by J. H. Croix
Sonny rolled his eyes and blew his fiancée a kiss. She returned it and went back to her book while he turned to me. “Did you talk to her?”
“I did.”
He tiled his head. “And?”
I shrugged again. “I don’t know. She kissed me, so I’m taking it as a good sign.”
“It’s a good sign,” Niki called out without looking up from the book.
Sonny thrust his beer in her direction. “There you have it, from the mouth of a babe.”
I laughed. “I don’t think you’re using that right.”
Frowning, he lifted his shoulders. “Who the fuck cares? As long as she’s right. If Sadie kissed you, why are you here and not with her?”
“She had to go to work. At Ken’s.” My mood darkened.
Sonny shuddered. “That sucks.”
“Yeah.” I ruffled the hair on the back of my head. “I don’t know how to deal with her job and Ken. She needs the job and won’t let me help, but I’m going to go crazy knowing she’s there five nights a week. Within such easy reach of him.”
“I get it.” Sonny nodded, flipping the burgers as he sipped his beer and kept going. “But I don’t think it’s likely Ken’s a direct risk to her.”
My eyebrows shot up. Even Niki gave Sonny a look. He held his hands up innocently. “Hear me out before you feed me to the pigs. I don’t think Ken’s a direct risk because he always has others do his dirty work. He never gets his own hands dirty, so I don’t think she’s at risk at the firm.”
Reluctantly, I saw his point. “Yeah. I guess.”
“No guesses necessary.” My brother smirked. “She’ll be safe while she’s there. It’s everywhere else we need to worry about.”
I closed my eyes, taking a swig of my beer. He was right. Just because she wasn’t in danger at work didn’t mean the threat didn’t exist anymore. Sonny and I talked strategy while I waited for Sadie’s call. She texted when she was done, and I took off to pick her up, hoping we would get to talk more tonight.
Chapter Six
Sadie
“Thanks for picking me up,” I told Evan when I got into his truck after my shift. Since I started the day late, I stayed later to finish up. I was worried it was getting too late to ask for a ride, but Evan grinned when I climbed into the passenger seat.
“No problem.” We drove in comfortable silence, serenaded quietly by his radio. Lights from the dash faintly illuminated the cab. I stole glances at Evan so often, again not able to stop myself from doing it.
Absorbing everything he said earlier was a process I was very much not done with yet. I could hardly believe it. Every time I looked over at him, I half expected him to say, “just kidding,” but he didn’t.
When I looked over at him again, he flicked his gaze up to mine. “What?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. Busted. “Nothing. I-It’s kind of hard to believe I’m here with you.”
His hand twitched on the gear lever like he was about to reach for mine, and then it stilled. “Yeah. I know. I’m so sorry, Sadie. I never meant to give you any reason to doubt me.”
Emotion jammed up my throat, making my voice sound hoarse. “You really hurt me.”
Dipping his head low, he released a sigh and nodded. “I thought it was the only way to protect you. I thought if I said those things, you wouldn’t call me or come to see me to give you an explanation I didn’t have.”
“It worked,” I murmured, knuckling at my tears. I didn’t want to cry again, but I was feeling so emotional after the day I had.
A pained expression crossed Evan’s features. This time when his hand moved, he took mine and enveloped it with his. “Can I stay with you tonight? I know it’s asking for a lot, but I need to be with you. I’ll sleep on the couch if you want.”
Need, not want. He needed to be with me? Good for him, but what did I need? What I didn’t need were more false promises and reassurances, but he wasn’t offering any of those. Truth be told, I needed comfort. I needed Evan’s arms around me, making me feel like everything was going to be okay.
I couldn’t say no to him, not even after what happened. He’d shredded my heart to pieces, but the reasons why he did it made sense to me.
As much as it hurt, I understood them. I also knew he hadn’t done it because he wanted to but because he felt he had to. There were still so many questions I had for him like what would happen if he ever felt he had to do it again. Would he? Or worse yet, what if he wanted to break up with me?
The past week had been my own personal brand of torture. I didn’t know if I could face it again. At the same time, I wanted to trust Evan. I wanted to believe in him and to believe in us.
In the end, I decided to take things one day at a time. Today, I needed him with me as much as he claimed he needed to be with me.
“Okay, you can stay.”
The grin he broke into made the risk of getting hurt again so worth it. Evan followed me inside when we got to my place. Lori sat in the kitchen with her laptop, lifting her brows when she saw him come in after me. She didn’t comment about it in front of him, though. I sent up a silent thanks for small favors.
For a second, I was surprised to see her there since Emery was staying over at her place tonight. Then, I remembered she texted me and asked if they could go to our place instead because her internet wasn’t working.
“She’s asleep,” Lori told me, giving Evan a brief nod. Her laptop was packed up a minute later. I walked with her to the door. Only once we were out of Evan’s earshot did she turn to me with an arch of her brow. “Evan? Really? I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist his manly charms. That vow to singledom you took last week didn’t last long.”
I rolled my eyes. “We talked, he apologized, and we’re not back together. I’m still single, so my vow holds.”
“I give it until five minutes after I walk through the door,” she teased. “Why is he here if you’re not back together?”
“It’s a long story. We haven’t talked about what we are right now. He only apologized earlier tonight. I’m taking things one day at a time.”
She winked at me. “Tonight, take things one inch at a time. Tomorrow’s another day to overthink it.”
Laughing, she skipped through the door as I reached out to swat her shoulder. Evan was in the living room when I returned from seeing Lori out.
“You don’t have to sleep in here,” I told him, holding out my hand for him to take. I had no idea what I was doing or why, but I wanted him in my bed. I needed his heat, his arms, his strength, and his comfort. “I’m exhausted. Let’s go to bed.”
Once the lights were off and Evan was in bed beside me, my exhaustion fled. I was still feeling emotional but overcome by the sudden urge to lose myself in him, to bury my emotions in him and feel him do the same. We could talk for hours, and we would, but I needed a different kind of communication from him tonight. I needed to feel him with me, inside me. Our bodies connecting to say the things our words couldn’t.
Crawling up, I slid my leg over his and stared into his eyes. His arms came up to fold around my waist. “Sadie?”
“I want you,” I whispered in the darkness. The only light came from outside, enough to see him, but not so much as to make me feel exposed.
His hold on me tightened. “I want you, too, always. But I didn’t come here for sex. We don’t have to do anything.”
“If we both want to—” I let my hand trail down his side, brushing my fingers into the waistband of his underwear and felt his length swell under my touch. “—I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t.”
I sealed my mouth over his, my fingers pushing deeper into his briefs.
On another low groan, he flipped me onto my back and spent the next few hours showing and telling me how much he’d missed me. How sorry he was and how much he wanted to make things right.
Waking up wrapped in Evan’s arms was like a dream come true for me after all the mornings I’d been yanked from having that exact dream.
He was already awake, gently stroking my hair and looking down at me.
His lips tipped into a smile when he saw me wake up. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
Turning my head, I dropped a kiss on his chest. “Good morning. Why am I a sleepyhead? What’s the time?”
“Your alarm went off about twenty minutes ago, but we’ve got plenty of time. I’ve been keeping an eye on it, but I didn’t want to wake you yet.”
Rolling over, I saw I’d slept through my “in case of emergency” time, but Evan was right. There was more than enough time left for getting ready and make breakfast, provided I didn’t burn anything, the hot water worked right away, and my car started on the first try.
Oh… right. The car didn’t have to start this morning. Evan’s truck would. Emery was still asleep and would be for another thirty to forty minutes.
Rubbing my eyes, I yawned and sat up, holding the sheet to my chest. “I should take a shower. Make yourself at home.”
Evan’s gaze tracked down. I felt the heat of it, my nipples tightening with the thin cotton sheet doing absolutely nothing to hide my state. His eyes heated before he lazily brought them back to mine. “Mind if I join you in the shower?”
Memories of last night flashed through my mind. The feel of him against me, around me, and inside me. I’d promised myself we’d talk today, so maybe I should’ve said no, but the memories made it such a tempting offer. Talking meant reliving pain while showering together likely meant pleasure. It was too early for pain.
“Sure. Join me.”
Evan and I took our time lathering each other up under the warm water, washing each other with care. When he pushed me up against the wall, planting soft kisses alongside my throat as he slid into me, I felt cherished, adored. He thrust into me slowly, sensually.
It was a slow build, but when I finally came, my orgasm was powerful, leaving me shuddering and nearly boneless. “Evan. Oh.”
My moans were soft, mingling with Evan’s when he followed me over the edge with a few sharp thrusts. “Sadie. Yes. God. Yessss.”
After our shower, I made Evan and Emery pancakes for breakfast. Evan rushed around the house with her, collecting all the things that had to go in her backpack for school. Finally, they were back in the kitchen. Evan sank onto a stool. “Have you got it all?”
Emery chewed on her lip, shrugging. “I think so.”
He arched a brow at her, grinning slightly. “You think so, huh? Better think fast. We’re leaving in ten. Whatever you don’t have by then stays behind.”
She shrieked with laughter and tore through the house, coming back with stationery she actually needed. “Ready!”
“Right on time,” I told her. “Let’s go, let’s go.”
Evan and I went to drop Emery off at school. My shift at the diner today wasn’t until the afternoon, so I allowed myself to relax and enjoy the time I had with them. When we stopped at the school, Marie was getting out of her car with Austin.
She said goodbye to him, and as I hugged Emery before she ran off, she came over to chat. We caught up for a few minutes before she looked at Evan, her eyes filled with fondness and love. “I like the girl you’ve fallen for, Ev. We can keep her.”
My heart clenched at her assumption he’d fallen for me. We still hadn’t talked, but it seemed unlikely. I knew he liked me but falling for me was a bit of a stretch. Evan laughed, but he didn’t deny it. “Yeah, I’d like to keep her too.”
Stunned by their conversation, I was speechless for a second before I realized they were both waiting on me. “Oh, yeah. Yes. I mean, I’d like that too.”
They exchanged a look, and then Marie waved and said she needed to get to work. When I got back into the truck, Evan took a quick call. He stayed in front of the school, only muttering a few words. “Yeah. Okay. I saw that. Fuck, thanks. Okay. Yeah. I’ll let you know. Thank you.”
Turning his upper body to me once he was done, his lips formed a thin line. “That was Phoenix again.”
“Again?” I asked, my pulse speeding up. They’d been working on my car. I was about to find out how screwed I was.
Evan nodded. “I talked to him last night, too, to make sure he’d gotten your car towed in.”
“And?” Apprehension ran through me. “What’s the damage?”
“It’s bad, Sadie.” He proceeded to tell me how bad. It seemed impossible the car had only broken down now when I listened to how much work there was to be done on it. I’d thought I left the tears behind me last night, but they were there again threatening to choke me up.
He took both my hands in his, finishing with, “I can help you if you’ll let me. We have a few cars available at the garage. Phoenix took a look at one this morning and made sure it was good to go. You can drive it as long as you need it.”
A sob broke free. This was just great. I didn’t want his handouts. I knew it was unfair to think of his offer that way, but I was so proud of doing things myself. Under the circumstances, though, I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed a vehicle, and I couldn’t afford a new one or even the repairs on the one I had.
It was a relief simply to know I would have a car while mine was being fixed. Evan saved the day again. He’d ruined a few for me, but even I had to admit he’d made and saved more than he’d ruined. Way more. “Okay. Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”
A slow grin spread on his face. “You’ll let me help?”
I nodded wordlessly. His eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, his gaze considering. “While you’re in the mood to let me help, I know a lot of things have happened since we last talked about this, but I’d still love for you to consider staying with me.”
I couldn’t help it. I gaped at him. I didn’t know what to think. To say a lot had happened since we last talked about it was a huge understatement. We’d broken up in the meantime. My lease was up next month, but could I consider moving in with him right now?
Chapter Seven
Evan
The car Phoenix had selected for Sadie to borrow from us was behind the garage. We’d had it cleaned earlier. I trusted his assessment that it was good to go, but I wanted to do a quick run over of it myself before I brought it to her.
Walking around the car, I approved of his choice. It was a sedan in good condition. It was only a few years old and was one we’d all used from time to time. It was the best loaner we had to offer.
Even so, I double-checked it. I wasn’t taking any chances with Sadie and Emery’s safety in a vehicle they trusted because it was mine.
Clouds drifted overhead in an otherwise clear blue sky. It was another hot day. Simply being outside had sweat gathering on the back of my neck. I got to work checking things over.
As promised, it was in perfect condition. Phoenix refilled the water and oil and everything else was tight and ready to go. The inside of the car was immaculate. The back seat was big enough for Emery’s booster seat, and the radio was working perfectly.
Satisfied, I got out and turned to go back into the workshop. The heat already had me dying for a glass of cold water. I would also remember to have one of my guys move the car into the shade before it was turned over to her.
As I started to walk inside, an unfamiliar man walked around the back of the building and approached me. Everything about him was dark. I felt a warning shiver travel down my spine. This guy wasn’t a customer.
He was tall, probably about two or three inches taller than I was. Dark hair was spiked on top of his head, his dark eyes roaming the yard out back before settling on me. When they did, I knew the warning shiver was warranted. He was trouble.
His gaze was cold, his demeanor distant and closed off. “Evan Lovett, I presume?”
“Who’s asking?” I bit out, feeling for the wrench I stuck in my pocket before I came out here in case I needed it to fix something on the car.
The man cocked his head, not answering my question. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
His voice was as cold and flat as his eyes. I
did a quick scan of the yard myself. There were a couple of old cars back here. Some we kept for customers, and others were waiting to be stripped of their parts. We kept it as neat as we could, but the grass was patchy, and there were old tools and parts scattered around.
No people, though. No one to witness whatever this man was here to say. I folded my arms over my chest. “Who are you?”
Once again, he ignored my question. “Ken Lyons is the least of your problems now, Mr. Lovett. We will find the money your father stole from us one way or another.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up despite the heat. Ken was a slimy bastard. One second in his presence was all it took to know that. This man was something else entirely. He was steely, calculated. Unlike Ken, I got the feeling he wasn’t here to taunt or toy with me.
Opening my shoulders, I refused to be intimidated by him and shrugged. “Good for you, but you’ll be looking forever if you think asking me about it will help you. I don’t know where it is.”
Worry clouded the back of mind, as it had since I’d agreed to move my father’s account. I still wasn’t comfortable with what I did, but what was done was done. I couldn’t take it back now.
“Hmm.” The man broke his gaze away from mine and deliberately dragged it to the car I was going to let Sadie use. Changing tact, he was still looking at it when he said, “It’s too bad your Ms. Hammel can barely make ends meet. A single mother working so hard only to encounter such difficulty is always a shame.”
Hearing Sadie’s name on his lips made me lose control of the calm demeanor I tried to keep. Fury rose in me as it always did when she was threatened. My fists clenched and dropped to my sides. I took a couple of steps closer to him, about to haul off and punch him.
He stood still, unrelenting as he watched me come at him. He sneered and braced himself. Then I heard Phoenix’s voice calling from inside the workshop.
“Evan? Hey Ev, are you out there? We need to—” He stuck his head outside, cutting off his own sentence when he saw the man and the obvious hostility between us. Frowning, he stepped outside. “What’s going on here? If you need a repair, sir, you’re going to have come to the front. This area is off-limits to customers.”