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Also, she only had one passably formal dress. She had to save it for Georgia and Rainer’s wedding, which she had been invited to.
Emma had been bracing herself for some side-eye judgment from Garrett over her outfit. Then he walked out of his room in gray sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt. The cotton stuck to his damp skin, showing every ridge underneath.
His feet were bare.
Feet were not supposed to be beautiful. Especially male feet.
“I think we’re both underdressed for your dining room,” she said when she finally found her tongue.
He stuck his hands in his pockets, accidentally pushing the waistband on his sweatpants lower down his hips.
Flushing, Emma averted her eyes from the packed muscle outlined with hard-won definition.
“I was thinking of something less formal,” he said, seemingly unaffected by her glamorous outfit. “I had a long, weird day at work and want to veg out in front of the TV with something easy to watch—a comedy or mindless action movie. I don’t care which.”
Emma tucked her damp hair behind her ear. “That sounds good to me.”
His sudden smile was startling. It was like seeing the sun after working in a windowless room all day.
Luckily, he didn’t linger long enough to notice her reaction. He disappeared into the kitchen, returning with two steaming plates of something that looked like a pasta burrito covered in a pink cream sauce. He set them on the coffee table.
“Mohammed left these crepe cannelloni in the warmer before he left to prep something next door, so I might need a hand getting the rest of the stuff.”
“Sure.”
Following him, she fetched the utensils while he grabbed a bottle of unfiltered apple juice from the fridge and abottle of beer.
She sat next to him on the couch, taking her plate as he settled in, fetching the remote and handing it to her after activating a video-playing app she didn’t recognize.
“Go ahead and search for whatever you like. If I don’t already own it, we can buy it. Just press the button.”
Her brain hiccupped at the casual mention of buying a movie and then realized in this scenario,hewas the normal one. At her age, an adult woman should be able to download and pay for a movie without thinking twice.
Thanks to her accident, she was no better than a teenager perpetually saving up for a night out.
“Emmy?”
Blinking, she found Garrett staring at her.
Movies. Right.
“Hold on.” Putting her plate on the table, she stood and ran to her room, snatching up her media journal. She returned, flipping through the pages until she found the section on must-see movies.
“What is that?” he asked, not bothering to hide his curiosity.
She held up the notebook. “It’s one of my journals.”
“Like a diary?”
Emma fingered the pages, taking comfort in their slightly rough texture. “Not exactly. I mean, I write some things down, an event or something I want to remember.”
“So, it’s a diary?”
Without looking up, she picked up a throw pillow and threw it at him, counting on his reflexes to knock it away before it hit his plate and made a mess.
He snickered but started eating, making enthusiastic noises about the meal.
“For the last couple of years, I’ve been doing a study, trying to figure out what the hell people are talking about. Cultural references and pop culture callbacks. Stuff like that.”