He crumpled into himself, defeated. His heart ached. His body froze. His head pounded so loudly he could hear each and every thump beating in his ears.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
He had to get out of here. He somehow had to go after them.
He catapulted out of the bed with one hell of a start. With his mind as fuzzy as Riley and Garrett had just been, it took him a heartbeat to notice he wasn’t surrounded by a smoky haze any longer. He found himself back in the bedroom at Simon’s house. The sunrays shining through the windows when he’d first fell on the bed had now moved on and the room was beginning to darken.
The banging he heard just moments ago now came as a knock on the bedroom door. Simon stuck his head through the crack in the opening. “T-minus two hours, Ev. You good?”
Hell, Riley and Garrett disappearing had all been a dream. A shitty, horrible dream. He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to catch his breath as he realized he’d slept the day away. “Christ, why’d you let me knock out so long?”
Simon shrugged. “Figured you needed it.”
He had. What he hadn’t needed was Riley and Garrett going up in smoke right in front of him.
But they hadn’t really. One look at the phone that had landed on the floor when he shot out of bed told him as much. She had texted back hours ago, and in true Riley form, she’d done it so sweetly.
Not that you need it, but good luck tonight.
Did he want the good luck, or did he want it all to blow up in his face?
But it wasn’t only his life he was talking about here, so no. Like Simon had told him, they were going to rock tonight—come hell or high water.
“All right. Give me twenty and I’ll be out. We’ll do a quick once-over of things and then head off.”
“You got it.”
After Simon left him, Evan quickly showered. Since all he had with him were basketball shorts and tanks, he changed into one of his brother’s suits and a crisp white shirt for the dinner meeting, which went oh-so-well with the lovely boot he still sported on his foot. When he finally came out of his room, Marcy ran up and gave him a big hug, one he desperately needed.
“I’ve been waiting all day to do that. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here this morning when you boys got back from the airport.”
Her sincerity made him smile for the first time in what felt like ages. Hugging her back just as strongly, he said, “So good to see you.” And it really was. He truly loved his sister-in-law. Simon was one lucky man.
When she stepped out of his arms and gave him a once-over, she looked at him with a hint of scorn. “Just what did you do to yourself?”
Simon chimed in. “He says it’s nothing.”
“It is nothing. It’s just a deep cut, that’s all. Nothing I can’t handle.” Ha. Yeah, right. “You have enough on your plate, so don’t you go adding me to your worry list.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “You drive me nuts, you know that?”
He gave her a second smile in as many minutes. “Ah, but you love me anyway.”
She sighed. “That, I do, you big lug.”
“If you two are done, I’ve got everything over here on the dining room table. I think we’re all good to go.” Simon led them into the adjoining room where blueprints were spread across a large portfolio sitting on the table. Evan ran his fingers across the heavy paper, remembering back to when he’d created the drafts the old fashioned way—drawing each of them by hand. He didn’t need to look at the designs again however, not since they were all entrenched in his brain. Ten different drawings of ten different models, with each luxury home offering a choice of three exteriors. They were gorgeous plans and despite every emotion pummeling him at the moment, he couldn’t be more proud of what he’d accomplished.
Next to the blueprints were four smaller portfolios made of leather and embossed with the Tucker General Contracting logo. Simon’s business plan, one for each of the men who were attending the meeting. Christ, Simon pulled out all the stops for this, which annoyingly enough, made Evan all the more prepared to give this meeting everything he had in him.
“You ready for this,” Simon asked?
He met his brother’s stare. “I am. Let’s do it.”
And with that, they packed up the presentation, said their goodbyes to Marcy and headed out the door.
Halfway through another quiet drive, his brother broke the silence. “Listen, I don’t know what’s up with you, and I’m not going to push, but I need to know you’re here. I mean all here. You say you’re ready, but—”
“Are you doubting me?”
Simon gripped the steering wheel tighter. “No. I’m concerned. Two weeks ago, you were as excited about this venture as I am. But now… Jesus, you look like someone just ran over your dog.”
“I don’t have a dog.”
Simon glared at him. “You know what I mean.”
Yeah, Evan did. And he knew the way he was acting wasn’t exactly fair not only to Simon, but to the incredible opportunity they were both facing. So he sucked back a breath and sat straighter in the passenger seat. “I’m good. I’m here. We’re gonna kill this.” And my life will be forever changed…
Fuck, he couldn’t think like that. He sounded like one of those whiny emo kids—I’ll be forever alone…—and that just pissed him off. That wasn’t him. Every time he was ever faced a crappy situation, he tackled it head-on. He, Riley and Garrett would figure this out. He wouldn’t accept anything less than everything he wanted.
But after arriving at the restaurant, after two gin and tonics, an incredible steak dinner and his and Simon’s professional presentation, they nailed the meeting to the proverbial wall and walked away with the backer of their dreams. He’d never been so incredibly happy and proud yet so unbelievably depressed at the same time, because he knew “less” than everything he wanted was exactly what he was going to end up with.
Not unless Garrett came through with his promise. Not unless the three of them figured out a way to be together.
Not unless a miracle happened.
Chapter Fourteen
For much of the last three months since she and Garrett had left Florida, Riley had counted on a hectic schedule to get her through each day. She figured her heartache would’ve eased by now, but it hadn’t. She was able to keep her mind busy with her patients during the day, and sure, she worked off her frustrations three nights a week on a punching bag at the gym. In the midst of all that, she spent every other spare moment with Garrett. They’d gone to countless movies over the last few months, walked endless miles up and down the bike paths adjacent to Lake Michigan’s shoreline, and visited most of the museums in the city more than once, all just trying to stay busy.
But none of that had healed the part of her that shattered when Evan had turned and walked away from her the night he went home to Texas.
The pain from losing him only lessened in those moments when she’d get a random text from him, or better yet a phone call. Or the ultimate, a FaceTime chat. During those times, when she could both see and hear him, all her misery vanished. She loved listening to him tell her how well the venture he started with his brother was going. But God, the hours he put in. Hell, the hours Garrett put in as well. They were both working themselves to the bone, which didn’t surprise her. They had such a similar outlook on life. They loved each other too. She knew down to her toes that they did, and that meant more to her than little else ever could.
As she steered into a parking spot in the garage of her and Garrett’s Near North apartment building, her phone chirped. The short, sweet and to the point text lighting up her screen was from Garrett.
Scored a meeting with Kramer. Finally. Going to be late. Have dinner without me.
Garrett had been trying for a month straight to set up a meeting with his boss, but the old guy was always either out of town or booked solid. She was glad their schedules finally synced, but damn. She so wasn’t in the mood to eat alone tonight.
Nevertheless, she pulled up her big-girl panties and climbed out of her car. Luckily, no one else was in the garage with her, so the elevator trip up to the seventeenth floor turned into a non-stop express ride. When she got off and opened the door to their apartment, a blast of cool air hit her head-on. A shiver blossomed across her skin, but the nippiness made her smile as well. Garrett had been the last one to leave this morning, and as he was known to do, he’d cranked the air conditioning down so their small two-bedroom-one-and-a-half-bath unit wouldn’t end up feeling like an oven in Chicago’s muggy July temperatures. To combat the chill, Riley ditched her work clothes and changed into a pair of comfy yoga pants and her favorite, albeit threadbare, Northwestern sweatshirt.
Instead of eating something with more substance like she knew she should, she poured herself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from the bottle Garrett had opened last night and cut a few hunks off the brick of Monterey Jack from the fridge. She balanced the small cheese plate on top of her wineglass, snatched up the latest issue of Cosmo from the stack of mail on the end of the kitchen’s peninsula counter and headed for her favorite spot on the far end of the sofa, the one right next to the western-facing window.
Chicago sunsets typically ranged from hazy blues which quickly died away into a star-speckled black, or the occasional paler pinks fading into a deeper purple before nighttime engulfed the sky completely. Tonight, however, the sky glowed a spectacular orange, interspersed randomly with shafts of gold and yellow. The evening was gorgeous and had her thinking back to those amazing Inlet Beach sunsets, which in turn had her reminiscing about that remarkable week she spent with her two men.
And they were hers. They always would be. Nearby or far away, it didn’t matter. Garrett and Evan belonged to her, just as she belonged to them. The eleven hundred mile distance separating her, Garrett and Evan was a glitch, and okay, it was one they had all spent the last three months trying to figure out how to fix. Every solution they came up with involved a complete upheaval—which actually didn’t bother her all that much. But dropping their life here in Chicago wasn’t as easy as a finger snap for Garrett. He’d shot up the ladder so quickly at his job, had earned praise and won awards—not to mention luxurious beach vacations. He couldn’t just turn his back on all that, or the promise of a killer retirement plan, just as Evan couldn’t turn his back on his family.
Really, sometimes being a conscientious person completely sucked.
But in all honestly, she wouldn’t have the men she loved behave any other way. As undesirable as their personal situation was, they were both doing what they thought was right professionally. So for now, the texts and phone calls and FaceTimes were what they could cling to. They were the only things that were going to work.
As she let the heat of the evocative sunset warm her face, she sighed deeply. A sadness crept up on her, adding to the muscular aches and pains already wearing her down as a result of being on her feet in surgery all day.
She set her wineglass on the coffee table and grabbed the throw off the back of the couch. Covering up and closing her eyes, she snuggled deeper into the cushions. She thought back to that last night with Evan and to the heated and passionate way they’d both made love to her. God, she’d give just about anything to be held like that between them again. To be taken like that again. It was all she dreamed about. It was what got her through each and every day.
But the memory of it was all she had. And as the hectic day closed in around her and she drifted off with the magazine in her lap, she knew, deep down, that the memory of that night was never—ever—going to be enough.
* * * * *
Just look at her.
Garrett stood in the middle of his dark living room, staring down at the beautiful woman fast asleep on the couch. He had so much love firing through his body for her that he practically sizzled.
It was already well past ten, and since he’d crawled out of bed this morning at an ungodly five-thirty, he should be dead on his feet. But he wasn’t. He was too excited to be tired, and he couldn’t wait share the cause of his excitement with Riley.
He snapped on the accent light next to the couch and sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of her. With a gentle hand on her knee, he shook to wake her.
“Rie, baby. Wake up.”
A hint of a smile touched her lips and she stretched before opening her eyes. When she did and blearily met his stare, his heart actually leapt.
“Hey. How’d the meeting go?”
“It went well.” To say the least… “I have a surprise for you.”
Her smile grew. She’d always loved surprises. “Oh?”
He couldn’t help but smile now, too. “Mm hmm. I managed to get some extra time off. Want to take a trip?”
“You know I’d go anywhere with you.” She tossed the throw covering her to the side and swung her legs off the couch, sitting up a little straighter. Hope shone clear as daylight in her eyes and he knew right then that he’d nailed this surprise like he’d never nailed one before. Good thing, since he’d busted his ass for the last three months to pull it off. “Where are we going?”
“How about a few days down in Houston?”
She shot off the couch and lunged into his arms, grabbing on to him so fast he almost fell off the table. “Really? When?”
He laughed. “How soon can you clear your schedule?”
“Hold that thought.” She scooted out of his arms and went for her purse on the table by the door. She dug inside the bag and pulled out her phone. “I’ll just send a quick text to Caryn. She owes me. I covered for her a few weeks ago when she and her husband took off for Vegas.”
“It won’t be too short of notice for her?”
She peered at him as if he was crazy before concentrating once more on her phone, and he laughed all over again.
“Next week is a light one for me, so it’ll be fine. It has to be fine.” On her next breath, her fingers stopped their tap-tap-tapping on the phone screen and she glanced over at him again. “Wait, does Evan know we’re coming?”
Hmm, how to answer that one. And leave it to her to start digging right away too. Eh, let her, he figured. This little surprise was only a drop in the bucket of what he had planned. There was no way she’d expect what else he had in store for her. “I talked to him on my way home. He was pretty stoked and said he could pick us up whenever.”
When she finished sending her text, she plopped back down on the couch and pulled him toward her. He slid in beside her, burrowing in and nuzzling her neck. She laughed and for a moment it struck him just how long it’d been since he’d last heard her do that.
“Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Oh, he knew. He knew, simply by the way she grabbed on to him and the ease with which she smiled. It was as if months of heartbreak melted away in a flash. But it wasn’t just that. He knew, since this little trip to Houston meant just as much to him as it did to her. Maybe more, because of what—and who—was waiting for her there.
The second her phone chirped, she snatched it off the coffee table, read the new message, then grinned like a gorgeous fool. “Yes! Caryn can cover for me. Oh my god, I have to pack.” She kissed him, hard and fast. “And you have to make reservations.” She smacked another kiss on him and he laughed again. He hadn’t seen her this carefree in months, and damn, it did his heart some good.
When she hopped up and darted into their bedroom, the little devil inside him shouted out to her. “Don’t pack much. I have a feeling you won’t be needing a lot of clothes.”
Matter of fact, he was certain she wouldn’t.
Twelve hours later, he and Riley were zipping through the sky on their way south. The flight couldn’t have been more uneventful, but that didn’t stop her from wriggling around anxiously in the seat beside him.
When the captain came over the intercom to announce their descent into the Houston area, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “You know, I haven’t been down here sinc
e I was a teenager. One of the men mom was dating for a while had a time-share condo in Galveston, and it was one of those rare occasions where Char and I actually got to tag along with them when they came down. I loved it, loved being that close to the water. It was so gorgeous. We had a lot of fun that week.”
“Good memories.”
She smiled a little. “Yeah. One of the few.”
Hearing her say that nearly killed him, but it also ramped up his determination to give her more amazing memories. A lifetime more.
The landing went smoothly, the taxiing to the terminal surprisingly quick. They’d carried on their luggage, so it wasn’t long before they were standing outside in the stifling Texas heat, waiting for Evan to pick them up.
He searched the loading area for the Land Rover Evan told them he’d picked up for a steal, but didn’t see it. He pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text. Minutes later, there was still no reply.
“Traffic, maybe?” she asked.
“I’m sure,” he replied, just as a sleek black stretch limo pulled up and stopped in front of them.
The driver hopped out and came around the back of the car, popping the trunk on his way. “Mr. Watson?”
Um… “Yes.” What the…
“Mr. Tucker wasn’t able to make it. I was hired by Tucker General Contracting to pick you up and drop you off for him.”
The driver opened the rear door, but Garrett and Riley just stood there. This wasn’t what they expected. It wasn’t what he’d planned.
“Drop us off where, exactly?” he asked.
“Mr. Tucker provided an address, about forty-five minutes from here.”
Okay, so not the JW Marriott where Garrett had booked a suite. Not that this little detour was a huge deal, but it certainly had Garrett wondering why Evan hadn’t clued him in on the change in plans.
“He said if you hesitated, to show you this.” The driver reached inside the door and came back to them holding a small, blue bag. The thing had a crimson red bow on top, and Riley was laughing before the driver even handed it over to her.
Seven Nights Page 17
