Thirteen

by Scarlett Finn

  “Oak,” she said, letting her lips touch him.

  “Yeah, Sweet?”

  “I’ll hold you back.”

  Gathering her hair away from her face as he drew back, he smiled down at her. “You’ve already made me stronger.”

  “Breaking your dry spell or because I went all weak and girlie and made you feel like a macho man?”

  “Both,” he said, smacking a kiss to her forehead. “Evie, I’ve known that I wanted you since our first speed-date. I don’t bail when things get tough.”

  “I need…”

  Did she feel comfortable making demands? If she did, she was accepting his commitment. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want one from her, it was precious that he would offer her one.

  He came over all serious. “What do you need?”

  “I need time,” she said. “To process this, I’m not… ready to be… a girlfriend. But, you’re the first man I’ve felt anything for since before we lost Beth… and I don’t take that for granted.”

  “Neither do I.”

  Evie didn’t even realize she hadn’t been looking at him until their eyes met again. “I wouldn’t have told you the truth if I didn’t trust you,” she said, just figuring it out for herself. “But I’m going to say stupid things and act irrationally and… piss you off.”

  “This helps,” he said, stroking her. “As long as you tell me what to expect, and help me to understand what you need, we’ll get through it.”

  “But there might be times that… that I scare you.”

  This made him slide down a little to get closer. The intensity in his gaze grew. “Scare me? Sweet, do you think about… hurting yourself?”

  “No,” she said, digging her nails into him. “Not like that, I… I still have a lot of anger toward my mother for… what she did. I understand why she did it, but I would never…” Shaking her head, she tried to order her thoughts. “Noel’s been my main support for years and… God, Oak, this is stupid, what the hell am I saying?” Pushing at him, she got away and shuffled to the side of the bed to look for her underwear. “Let’s just forget this happened.”

  “Ok,” he said.

  Thank God, he was going to let her leave.

  Picking up her panties, she pulled them on and then sought her bra. When she found his underwear, she tossed them back at him and followed them with his slacks.

  “I can get a flight out tonight and—”

  “You used MatchMate as a way to have safe social interactions,” he said, still on the bed behind her.

  She retrieved her dress from the floor. “Yes, and you have security on site and panic buttons in the rooms… not that I ever used the rooms. Noel thought it was a good idea for me to start interacting with people again. For a long time, I didn’t leave the apartment. I had to for the trial and I did try to make myself go out, but… I narrowed my work to what I could do at home and was retreating into myself… I met Noel through the court. The defense wanted me to see a psychologist because they wanted to debunk my evidence. So the prosecution countered with Noel… I’ve been seeing him ever since.”

  Stepping into her dress, she wondered what had happened to the notepad she’d had earlier. It had to still be in the living room.

  She saw Oak’s feet first as he boosted himself off the bed. But he didn’t stand up, he took her hand and drew her down to sit at his side. “You trust me, Evie. I love that about you.”

  Scooping her hair off her shoulder, he leaned in and kissed her. Gentle and slow, he held her head and angled her to breathe her tongue into his mouth.

  A noise in the living room made them break away from each other.

  A collection of voices filled the suite beyond the bedroom.

  Grabbing his thigh, she turned to him. “Don’t tell them, please.”

  “Never,” he said. “Or you meant about us?”

  “Us?” she asked. Seeking answers in his expression, she sagged and whimpered. “Shit, Oak, I don’t have a clue what the hell we’re doing, please, can we just keep this between us until we know what—”

  “I’ll get rid of them,” he said, pushing her hair further back and kissing her quickly.

  He got up and grabbed his shirt.

  Whatever the debate was out in the living room, no one seemed to notice that the CEO wasn’t present because they were too busy arguing with each other, giving Oak time to tuck his shirt back in.

  Before he could retreat, Evie surged to her feet and ran her hands through his hair to smooth it, so he didn’t look so just-fucked.

  “Thank you, Sweet,” he murmured and kissed the end of her nose before turning around and adopting his professional stance before he left the room.

  Exhaling, she sank back down onto the side of the bed. What the hell had she done? Getting involved with the only man she’d cared about for years was a recipe for disaster. If he didn’t put up with her eccentricities, he’d dump her, and she’d end up more bitter than she was pre-him.

  She was just so tired. Tired of being alone all the time. Tired of feeling like no one could ever care about her. Tired of having no one to care about.

  Something had happened between them, whether she chose to admit it or not.

  Twisting around, she sought out the phone. Maybe her only ally could help her make sense of it, though she had a feeling he wasn’t going to be happy about her giving in to impulse. All she could do was be honest, and hope that she’d find a way out of this, with or without Oakley at her side.

  nine

  Oak had never found it so difficult to switch on his professional mind. A beautiful woman who’d shared her body with him was in his bedroom. She’d ventured to take the first tentative steps of opening her trust to him. The only place in the world he wanted to be was lying with her in their warm sheets.

  But it was clear from the rabble in his living room that he wasn’t being given that option. “Hey, hey, what’s the problem?” Oak asked Taylor, Ian, and Kody who were crowded together shouting over each other.

  Ian took a step toward him. “Regent just announced that they’re open to offers.”

  “Regent Dating are for sale?” Oak asked, glancing at each of them. “And we have different ideas on whether or not we should make a bid… Do we want Regent?”

  Again, they all started to talk over each other and he couldn’t pick one opinion out over the others.

  All he wanted to do was get Evie in here; she’d make sense of this and help him figure out if it made sense to make a play for another company. Thinking for a second about whether or not it was weird he wanted her input on a decision about MatchMate’s long-term future, he realized that instinct to include her was just another example of how sure he was about their relationship.

  It might take her a while to start thinking about being with him on a permanent basis, but in time she would figure out that he wasn’t going anywhere. That made MatchMate as much hers as it was his and Taylor’s. Evie was their family now too.

  Shaking off his urge to grin like a lovesick idiot, he held up his hands to silence his colleagues. “Ok, guys, enough. Look, if we’re just getting this information, so is everyone else. We have time. There will be a bidding process and we have to find out what state Regent is in, why they’re selling, and what they want. So, instead of screaming at each other, can we do this the same way we’ve done with every other business decision we’ve made for, well, ever? Put your thoughts down on paper, do some research, write a proposal, and we’ll set a time for a meeting and have a proper debate.”

  “If we want them, we have to start courting them now,” Ian said. “This weekend is the perfect chance for us to get close to their CEO and other key members who might make the decision on whose bid is successful.”

  Passion was never a bad thing, and Oak valued Ian’s loyalty. Putting a hand to his friend’s shoulder, he tried to calm his colleague’s fraught nerves.

  “We’ve known Charley and Ed a long time, we don’t have to court them. But we can offe
r advice and friendship, we don’t need to be in the game to be supportive.”

  Ian nodded. “I still think we should meet on this soon.”

  “We’ll be in here for our usual briefing tomorrow,” Oak said. “We can toss ideas around then.” Appeased, Ian gave his shoulder a slap. “Now, can we all get back to work?”

  It was a bit rich for him to crack the whip when he’d been spending time in his bed with his woman rather than doing any work. But it was that woman who made him want these people out of here. Until they left, Evie was stuck in his bedroom.

  Hmm… maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

  “We actually didn’t come up here for that,” Taylor said, grinning. His sister came over to shove Ian aside and grab his arms. She did an excited kind of scrunch thing with her face and her body. “Eee!”

  “Taylor, what the—”

  The knock on the suite door made the guys straighten up. Ian nodded at Kody who went toward the door. “Remember to be nice,” Taylor hissed at him, smoothing a hand over his shirt. “You’re creased. Damn. Way to make a good first impression, brother.”

  Good first impression? Taylor took his hand and began to cart him toward the door. Where were they going? Who were they greeting?

  Kody opened the door and a tall blonde woman with refined features strode into the room.

  “Oakley Orion,” Taylor said, still pulling him forward. “Meet Lana Reading.”

  His sister pushed him forward toward the woman who smiled and offered her hand. “Hello,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you…. What should I call you?”

  Taylor leaned in between them. “You can call him honey bunny, or pookie, or sexy love man… though that last one wouldn’t be my preference.”

  Everyone, except him, laughed. “Tay,” he chastised his sister before he shook Lana’s hand. “Just call me Oak… But I’m sorry, Miss Reading, I didn’t realize you were joining us here.”

  “Oh, it was sort of last minute,” Lana said. “I have family in the area, so when Kody said you were traveling out here, I thought it might make sense for us to spend some time getting to know each other before… you know…”

  Oh God, Lana blushed and she dropped her chin. Hmm, Evie was a smart girl. “I apologize if you went to any expense. But I don’t think your…” Services? Could he use that word without making her sound like a hooker? “We’ve had a re-think on the strategy.”

  Lana’s smile disappeared. Taylor stepped between them; Ian and Kody closed in too. “No, we haven’t,” Taylor said, smacking his arm. “Why would you say that? Lana came all the way out here. It took a lot of effort for us to organize this surprise for you.”

  “Well, I wish you hadn’t,” he said, lowering to whisper at his sister, though everyone was so close to him that there was no way this conversation was private. “We’re here for business, not for… not talking.”

  Again, he was digging himself a hole because he’d been “not talking” with Evie not too long ago. But it was because of her that he couldn’t build Lana’s hopes up. It wasn’t fair on either woman for him to spend time with them both. Lana was probably a wonderful woman, but she would never be his woman. It wasn’t fair to let her think there was a chance she could be.

  Evie wasn’t as together as she portrayed. He’d just made a commitment to her and it was one he intended to honor. Being with her was going to be a rollercoaster, but somehow, he’d known that even before he’d known about her past. He wasn’t going to give her any excuse to push him away and she could use Lana to do that.

  “Not talking?” Lana asked.

  Oak kept his attention on his unimpressed sister. It was wrong that he felt hostile toward Lana, she’d done nothing wrong, and it was misplaced, he was really pissed at his sister and the guys.

  “It’s code for sex,” Kody said.

  Lana squawked. “I didn’t… I wasn’t expecting… oh my.”

  Taylor pinned her glare on Kody. “Good going,” Taylor said. “Don’t scare the poor girl.”

  The “poor girl” had to be older than Taylor, but it was nice that his sister was concerned for the woman who could probably take care of herself. Though at the first mention of sex, Lana seemed to waver, so maybe not.

  Odd that he should think of Evie and her saucy little smile; she’d never shrink at any mention of sex. Yeah, he knew there was a reason for her need to project confidence, but it only made him more proud of her to know she was standing tall even when she was falling apart inside.

  Frowning at each man in turn, Taylor reserved the worst of her displeasure for him. “I’m taking Lana,” Taylor said, poking her nose in the air. “We’re going to find Evie.”

  Taylor gestured Lana toward the door. “Evie?” Lana asked.

  “Evie will fix this, she’ll greet you properly,” Taylor said and urged Lana forward. “And she’ll tell my stupid brother to behave himself.” Taylor opened the door then turned back to the trio of men. “All of you find something productive to do. Us ladies will see you at dinner and we expect all of you to act as perfect gentlemen.” Kody got another shot of Taylor’s scowl. “Which means no talking about sex!”

  Ian raised his hand. “Uh, you might want to tell Evie that,” he said like he was addressing the teacher.

  But as Kody sniggered and Oak smiled, Taylor just glared harder. “Evie is going to be pissed at all of you for scaring this woman and upsetting me.” Taylor stood taller and found a grin. “I can’t wait to see it.”

  Turning to flounce out the room with her new friend, Oak was glad to see his sister triumphant. “We’ll give them a minute or two to get out of the corridor before we go back to work,” Ian said out the corner of his mouth.

  “Yeah,” Kody said. Oak watched both men staring at the door his sister and Lana had just exited. “Except if we wait too long, we might meet Evie on her way up here to kick our asses.”

  Both Ian and Kody started for the door without saying anything else. Oak had to laugh at how quickly they ran out his room. It didn’t matter that Ian technically hadn’t done anything wrong, he didn’t want to face Evie after Taylor claimed to have been upset.

  He knew that his gorgeous, enigmatic Evie wouldn’t be out there in the corridor because she was still tucked up in his bedroom. As he sank his hands into his pockets and began to saunter in that direction, he tried to think up any excuse he might be able to use to keep her there.

  ten

  Opening the bedroom door, Oak stopped when he saw Evie sitting on the other side of the bed with her back to him and the phone to her ear.

  “I know,” she said into the handset that she was clutching with two hands. “Yes, I understand that… Yes…” Her voice was even, like she was listening to instructions. Then she exhaled. “I can’t… Noel, I…” Ok, so she was talking to her therapist. Propping himself on the doorframe, Oak wondered if it was rude to listen in, maybe he should give her privacy. But he had to let her know that she was free to come out of the bedroom. “He won’t want to.” He? Oak wondered if he could be the he? Would she talk to her therapist about him? Probably, and he’d have to be ok with that. He was a new development in her life and one that he hoped she’d integrate fully. “I can’t ask him… No, it’s too soon… he won’t—”

  Stepping inside, Oak deliberately closed the door hard to startle her into turning around. “Thirteen?”

  “Noel, I have to go,” she said. “Yeah, he just walked in… Ok… Bye.” After replacing the phone on the hook, she got up. “Is the coast clear?”

  “Noel?”

  “That piss you off? I can cover the cost of the call if—”

  “Don’t get defensive.” Leaving the door, he went to join her as she reached the end of the bed. “I don’t mind… You told him about us?”

  She nodded. “Before we left… I told him about the other night in your apartment,” she said. “In our emergency session at the hotel. I didn’t have time to leave the office to travel to him, so we met in the hotel and
talked… He wasn’t happy.”

  Shit. Oak needed the support of the therapist. He needed him on his side. If this Noel guy thought he was a bad idea, Oak would have to respect whatever was best for Evie’s wellbeing, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t seek a second opinion.

  Catching a section of her hair between his first two fingers, he cast it back over her shoulder, hoping that she’d stop looking past him, which she seemed to do whenever they were talking about anything serious.

  “Why wasn’t he happy?”

  Inhaling a breath, she looked so tired all of a sudden, making him realize what an emotional toll this was taking on her. “Because I’m not ready for sex… I skipped a whole bunch of steps.”

  Maybe they skipped a few, but they’d been on dates, and known each other more than a month. They weren’t strangers and he cared about her. “Evie, Sweet, if you need to put the brakes on, I understand… But I figure that you’re the best judge of what you’re ready for.”

  It had been four years since she’d endured the trauma of losing her sister, and he didn’t think he’d put pressure on her to get naked.

  Growing suspicious, Oak wondered about this therapist who’d had her on his books for four years. As long as she still needed his services, Noel was getting paid.

  Evie curled a hand around the side of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Was she looking for some more loving or about to break his heart?

  “Should I get back to work or do you want me to return to HQ?”

  “Work,” he said, trying to take her into his arms, but she stepped back. He didn’t want her to withdraw. “It’s been a tough day for you, if you want some time off, we can—”

  “No,” she said. “I need to be… me.”

  So spending time with him had dredged up her trauma again. He’d have to tread carefully and find a balance between probing into her past to get to know her and embracing what she needed to be to get herself through the days while she worked to better herself.