking on the restaurant’s pier.
    “Chart House stop,” the captain said.
    “This is us,” she said.
    Derek held her hand while she stepped to the pier. Inside, they got a table with a wonderful view of the marina and harbor. Almost as if on cue, the lights in the room dimmed, highlighting the flickering of the votive candle on the table. Emilie looked across the table and smiled, still finding it a little hard to believe this was actually happening.
    Nothing’s really happening, Em. It’s just dinner .
    Right .
    They ordered and the waitress brought their drinks and a big basket of fresh, warm rolls.
    “You have to try these,” Emilie said as she broke one apart, steam rising from within.
    Derek took one and followed suit, slathering it with butter. “So tell me about this big family of yours. What’s that like?”
    Emilie debated where to begin. “Well, I have five pairs of aunts and uncles, one living pair of grandparents, and fifteen cousins, plus my brother and mom. Family get-togethers are big, loud, and involve lots and lots of food. And some occasional arguing. But it’s mostly pretty awesome.”
    “Do you see them often?” he asked.
    She nodded. “Pretty often. Growing up, our whole social life was our family, so we still get together for holidays and major birthdays or anniversaries. In fact, this Saturday I’m hosting about thirty of them at my place for an early Mother’s Day celebration.” Emilie chuckled. “Some of the cousins can’t make it, so that number is smaller than usual.” Smaller, but still big enough to mean she had quite a bit of prep work yet to do this week.
    “Smaller?” he said, eyes going wide. “Damn. That’s something.”
    “Yeah. And that’s just my mom’s side. We don’t see my Dad’s side much since my parents split when we were kids.” Mostly because Dad was out of the picture. One day he’d been there, the next day he wasn’t. No good-byes, no nothing. Her mom’s family had stepped in and made sure they were taken care of, though. Just another reason Emilie cherished them so much.
    Derek nodded. “How the heck do you do Christmas with all