by Whitley Cox
Once they were all seated back down in their “trust circle of bodacious bitches,” as Tori called it, all eyes swung back to Eva.
“Then what happened after you guys slept together in your hotel room?” Violet asked. Eva still held a snoozing Brielle, and she was content to do so. The baby in her arms had brought her blood pressure right down. The new mom sipped her wine. “I need sexy stories, desperately. I’m not getting much below-the-belt action myself these days, what with the nocturnal feeder here, so I’m living vicariously through you randy ladies.”
Eva shrugged gently, careful not to jostle Brielle. Though she probably could have sneezed during a Metallica concert and the baby wouldn’t have roused. “I left the next morning without saying goodbye because I didn’t want it to be awkward and also because I’d never done that before and I was freaking out. Then we went six weeks never thinking we’d see the other person again before he showed up in my driveway as we were unpacking the moving truck.”
Isobel clasped her hands and tucked them beneath her chin, batting her eyelashes dramatically. “And it’s been true love ever since?”
Yes.
“Something like that,” Eva murmured.
“Well, we’re really happy to add another woman to the group,” Tori said cheerfully. “Scott’s a super guy, and he seems so happy.” She twisted her lips. “I mean happier than he normally is, because he’s a pretty happy guy. A big goofball, really.”
“Have you seen that side of him?” Isobel asked.
Eva chuckled and nodded before glancing down at a now snoring Brielle. “It’s my favorite side.”
It was closing in on seven thirty, and all the kids were in Zak’s living room happily watching a movie while the grownups sat around Zak’s enormous dining room table drinking and laughing.
Even though it was a school night, everyone was having such a great time that not one person had made a move to gather their children and leave.
Scott lifted his arm and wrapped it around the back of Eva’s chair, allowing his hand to fall to her shoulder. She leaned into him. The ease and familiarity between them and the level of intimacy they were both comfortable with—particularly in front of others—beguiled him. But he also really liked it.
He liked being in a relationship. He liked having a special woman in his life who he could share his ups and downs with. He and Katrin had a few inside jokes between them, and when one popped out, it was like a little firework going off inside him each time. And now he and Eva would have those moments and secrets between them as well. Only she struck him as the type of woman who loved a good laugh, unlike Katrin, who you really had to work at getting to crack a smile. Eva smiled freely and easily, and more than once during the BBQ, he’d caught her laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.
He’d never seen Katrin laugh that hard—ever.
“More wine?” Aurora asked, easing herself out of her chair and heading to the kitchen. All the women nodded or said, “Yes, please.”
A few of the guys were still drinking beer, but others—like Liam—had moved on to scotch. Scott had stopped drinking because he was driving, but that didn’t mean that Eva couldn’t enjoy herself.
“Oh, damn it!” Aurora grunted and grumbled in the kitchen. “The cork busted off in the bottle. What the hell?”
“Try again with the corkscrew, Rory,” Zak offered, standing up and wandering over to help his damsel in distress.
“Don’t break the bottle, you big jock,” Aurora joked, swatting him away when his meaty fist looked about ready to crush the neck of the bottle.
“Push the cork into the bottle,” Eva suggested, craning her neck around to see the commotion in kitchen.
“But then how will we get it out?” Aurora asked.
“Leave that to me,” Eva said. “Use a knife to push the cork in, fill everyone’s glasses, and then when the bottle is empty, bring the bottle a thin dish towel over to me.”
“Ooh.” Liam’s brows lifted. “Party tricks.”
Eva grinned. “Something like that. I was a server for a couple of years, and one of the waiters who had worked there forever used to do tricks for his tables.” She thanked Aurora for her now full-again wine glass, then accepted the empty bottle with the cork stuck in it and a dish towel.
Scott’s hand dropped from her shoulder as she scooted her chair in closer to the table, all eyes on her. Pride swept through him. Everyone seemed to like Eva, and she fit in with their little makeshift crew seamlessly. Her boys were thick as thieves with Freddie and Jordie already, with the four kids making plans to have sleepovers during the summer.
He took it all as another sign that she was meant to be in his life, meant to be by his side. Their sons got along. He and Eva were once again on the same page. Now all they had to do was deal with the toxic sludge that was Todd Fletcher, and then they could all ride off into the sunset in her soccer-mom minivan. Complete with orange slices and Capri Sun pouches for all.
Using the corner of the dish towel, Eva made a small Pope hat-shaped open-mouthed cone and fed it into the neck of the bottle. She shook the bottle until the cork bounced its way into the open part of the towel, then she tugged, securing the cork in the towel and up into the neck.
“Well, shit,” Zak murmured.
“Cool,” Mark breathed.
Eva pulled hard, grunting when the towel and cork became stuck in the middle of the bottleneck.
“Need a hand?” Zak asked.
Eva shook her head, grunting again. “Just a sec. I’ll get it.”
Scott had to admire her persistence. She was determined to see her trick through, even though there were men with rippling muscles all around the table. And he didn’t mean himself, per se. Zak and Aaron were practically busting out of their T-shirts. Both were muscly redheaded men with arms full of tattoos. Aaron was a former Navy SEAL turned contractor, and Zak owned a gym. Either one of them could probably bench-press a Smart Car and not think twice about it.
Another grunt, tug and pop, out came the cork in the sleeve of the towel.
Several people around the table gasped. A few clapped.
Eva’s grin warmed Scott from the inside out.
“So cool,” Isobel whispered.
Eva handed Aurora the bottle and cork. “There you go.” She then opened the towel up completely on the table, and while laughing at Mitch’s joke about Eva being hired to do tricks for all their dinner parties, she began to roll the towel.
“Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?” Tori asked, sipping her wine. “Like can you pull a tablecloth out from beneath the dishes without breaking anything?”
Eva shook her head, then for no reason, she dabbed at her mouth with her napkin.
“Bwaha.” Aurora snorted. “Is that another trick?”
Eva made a face of angelic innocence as she dabbed at her mouth again. “Whatever do you mean? Is there something on my mouth? Perhaps a bit of cream?”
That’s when Scott noticed that she had rolled the dish towel into the shape of a penis—an erect penis—and was dabbing at her mouth with the head.
She just kept revealing more remarkable layers of herself to him—to all of them—and he just kept falling harder and harder for her when each layer was revealed.
“That’s hilarious,” Adam said with a chuckle, patting Brielle’s butt lightly, the baby fast asleep on his shoulder. Mason held a sleeping Willow in the same position, Aaron a snoozing Sophie on his broad shoulder, and Atlas, who had been more quiet than normal, held his cousin’s daughter—and his new foster child—Cecily against his chest after feeding her a bottle. Their little family was certainly growing. So much so that it wasn’t a little family of single dads and their kids anymore.
Eva’s smile was demure, but her eyes glittered as she unfurled the towel and passed it to Aurora. “Another trick I learned from my waiter friend Damien. We had a lot of fun at that restaurant.”
Laughing, Scott wrapped his arm back around Eva and tugged her agains
t his side, planting a kiss to her temple. “It means so much to me that you came to meet all my friends,” he murmured against her hair. “Everyone loves you.”
She blinked up at him, her smile small but hopeful.
She was everything he’d ever wanted in his life. In her eyes, with her in his arms, he saw his future. And not just for the next week or month or even year. He saw Eva in his life and in his arms for years and decades to come. He saw their old, wrinkled and liver-spotted hands linked as they sat in matching rockers in their nursing home watching the ducks in the pond outside. He saw their grandchildren coming to visit them, their great-grandchildren too. He saw a life with her.
“Thank you for inviting me,” she said, keeping her voice low. The two of them now had their heads together, oblivious to the conversations going on around them. “I really needed this. A chance to get out of my head, make some new friends. I really love the women. I love everybody. They’re great.”
“Eva … ” He blew out a breath and touched his forehead to hers. “I love you.”
The look in her eyes said it all.
Too soon.
Fuck, he knew it.
He knew it, but he didn’t know better and went and said it anyway.
“Uh … ” She shifted away slightly, her gaze sliding to the side, where Freddie, Kellen and Lucas came walking toward them, all three of them rubbing their eyes and yawning.
“Mom, can we go home?” Kellen asked. “I’m tired.”
“Me too,” said Freddie.
“Hey, Freddie. Got any jokes?” Liam asked, his eyes following his own son making his way into the kitchen. Jordan climbed up onto Liam’s lap.
Freddie nodded. “Want to hear a construction joke?”
“Sure do,” Liam said.
Freddie yawned. “Sorry, I’m still working on it.”
Laughter pinged around the table.
One by one, tired children with sleepy eyes and heavy feet trudged their way into the kitchen, locating their parent and either climbing up into a lap or snuggling into their side.
“I think that’s our cue to call it a night,” Mark said, hoisting an exhausted-looking Gabe onto his lap. He brushed hair off the little guy’s forehead. “Hey, buddy. Bedtime?”
Gabe nodded and closed his eyes, resting his head against his father’s shoulder.
“We should get these kids home,” Eva said to Scott, her voice distant despite the fact that she was right next to him.
Fuck, had he completely botched everything with his overeagerness?
Probably.
Damn it.
She stood up, and he expected her to escape his side, following her children to make sure they didn’t leave anything behind, but he found her hand on his shoulder and her mouth next to his ear. The warmth of her breath on his neck made his cock jerk in his jeans.
“I’m not there yet,” she whispered. “But I’m close. Really close. I’ve fallen for you, Scott. I just need to get everything else sorted first before I can take that next step, okay?”
He released his breath slowly through thinly opened lips, his thundering pulse in his ears slowing down to a calming thump, thump. “Okay.”
Her lips fell to his neck, and then she was gone.
Liam elbowed Scott once Eva was out of earshot. “I won’t represent you if you guys get a divorce. Richelle is her attorney, and we’ve made a promise to never go up against each other again.” Scott made a noise in his throat that said he wanted his brother to back off. But either Liam didn’t give a shit or he was oblivious, as he just kept yammering on. “I can make some recommendations for you, though.”
“You’re a dick,” Scott said flatly.
“But you love me anyway,” Liam said, all grins.
Scott rolled his eyes. Liam had really come through for them with his PI. Now they had ammunition—and it was still building—to make sure Todd didn’t come near Eva or the kids.
He slapped his brother on the shoulder deliberately just a touch too hard. Liam made an oof noise. “That I do. Night, bro, and thank you.”
19
It was closing in on nine o’clock by the time Scott tucked Freddie into bed. The boys had found their second wind when Scott parked the van in Eva’s driveway, and all three little rascals took off into Eva’s backyard for a rousing game of tag.
Just as well. It gave Scott and Eva a chance to talk while the boys burned off the last bits of their energy—and the churros that Paige had brought for dessert.
They hadn’t really spoken since they left Zak’s house. The ride home had been quiet all around. Even the boys seemed lost in thought.
He couldn’t tell if it was worry or sadness that wrinkled the corners of her expressive green eyes. Or fear that caused the tight press of her lips. Either way, Eva was lost in her own head as she put dishes away and began to toss granola bars, boxes of raisins and apple sauce squeeze pouches into two open lunch boxes on the counter.
Even though she’d responded to his confession with kindness, it still ate away at him that he’d told her he loved her. How stupid could he be? That was not the time, place, nor enough time into their relationship to reveal such a thing.
And yet he had.
Idiot.
He needed to clear the air further. Things were still hazy, and he feared that if they didn’t talk about it, a fissure between them would form, and with everything going down with Todd, that fissure would turn into a crevasse so wide, no bridge could span it.
Clearing his throat, he stepped deeper into her kitchen. “Can we talk about what I stupidly blurted out earlier tonight?” He rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“Whatever do you mean?” she asked with a big grin, her eyelashes batting flirtatiously. Even with the Colgate smile, he could tell she wasn’t entirely on board with the happiness she was projecting. The twinkle in her eye wasn’t there, and the corners of her mouth began to droop seconds after she tossed on the smile. She was plagued by everything Liam had revealed. And why wouldn’t she be? That was a lot to take in, a lot to process. Scott was still processing it.
He leaned against the counter and eyed her carefully, not wanting to spook her but wanting to let her know that she didn’t have to put on a happy face for him. She could be herself. She could be scared, angry, or any other emotion she wanted. He wasn’t going anywhere. “You know what I mean, Eva. I’m sorry if I spooked you.”
“Ah, you mean the part where you told me you loved me?”
He nodded, his gut twisting until he thought he might puke. “Yeah, that.”
“You didn’t spook me. Surprised me, sure. But I’m not spooked. And I’m not going to run, if that’s what you’re worried about. I told you that I’m not quite there yet, but I’m close. I’m on my way. Only a few paces behind you.” This time, her smile was small, but the twinkle in her eyes was back. “I’ve fallen hard and fast for you, neighbor. I just need to unload a bit of the baggage that refuses to get lost in transit. I keep trying to ditch it roadside, and it keeps winding up back on my doorstep.”
She ditched the bowl in her hand and stepped into his space. They were toe to toe, not quite touching, but close. Close enough he could feel her heat, feel her warm breath on his parted lips. Her unique and sweet feminine scent wrapped around him, and he resisted the urge to shut his eyes and inhale deeper.
She sucked in a deep breath to continue but must have thought better of it and sighed, pressing her hands to his chest.
The air between them—not that there was much room for it—suddenly turned thick. He tilted his head down so they were even closer now, so close her ragged breath washed over his lips when he opened them to speak. “I won’t pressure you to say it back. I’m a patient man, and you are definitely someone worth waiting for.”
Fire ignited in the yellow flecks of her eyes. She pushed up onto her tiptoes and surged forward, capturing his mouth in a heated, driven and purposeful kiss. Her nails raked up his shirt, a
nd her fingers curled around his neck as she deepened their lip lock and tugged him down to her.
They kissed and kissed and kissed until ruckus at the patio door caused them to abruptly pull apart, seconds before their sons came barreling into the house.
“Ready to go?” Scott asked, ruffling Freddie’s hair and coming up with a sweaty palm. The little guy was panting, and his cheeks were rosy. Hopefully that meant his son would sleep well after all that fresh air and running around.
Freddie nodded. “Can I come back over to Kellen and Lucas’s tomorrow to play? After school and then after dinner?”
Scott grinned, his gaze slowing lifting from his son’s tired but eager expression to Eva’s face. She was smiling.
It was such a bonus that their kids got along so well. They could have had a real problem getting to know each other if their kids weren’t compatible.
“We’ll have to see, buddy,” he said. “But something tells me we’ll be seeing a lot of Kellen and Lucas.”
Freddie made a face that was the equivalent of no shit. “Well, yeah, Dad. They live next door.”
Scott rolled his eyes.
Eva chuckled.
With his hand on his son’s shoulder, he guided Freddie back toward the sliding patio doors. “Say goodnight to your friends.”
Freddie waved enthusiastically at Kellen and Lucas. They waved back, their faces equally exhausted and rosy-cheeked.
Scott paused with his body half inside the house, half on the deck, his eyes landing on Eva’s face. “Until tomorrow then?”
The smile that slid across her face made his pulse race. “Until tomorrow. Goodnight, Freddie. Goodnight, Scott.”
Holding hands, Scott and Freddie descended the sundeck stairs to Eva’s backyard. “Can we take the back gate, Dad?” Freddie asked, yawning.
“Not tonight, buddy. But next weekend I’ll clear the bushes in front of it, fix the broken boards and grease the hinges. It can become you kids’ secret passageway between the houses.”
Freddie beamed up at him as they wandered down Eva’s driveway toward the sidewalk. “That sounds cool. The guys and I want to build a fort this summer. Maybe we can build one that is so big, it’s in my yard and their yard.”
