by Amy Knupp
She hadn’t known a thing about him then. Like, oh, his career. His calling. “I couldn’t not tell you,” she fibbed. “I guess I hoped…”
“You hoped I’d be a jackass and walk away.”
“Yes.” She sat up taller and braced herself to keep lying. “That’s what I hoped then. And what I still do.”
“You’re going to be sadly disappointed then, darlin’.”
There was nothing she could say back to him. All she could do was hope that he got over this he-man, you’re-mine phase quickly. He could pester her all he wanted, but she was not going to cave. She wouldn’t marry Evan Drake, no matter how sexy and kind he was. Because he was so sexy and kind. She wouldn’t let herself love the man.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“THERE ARE two hot women over there,” Derek said from behind the bar at the Shell Shack. “You haven’t said a word to them. What gives?”
Evan craned his neck to see what he was yammering about. “Not bad from this angle,” he said of the two blondes facing away from them. He shrugged and turned back around. He and Clay had come in for dinner and a beer and, for once, that’s really all he wanted.
“Not bad?” The old man sitting two seats over harrumphed loudly.
“You remember my uncle Gus,” Derek said.
Evan nodded and waved. “I know Gus. You can have dibs this time, man.”
“You don’t usually share, the way I remember it. Besides, I got my own woman now.”
“Where is Thelma?” Derek asked. “She kick you out?”
“She’s getting her hair curled, boy. Thought I’d use the opportunity to make sure you’re not still screwing this place up. So what’s got you in such a dither?” He directed the latter to Evan.
Clay glanced sideways at Evan, no doubt womdering if he was going to come clean.
“Gus, did it occur to you that maybe it’s none of your business?” Derek asked.
“It’s fine,” Evan said. “Going to get around anyway.” He paused to take a drink. “I got a girl pregnant.”
“Hoo, dog.” Gus got down from his place and moved to a closer stool.
Derek stared at him. “It’s you?”
“What’s me?”
“You and Selena? Macey told me about Selena’s…predicament but I don’t think she knows that morsel. Whoa.” Derek refilled Evan’s and Clay’s drinks.
Evan didn’t say anything. Didn’t need to. “How did she and Macey become so tight, anyway?”
“They met here at the bar. Apparently became best friends forever immediately. You know how chicks are. Selena told her.”
“Hell. Was I the last to know?” Evan asked.
“Don’t get your sexy Playgirl briefs in a twist. She didn’t say it was you.”
Evan closed his eyes, still not used to his new reality. “It’s me.”
“What are you going to do about the kid?” Gus asked.
Evan shoved the last of his fries in his mouth and chewed while the three men stared at him impatiently. He and Clay hadn’t discussed the subject since Evan had slammed out the door the other night. “I asked Selena to marry me.”
Clay set his beer down hard. “You did what?”
“Are you nuts?” Derek asked.
“That’s my boy,” Gus said triumphantly.
“Marriage is good enough for you,” Evan said to Derek. “Why not me?”
“Call me old-fashioned, but you don’t even know this woman, do you?”
“I know her intimately,” Evan said, smiling.
Gus hooted. “That warrants a round on the house!” He slid his empty cup toward Derek.
“You’re done, old man,” Derek told him as he tossed the cup into the trash.
“You’re making a mistake, Evan,” Clay said.
“You think I shouldn’t get involved?”
“Something tells me it doesn’t matter what I think.” Clay threw his napkin into his empty burger basket.
“Exactly.” Now that he’d made up his mind, Evan wouldn’t be swayed, no matter who tried to do the swaying. “End of conversation.”
“Man knows what he wants,” Gus said. “Y’all should respect that.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be picking up a boat this weekend?” Derek took the empty baskets from Clay and Evan and set them on the back counter.
Evan swigged more beer. “Boat’s off. I’m going to need that money to support Selena and the baby.”
“Judging by the house she’s living in, she doesn’t need your money,” Clay said. “Thing’s a freaking mansion.”
“She knows the owner. I don’t think she’s paying for it.”
“She doesn’t give off the poor-chick vibe if you ask me,” Clay said.
“So you’re giving up your yacht just like that?” Derek asked. “Something you haven’t shut up about since I met you? Out the window?”
“It sucks, man, but this is something I have to do. As much as I want that thing, I can’t justify it. That boat would take up a big chunk of my savings and, last I knew, kids cost money.”
“Almost as much as women,” Derek said drily.
“I can see holding off on the boat,” Clay weighed in. “I just think it’d be wise to do the same with the wedding bells.”
“Says the guy who immediately proposed when he found out he had a child.” Evan shook his head in disbelief. “You were already long broken up if I remember the story right.”
“Thank God she turned me down.”
“You think this woman’s going to go along with your grand plan?” Derek asked.
Evan sucked down the rest of his beer. “I reckon it’ll take some time to convince her.”
“She said no,” Clay guessed.
“So far. I plan to change her mind. You guys know I have a stubborn side.”
“About the size of the Atlantic,” Clay said. “More power to you. Hope it works out somehow.”
“Woman’s a fool if she doesn’t change her mind,” Gus said.
“Do you actually get paid for standing around talking to your friends?” Macey, full of her usual energy, headed straight for Derek with a wide, flirty grin.
Evan watched Derek embrace her and Macey reach up and kiss him.
“Wages around here stink, anyway,” Derek said, bending down to kiss her again, this time longer. “Boss is a slave driver.”
“Do you mind? I’m trying to digest here,” Evan said.
“Sore loser.” Derek was obviously referring yet again to the one date Evan had taken Macey out on. One time. Actually it wasn’t even worthy of being called a date, because Macey had been hung up on Derek even then.
“Hey, Gus,” Macey said when she noticed him. “Thelma let you out to play today?”
“I go out whenever I want to,” the old man corrected her. “With a woman like her, I don’t much want to.”
The guys chuckled and Macey shook her head.
Gus glanced at his watch. “Fact, she oughta be home now. Think I’ll go join her. Good to see you, Macey Girl.”
“You, too, Gus.” They said goodbye and watched him totter off toward the bus stop.
“Evan, tell Macey your news so I don’t have to,” Derek said.
Evan leveled a frown at his friend. “Please. Be my guest.”
“What? Somebody tell me.” Macey looked from one to the other, waiting for someone to spill it.
“Evan’s going to be a papa,” Derek said.
Her eyes widened and Evan saw the moment when she put one and one together and came up with three. “She never mentioned your name.”
“Now you know.”
“The other night at the fire…that makes more sense now.” Macey leaned against Derek as if they were both more comfortable together than apart. “In all the chaos I forgot to bring it up.”
“Did you hear the latest?” Derek asked her. “Evan proposed.”
Macey sobered. “You asked her to marry you?”
“I did.”
“Don’t worry,” Cla
y said. “She turned him down.”
Macey stepped up to the bar and leaned over the counter toward him. “You? Married?”
“Apparently not yet,” Evan replied. “I would’ve thought you might be on my side.”
“I’m not taking sides. I just want both of you to do whatever’s going to work in the long run.”
“I think marriage is it. So tell me. How do I change her mind?”
Macey tapped the counter thoughtfully. “Give her some time. Let her get to know you.”
“That’ll scare her away for good,” Derek said.
“Guys, give him a break. He’s trying to do the right thing.” Macey scowled at her fiancé.
“Yes, ma’am,” Derek said.
She deepened her frown, making Derek smile.
“You’re right,” he said. “I wish the best for you, dude. Whatever that is.”
“So tell us about this girl,” Clay said to Macey. “Evan doesn’t know much other than what she looks like naked.”
That wasn’t all, but Evan wasn’t about to share some of the things he did learn during their night together. He attempted to act nonchalant, but the truth was that he wanted to hear whatever Macey would tell.
“She’s an artist,” Macey said. “A really talented one. And she’s going into business, so you guys should all buy her stuff once it’s available. She’s doing the city murals, too. Including one at the station.”
“So she’s staying around?” Evan said.
Macey raised her brows smugly, which she did a lot, but always got away with because she smiled at the same time. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you might be trolling for info.”
“Maybe,” Evan admitted.
“We need to know if this woman is someone Evan can trust,” Clay added. “The times I’ve seen her she’s so preoccupied with Daddy-O here, she barely says two words to me.”
“Selena has a great personality.”
“Aww, don’t tell them that,” Evan said. “You don’t do her justice.”
“It’s the truth. She’s supernice and…” Macey peered at Evan thoughtfully. “And that’s all I’m going to tell you. If you want to know more, you can ask her. Get to know her yourself. I’m not your spy.” Again with the smug smile.
“I intend to try,” Evan said. “But there are two problems. One, I doubt she’ll willingly answer, and two, I still haven’t managed to get her phone number. Maybe you could help me with the second one.”
He ignored the howls from Clay and Derek and slid a clean napkin in front of Macey. Reaching over the counter, he grabbed a pen from the nearby cash register and handed it to her. She looked at him but didn’t move.
“That’s fine,” he said, raising his hands. “You go ahead and be difficult, Mrs. Derek. I can work around you.”
Macey laughed. She picked up the pen and wrote a number on the napkin. “I have no doubt in my mind that you can, so I’ll save you some time. But you’ll have to convince her to see you on your own. Delve deep into that well of charm.”
Evan took the napkin from her and tucked it into his back pocket. He threw some bills on the counter and stood. “I’m outta here.”
“Good luck, man,” Clay said.
“Tell her you’re giving up your lifelong dream of owning a boat,” Derek suggested. “Maybe that’ll make her see you’re serious.”
Everyone had advice. If he thought any of it would work, he’d try it, because Selena was possibly the biggest challenge he’d ever faced. It might take all nine months of her pregnancy, but he would wear her down. Somehow.
CHAPTER NINE
EVAN HAD been mulling for days now how a guy was supposed to get someone to marry him when she never answered his phone calls or called him back.
No more trying to talk to Selena on the phone. He’d come to the station to request vacation time in a few weeks, but he’d also hoped she would be out front working on the mural as she’d done yesterday when he was on duty. Once he’d spotted her, he hadn’t had the opportunity to go out to her right away, and by the time he did, she’d quit for the day. Today, he intended to surprise her.
Evan entered the conference room, which had the clearest view of the front courtyard and the mural outside. Sure enough, he spotted her standing on the opposite side of the curved wall, deep in concentration. He admired her silky dark hair, pulled into a sloppy ponytail, and was amused by how she stuck out the tip of her tongue to the side as she worked.
His hand was already wrapped around his cell phone, since he’d checked for messages as he’d walked out of the admin office. Evan punched in Selena’s number from memory and hit Send. Then he moved nearer to the windows to catch her in the act of blowing him off yet again.
The only clue that the call went to the correct phone was the distracted movement of her head—she switched her focus from the wall to something on the ground a few feet away—for a fraction of a second. He knew her phone had to be lying there even though the four-foot-high wall blocked his view.
The call went through to voice mail, where he once again got a recording saying she wasn’t available. She looked pretty available to him. He disconnected and crossed his arms, watching her work again. Thirty seconds later, he hit Redial.
This time she didn’t even glance sideways when the ringing started. Evan stalked to the entrance foyer and went straight out the door toward her, his phone still pressed to his ear. He heard ringing in stereo as he drew nearer to her, but Selena didn’t even notice him.
Voice mail again, of course. This time he left a message.
“You know, it’s mighty rude to ignore a guy time after time when he calls,” he said into the phone.
Selena turned her head sharply in his direction. Their eyes met but he kept talking, still recording as if he wasn’t standing ten feet away from her.
“I’ve called you several dozen times now and while most men would take your silence as a rejection, you’re not so lucky with me. So I’m going to keep trying and hope you take pity on me real soon.”
Evan ended the call and raised his eyebrows as he looked at her.
“I was trying to get this part of the sketch just right,” she explained. Lamely, in his opinion.
“What about the other thirty-seven times I’ve called in the past couple of days?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Was that you? I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize the number.”
“You don’t lie very well.”
He walked around the wall to see her work. A lightly sketched collage was beginning to take shape across the entire twenty feet of surface. It appeared to be a sketch of firefighters fighting a big blaze in a large building. He thought he recognized it from the coverage of the hotel fire four or five years ago. “Looking good.”
“It’ll get there,” she said, eyeing it critically.
“You think if you ignore me I’ll go away?” he asked in a friendly tone.
Her shoulders sagged. “Hoping?”
“You seemed to like me that first night.”
Selena stared at the ground. “It’s not that I don’t like you. I don’t really know you. I just…” She shrugged. “I’m not going to marry you, Evan.”
“Scared?”
“No.”
“You’re afraid if you spend any time with me at all, you’ll fall head over heels in love. Then you’ll be begging me to marry you.”
“Dream on.”
“Have dinner with me.”
“I’m working.”
Evan glanced at the sky. “The sunlight isn’t optimal.”
“Are you an artist now?” she asked.
“No, but I can see the light out here will suck in about ten minutes.”
“Yeah.” Selena looked at the sky and frowned. “I’m almost done for the day.”
“I’ll wait for you and then we can go grab some food.”
She turned her head to him again. “I never agreed to a date.”
“Not a date. Just nourishment. You have to eat.”
“I’m covered with paint and grime. I’d rather go home.”
“Tell you what. You finish up here while I go get some food. I’ll deliver.”
“You don’t play fair.” She didn’t seem particularly thrilled, but that was okay. He’d change her mind about their future, one gray-matter cell at a time.
“Where’s your SUV?”
“I walked.”
“I’ll pick you up, then.”
“I don’t know what you expect, but I’m exhausted,” she said, bending to put some of her supplies in a large plastic box.
“I expect you to eat enough for two people. I’ll be back in fifteen.”
He walked away before she had a chance to protest further.
SELENA RUSHED through her shower instead of lingering in the hot water as she longed to do. Having Evan in her kitchen made her antsy. Oh, who was she fooling? Having him in the same latitude made her downright nervous.
At times in his presence, all she could think about was the night they’d been together. There were moments when she could fool herself into believing they’d known each other for much longer than they actually had. But then he’d look at her a certain way and her stomach would flutter and flip, driving home that she was having a baby with a stranger. A disturbingly hot one, at that.
She finished drying off and told herself that searching for her light yellow lace bra—which was fast becoming too small—and matching panties was just maintaining the status quo, not an attempt to be sexy. To compensate, she pulled on old leggings she’d decorated with paint and her favorite pink zip-up hoodie. Just an everyday dinner in her everyday beach house with an everyday guy.
Right. Except Mr. Everyday looked like God’s answer to Angelina Jolie and, oh, she happened to be carrying his child.
Selena sat on the bed.
Her stomach growled; she was bordering on nausea. He had food—she could smell it from here.
She dried her hair and skipped makeup. If she didn’t get some food now, she might pass out.
Evan presided over the table. In front of him was a loaded double cheeseburger, large fries and a drink big enough to correct a national drought. Selena’s place setting held noticeably less food.