Jess stepped back from Brent, guilt rioting through her wildly. There was no reason she shouldn’t be hugging him in front of Evan, but feelings were weird. “Great,” she said, looking at the ground, then the house behind him. “Thank you.”
He strode right up to them. “Talked to Carrie, too. Lola’s part-timer cancelled, so she’s stuck at the boutique, but I can go and pick up lunch with Carrie.”
“You know what?” She shook her head. “I think we’ve done enough today. I need to hit the grocery store and do a big shop. Maybe I should do that first.”
“Do you want us to keep working?”
She glanced at Brent. “I’ll go with you to the store,” he said. “If you want the company.”
Evan’s gaze slid from her to her husband and back again. He nodded. “Okay, I’ll head out, then.” He frowned. Just a little, then it smoothed out, but she didn’t miss it. “Are we still on for tomorrow?”
She reached out and lightly squeezed his arm for no good reason, but she liked the way his skin felt and the way one corner of his mouth quirked up when she touched him. “Yep. I’ll see you at noon.”
The quirk turned into a slow, lazy smile. “Can’t wait.”
Now she saw it. He was definitely flirting with her. Time for Evan to go, absolutely. If he kept it up tomorrow at their meeting—their work meeting—then she’d believe him. Otherwise, he was just being a jerk for his own prideful reasons. “Later.”
She watched as he sauntered to his car, stowing his toolbox in the back before sliding into the driver’s seat. When she glanced at Brent, he was watching Evan, too.
Then he turned around, and they were alone on the sidewalk in front of her new house. “Do you want me to go home?”
After that weird morning? She wasn’t sure what she wanted. “What’s my other option?”
“I could stay.”
He meant it like, he could stay and go grocery shopping. But for a second—a split second, before her tender heart could clamp down on it—that baby bird inside of her flew, and it felt amazing.
“I do need to hit the grocery store,” she admitted. “And could use the company.”
“Let’s do it. My truck?”
“Sure. Let me just lock up.”
Going grocery shopping with her husband. The fluttering in her chest got stronger. But then he would leave, and it would be back to reality.
At least she had her beach surprise with Evan to look forward to the next day.
14
Evan finally admitted at one in the morning that he wasn’t falling asleep, and he shoved out of bed. He pulled on a pair of shorts, because working out naked felt weird.
In his gym space, he turned on the TV. It was already set to the business news, and he cranked up the volume so he’d hear it over the clang of weights. He felt like lifting some heavy shit, and not politely.
“It’s just you and me,” he said out loud to the rack.
Ever since he’d left Jess’s new house, he’d been consumed by thoughts of her and Brent together. He hadn’t missed the jealous anguish on the other man’s face when Evan had caught her on the stairs.
If Brent was going to make a move, it happened tonight.
Something shifted inside Evan when he thought about that. He’d spent more than a month convincing himself that his crush on Jess wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t what she needed right now, and he could see how much she and Brent still loved each other.
But.
But fucking but.
Brent was a hot mess of repressed desires.
And Evan couldn’t stop thinking about a line Jess had blurted at him in anger the night of the gala. “What I need is to be fucked.”
