EUAN: Outback Shifters #3

by Chant, Zoe

  Delilah knew Jenny wouldn’t ever really understand – but as long as she was listening to Rosie now, then she thought things would be all right. Well, at least until Rosie turned thirteen, anyway.

  “Oh! Speaking of – the Opera House and what happened to it!” Jenny shook her head, eyes wide. “Who ever heard of such freaky weather?!”

  Delilah frowned, glancing at Euan, who remained blank-faced. Delilah had had to ignore everyone’s chatter about the freak weather conditions that had almost destroyed the Opera House, or just nod along as much as she could. It was, of course, all anyone had been talking about – how it was the end of a cultural icon, the dissection of how such a weather phenomenon could have formed, the cost of repairs, the need for Sydneysiders to come together in the face of this national tragedy.

  All it did was make Delilah feel weirdly guilty. She’d have to talk to Euan about it – she imagined in the course of his job he got to know all kinds of state secrets and things like that. What did he do? How did he cope?!

  Right now though, Delilah was more than a little confused as to what the damage to the Opera House had to do with a party.

  Apparently seeing her confusion on her face, Jenny went on. “Me and some of the girls are organizing a little soiree to raise funds for the repairs. You know – dinner, a silent auction, guests, things like that. Nothing too big, maybe just a couple hundred people or so. Obviously, you and Euan are invited,” Jenny said, before pausing. “If you’d like to come, that is.”

  Delilah couldn’t help but smile – Jenny was already putting her trying to understand how introverts might feel about large gatherings into practice, and Delilah appreciated it.

  “Well, you know I have a pretty packed social schedule,” Delilah said, smiling, and hoping Jenny caught on to her little joke. “But let me know. I might be able to pop in, meet the premier and whatnot.”

  “Oh, she already said no,” Jenny said, as if Delilah had just mentioned inviting their next-door neighbor. “But we’ve already gotten a lot of interest and plenty of donations of things to auction. Maybe you could paint something for us? I’m sure it’d get snapped right up!”

  Delilah smiled. “Well, I definitely will. But I don’t expect it’ll go for all that much. Every little bit helps though, right?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Jenny said, raising her eyebrow at Delilah as if she knew something Delilah didn’t. “Sometimes things can surprise you.”

  One thing that Delilah had always appreciated about Jenny was her rock-solid faith that Delilah’s fame and fortune as an artist was right around the corner. Delilah had expressly forbidden her from forcing any of her rich friends to buy any of Delilah’s works, since she knew she’d never be sure she’d sold the painting because the buyer liked it, or if they were just doing a favor for Jenny. But if it was for sale without her name attached to it, and for a good cause…

  “Well, I’ll get to work on it,” she said.

  But I won’t get my hopes up too much.

  “And,” Jenny said, turning her smile to Euan, “we absolutely have to have the two of you over for dinner sometime this week. Euan, I can’t wait to get to know you! Delilah’s definitely been keeping you a secret, that’s for sure. But I look forward to getting to know all about you! Where do you work? Where did you go to school?”

  “I do this and that,” Euan said, returning Jenny’s smile, but giving an evasive answer. “It’s not very interesting, to be honest. As for school, I grew up in the middle of nowhere, so it was all done by distance.”

  “Oh, I see, I see.” Jenny’s eyes sparkled. “That is fascinating. You’re an outback boy, then? Well, I can definitely tell that just by looking at you! My goodness, Delilah, they just don’t grow them like that in the city, do they?”

  Jenny laughed, and Delilah shot Euan an excruciatingly mortified look.

  I’m sorry, she tried to psychically message him, and again regretted that she’d told Aleta to take away her alicorn powers. What the hell had she been thinking? Telepathy would have been an awesome thing to have right now!

  It’s fine, Euan’s eyes told her.

  But then again – maybe it wasn’t so necessary for her to have psychic alicorn powers for her and Euan to understand each other perfectly after all.

  * * *

  As Euan drove them both back toward Delilah’s studio apartment, she couldn’t help but glance at him where his profile was lit up in the late afternoon sun.

  She felt she hadn’t really had a lot of time to simply appreciate him lately, what with everything that had been going on – they’d only seen each other for a couple of hours yesterday, since he’d had a seemingly endless amount of paperwork to do, which, to be honest, she wasn’t surprised by. In a way, it was kind of comforting that even ultra-secret government agencies still had to cross their t’s and dot their i’s.

  Looking at him now, Delilah felt a surge of love within her heart. She hadn’t truly thought about it before – love – but she realized now that that was what had been building within her from the very first moment she’d run into Euan and spilled her gelati all over his chest.

  Perhaps she’d been sensing the mated bond with her newly acquired alicorn powers, but Delilah didn’t think that was the only thing she’d sensed within Euan that had attracted her to him.

  She’d been able to tell that despite his prickly exterior, he had a kind heart. Somehow, she’d seen it in the depths of his dark brown eyes – in the way she’d felt so safe when he’d touched her. She’d never experienced anything like that before… not that she had a lot of experience to draw on. There’d been something about him that had called to her – told her that he was the kind of man she’d always dreamed of meeting, the kind of man that had led her to reject all of the other men Jenny had tried to steer her way over the years.

  I always knew he was there, somewhere in my future.

  Thinking about it now, it seemed obvious. Delilah felt in her soul that somehow, she’d always known she’d meet Euan. She’d just had to wait for him.

  And not to mention, his exterior might have been a little prickly, but it’s also smoking hot…

  Delilah smiled. Yeah, that had definitely helped.

  As if sensing her bliss, Euan turned his head to glance at her. The corner of his mouth twitched, though his eyes were curious.

  “What’s that smile all about?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just reflecting on how I have the most unutterably gorgeous man in all the world driving me around,” Delilah said. “That’s worth a bit of a smug smile, isn’t it?”

  “Not as much as having the privilege of driving the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen around,” Euan said, his voice soft and fond.

  “Sweet talker,” Delilah laughed. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you flattery will get you nowhere?”

  That’s not true at all though, she thought, her smile turning mischievous. Not in this case, anyway.

  She swallowed, staring at his profile, at his large hands on the steering wheel.

  … Just how far was it back to her apartment anyway? Why the hell was it taking so long?!

  “Delilah, I wanted to thank you,” Euan said suddenly.

  She blinked in surprise. “Thank me? What for?”

  “For everything.” Euan paused, swallowing. “I don’t feel like I got much time to talk to you yesterday and explain just what you’ve done for me. Until I met you, I didn’t think I’d ever get my lion back – I thought that it had gone for good. I never thought I’d feel… whole again. I never thought… I never thought I’d find my mate.”

  Delilah’s breath caught in her throat. Euan’s voice throbbed with emotion, and she could feel the weight of his words within her heart.

  “I – I didn’t really do anything –” she started to say.

  “You were you,” Euan cut her off. “That was enough.”

  Delilah looked down at her hands, clenched on her lap.

  You were you. That was
enough.

  She bit her lip, wondering what on earth she could say to that. She’d never really felt like she was the kind of person anyone would say that about. But in the end, there was really only one thing she could say.

  “Thank you. For telling me, I mean. I didn’t think…” She stopped herself, shaking her head. “No, there’s nothing else to add to that. Just… thank you.”

  They drove on together in silence – but it was a silence that was filled with understanding and love. They were both quiet people, Delilah thought, and although she appreciated that Euan had taken the time to tell her how he truly felt, she knew they didn’t always need words to know each other’s feelings.

  Nonetheless, there were still some questions she felt she needed answers to.

  “Euan… what will happen now?” she asked.

  He seemed to understand her, despite the fact her question had been pretty broad.

  “We gave our report to Robb – obviously he still had his memories of the water monster, but he didn’t know the full details of what went down, or why it had awoken now. It wasn’t an easy report to write, but at least the Agency is aware that there’s alicorns like Lev and Alisa out there, just in case they ever get loose.”

  “So… what, you’re going to start an evil alicorn counter-intelligence agency now?” Delilah asked.

  “Possibly, yes.”

  “Oh.” Delilah blinked. “That was kind of a joke.”

  Euan laughed softly. “Well, I suppose it sounds strange. Maybe I’m just used to it.”

  “I guess you’d have to be.” Delilah took a shaky breath. “What with all the talk of freak weather occurrences, sometimes I feel a little like I’m going crazy. Like I catch myself thinking, Did I really see all that stuff? Did I really commune with a water monster? What if I’m the one with the memory problems? It’s been a weird few days, that’s for sure.”

  Euan shot her a concerned glance. “Is there anything I can do? I know this must be hard for you. You got thrown in at the deep end with this. I wouldn’t blame you for being… weirded out.”

  “No, I… maybe just reassure me I’m not going crazy from time to time,” Delilah laughed. “As long as you’re real though, I think I can accept everything else that’s been thrown my way.”

  “I’m real, Delilah. I promise you,” Euan said warmly, looking at her with such adoration in his eyes that Delilah felt her heart clench within her.

  “I know,” she said. “Believe me, I know.”

  The rest of the drive went relatively quickly after that, though Delilah had never thought she’d be so eager to pull up in her own driveway and race up her own steps to her door. Right now, the only thing she could think about was pulling Euan down onto her bed, tearing off all his clothes, and reassuring herself about just how real he was – and she knew he could sense her mood perfectly.

  She fumbled with her keys, finally managing to shove them in the lock and kick the door open.

  Euan’s lips were on hers, heated and feverish just as soon as the door was closed behind them. His hands ranged over her back, pulling her against him, before yanking her t-shirt up over her head.

  Delilah gasped as his fingers slid over her bare skin, throwing her head back as his mouth trailed down her jaw, over her throat.

  “Come on,” she said, edging away from him toward the bed. “I can’t wa—”

  Or can I?

  As she’d pulled back a little from him, Euan had pulled his own shirt up over his head, exposing the grid of his abdominal muscles and the flat, broad plane of his pecs. Caught in the soft light of the afternoon sun filtering through her half-opened curtains, the effect was stunning – not that Euan was ever not stunning, but right now, Delilah found her breath stopped in her throat, and not just with pure lust.

  “Wait – wait there a moment,” she said, leaning over her bed to grab her sketch pad. “I mean, if you don’t mind,” she added, as she flipped to a clean page.

  “Not at all,” Euan said, though he sounded slightly baffled. “Are you – uh –?”

  “Sorry, sorry,” Delilah blurted, as her charcoal raced over the page, trying to capture the indescribable beauty of Euan standing in the middle of her room, his face and body cut to absolute perfection in the sunlight and shadows. “You just look too good not to draw. Sorry! Is this weird? It’s a little weird, right?”

  “Not at all,” Euan said, smiling. “Not if it makes you happy.”

  “Oh yeah, this is definitely making me happy,” Delilah said, as she added some detail to his chest and throat. “Happier than you can imagine.”

  Somehow, drawing Euan was giving her a whole new appreciation of him – and she already appreciated him quite a bit before this. She tucked her tongue into the corner of her mouth, gliding her charcoal over the page to describe the curve of his back.

  She could already feel her mouth beginning to water, the heat gathering in the pit of her belly.

  Just a few more lines, and then…

  The sound of her ringtone emanating from the depths of her handbag broke her concentration, making her jump.

  I should just ignore that, she thought – but then, her recent experience with Rosie running away reared up in her mind, and she found herself laying her sketchpad aside, and diving for her bag instead.

  “Hopefully this won’t take a moment,” she said. “If it’s telemarketers, I swear I’m going to throw this thing out the window.”

  Euan just laughed at that. “Can’t say I’d blame you.”

  In the end, Delilah was fumbling so much with the phone that she ended up hitting Answer without really checking the number.

  “Uh, hello?”

  “Oh – hello? Is that Delilah? Delilah Park?” said a voice she didn’t recognize.

  Ugh. Telemarketers. It’s out the window with you then, Delilah thought, preparing to hang up.

  “Sorry to call you out of the blue like this. My name’s Davy Lewis. Maybe Jenny mentioned me to you?”

  Delilah’s stomach dropped like a stone. She thought Jenny had handled this for her! She’d told Delilah she was going to let Davy down easy!

  “Oh – right. Yes, she did,” Delilah said awkwardly.

  Geeze, this is embarrassing. What do I say?

  There was nothing for it but just to be completely honest.

  “I’m sorry, Davy – I know Jenny, uh, she was kind of trying to set us up,” she said. “But she didn’t know at the time… uh, I’m kind of seeing someone.”

  She looked across at where Euan was leaning against the window sill, looking like some kind of ancient Greek god come to life.

  Yeah, seeing someone didn’t begin to cover it, but Delilah didn’t think Davy was the person to go into detail with about it.

  “Uh, yes, she mentioned that,” Davy said.

  Delilah frowned. Could Davy just not take a hint? Why was he calling her then?

  “The truth is, I was interested in meeting you,” Davy rushed on, as if he could read how unimpressed she was into her silence. He laughed awkwardly. “Because Jenny made you sound great, of course. But there was also another reason – your paintings.”

  “My – my paintings?” Delilah asked, a little confused.

  “Yes. Jenny told me you were a painter, and that made me even more interested in you. I’m not an artist myself, but I’ve always been a fan of the arts. I googled your name – which I know sounds weird, but just hear me out. It brought up your final portfolio exhibition from university. You know – the series you did. Forgotten Images, it was called.” He paused, taking a breath. “I have to say, I was blown away by it.”

  Blown… away?

  “Oh… thank you,” Delilah managed to get out, her throat closing up. Was that why Davy was calling after all, just to tell her he liked her art? Or was this still just a round-about way of hitting on her?

  “I can’t tell you how enthused I was after seeing them,” Davy went on – and his enthusiasm certainly sounded genuine, that was for sur
e. “I was very excited. Like I said, I’ve always been a fan of the arts, and that’s why I’m always on the lookout for new talent. Especially talent like yours. Which is why I’d like to commission you.”

  Delilah felt her heart leap up into her throat. “C-commission?”

  “Yes. Honestly, I’ve been on the lookout for someone like you. I’ve thought the art we’ve had up in the London and New York offices has been a little stale for a while, and I’d like to replace it with something fresh and new – something no one’s ever seen before. I realize it’ll take you quite a while to complete so many paint—”

  “Wait, wait, wait a moment,” Delilah said, knowing she was interrupting him, but not certain she understood what he was saying. “When you say commission, don’t you just mean… a private piece? For your house?”

  “Oh – no, I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear at all,” Davy said. “I meant I’d like to commission you for multiple pieces – perhaps ten or even fifteen individual paintings. I’ve been tasked with refreshing the look of some of our corporate offices, and I’d like you to be the artist we hang on the walls of our most prestigious offices worldwide.”

  Delilah was silent, trying to wrap her head around the words she’d just heard.

  Okay, forget about giant water monsters! This is definitely the most outlandish thing that’s happened to me all week!

  “You know I’ve never actually sold a painting before, right?” she blurted out, before she could think.

  “So much the better. I can have the prestige of discovering such a bold new voice in the art world.” Davy’s voice sounded just the tiniest bit smug. “Are you saying you’ll consider it?”

  “I – well, yes, of course,” Delilah said, before realizing that possibly, she ought to play hardball just a little – as much as anyone who’d never actually sold a painting before now could play hardball. “I mean, I’d have to talk over pricing with you. And see a contract before I could commit to anything.”

  “Of course.” Davy’s voice turned businesslike at once. “I’ll have my PA call you to set up a meeting later this week, if that suits you. Once that’s set up, we can talk seriously about the cost of materials, timeframe, and the price for your time. How does that sound?”