I Still Do by Christie Ridgway Page B

been plopped in the middle of a group of strangers at a raucous football game. He should have thought of a better way to introduce her to new people.
    â€œI’m probably overreacting, anyway,” Emily said.
    Overreacting? He cast her another look. Overreacting about what? If Pat hadn’t said anything offensive, then he must have done something to insult Emily.
    Will’s hands squeezed the steering wheel as heat shot up his spine. Damn it! The bleachers had been so jammed they’d been packed in like sardines, giving Pat an opportunity to somehow touch Emily. Will’s Emily.
    Thinking of another man’s hands on her creamy skin—on even the fabric covering her creamy skin—made him tighten his choke-hold on the wheel. “I’ll break every one of his fingers. I swear, honey, I’ll make him rue the day—”
    â€œThat he told me about your bad boy reputation?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt was a little disconcerting to discover that the boy I remembered from those summers spent his school year sneaking into girls’ bedrooms.”
    â€œWhoa.” Noting a familiar turn-off just ahead, Will clamped down on taking the conversation further until he’d steered the truck to the right. A dirt-and-gravel road took him to a stand of cottonwood trees growing beside the silvery remains of a disintegrating barn. It was commonly known as a Lover’s Lane type of spot, not that now seemed the time to tell Emily that.
    When he’d braked and shut off the headlights, he turned to face her. “Now, what’s all this about me sneaking into girls’ bedrooms?”
    The meager moonlight didn’t illuminate Emily’s face, but he’d seen it clearly during the football game. She’d changed so little over the years—time only honing the delicate edge of her jawbone. She still had the same long eyes, feathery brows and that puffy lower lip that only looked one cross thought away from a pout. He couldn’t tell if it was pushed out now, but he did detect her shrug.
    â€œNever mind,” she said. “I don’t have any real reason to be bothered by your little black book.”
    â€œBlack book?” Will had to laugh. “I don’t have any little black book.”
    â€œNot even in high school? With the home alarm passcodes of your eager and willing teen harem?”
    â€œGood God,” Will said, half-amused and half-bothered. “Is that the kind of tall tale that Pat’s spouting these days? Next thing you know I’ll have a big blue ox, too.”
    â€œNo, just a date with a pair of twins to the junior prom.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œHa!” Emily pivoted on the seat and he could feel the heat of her gaze. “So you did take two girls to the dance.”
    Will rubbed his hand over his mouth to hide his grimace. “Would you believe they’re my cousins?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOh,” he said again.
    After a moment, she surprised the hell out of him by releasing a little bubble of laughter. “Will, did you really take a pair of twins to the prom?”
    â€œI did it for us, honey.”
    She laughed again, and swung her leg up onto the bench seat between them. “Go ahead, my friend, pull the other one.”
    He wrapped his hand around her ankle, even as she tried to tug free of his grip. “Really. Of course I wanted to go to the big dance, but I figured by taking the Wilson twins that I wasn’t going to get into a compromising position or succumb to temptation when it was just a couple of weeks before we’d be together again. Danita and Danica watched each other like hawks eye snakes. Neither one could make a move without the other one ready to pounce on her.”
    â€œThey sound charming,” Emily replied, still trying to reclaim the limb he’d captured.
    â€œYeah, you’re right,” Will admitted. “Charm wasn’t one of their, uh, charms. Still,