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“Boyfriend, yeah,” the kid says. “I didn’t know your boyfriend was here.”

She just swallows, her eyes on mine. God, her neck looks so soft, so… kissable.

“So, uh, you work around here?” the kid asks, interrupting my wayward thoughts.

Someone at the prep tables snorts with laughter.

“Todd,” Reese sighs. “Eli owns the hotel.”

Todd’s eyes go wide. “Oh, shit, I uh…”

“Maybe I can help you?” I ask, helpfully.

“Oh, uh, yeah I was hoping to have next Saturday off because—”

“Todd,” Reese says. “Give us a minute, okay?”

She shuts the door hard behind him as raucous laughter explodes on the other side of the frosted glass half door.

I meet Reese’s eyes. Then we both grin and burst out laughing ourselves.

It’s the tension release we both need, and for a moment, I forget everything but how good it feels to laugh. To share a joke with someone without saying a word.

With Reese.

By the time we wind down, new tears are springing from Reese’s eyes.

But these are the good kind.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I’m tempted to let it go, but I remember my appointment with Ben, and glance at it.

“Shit,” I say. “I gotta go, Reese.”

“Yes,” she says. “Me too. Clearly Todd needs me.”

I laugh again. Poor Todd.

I hesitate for a moment, then turn to leave.

But Reese clears her throat. “Wait, Eli.”

When I look back, her smile is gone. “We should talk about”—she waves her hand between us—“this.”

I sober, remembering why I came to the restaurant in the first place, before everything went down. “Right. About that. I was going to say—” I hesitate. I was going to offer her an out. Give her one last chance to tell me to call things off with Neil and Kelly, before the cameras get here. Now, I’m not sure that’s possible, after what her staff just saw.

“Listen,” Reese says, her voice surprisingly calm. “If we’re going to do this, we need to get some things straight.”

My stomach jumps. She’s not backing out. “Okay.”

“The first one—the biggest one—is don’t do that again.”

“Do what?” I try to play it cool, but my eyes go to her plush lips, my idiot body betraying me as she presses them shut. “Don’t what, Reese,” I say, suddenly wanting to hear her say it.

She looks away. “I know we can’t exactly avoid touching each other in public—”

I think of the way we held hands at the restaurant, how good it felt under my arm.

“—but we should keep it to no more than would be natural as a couple also keeping it professional.”