Maybe that was what was so damned sad about this whole thing.
“Oh, before you go…” She reached to take the lid off of Evan’s cup and tipped the whipped cream canister over the half-full coffee drink, adding a new swirl. She replaced the lid and looked up at him with a smile. “Another reason to have my own whipped cream gun. I like to add more halfway through.”
Evan nodded, watching her eyes. “Never too much sweetness with you, huh?”
Oh boy, that sounded like flirting. And she loved flirting. And she had never been good about not doing something she loved just because it was a bad idea. She grinned at him. “You got it.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Something that made deep-down-feel-good muscles clench.
Evan gave her a long look. Then he said, “We have Nutella in Bliss.”
Huh. That was good to know. “How about shoe stores? That’s a biggie for Ava.”
He chuckled softly. “No. No shoe stores.” He reached out and flicked the diamond bracelet on her wrist. “No jewelry stores either.”
It was the only expensive jewelry Cori wore on a regular basis, because her mother had given it to her, but she knew most people assumed she had an endless supply of precious gems. Cori tipped her head. “What do you have a lot of?”
“Wheat, corn, and hay fields,” he said with a grin. “Pickup trucks. And dirt roads.”
Something fluttered in her chest at his words. She looked down at her bracelet, then back up at Evan. “Do you know anything about diamond mining?” she asked. Because she did.
He shook his head. “Can’t say that I do.”
“Well,” she said, giving him a big smile. “You can’t get to diamonds without dirt roads.”
He just stood looking at her for a long moment, a little bit of that amazement still there. Then he said, “When you end up in Bliss, you’re going to have to introduce me to bacon and Nutella.”
She laughed. “Don’t you mean if I end up in Bliss?”
“No,” he said slowly. “I think I mean when.”
“Ava and her attorneys are really good. I wouldn’t get too cocky, Mr. Stone.”
“Yeah, well, you’re about thirty years too late with that advice,” he said.
Then he gave her another panty-warming grin and walked out of Carmichael Enterprises.
Evan threw his leather bag—the one that he’d gotten for his graduation from law school and had used exactly one other time—onto the bed and shoved a hand through his hair. Noah had tried to convince him to run the bag over with his truck at least once, or rub some dirt on it at the very least. He said the shiny leather and the gold adornments were irritating.
But no, Evan had decided to carry the stupid thing into the meeting with the Carmichael triplets. Even as he was dressed in jeans and tennis shoes. At Rudy’s request. Yes, that was what Evan typically wore to work. In Bliss. But even he knew that a meeting at Carmichael Enterprises headquarters required a tie. Still, Rudy had insisted Evan show up as Evan. And Evan would have done anything for Rudy, even before his friend was sick. Then, like an ass, had carried a nearly-new leather briefcase along with him.
He slumped back onto the mattress next to his are-you-fucking-kidding-me briefcase and sighed. The hard part was over. He’d told the girls about the stipulations on their inheritance. And they’d reacted exactly the way Rudy had predicted.
Except for Cori.
That thought floated through his mind and he found himself thinking about the three sisters and what he’d expected. Ava was every bit the cool, ballbuster that Rudy had described. He’d said that his oldest would be pissed off and would do whatever she could to get control of the situation. Brynn, the middle triplet, was quiet and thoughtful, if a little distracted. The three words Rudy had used when talking about his scientist daughter had been right on. Rudy had said Brynn would try to calm the situation and look at it more analytically.
But then there was Cori.
Rudy had made it sound like Cori was hell-bent on rejecting everything he tried to give her and rebelling against every bit of decorum. Evan had expected her to take one look at Rudy’s note and say “no fucking way.” But that wasn’t what had happened. She’d said she could be ready to go in the morning. And she’d showed up with a whipped cream gun.
Evan ran a hand over his face. He had been prepared to feel a sort of kinship with the world-trotting party girl, but damn. There was a connection there, and he had the feeling he’d do anything to see that little mischievous smile of hers a few thousand more times.
Of course he was fascinated with Cori. Because he shouldn’t be. But it was all the stuff Rudy had told him about how Evan had given Rudy insight into his youngest. The way she used partying and wild weekends to stay important to her sisters and make them happy without having to be too responsible. And she definitely had an air of trouble—and fun—about her. But she was also more self-deprecating that Rudy had let on. She had a sense of humor and was very quick to defend her sisters too.
And she had a thing for Nutella.
Evan ran his hand up into his hair. Okay, the Nutella didn’t matter. The whipped cream and sprinkles didn’t matter. Her red leather jacket and fitted black jeans and hot leather boots didn’t matter. Nor did the fact that she’d written some little note to Brynn that had made her sister giggle at one point. Or the fact that the one thing that had made Ava’s shoulders unwind even slightly was the latte Cori had handed her. And Cori’s comment about diamonds and dirt roads didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to think about how that could be an analogy for what Rudy had found in Bliss—diamonds at the end of dirt roads. Figurative diamonds, of course. But literal dirt roads.
With an exasperated grunt, Evan sat up. He’d been in his head far too much lately. He supposed a friend’s death would do that to a guy, but he wasn’t going to sit around and think a bunch of deep, meaningful thoughts right now. He was going to get room service. And maybe a drink. And he was going to think thoughts about how to ensure the Carmichael triplets got their butts to Bliss. No, he didn’t want to be in charge of making the girls bake pies. He definitely didn’t want to oversee their love lives. But he would do anything for Rudy, and Rudy had been adamant about wanting his girls to live in Bliss.
Ava cannot end up with a man like me. She needs someone who can help her see beyond her office. And Brynn’s never dated. God knows how men could take advantage of her. And Cori…Cori needs more. She needs to realize that she can be more than just a good time for someone.
He and Rudy had been over this. Multiple times. Evan was supposed to be like a big brother to the girls. Sort of. In a way. He was supposed to make sure Cori stayed home and that Brynn only dated nice guys who would treat her well and that Ava gave a regular guy a chance.
Evan’s phone rang and he reached for it without looking at the number, grateful for the distraction.
“Stone.”
“When will they be here?”
“Well, hey, Parker. Yes, my trip was great. Nice hotel. And I appreciated the pep talk text you sent me this morning before the meeting. You’re a good friend.”
“I didn’t send you any texts this morning.”
“I know.”
Evan heard Parker sigh on the other end of the phone. “Just tell me the girls will be here in a couple of days and I will send you a dancing bear thingy or something.”
Evan laughed. “Do you even know how to send a thingy, also known as a GIF, by the way?”
“I’ll figure it out. Just tell me again how everything is going to be fine and they’ve already agreed to Rudy’s crazy-assed plan,” Parker said.
‘They will agree to it,” Evan said carefully.
“Which means they haven’t yet,” Parker said flatly.
“They’re…looking things over.”
“Dammit, Evan.”
“We expected them to challenge it,” Evan reminded him. “We knew they wouldn’t just roll over.”
“Make those Gucci girls get their
pretty, spray-tanned asses to Bliss now,” Parker said.
Evan rolled his eyes. Talk about a rock and a hard place. He had Ava Carmichael on one side and Parker Blake on the other. He wasn’t sure which was a bigger hard-ass, frankly.
“There’s no way out of the trust,” Evan said.
“There’s one way,” Parker said. “And I promise you, if that’s how this goes down, I will make your life a living hell.”
Evan grimaced. Considering that Parker made about two-thirds of Evan’s meals and that he, Parker, and Noah all intended to spend all of their lives in Bliss and die very old men, that wasn’t a completely empty threat.
What Evan hadn’t told Ava, Brynn, and Cori yet was that if they decided to not follow Rudy’s mandates, then the town of Bliss would become the owner of Carmichael Enterprises. Rudy had already established the Bliss Foundation, given a ten million dollar trust to that foundation, and put Evan in charge of it. But if even one of Rudy’s girls didn’t follow through on her part of this trust, whether it be the provisions regarding the pie shop or their relationship statuses, then the company and all of its assets went to the town of Bliss with Parker as CEO, Evan as the CFO, and Noah as Vice President of something or other. It didn’t matter what they called it. It meant the three men were in charge. And none of them had any desire to run a company based in New York City that did…hell, they weren’t even entirely sure what Rudy’s company did besides make tons and tons of money. It might sound crazy, but they didn’t want to have billions of dollars under their control. They liked their lives in Bliss and part of that was the simplicity and straight-forwardness of it. Exactly the things Rudy had loved. So no, they did not want to take over Carmichael Enterprises. Which meant, they were even more invested in making sure Rudy’s triplets did what they were supposed to do.
“It’s going to be fine,” Evan told his friend. “The trust is airtight and they want the money.”
Evan really hoped Parker couldn’t hear the note of hesitation in his voice. Parker had agreed to the provision of taking over as CEO to placate Rudy. But he’d pulled Evan aside and basically said he’d kill Evan if the triplets didn’t come to Bliss.
Evan definitely needed to be sure the girls came to Bliss. There just wasn’t another option. “I’ve got it under control,” he finally told his friend. “I’m not leaving until tomorrow. I fully expect to talk to them again before then.”
Even if he had to go hunt Ava down and convince her that Bliss was exactly where she needed to be for the next year.
“Do that,” Parker said firmly.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Evan said.
“Don’t make me pull the jalapeño burger off the menu,” Parker warned.
“You wouldn’t.”
“You don’t want to find out.”
He definitely would. Evan scowled at the ceiling. “Cool your jets, Blake,” he said. “No need to plan revenge for something that’s not even going to happen.”
“I’ll believe it when I see those billionaires walking down Main Street in blue jeans.”
“Goodbye, Parker.” Evan disconnected before Parker could give him any more shit. Or give him anything more to worry about. He really liked that jalapeño burger.
But all he had to do was get the Carmichael triplets into blue jeans and to Bliss. How hard could that be? Hell, one-third of them had been wearing jeans today. And looking damned good in them.
Evan scowled at the ceiling. Of course, he was attracted to Cori. She was the fun one. The can’t-be-tied-down one. There wasn’t anything about her that he didn’t like. Evan dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. But she was off-limits. And even if she wasn’t, Cori wouldn’t do a damned thing to make him more disciplined. The travel-the-world, party-in-every-country triplet would only feed Evan’s own what-the-hell-you-only-live-once tendencies and he was trying to be a better man. Someone worthy of Rudy’s trust in him. Someone who knew when and how to take things seriously and be responsible.
The girls weren’t the only “kids” Rudy had worried about. He worried that Noah didn’t trust himself to take care of the people he loved. Which he didn’t. Rudy worried that Parker was a little too independent. And crotchety. Which he was. And Rudy worried that Evan didn’t take things—or himself—seriously enough. Which he didn’t.
Most of Bliss trusted Evan to always show up with a cooler and a great idea about how to make any event even more fun.
Rudy, on the other hand, had trusted Evan to manage the Bliss Foundation, make decisions about how to spend ten million dollars, and his daughters’ happiness.
Evan rolled his neck as the tension, that was becoming far too familiar, crept up the muscles on either side of his spine. He really wanted to do this. He really wanted to be deserving of Rudy’s belief in him. But the last time someone had trusted him to do something other than throw a kick-ass Super Bowl party or hand out multiple orgasms, he’d spent four panic-stricken hours searching for a friend in Vegas and had to write a five thousand dollar bail check once he’d found him.
His phone dinged with a new text message and he grabbed it. He really didn’t want any more of Parker’s shit about how he had to get this thing done. He knew that. He just wasn’t sure how.
But it wasn’t Parker.
BBQ wienies or pigs in a blanket?
It was Jill Morris. A very good friend of Evan’s. A Bliss girl, born and bred. And the woman he’d slept with three nights ago. And hadn’t talked to since.
Evan winced and texted back. Yes. Both. Always. Or pigs in a blanket and BBQ meatballs.
Ah, meatballs. Good call.
Evan smiled. He and Jill had been friends since kindergarten. She was a great girl. For your going away party?
Jill had been offered her dream job in Omaha and was scheduled to leave in a couple of weeks. She deserved a big bash on her way out of Bliss.
Wedding reception.
Evan frowned. He couldn’t think of any upcoming weddings. Whose?
Ours.
Evan looked at those four letters far longer than he should have needed to. But that answer made no sense.
You have the wrong number, he finally sent back. She was messing with him. He was sure. Ninety-eight percent.
Evan Michael Stone. Birthdate, August second. Great taste in action movies. Horrible taste in comedies. Will do just about anything for lasagna.
Well, that was him. Except that Will Farrell was always funny. But yeah, Jill’s lasagna was exactly why they’d ended up naked together the other night in spite of a number of good reasons not to. Reasons that had kept them fully dressed when together for…forever.
It wasn’t a lack of attraction or opportunity over the years. But their families were very close and even a hint of something beyond friendship between them would have stirred up a bunch of expectations for an ongoing relationship when all Evan and Jill would have wanted was a friends-with-benefits situation. Jill had always had her sights set on places far from Bliss and, frankly, they got along great, liked each other a lot, and yes, had some chemistry. But they didn’t want to get married. A fact that their families, particularly their grandfathers, would never understand. Staying out of bed had been a solid plan.
Until the other night.
But there had been lasagna. And whiskey prior to the lasagna. And a funeral service for a very good friend prior to the whiskey.
And then after the lasagna, there’s been a very sweet, beautiful, willing woman who had kissed him and then taken her clothes off and distracted him from how fucking miserable he’d been, and he’d gratefully taken her up on everything she’d offered. From pasta to…another P word he was very fond of.
Evan sighed. Yeah, he probably needed to work on the Being A Better Guy thing.
What’s going on? he finally asked. But he knew. Someone had found out about their night together. Shit.
I’m on my mother’s couch, covered in Calamine lotion, and bridal magazines. Oh, and two generations of hopes, dreams, and exp
ectations for me.
Yeah, shit. Definitely. Calamine? He, unfortunately, understood all the rest of that.
Hives. From the strawberries.
Evan groaned and ran a hand over his face. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. You’re ALLERGIC?
Duh.
Good God. The way they’d used those strawberries…the places they’d used those strawberries…she had to miserable. You didn’t know?
Of course I knew!
What?! Kind of important information when someone is rubbing something you’re allergic to on your bare…skin. There, he’d used a more gentlemanly word than he could have.
I was blindfolded, remember? she replied, followed by an emoji that looked like it was rolling its eyes. Then it was too late. YOU should have known!
Evan frowned at the message. How???
Strawberry patch. Fourth grade class trip. They called an ambulance for me!
Evan winced. Holy shit, how could he have forgotten that? Oh, yeah, he wasn’t really that good guy. But… You didn’t tell me to stop.
I got…distracted.
Evan couldn’t help his grin. He’d distracted her from the fact that she was going to be covered in head-to-toe hives. Or more specifically, breasts-to-knees hives. That was something. And then it occurred to him that thoughts like that probably didn’t fall under the Good Guy column either.
I’m really sorry he told her sincerely.
I know.
But you’re messing with me, right? No one knows?
My mother would notice hives. And me taking Benadryl like candy.
Right. Of course. Jill couldn’t sneeze without her mom rushing to the pharmacy. Maybe because her daughter had been horribly allergic to strawberries and had ended up in an ER in fourth grade. You told her about me?? You couldn’t just say you’d eaten some?
His thumbs were getting sore from all the back and forth, but he and Jill had always been pretty wordy texters, and now didn’t seem the time to skimp on explanations.
Why would I eat something that I’m ALLERGIC TO? she asked. And you shouldn’t have used strawberries with MB! She told everyone! Mom knew I was bringing you lasagna that night and that I didn’t come home...she’s not stupid.
Diamonds and Dirt Roads Page 4
