Evolve Series Box Set

by S. E. Hall

  “I’ve seen better,” I say with a shrug of my shoulder.

  “I haven’t.” He winks…every time I see him.

  “Oh, please, like I even remotely believe that. You don’t strike me as a cheesy lines guy, so don’t ruin it now.” I wink at him this time.

  He takes my hand, guiding me down the hall. “Disney, I say almost nothing I don’t really mean. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen anything better.”

  Giddy with his sweet words, I ask, “So where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.” He helps me into his very nice silver car. That’s all I know—silver, two doors, not a truck, looks expensive. He walks around the front, which I pay way too much attention to, and climbs in the driver’s seat. “You want music?”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  “So I do, Disney.” He shoots me an adorable sidelong glance and starts the car and the music.

  Is that? Oh, surely not. I thought I was the only person my age who knew ELO. My dad played them on records, for God’s sake! Anything could have just played, some clichéd, sound-the-same crap…but it was ELO. This little surprise is doing funny things to my head.

  “Have you eaten?” he asks.

  “I was in bed when you called,” I titter. “No, I haven’t eaten.”

  “Me either, shall we start with that? I don’t want you hungry.”

  I agree that sounds fine and a few minutes later we pull up to a little café on a historic district street. I wonder how he knows of this place.

  We opt to sit outside on the back deck; it has a great view of the lake. The houses around the water are spectacular. I always wonder when I see houses like that, what the heck do those people do for a living? My dad used to always tell me, “Slugger, money like that comes two ways. You’re born to it or you screw somebody else out of it.”

  My dad is the hardest worker I know—any day, any shift; and we struggled. These houses are three stories with private sand beaches and stone steps from their lower decks to the water. I wonder if they ever stop and take it all in. Do they appreciate what they have or do they wish they had the one across the water, ‘cause it has more windows?

  “Do you know what you want?” His question pulls me from my thoughts.

  “I have absolutely no idea.” I’m not just talking about the menu and I think he knows that. “I’ll just have what he’s having,” I tell the waitress. “So, are you going to tell me what we’re doing today?”

  “Nope, you’ll see. Are you not big on surprises, Disney?”

  “Yes and no. I love good surprises. I get ants in my pants but I don’t like the lingering fear from knowing most of them don’t turn out that way. I have to really trust the person to know the surprise will be good.”

  “I hope to make everything wonderful. If it’s not, you tell me, okay, Laney? Today and always, just tell me, and I’ll fix it.” He smiles warmly and I see sincerity in it, warming me to the idea of more time with this guy.

  Our food arrives and it smells wonderful. Blueberry stuffed strudel, and the first bite confirms it—Dane has excellent taste. “Mmmmm,” escapes me despite the mouthful.

  “You like?”

  “Oh my God, like is far from the right word. It may be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Yeah, I love this place. Next time we’ll get the strawberry chip pancakes. You can go ahead and thank me now,” he laughs as he puts a piece of heaven in his mouth.

  “Thank you,” I say, a bit embarrassed, looking down at the table. Of course I was going to thank him at the end of the meal.

  “No, Laney.” He drops his fork and reaches across for my hand with a soft chuckle. “I meant you’ll be thanking me for introducing you to the pancakes.”

  “Oh, well, thank you for that, and this.”

  He kisses the back of my hand he’s holding. “Thank you for joining me.”

  I look down, focusing on my dish rather than the rush of emotions surging through me.

  “Laney, how is it possible you have no idea how captivating you are?”

  Evan asked me something similar once, I remember it melted me to learn he thought that way…Evan.

  “Knowing me so little, what can you possibly mean?” This is a test. If he leads with the word hot, smokin’, tits, or ass, he’s taking me home.

  “Girls came in and out of that room all night. The only one I noticed was you. Not just that you’re gorgeous, you are, but a lot of them were pretty.” He glances out the window briefly before turning back to me with a serious tone to his expression. “But you, I remember you asked, ‘so you live three to this room?’ and your voice, I couldn’t have not turned around. The more we all talked, I saw your wit, your sarcasm, and the innocent but curious sparkle in your eye…I don’t know, I just found myself dying to hear what you’d say next.” He takes a deep breath, like a witness would when their testimony is finally over. “Oh and then the princess pajamas; I can’t remember ever seeing anything cuter in my life.”

  We both laugh at that. “Dane, I…”

  “Don’t be nervous, Laney, I just want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you.” He leans over the table on his elbows, bringing his face closer to mine. “There’s something great about you, the way I feel when you’re in a room. I want to see if my instincts are right about you, and those tell me that any kind of time with you is worth spending.”

  “Okay, we’ll spend time together. I’d like to get to know you, too.” I offer him a tentative smile and take another bite so I don’t have to talk anymore.

  He leans back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head and crossing one leg over his knee. “Best news I’ve heard all day,” he coyly replies.

  MK Studios is the sign on the building we pull up to and I turn to Dane. “What is this place?”

  “It’s our first stop on Laney Day.” His lips curve up a bit hesitant of a full smile; he’s nervous.

  “Breakfast was our first stop, and an excellent one at that.”

  “I stand corrected; this is stop two, come on.” He comes around to open my door, extending his hand to me.

  The receptionist greets him immediately. “Mr. Kendrick, so good to see you.”

  Mr. Kendrick? He’s like twentyish years old.

  “Thank you, Angela. I believe Paul is expecting us. This is Laney Walker.”

  “Of course, come on back.”

  Come on back? Who is expecting me for what?

  Breathe, Laney, breathe. I agreed to let him make the plans, and I agreed to go with him today in the first place, so time to man up.

  Paul is a fascinating man, definitely same-sex oriented, and apparently he loves me and I’m his darling. I love the way he says both incessantly. It becomes clear very quickly that I’m here for a photo shoot and I suddenly feel nauseous. Surely this isn’t a normal first date—well, this isn’t a date, but this is as intimidating of an event as it gets…Dane is a “go big or go home” guy apparently.

  “Dane,” I lean to him and whisper. “What the hell?! I can’t do this! Why would I do this? If you think I’m putting on some lingerie and posing, I’m gonna run out of here…and I’ll be nixing the whole ‘spend time together thing,’ you perv.”

  He rubs water from his eyes he’s laughing so hard. “Oh, Disney, never quit talking, please.” He catches his breath. “I already know you well enough to know lingerie would never be an option, and while I’m confident you’d look fabulous,” he winks, “I wouldn’t orchestrate for other people to see you in it.”

  Oh, Lord, good answer; I feel heated and oddly flattered.

  “I want you to see how beautiful you are, accomplished perfectly with clothes on. Now go with Paul and I’ll wait here.”

  I start to slowly drag my feet in the direction of Paul.

  “And Laney!”

  I turn back to look at him. The little sneak.

  “Have fun.”

  Paul puts me in a silky, flowing dress of beautiful light green with
a cream overlay. I argue with him a bit about it being a dress because I don’t do dresses, but he assures me that he does this for a living and I look marvelous. “I think Mr. Dane wants you to see what he sees. Let me bring that out for you. Trust me.”

  I go with it; might as well make the most of the experience, this is something I’d never have thought of myself.

  When Paul’s crew is done, my hair is down and curled and my feet are bare with a dark red polish on my toes. My makeup is light except around my eyes, where it’s heavy and smoky.

  Paul pulls me to a backdrop of sheer white and places me on a dark chaise. Then he aims a fan at me from far away. This is the real deal. I feel a bit like Cleopatra or Elizabeth Taylor.

  “Look up, left, at me, no smile, sultry, pout, look away, right arm back, left ankle in, arched back, shoulder down, look down and over,” Paul drills out commands, jumping around me like Tigger.

  I’m more than a bit overwhelmed. I ask him to stop a few times so I can calm myself, but finally he says we’re done and that I did well.

  Dane ambles over to me. “How was that?”

  “Actually, it was really fun once I got used to it. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re more than welcome. I’ll look at the shots while you get changed. I think he got some really nice ones.”

  I swallow heavily. “You watched?”

  “Every second. You did amazing. Did it feel good, Laney?”

  If I discount away my anxiety and take it at face value, yeah, it did. “It did,” I finally answer.

  “Well then, stop two is a success.” His cocky grin is brilliant.

  When I’m changed, Paul calls me over to look at the shots on the monitor. I’m pretty sure my jaw hits the floor; I love them. I barely recognize myself and am definitely shocked at the look in my eyes he’s captured.

  He rolls through the pictures, Dane and I looking over his shoulder.

  “That one!” Dane says suddenly. “B-dub it.”

  Suddenly, the picture in front of me becomes black and white. It’s a close up of my face, head slightly turned, and one curl falling by my cast down eyes. Dane reaches over Paul, taps a few buttons on the keyboard, and the nearby printer comes to life. As quick as that, there are two large prints of the shot in the tray and Dane moves to put one each in a separate manila envelope.

  “One for you, one for me,” he says, handing me one. “You’ll get a copy of all the rest later, but I had to have this one now.”

  Paul kisses me on each cheek and I thank him for the greatest time, promising to come back for another shoot sometime. Walking out, I stop Dane short and give him a huge hug. I can’t hold it in a second longer. “Thank you again, Dane, I mean it. You’ll never know how much.”

  He winks back at me, of course he winks, and it’s enough; I’m starting to speak wink.

  “So where we headed now?” The exhilaration still courses through me as I slide into his car.

  He tsks. “Stop three is a surprise, too, but it’s a further drive, so we have time to do a Q & A now.” He looks over coyly. “If you’re ready, that is. No doing a shot to pass now, so you have to answer.”

  “Dane, are you cowering to your own theory about the games? If you want to know something, just ask.” Oh, it is so fun turning his words back on him.

  “Damn, you’re good. I’m not used to people actually hearing or remembering what I say simply because they choose to. I’m gonna have to up my game.” He laughs. “Okay, so my first question.” He pauses dramatically to think about it. “Where did you grow up?”

  “About an hour from school, in Forest. You?”

  “Bridgeport, Connecticut. I moved here Tate’s freshman year.”

  “Why?”

  “Tate picked a school here because it was far away. He got in, so I followed him.”

  “Why would you follow him if you weren’t going to go to school there as well?” I’m usually not this nosy, but he’s opened up the floor for questioning. Plus, I’ve been wondering since I met him why he hung around a school he didn’t go to. In fact, I’m curious what he does all together.

  “Ah ah, my turn.” He dodges that one nicely. “So Disney, why Southern?”

  “Easy, it’s where I got a good offer; you know, softball. Evan and Kaitlyn, my other best friend, are both at the University of Georgia, but they didn’t want me.” I instantly wish I could take back the last part I’d just blurted out. I don’t want him to think I feel sorry for myself. I was very lucky to get financial aid for my schooling and I’m grateful.

  “So Dane, why not Southern?”

  “I was never going to go to college.” He doesn’t elaborate.

  Pulling teeth here. “Why not?”

  “Now, Laney, with all your witty banter, surely you’re able to keep up with whose turn it is.” His lips curl up.

  Oh, he’s clever. Yes, I was firing on all pistons with no regard for turns, so I remain silent.

  “How long have you been playing softball?” he asks.

  “Since I was about eleven, well, on a serious level, anyway. My dad coached me my whole life until I got to high school. They wouldn’t let him on the field then.” I laugh at my answer. Oh, Daddy.

  “I gotta tell ya, Disney, I never even thought about girls’ softball, let alone appreciated it, until I met you.”

  “Our games haven’t even started yet, what are you talking about?” I give him a quizzical glance out of the corner of my eye.

  “I can tell softball’s hard work and you’ve obviously dedicated yourself to it.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “By your body, Laney. No way has that happened on its own,” he remarks in a deeper tone.

  “Um, Dane, have you been checking me out?” I blush.

  “Only when I’m breathing.” He winks and gives me a sideways beam.

  He’d set himself up to be able to tell me he thinks I have a nice body, and Lord help me, I appreciated the effort.

  “All right, whose question?” I ask with way too much excitement.

  “Mine, when we get done—we’re here.”

  Ty’s is a very nice gym and I don’t even ask what we’re doing here this time, working out is fine with me. I have to say, I don’t think Dane’s plans have or will ever be mimicked. I wouldn’t have guessed today’s agenda in a million years.

  Here, too, it’s all Mr. Kendrick this and Mr. Kendrick that, and once we’re suited up in protective gear, it appears this won’t be a standard workout and that we’re the only two in class. A burly man named Kit explains that he’s a self-defense instructor and goes through the basic moves of self-defense. He has me practice them all on him several times. It’s odd how in tune to me Dane is. Self-defense class? Perfect.

  Kit next wants me to spar with Dane, who’s grinning ear to ear. “Take it easy on me, badass,” he teases as he grins bigger, if that’s possible.

  I flip him off.

  His eyebrows pop up. “I’ve never seen that move in a Disney movie.” He laughs. I just roll my eyes.

  We go through the scenarios and I actually do pretty well…I think. I’m a bit distracted. I mean, Evan has a great body and is a stellar athlete, but he’s way across a field covered in pads. Dane is right in front of me; shirtless and sweating. It’s scary hot.

  The male form in motion is a beautiful thing; skin, sweat, muscles flexing…pay attention, Laney, you’re gonna get knocked out. I stay off my butt, get a few blocks up and get one kick on him, which I’m pretty sure he let me do, but I’d say it’s pretty good for my first performance.

  “Remember, Laney, nose or groin, and then run and scream the whole way, got it?” Dane is taking this very seriously. “Let’s do it again, I’m attacking you from the front.”

  And he does. I get the shove your nose up move in and turn to run.

  “Make sure he’s down before you turn your back, Laney,” he reminds me as he grabs my arm.

  I do the backwards elbow up to his nose that they taugh
t me, and this time I spin and do the knee to groin motion, watching him go down before I turn to run.

  “Very nice, Disney, you did very well.”

  I square my shoulders and chin. “Thanks.”

  Even Kit agrees I’m a very quick learner. Dane and I both thank him for the lesson and go to change.

  Heading to the car, I’m actually bounce-skipping or something. I can’t remember the last time I had this kind of adrenaline high. This has been one of the best days I’ve ever had and I’m euphoric.

  Last stop of this exhilarating day is dinner and we agree on Mexican food.

  “Okay, so it was my turn,” he says as we wait for our food. “How did you like the defense class?”

  “I really liked it, very cool and good to learn. Thank you.” I smile.

  “You’re very welcome. Do you know why I took you there?”

  “Well, the shoot was so I’d feel pretty, which I did, so I’m guessing the class was so I’d feel safe?”

  “In part, yes. I want you to feel in control, Laney. I see a look in your eyes sometimes, a lot like fear, and as you venture out more, I want you to have at least some control over the situation. I want that sense of confidence to emanate from you.”

  “Why?” It’s insightful, but way forward.

  “I can tell all this is new to you, Laney; college, going out, meeting new people. I want you to feel secure. Every woman should make decisions based on good sense or choice, not fear.”

  “How do you think you know so much about me?”

  “I’m a pretty good people reader, always have been. I have to be. If I’m wrong, remember, just tell me. Either way, though, it can’t hurt for you to be prepared, right?”

  “No doubt, it was good to learn…but, I don’t know…”

  “What, tell me.”

  “I loved today. Everything you planned was original and creative and so fun, but both things were to make me feel something else or be someone different. It kinda makes me feel like you see all these things about me you want to fix, like I’m not okay as I am. Does that make sense?”

  He looks at me thoughtfully for a bit before answering. “Yes, I can see where you’d think that.” He blows a sigh up and out, ruffling his hair slightly. “I’m so sorry, Laney. Damn, talk about a backfire.”