Excerpt of All That Matters by Erin Nicholas

“Okay, fine. Go to New Orleans this weekend. But you can’t go alone,” Tony said.

“I won’t be alone once I get there.”

I’d rather you have someone with you the whole time. Will can go with you.”

Will looked up quickly.

“Will can go with me where?” Emily asked.

Okay, yeah, maybe Tony meant Will could take her to the airport. He supposed he could—

“To New Orleans,” Tony said.

A bolt of…something…went through Will. Something like surprise, but also a little like temptation. Or a lot like temptation.

That was a really bad idea.

“Will can’t go to New Orleans with me,” Emily said quickly.

Too quickly for Will’s ego actually.

She shot Will a smile that looked apologetic.

He arched an eyebrow. Apologetic? Really? Was she apologetic for not wanting to spend any time with him or for her uncle just volunteering him like that?

Okay, so him going to New Orleans with her was a bad idea, but Emily didn’t know he had a thing for her. As far as Emily knew, he was a hell of a guy with only pure, friendly intentions. He shouldn’t go, of course, but she should want him to.

So what was it about New Orleans that Emily didn’t want him along for? Was there a guy there waiting for her? Or was she hoping to meet someone? Or was she thinking—and hoping—that Chad would actually show?

Will felt a frown forming.

“Why not?” Tony asked, rolling his chair back up to his desk as if the decision had been made, the conversation was over and he was ready to move on to something new. “It’s a party right? You need an escort? You wanted me to go. Will can fill in for me.”

“But…” She trailed off as if not sure how to explain it. Probably because she didn’t want to offend Will by saying out loud that she had no desire to spend time with him.

Will tucked his hands into his pockets and just watched her. He had no desire to jump in and rescue her from the situation. That was probably what a nice guy would have done. If he was a gentleman, he probably would have thought of a way to let her off the hook. But suddenly he didn’t want to make it easy for Emily Steele to get out of taking him to this party.

“Will works for you, Tony. He has no obligation to escort me anywhere,” she finally said.

Obligation, no, not exactly. Desire to…well, that was something else altogether.

Dammit. Okay, so the thought of spending a weekend in the Big Easy with the hot girl he couldn’t stop thinking about wasn’t exactly unappealing.

“Well, I want Will to go with you,” Tony said, clicking on another of his open tabs…that was not the spreadsheet he was supposed to be working on. “And since he works for me, that counts.”

Emily shifted uncomfortably on the couch and was now avoiding eye contact with Will. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

Will was used to conversations going on around him as if he wasn’t there, but this one was about him. “Actually, that’s exactly how it works,” he said easily. “Have you ever read my job description?”

Emily cleared her throat and shook her head, glancing at him, but then looking away quickly. “No.”

“It says do whatever Tony wants you to do.” He was serious. That was what it said. There were a couple of other paragraphs after that, but that very sentence was actually in his contract. “I signed on the bottom line knowing what I was getting into.”

Emily laughed lightly, but it sounded forced. Interesting.

As far as Will could tell, he and Emily had always gotten along. They had been friendly acquaintances, polite, even more than polite at times. They’d shared some funny stories. They’d laughed at Tony’s expense more than once. She’d attended Will’s last birthday party and he’d made an appearance at the reception her father had held after her college graduation. They played Call of Duty at least twice a month. “Die, you son of a bitch, die,” weren’t exactly friendly words, but they had still given them a sort of bond. They were both certainly big enough fixtures in Tony’s life to make it impossible to not know at least a few basic things about the other.

But now she was acting very uncomfortable.

They weren’t close, but at least she knew that he wasn’t a serial killer. She could feel comfortable about him escorting her to this party even if she wasn’t thrilled.

Will wouldn’t act on any of his inappropriate thoughts about her lately. Probably. But he did have a sudden urge to know why exactly Emily was squirmy around him.

“I told you I love New Orleans,” Will added. If Emily wanted to get out of taking him on this trip, she was going to have to come right out with it.

She looked startled when she finally met his gaze. “You would be willing to go?”

“Absolutely. But I prefer Café Du Monde at midnight versus in the morning, just so you know.”

Her eyebrows rose in clear surprise. “I, um, can…um, deal with beignets any time of day or night.”

“Then you’ve got yourself a date.”

And, yes, he’d used the term on purpose. And, yes, he made note of the pink stain on her cheeks when he said it.

Very interesting.

“I’m going to go take care of bookings and organizing you for the weekend,” Will told Tony. He’d fly them down personally, so needed to get the plane ready to go and arrangements made. And, yes, that might have something to do with wanting to impress Emily Steele a bit.

There were still a lot of reasons why this was a bad idea. But while he was mostly a good guy, more importantly, he was a guy. And a hot brunette needed a date to New Orleans. He couldn’t say no to that. Especially when he really needed to know what that hot brunette had planned for this trip.