WindSwept Narrows: #6 Eve Hastings

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “You hardly ate a thing, Eve,” Zach commented, enjoying the flaky crust and chicken filling. “I work…read…check my stocks…answer correspondence…have business dinners…normal stuff.”

  “I’m not feeling hungry,” she told him beginning the process of cleaning up her kitchen. “I have fruit or juice for later.”

  “I’m going to take a drive back to my apartment and get some clothes. I’ll arrange for the furniture to be moved next week and you can put it where ever you want.”

  “You’ll need a bureau…” She said quietly. “There’s some furniture in the garage. You might find things there you could use.”

  “I can manage out of a suitcase until then,” Zach shrugged, carrying his things into the sink. “Would you like to come along on the drive?”

  “No…no, thank you. I have some things to work on tonight,” Eve avoided looking at him, loading the dishwasher and keeping busy until she heard the sound of the main door closing. Only then did she reach for the counter to keep her knees from shaking. She quickly finished cleaning up and went to her room, sinking onto the bed and staring into the dark night outside her window.

  Eve wrapped herself in a thick quilt, sinking into the wide cushioned window ledge. The glass was cool against her forehead.

  Why did she have to choose someone she would come to like? She swiped angrily at the tears on her cheeks, pulling her pink sock covered toes inside the quilt and closing her eyes. Some sleep would be nice, she thought, drifting drowsily.

  Sleep would be really nice, she amended with a long sigh, her body sinking against the window.

  Zach entered the house two hours later. It was welcome after loading the SUV in the wind and rain, his hands rubbing together for some of the warmth of the house. Dark eyes blinked, trying to recall where the light switch was as he carried a large suitcase into the living area. He had the clothes out of the SUV and in the main part of the house quickly, dropping his jacket over a chair to dry.

  He didn’t call out, but moved quietly though to the back of the house where the master suite was, two large suitcases left to sit in the large walk in closet, his gaze falling on the figure curled against the window. The quilt had slipped off her shoulders, slender straps resting on the caps of each of her arms.

  Zach listened to the voice telling him she wasn’t his problem. He listened to the voice telling him to let her talk herself out of her plan, because he had come to realize that her sense of honor would net him the property, either way.

  He pulled the blankets down before carefully gathering her against him, laying her on the bed and covering her with the thick patchwork quilts. There was something almost painfully vulnerable about Eve Hastings that annoyed that part of him that just wanted to walk away from the entire situation.

  Zach found the long sleep pants he wore, closing the bathroom door and ignoring all the voices in his head. He made sure the locks were all set before standing over the sofa, his palm up and stroking over his neck. He really did not want another night on a sofa. He should have stayed at his own place tonight and he had been asking himself on the entire drive in both directions why he was returning to her house.

  It was closer to the project. That was the only answer that made sense.

  She set the rules to this relationship, he decided. He left the folded quilt and pillow on the sofa, striding to the bedroom and easing beneath the thick, warm quilts. His head came to rest on the pillow, a low sigh breaking free. It wasn’t ten minutes before he was breathing evenly, darkness and comfort taking him.

  Chapter Six

  It was shortly after three when she began thrashing, her breathing jagged and catching sharply. Zach sat up, his hands on her arms, pinning her to the bed.

  “Eve! Eve, wake up!” Zach held her in place, shaking her roughly when it seemed like she was holding her breath. He listened to the huge gulp of air, her lashes springing wide seconds before she stopped moving, breathing too quickly. “Eve...listen to me…slow down your breathing…close your mouth,” he watched her do as he told her, her chest heaving. She closed her eyes for a long minute, the slender form he had pinned in place losing all strength and melting into being awake.

  “Zach…” Eve breathed his name, a combination of relief and bewilderment in her voice. “I’m so sorry….”

  “I…you weren’t breathing…” Zach slowly released his hands on her arms, sliding his palms down to hers. He surrounded the smaller, cold hands with his warm ones, staring down at her.

  “I know…sometimes…I think if I hold my breath…in the dream….” Her head went from side to side. “I’m sorry I woke you…I know you work hard…”

  “So do you, Eve…why don’t you take the pills the doctor gave you?” Zach slid back beneath the quilts.

  “A silly notion of beating it on my own,” she exhaled slowly, rolling to her stomach and closing her eyes, her breathing level within minutes.

  Zach looked at the clock and groaned, sinking down and drifting off to sleep. She never said a word about him being in her bed.

  He swore he smelled coffee. He wasn’t sure where he was in the weird dream, but if coffee was part of it, he didn’t care. Then came the smell of toast and his brain shut off the dreams altogether. His eyes opened slowly to gaze around the unfamiliar room. The other side of the bed was empty, a pair of silky pajamas on the window seat. His elbows went behind him, slowly pushing himself to sit up, muscles complaining all the way.

  “That’ll teach you to have twenty something flash backs on the construction site,” he said aloud, shoving his feet over the side and trudging into the bathroom with a long stretch.

  Eve heard him enter the bathroom, the list she was making from his phone finished, folded and slid into her backpack. She left his phone sitting on the counter, gathered her bag and left the house.

  She woke to watch him sleeping at her side over an hour ago. He’d behaved like a gentlemen, she remembered thinking, his voice in the middle of the night soothing and even welcome to that of the terror in her nightmare.

  She drove slowly through the dark morning.

  Zach Covington was unusual. He hadn’t tried touching her. He hadn’t tried consummating the relationship. Eve wasn’t sure if she was relieved or insulted. Women, we’re so fickle, she thought with a little laugh as she entered the play care center.

  Samantha watched Eve enter the luncheon shortly before one, concern on her face. She left Logan and went to talk to her friend as she drifted around the room. Sam walked with her, their arms linked for a short time until Zachary Covington came walking up to them. Sam excused herself and returned to Logan.

  “A problem?” Logan asked, his palm resting on her waist as they greeted people.

  “He had an attorney call her about a prenup,” Sam said carefully.

  “A prenup? I didn’t even know…last I heard, they weren’t even talking,” Logan said in disbelief.

  “You gotta keep up with the play by play,” Sam teased.

  “Play by play hell…I’m not even sure what the game is!”

  Eve glared at him, dark lashes narrowed.

  Zach met the flaring violet eyes with a trace of wariness.

  “Have lunch with me?”

  “I don’t think so,” Eve shook her head, turning slightly and then changing her mind. “Your attorney called me. Mallory West?”

  “I asked her to…”

  “A prenup?” She whispered hoarsely, disbelief etched across her face.

  “It’s for both of us…”

  “If there is not to be a divorce, why is a prenup necessary?” She demanded hotly. Her palm rose, one fingernail poking hard in the center of his chest. “Do you honestly believe that you have one single thing I want, Zachary Covington?” She looked at his arched eyebrow. “Don’t…just don’t say a word.”

  “Eve…it’s a common practice…” Anger began to surface that he was attempting to defend himself.

  “With what we agreed to on a handshake, you honest
ly believe a prenup is important?” She hissed angrily. “How dare you!” She poked him again, forcing him to take a step back. “How could you?” Came the final words, whispered in pain before she turned and left him standing there alone.

  By the time he made it to the corridor, she was gone. He went to her office only to be told she had left for the day with a headache. Zach sat behind the wheel, his head back.

  He listened to a part of himself gloat that he finally had the upper hand.

  But then he heard a louder part of him tell him he had hurt her.

  She was right. Considering what they had agreed to on a handshake, what was the point of a prenup?

  Eve came out of the back of the daycare, her smile plastered in place as she went to the toddler room, letting Casey take a break while she took over the kids play time. It was a few hours later that she wandered through the cafeteria. She knew she should eat something. Her stomach was screaming for anything and her brain said nothing was acceptable.

  She sat at her desk, absently eating the fruit she’d bought and reading through the applicants for the positions she had yet to fill. It wasn’t until Toni came to say good night that she realized it was almost nine o’clock. Eve felt her stomach give a lurch when she pulled into the long, curved drive in front of the house, Zach’s large SUV dominating the scene. She parked her smaller SUV beneath the overhang, quietly closing the door and holding firmly to her keys to keep them from making noise. She’d never had to sneak into her own house before, she thought with a small frown.

  Eve was still frowning as she tried to remember if the floors squeaked. Her flats were fairly quiet, her little purse set on the kitchen counter as she stood silent for a long minute, letting the darkness slowly form. She knew the layout of her furniture and moved carefully to the large sofa, shaking out the quilt and settling into the corner.

  Zach heard the car, bare feet moving silently over the thick carpeting to the hall. He watched her run the slim fingers through her hair. He saw her hands shaking a little and sighed thickly.

  It hadn’t been his intent to hurt her. He was still baffled at the stark appearance of violet eyes swimming in tears she had held firmly in place during the confrontation.

  She had her knees drawn up, the slender body curled into a small spot at the end of the sofa. Zach walked over quietly, his head shaking. At himself and his reaction.

  “Evie…what am I going to do with you,” he said aloud, perching on the sofa and staring at her.

  “Go away. I’m not speaking to you,” she answered petulantly.

  “Now there’s a surprise. Let’s go to bed, Eve,” he stood up, not asking permission or warning her, he moved to swiftly gather her up against him. Her small yelp making him chuckle.

  “Hey! No! No…” but her hands flailed and went around his neck for stability. “Don’t you…damn it, Zach, put me down!”

  “I’m tired, Eve. I spent the afternoon pacing…first in my office and then at the construction site because I didn’t know how to find you and you evidently turned your phone off. Or am I the only one being blocked?” Zach asked, carrying her along the hall to the bedroom.

  “I wasn’t talking to you then and I’m still not talking to you. Put me down,” she said through her teeth, a small part of her puzzling through the fact that despite his behavior, she wasn’t afraid of him.

  “I put your pajamas in the bathroom. I really am tired, Eve.” He carefully set her on the floor near the bathroom. “The obstacles created from crap left by closed businesses continue to amaze me. And I can’t very well apologize if you’re not talking to me.”

  Eve frowned at the light in her bedroom. “Where’d that come from?”

  “My apartment. I like to read in bed,” Zach answered, following her gaze to the lamp he’d installed on the nightstand.

  “You’re going to apologize?” She asked, carefully running her tongue around her lips and meeting his eyes. There was a wide expanse of muscled chest that rose from the simple cotton pants he wore to sleep in that made her shake her head. He was a nice, naturally tanned color, his muscles strong and masculine.

  Zach climbed into the bed and patted the other side, absently picking up some papers and a pen without speaking.

  “You’re maddening.”

  “I’m honestly surprised we haven’t killed one another, Eve,” Zach commented with a low chuckle. “Which would put a seriously crimp in my project for the downtown renewal.”

  Eve scowled at him with a crooked frown, wandering into the bathroom and quietly closing the door behind her. Why wasn’t he like other men she’d known in her life? Why wasn’t he fitting into a neat slot for her to understand? Why was she just noticing how attractive he was when he smiled at her?

  “I think I’m surprised, too,” Eve admitted, still scowling to herself as she rounded the bottom of the bed and casually slid beneath the quilts, a shiver making her burrow down. “This shouldn’t be…it’s not supposed to feel so…so…”

  “Natural? Yeah…I’ve been pondering that one, too,” Zach admitted, dropping the folders into the briefcase he’d set on the floor beside him.

  “It was just supposed to be a simple physiological reaction. Nothing more. According to all I’ve read…”

  Zach’s hand stopped on its way to the light switch. “According to what you’ve read? About…”

  “How and why erections occur,” she answered simply, laying on her back and staring at the ceiling, full lips still pulled into a frown.

  “You studied it?” He asked as casually as he could muster.

  “When you don’t know something, you research and learn,” she said with a simple frown. “It was supposed to be simple and uninvolved. Males react to all sorts of stimuli, add a female…”

  “And you have a baby…” Zach swallowed to keep his voice from arching too high.

  “Exactly.”

  “It’s not quite that simple, Eve,” Zach left the light on, watching her face.

  “Nonsense. There’s tons of information regarding males and their bodies on the internet. A book, a video…or physical stimulation…poof…”

  “Alright…let me correct my statement,” Zach began slowly. “It’s not that simple for me.”

  “You can control it?” She asked in genuine surprise.

  “Of course,” he answered, sounding a little piqued.

  “Really?” Doubt edged her voice, glancing up at him. “According to my data, you can not stop your body from reacting to the visual or tactile…”

  “I can not stop the physical reaction,” he admitted with his teeth clenched. “But I can control how my mind chooses to behave because of it.”

  “Ahh…that’s different…” Eve said with a smug nod.

  Zach shifted slightly, turning on his side and leaning up on his elbow. Neither of them had made a move toward anything other than conversation since first meeting.

  Not a touch or kiss. It was time for that to stop.

  She lay on her back, dark lashes blinking and her face intent, as if she were pondering something as she stared at the ceiling. For the first time in his life, Zach realized he was a little bit afraid to ask what was going on in that very busy intellectual mind.

  “Would you do me a favor, Eve?” Zach asked tentatively.

  “If I can,” she gave up her focus on the ceiling and turned her head to peer at him.

  The innocent curiosity in her gaze had been fascinating him the last few days. It was there now, through most of their conversation since she crawled into the bed.

  “Kiss me.” Zach watched her breathing stop, lashes wider than usual. “Nothing else, Eve. Just a kiss. We have to start somewhere.”

  “I know,” came the whispered response. Her hands came from beneath the quilts, clasp on top with fingers twisting.

  “Are you afraid of me?” Zach took a guess, surprised at the instant answer he glimpsed in dark eyes that flew immediately to his face. “You’re not afraid of me…” He said with a hint
of disbelief.

  “No…oh, no…not at all…” Eve assured him firmly. “I can very easily shout or fight or argue with you, that isn’t the problem.” She said the corner of his mouth lift and frowned at him. “You think that’s funny?”

  “Amusing…oh, believe me, I have our first encounter etched in my mind, Eve. Your…nonchalance in the face of the angriest I’ve felt in a long damn time…still fascinates me.” He had finally admitted to himself that he had been impressed at her casual, calm reaction. “You’re not afraid of me…so what is the problem?”

  “I don’t know what information you’ve gotten…about me…”

  “Eve…you’ve dated men?” He saw her nod. “You’ve been kissed before?”

  “Yes,” her hands shook slightly, her eyes staying on them as she spoke. “There are things…I have all the words used by therapists…but I’ve never tried to explain it to someone…”

  “Are you still seeing them?”

  “No…no…”

  His mind was furiously going over all the conversations he’d had with Eve and with others. Sam had told him bullet wounds heal, but the fear was something not so easily vanquished.

  “Were you raped, Eve?” Zach pushed the words through his lips, fighting to keep anger from inside them.

  Chapter Seven

  “No…” she answered after a long silence. “I think somehow the fear of…the sense of helplessness and…and impotence…”

  “You worked with Samantha Elliott…and lived with her…”

  “Do you know why I lived with her, Zach?” Eve took a deep breath and turned on her side, leaning on her elbow as he was doing, her free hand toying with the edge of the quilt. He was right. They had to begin somewhere and he deserved to know the truth.

  “I didn’t ask,” he answered slowly, her eyes locked on the slim fingers. He reached over and put his hand around hers, urging her to look at him. “Sam is your friend, Eve. She kept whatever secrets she has and told me to ask you. She told me you adhered to the philosophy openness and honesty. That’s important to me,” he admitted aloud for the first time.