Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series)

by Marie Garner

  “Pizza.” He lifted the box higher. “I took a chance and figured you hadn’t eaten yet so I brought you food. We can’t have you starving.”

  Her lips curled up at the corners. He considered it a victory that she still kept the door open for him. He saw indecision war on her face and knew the instant good manners won, because she opened the door wider to let him in.

  “I hope you have breadsticks in that other box.”

  “Of course.” He gestured mock indignation. “What kind of person would order pizza with no breadsticks?”

  “Just checking,” she said as she walked into the kitchen and he followed. “Sit down. I’ll get us some plates.” Aaron sat down as Eva got the plates and drinks. She looked at him as she handed him a glass. “So what else brings you here?”

  “Dinner.” She cocked her head and looks at him pointedly. “Ok,” he said, raising his arms in defeat, “I had an ulterior motive besides bringing you pizza. First, I wanted to apologize. I truly am sorry about everything that I have said that implied you are nothing but a spoiled brat out to get your mother’s inheritance. I was coming over to talk to you about your mother. I figured since I knew her really well I could help you.”

  She grabbed a piece of pepperoni pizza from the box, sitting down across from him at the table and taking a bite. “Help me what? I told you yesterday that I needed to sort this out myself so I can go back to my life. Stuff has just been a little crazy right now, and if you can’t tell, I don’t do crazy well. But that’s ok, I will get it situated.”

  He seemed to mull it over between bites. “I get that stuff is a bit chaotic for you right now, but that is why I want to help you.”

  She put down the pizza, brows furrowed as she watched him chewing. “But I’m telling you I don’t need it.”

  He brushed her off. “Why not? I am more than willing …”

  “What is with you?” she interrupted. “Why do you keep trying to fix this?” She gestured the house with her hands.

  “I can’t help it. I help people. It’s what I do. Ask anyone in my family, they’ll tell you I’m always the person to turn to in a bind. Let me do what I do best.”

  “And how do you suppose you are going to help me?” she sneered. He was getting on her nerves, and Eva didn’t know what he thought he was going to do. All she wanted to do was pack up her mother’s house, figure out why she gave her up, and go back to her home.

  He leaned in toward her, speaking softly to defuse her irritation. “Well, going through the house with you for one. Digging through your mother’s things to find answers for you, or anything else you need to help adjust and get everything situated.”

  “I don’t need to get situated. All I need to do is get the stuff packed up and go home.”

  “I didn’t think that was set in stone?” She looked at him like he was crazy, and Aaron thought he may have been a little zealous in his attempt to help.

  Green eyes flashed with added irritation as she threw her hands in the air, done with the conversation. She wanted him to shut the hell up and leave her alone about the whole thing; it wasn’t any of his business anyway. She had known the guy less than a week and he was already attempting to take over. “Of course I am going home. This has always been the plan. It was supposed to be a weekend trip, but as you can see that has not happened. I am going to stay as long as I need to, but I will definitely be gone before the new school year. This was just a temporary situation. And I don’t know why I am talking to you about this because you shouldn’t be so worried about this.”

  His gawked at her, mouth open and arms outstretched, baffled about why she was so upset. “Look, I saw a problem. The fact that you are having such a hard time with the situation about your mom, I felt like I could fix, and I volunteered my services.”

  She smirked at him, the pizza all but forgotten. “Is that before or after you felt like it was best to kiss me?”

  Aaron continued to gawk at her, not believing she would bring that up in the middle of this. What does kissing her have to do with anything? “Well, I will admit, I am attracted to you, but my offer stands regardless.”

  She waved her hand, ignoring what he said. She wanted the conversation over, didn’t care how she ended it, and wanted him to leave her alone about her mother. “Whatever. Are we always going to argue?”

  If she wanted the conversation to be done, he would let it be done. His original purpose was to get her to like him, not antagonize her. Deciding to test the waters, he waggled his eyebrows. “Some say fighting is foreplay.”

  “Well …” Her face got red and he realized he had shut her up.

  He stared at her pointedly, trying to let her know that he was serious.

  Not sure that she wanted to go there with him, Eva asked, “How about we table this discussion and just agree to disagree?”

  He picked up his pizza again, completely unfazed, and winked at her. “Only about the house, not about the other.”

  She shook her head, laughing in disbelief at his audacity. “I am not having sex with you!” Even if she did think he was really hot, there was no way she was going to give in to him just because he was coming onto her. Strongly.

  He knew he could make her change her mind, and the fact that the kitchen became fraught with sexual tension only belied his confidence. The only sound to be heard was the chewing of pizza, but Aaron knew if he didn’t fix it, he could lose the girl before he had a shot at her. This always happened with him. He tried to offer friendly suggestions but always ended up getting yelled at. The problem was he couldn’t help himself; he immediately went into fix it mode. The problem was that a lot of people, like Eva, didn’t necessarily want his assistance.

  “Look,” he implored, “I wasn’t trying to make this awkward. I was just trying to help and point out the fact that we are both attracted to each other.” She harrumphed, but he knew she agreed when she didn’t argue. “I know we said to drop it, and I didn’t mean to make this a weird situation. I say we change the subject and try to move on.”

  “That works for me. Why are you a lawyer?”

  “I’m sorry?” he asked, because her abrupt change in subject had left him confused.

  “You said to change the subject, I’m changing the subject!” He could tell he was going to have his hands full with this one; she was really feisty and didn’t seem to take his shit.

  “Well ok.” He laughed softly, adjusting himself, her little snit making him hot. He hoped that she didn’t notice what was coming up under the table. “I was just taken aback by the question.”

  “Well I really am interested.” She seemed to soften, and he took it as the opening that he needed.

  “It kinda goes back to my Mr. Fixer complex. Despite what you may think about lawyers, we really are problem solvers. People come to us when they have a problem with the law, whether criminal or civil. I like to think that I make people’s lives a little easier.”

  “Why Highland Creek? Did you never want to move to a bigger city?”

  “I did that for undergrad and law school. I went to Chapel Hill for undergrad and continued there for law school. It was fun to be near Raleigh and Durham, but my heart has always been with Highland Creek. I knew I wanted to come back and open a practice here, to handle the little stuff that occurs in a small town, not the rat race that could occur if you practice corporate or criminal law. Plus, my family is here, and I could never move away from my family permanently,” he finished sheepishly, not knowing if the mention of family would upset her, given the reason that she was there.

  “I think it’s great that you and your family are really close. We are too. Although my younger brother and sister have been away at college, we still maintain constant contact. My mom and dad made sure of that. I call my step-mother my mom,” she answered the question she saw in his eyes. “She has been there since just before my fourth birthday, and all my good moments have been with her and my dad. She has been there when it counted, and I know that this whole situ
ation is hurting her and my dad. I was really close to both of them, but I haven’t really talked to them very much since this happened and I’m sure she thinks I’m mad at her. I wasn’t very nice to my parents when I found out.” She stared into her drink, looking ashamed about the fact that she had been mean to her parents.

  “No one likes to be lied to,” he defended her. “You were hurting too. It’s not fair to take all their pain on as your own. Plus, I am sure there was a healthy dose of guilt tied in with all their hurt feelings, because they kept the information from you for all these years. Regardless, you will work everything out, especially if you and your parents are as close as you say you are.”

  “I know, I just can’t stop thinking about everything. It is always crazy at the end of the year, and then I had to deal with stuff about my mom too.”

  “You teach, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What made you decide to be a teacher?”

  “Huh?” She looked bewildered, totally taken aback by the question. “You want to know about teaching?”

  “Well, yeah …” Although, he didn’t really care. The real purpose was more selfish; he wanted to wipe that “my puppy has just been kicked” look from her face that she seemed to take on whenever she thought of her mother.

  “Ok,” she said with a shake of her head. “Teaching.” She paused as though thinking about it. “Remember your worst teacher?”

  “Of course, Mrs. Woodson, in third grade. That woman was a terror.”

  “And I am sure you were an angel.” She smirked, thinking of the little hellion he probably was.

  “I may…” he held up a finger “…and I am saying this very loosely, have been a bit of a pain. But that woman was a terror.”

  She rubbed her hand down his arm in sympathy. “Awww, poor baby. She must have done a number on you.”

  “You have no idea,” he said with a mock shudder.

  “Whatever,” she said, laughing. He was struck then by her beauty, wanting to get closer, and involuntarily moved his chair so he was positioned next to her. “The reason why I asked was not to bring you down a bad trip down memory lane, but to prove a point. I love English. I always have. And though I briefly thought of being a doctor, I couldn’t take the blood but I wanted to take my love of history to the next level. Well, I had this teacher during high school. I will never forget Mrs. Spark, and I was always struck by how boring she made English and literature. I hated it, not because I hated the subject, but because I knew that I could teach better than she could.”

  Aaron raised his eyebrow. “Humble much?”

  She smiled broadly, knowing exactly what she sounded like, enjoying the easy banter. “Shut up. When you know, you know, and I knew. So I decided that I was going to do that, I was going to teach children English in a fun hands-on environment where literature comes alive. I went to school on a scholarship and the rest is history.” Her eyes lit up, hands continuously moving as she talked about teaching English.

  He nodded, encouraging her to continue. “That’s great.”

  She sat up straighter, inordinately pleased. “Well, it’s not an award winning story, but it’s mine. And I love what I do.”

  “It’s always amazing when passion meets your career.”

  “Yeah.” She thought pensively as she took a sip of wine.

  Eva looked over at Aaron to see him staring intently, desire clearly shining in his eyes. She chewed on her lips nervously, which only served to draw his eyes to her lips. He reached out, pulling her bottom lip from between her teeth.

  “There we go,” he whispered and looked into her eyes, waiting for her to agree.

  He saw the silent acquiescence in her eyes before he leaned across the table, moving to cup her cheek in the palm of his hand while bringing the other hand to her other cheek and slowly met her lips. Amazing, was all he thought, and after a brief hesitation, she began to kiss him back, opening her lips as he slowly thrust his tongue inside, deepening the kiss. She was even better than yesterday, and that was really saying something. But what started off slow and sweet quickly escalated when his hand moved from her face to her neck, cupping the back of it. His other hand slowly sliding down her body, grazing the side of her breast before it stopped at her stomach. She moved forward, her hands gripping his shoulder as she tried to get closer. Inside his head screamed yes, suddenly interrupted by “Rapper’s Delight” sounding loudly from his left. He pulled back, trying to determine the source of that damn noise, when he heard Eva cursing.

  “Damn it, my phone. Ignore it. It’s my best friend. She’ll call back,” she rambled after she reached down to silence it, and as much as he wanted to finish exactly what he started, he could tell the mood had been ruined. Plus, he didn’t just want a one night stand, and despite her assurances of the contrary, she was hurting and needed time to decompress. He took in her half-hooded eyes, that seemed to glow an unnatural green, her bruised lips, and cursed his honor.

  “As much as I would love to continue this, maybe we should call it a night.” He gave her a kiss, belying what he said about wanting to continue this.

  “Well, don’t say I didn’t offer.”

  “And she hits me with a zinger,” he stood up and clearly adjusted himself, his once comfortable pants now straining against his aching dick. “How about we take a rain check? Tomorrow night? I will take you to dinner this time.”

  “Ok.” She moved to put her dish in the sink, casually rubbing her hand against his dick in a way he knew was not an accident. He jumped slightly, his dick still straining to be free while he cursed his manners yet again. “Dinner it is. Thanks for the pizza,” she continued as she walked him to the door after they cleaned their mess. She stared at him expectedly, and he knew she wanted him to continue what they’d started.

  “No problem.” He kissed her quickly before heading out the door. “See you at seven.”

  “Bye.” She waved as he turned and jogged down the steps to his car. He slammed the car door, adjusting himself for the third damn time, knowing the only form of relief in his future was either his hand or a very long, cold shower. But there was tomorrow, and he laughed aloud, thinking that he couldn’t wait to get the little spitfire to bed.

  Kiss was too tame a word for what the hell just happened, Eva thought as she put her fingers to her lips. Earth-shattering, moving, and semi-orgasmic were a few things that came to mind. If the kiss was that good, then damn, she didn’t want to think about what he would be like in bed. And it was coming—she knew as well as she was breathing that they would have sex despite her misgivings. Feeling like a bit of a slut, she wasn’t one to jump into bed with guys she just met, she couldn’t help but smile. Still thinking of the kiss, she turned to go upstairs when she heard her phone beeping in the kitchen. Damn, Gwen, she thought about the earlier interruption and grabbed the phone to silence it as she went up to bed.

  Rolling over bright and early the next morning, Eva tried to ignore the sun streaming through the blinds by pulling the pillow over her head. She wished for more sleep, but her body was still adjusting to summer hours, and unfortunately 6:30 was her norm. Eva faced the sad reality she would not be getting any more sleep when she heard the annoying beep of her phone. She looked and realized she had another missed call from Gwen at 11:30. What the hell? Gwen was never that needy so something must have been wrong. Concerned when she got her voicemail, she called her back and hoped nothing was going on. Leaving a voicemail for Gwen to call her, she put it out of her mind as she thought about that kiss. Again. She couldn’t help it, it had been too long between lovers, and she only hoped to get some after dinner tonight.

  She hurried through her morning routine, knowing Conner was coming this morning to start the bathroom remodel. Within the hour she had showered, eaten, and was cleaning the dishes when the doorbell rang. More excited than she was willing to admit—who didn’t love a new bathroom?—she answered the door to Conner. Recognition came quickly; he looked so much like Aaron they c
ould be twins. The only difference was coloring. Whereas Aaron had dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes Conner had sandy blond hair with tawny brown eyes.

  “Hey, you must be Conner,” she said, reaching forward to shake his hand before letting him in the house.

  “That’s me,” he said, revealing a set of perfect white teeth. He was a hottie and she could appreciate a good looking guy despite her outrageous attraction to his brother. “I am here about the bathroom.”

  “Yeah, Aaron was telling me about the bathroom renovations. What are you doing exactly? He didn’t really seem like he knew what would be going on.”

  “I am not surprised the suit didn’t really know,” he referred to his brother affectionately, “seeing as how he can barely change his own light bulbs. Your mom came to me about a month ago and wanted a full bathroom remodel, which should take about three weeks. We’d pretty much finalized the plans; she had everything picked out and I was supposed to start the week after everything happened. I am just going to continue with what she wanted if you don’t mind. I was really sorry to hear about your mom by the way. She was a great person.”

  She barely avoided cringing, having to hear another compliment about her mother. “So I’ve been told.”

  “Yeah, about that …” He scratched the side of his hair above his ear. “I am sorry to hear about that.”

  “You know?” She was surprised but thought about all the things that seemed to be kept from her. Continuing, she said, “I mean, of course you know. Why wouldn’t you know? Everyone knows but me.” She knew she was rambling, but she couldn’t help it; it was what she did when she was upset.

  “Well in my defense, it is a small town. Plus, I was there the other day when my mom laid into Aaron.”

  Her eyes widened as she tried to reconcile the sweet Susan that she met the other night with what Conner was telling her. “Your mom yelled at Aaron?”

  “Yeah, I was there at the dinner the other night. I guess after you yelled at him on Saturday he stormed into my parents’ house talking about you.”