"This is hard, isn't it?"
"What's hard?" she asked suspiciously.
"This," he waved his free hand. "All this proximity."
"No," she lied. "No, it's fine. I have no problem being so close to you."
"Really?"
She noticed that his face seemed softer in the glow of the nightlight on the bus. She felt like she had to give him something, she could admit this was hard, right? That wouldn't be a problem.
"Okay, yes, a little."
"Me too," he said simply, and then he lay back down.
Well, that was unsatisfying, she thought, as she rolled back toward the wall of the bus. Justus snugged in close to her and she felt him against her ass. She had to keep herself from wiggling her butt into his crotch. Some professional. She pretended to be asleep, hoping real sleep would come.
************************
When Eva woke up she rolled onto her back and opened one eye slightly. Staring at the ceiling she tried to recall where she was. It definitely wasn't the ceiling from her mom's house, and not her place with Greg. Then it all came flooding back in a rush and she flopped her hand to the side, realizing that Justus was gone. Eva leaned over and parted the curtain for the bunk and peered out.
Coffee. She definitely smelled coffee. Patting her hair down she reached for her track pants and pulled them on. She turned to the side and slid out of the bunk, hitting the cold bus floor with a thunk. They were still moving, so she figured it was pretty early. Swaying gently from side to side, she made her way to the front section of the bus where she found several coffee makers. Selecting a pod from the box, she slid it into the coffee maker, put a styrofoam cup under the spout and pushed the button. She was met with the satisfying gurgle of one cup, brewed just for her. Eva creamed and sugared her breakfast and slid into a booth.
There were a couple of guys lounging around in their underwear on the couches and chairs, mostly reading or texting on their phones. They nodded in her direction, but no one spoke, which was fine with her. Talking to her before coffee wasn't safe for anyone.
Idly she wondered where Justus had gotten to, but no sooner did she think it than he appeared at her side, freshly showered and smelling of soap and shampoo. And half naked. Oh God, he looked good half naked. Look away from the abs, she instructed herself as her heart began to pound and her southerly regions began to warm up. And maybe throb a bit. Stop! She commanded her body.
"Good morning, roomie."
Eva looked up and caught his eye. She held up her hand, "Shhhhh, coffee. Gotta have my coffee."
"Oh, right," Justus nodded, "making sure you have your coffee is good for the safety of the team," and went to get himself a cup.
Eva was faced with avoiding looking at his ass instead of avoiding looking at his abs.
She stared down into her cup of coffee instead. Why, she wondered, why was she so taken with this guy? Was it just the body? Was it...oh hell, She knew, she'd had a crush on him since forever so that was half of it. Or more than half. But this was just a crush, she was sure. She had to get through the next few weeks and then she'd be home free. Crush-less and on her own in her little tiny homey RV.
"We'll be home early tonight. Then nothing but practice until the game on Friday night. Where are you staying?"
Eva blinked at him. "With you, I'm staying with you."
Justus rolled his eyes, "Really? I mean really? It's practice week, we'll be on the ice all the time. I don't need a sitter at home."
"You don't think you need a minder at all. But yeah, really, as in for real, as in I'm your new roomie."
"God dammit, I need some privacy, woman."
"Well you should have thought of that when you were busy making a name for yourself as a drinking partying machine, and then you wouldn't have this problem."
"The only problem here is you!" Justus stormed off to the back of the bus, leaving her alone chewing on the coffee stirrer.
"Well that went well," Nate said.
"Yeah, exceptionally," Eva looked up as he slid into the opposite side of the booth. Nate was tall and darkly handsome. Kind of the opposite of Justus, where Justus was beefy and well muscled, Nate was slender and well muscled. So, opposites except for the muscles. And the whole bus was full of great skating toned, solid muscular butts. Eva felt a little like a kid in a candy store as she looked around.
"He's not a bad guy, you know that, right?"
"Oh, I know him better than you think," Eva smiled.
"All women think that about all men. Y'all think you know us better than we know ourselves."
"Well, I really do know him pretty well. But so do you, you guys are roommates on travel, right?"
"Yep, since I got drafted by the team, they assigned me to him and it's been the two of us together ever since."
"So, what can you tell me? As his pretend fiancée, what do you think I should know?"
"That's a tough one," Nate smiled, "that he loves kids and dogs, he's not really the party rocker the press has made him out to be, or he'd never get any skating done, and that he's definitely not ready for a real life fiancée."
Eva looked up quickly, "Well I'm not really ready to have him as a real life intended either. He's not my type."
"Oh, really," Nate smiled, "and what is your type, Kitten?" he said as he placed his hand over hers.
"Well for starters, I prefer a man who likes me." Eva smiled withdrawing her hand from Nate's grasp. "And I'm nobodies Kitten. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get dressed and ready to accompany my future pretend husband home."
Kitten? Really? Eva thought to herself. Was that his way of hitting on her or annoying her? Maybe both, like in third grade on the playground. And she had thought Justus was irritating.
Eventually, the bus pulled up to the arena. The guys tumbled out of the bus and began to pick out their belongings.
Eva descended the stairs and stretched, glancing around looking for
Justus. Just look up for the blond head, she thought to herself. He really was quite imposing. She found him near the baggage compartment, unloading his belongings. She just had her backpack, and a purse, she had left most of her stuff at her apartment before she left Greg. It occurred to her she was going to need to do something about that, but she pushed it to the back of her mind.
She hadn't been home to their small town in a long time, and she smiled to herself and took a deep breath, it smelled the same. Her family no longer lived there. Her father hadn't been around really ever, so there wouldn't be anyone expecting her to stop by.
"Is that all you've got?" Justus gestured to her small pack.
"Yep, traveling light. I need to hit up a store or two, actually, this won't really cut it for more than a weeks worth of clothes."
Justus nodded, "You can do that later, no problem. We'll head home first."
"Where is your place?"
"C'mon, I'll show you." Justus took her arm and lead her to his car, it was some big SUV thing and she had to practically climb inside.
"Nice car," she said as she breathed in the leather smell from the seats.
"Yeah, thanks. I'm not much for spending my money on myself, but this was important. With the weather here, and in case I ever had to travel on my own. Well," he was blushing, "I just didn't want you to think I was spending just to show off."
Eva smiled, but wondered to herself, why he cared what she thought.
They drove along the roads, some familiar, some not. There had been a lot of development since she had been here, but the main architecture of the place was the same. The same village green, same gazebo for bands and events, the fountain was still there, with benches for people eating lunch or watching their kids.
It was a real hometown place, people knew each other in the grocery store, kept an eye on each other's kids and generally were friendly. Sometimes a little too friendly she thought wryly, having been the subject of some gossip now and then over the years. The problem was everyone knew your business, but usually
they knew it just a little bit wrong.
Justus drove outside of town a few miles and then turned up a long winding driveway. The house perched at the end of the drive was small and neatly kept. It had a pool out back, but it wasn't anywhere near the McMansion she had expected to see. The sign out front said, 'The Hideout'.
"I'm impressed," Eva said, turning to him as he shut the car off, "this is nice, homey. Although it seems you've named your house, that's kind of weird. "
"This place is just for me. No real room for anyone to stop by and encroach, and after the bus and the games and the travel, that's what I need, time to myself. C'mon I'll show you around."
He slid out of the SUV and grabbed his bags, fumbling with the keys as he approached the front door.
Eva didn't know what she had expected, but this wasn't it. Decorated in bachelor chic maybe, or early attic, but not this. It was tasteful, stylish even. Leather sofas, a fireplace, an expansive kitchen that made her hands itch to set some sauce simmering on the stove. There were Indian inspired blankets and gleaming wooden floors.
"Wow!" she breathed, "this is beautiful."
"Thanks," Justus smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Follow me."
He led her to the back of the house, past the kitchen to a guest room tucked away at the end of the house. It had its own bathroom and a slider to the patio and pool area. She turned around and studied him, "You are a man who is full of surprises. This is lovely." The room was done in pale peach and gray with accents of green. There were flowers waiting on the table, she nodded at them "Ok, how'd you do that?"
"I do have a housekeeper. She's the brains of the operation to tell you the truth. I don't know what I'd do without her. She isn't here every day, but you'll meet Rosie tomorrow."
Eva thought again just how surprised she was by this guy. She had expected him to fight her at every turn, but he'd been surprisingly agreeable. His home was small and lovely and tasteful, he had a housekeeper. He was being nice to her. She couldn't help but be suspicious.
Eva awoke early to the delicious smell of coffee and bacon and followed her nose out to the kitchen. Cinching her robe, she saw someone who must be Rosie, standing at the stove cooking breakfast. Rosie glanced up.
"Hi, sweetie, what can I get you?"
"Oh, no I'll do it, thanks, just some coffee to start."
"I'm gonna make you a dish of bacon and eggs. How do you like your eggs?"
"I hate to put you to any trouble."
"No trouble, it's why I'm here. What can I get you?"
Eva was hungry, she had to admit.
"Ummm, ok, I'll take scrambled."
Justus ambled into the kitchen and walked over to Rosie and gave her a pat on the head and a kiss on the cheek. Rosie was about 4'11" to his 6'4" and they looked like something out of a cartoon with the enormous height difference.
"Sit, she gestured with the spatula, yours is ready too." Justus didn't say anything, he just sat.
"That's a pretty good trick you have there," Eva smiled.
"Oh, yeah, he thinks he's tough but he doesn't give me any guff."
"I let her think she's the boss lady, it makes my life easier."
Eva tasted her eggs, they were delicious, smooth, creamy, just the right amount of salt.
"Wow, these are spectacular!"
"Thank you, sweetheart, I'm glad you like them. You must be Eva, Justus told me you'd be staying for a few days."
"Thanks for giving her notice."
"Well, I wanted the guest room to be ready. No sense you getting any ideas about sleeping in with me."
"I did think about it. You didn't leave last night, did you?"
"No ma'am," he saluted. "I have errands to do today, though. I'll behave, I swear. I'll take you to the mall and drop you there so you can pick up more clothes, and then I'll pick you up."
Eva narrowed her eyes suspiciously and raised one brow, "You don't actually think I'm going to fall for that do you?"
"Fall for what?" he asked, all wide-eyed innocence.
"Letting me shop to get you some alone time."
"Eva it's the middle of the day, what am I going to do?"
"My mom used to say you can do anything at noon you can do at midnight. I'm certain you can find something if you try hard enough. We'll be spending the day together, and sorry to say, you can just watch me shop."
"Is that really necessary? Really? I mean, I am an adult, and I know I have a job to do, and I'm going to do it. I don't need you by my side all day and all night."
"Really? Because that's where I was hired to be, Justus. Don't murder the messenger, buddy, I'm just here doing my job," she said, crunching down on a piece of bacon for emphasis.
"Right, your job. I'm sure that's all it is."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know you had a crush on me then, and I think you have one on me now."
"And what, I called your insurance company and insisted they hire me? You're just being ridiculous now."
"Wait, what?" Rosie interjected. "Crush on him when""
"We knew each other back in the day," Justus said. It wasn't exactly a lie, it was just not all of the truth.
"Knew each other when? Like when you were kids?"
"High school," Eva mumbled through a bite of toast.
"I was almost graduated, she was a few years behind. It doesn't matter."
Rosie glared at each of them in turn, "You're not telling me the whole story, I can tell. There's more here than meets the eye."
"There usually is when there's a woman involved, that was my point!"
"Look, I'm not leaving you alone, so, let me know when we're leaving, and I'll be ready."
Justus looked at his watch, "Give me half an hour, meet me out front," he said checking his watch then gesturing toward the door with his head. "We'll do my errands and then throw in a little shopping for you."
"OK, meet you there. Rosie, it was wonderful to meet you. I don't see a halo, but I'm sure you have one from taking care of this guy. I'll see you later I'm sure." Eva left to dress, and Justus retired to his room as well.
Moments later he reappeared, finger to his lips to indicate Rosie shouldn't say a word. Quietly he slipped out the front door and slid into the drivers side of his car. He would have some time on his own today if it was the last damn thing he did, he thought as he turned the key in the ignition.
Back in her room, she heard the SUV start, and before Eva could be at the front door, he was off and gone.
"Damn it! I thought this was too easy." Eva said turning to Rosie.
"He doesn't mean to play you, honey, he's just got to get some man time. You know how it is?"
"Yes, I do, but after he wins the championship he can have his man time all alone in his man-cave, with his man-friends, but until then his ass is mine! Excuse my French." Eva stormed to her room to think this through.
Renting a car was her only choice she figured. Her phone told her there were several nearby options, damn him anyway for making this harder than it had to be.
She called the best-reviewed place that showed up on Yelp, and arranged for a car to be delivered. Then she wandered back out to the kitchen. Rosie was done out there and was working somewhere else, Eva could hear her but not see her. She felt weird about giving herself a tour of his house, but what the hell, he was the one who left, right?
She went back to the kitchen intending to tour the house, but Rosie was back. She pointed out the keys on the bulletin board by the back door, winked and tiptoed quietly around the corner. So, what did these go to? Almost without thinking Eva grabbed the keys and headed out to the garage.
The garage was huge, with three doors, each of which would easily accommodate a full sized RV. One of the keys fitted the side door and she opened it to find not one, not two, but three cars. One was a sweet little red Mustang convertible. Classic. The second was a more sedate Lexus, and the third was a utilitarian Camry.
Forbidden Knight Page 4
