“Put that on. Don’t button it up,” Eve instructed me. Her eyes dark voids in the shadows.
I pulled my shirt on, leaving it open like she commanded. “Is this a game of reverse poker, then?” I raised an eyebrow in challenge as she poured a double finger of whiskey for both of us. Honey and peat scented the air.
“I like the view.” Eve curled at one end of the two seater sofa, one leg tucked beneath her, facing me. Her gaze soaked in everything as I stilled beneath her study.
“I have questions," I murmured.
“It’s the cop in you. It’s a habit that’ll pass when you retire."
“You’re still a sassy little firecracker.” I sipped the whiskey and nearly groaned. “Shit, eve. This is good.”
Her lips turned up in a full, wicked smile. “I know.” She took her own sip, her eyes falling closed as she appreciated the flavor. “It was Dad’s favorite. I figure he won’t mind if I share it with you. He liked you, you know.”
I swallowed hard. She wasn’t the only one who struggled to talk about that Christmas. “He was a good man. His judgement might have been a bit shitty if he approved of me though." I let a man into his home who did unspeakable things to his family.
Len Beaumont should never have trusted me. Neither, perhaps, should Eve.
“Stop that.” Her voice whiplashed around me.
Cool fingers gripped my glass, tugging it free of my grip. I gave in, letting her have it.
Tell me what you want, Eve.
“What’s Black Hill Boy do here each night?”
Eve frowned as she placed my glass on the Blackheart sassafras coffee table. “I— Rhys, his father did a little while back. He comes here because I know how he feels.”
He comes here because he can poach on your feelings like an emotional fucking vampire.
“If he needs support, maybe he should seek professional help,” I said recently.
She toyed with the whiskey glass. “I suggested that. But out here, we’re a long way from everything. You know that,” she reproached me.
“I also know you have decent internet thanks to the satellite connection you both paid for. Remember?” I fixed her with a hard look. Eve said nothing. I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair. “Eve, I’m here. I want to be here for you. And seeing you with other men?—”
“You’re jealous?” she hushed, her gaze sliding up to meet mine.
I stared at her, my mouth forming words that refused to come out right the first time. I put my thoughts in order as I reached across the table and captured one trembling hand. “Damn right I’m jealous, girl. The only hands I want on you are mine. The only man near you should be me—if that’s what you want.” I watched her reaction, the doubts flaring free. Fuck, I was so out of practice with this. But hell, it was Eve. I shouldn’t have to worry.
But I did. Because she was my one, and there wasn’t anyone else for me, ever.
“I wasn’t sure.” Eve tugged her hand free, wrapping her arms around herself.
“About what, honey?” My heart clenched tight in my chest, bleeding fresh with every word that fell from her soft lips.
“That I was who you still wanted. That you hadn’t found someone…else. Someone who could give you?—”
“Evie.” My voice strained on her name.
“More. A family,” she whispered, curling into a ball at the other end of the sofa.
I launched forward into her space, pinning her in, but my hands when they framed her face were soft, cradling her like she was glass. The most precious creation.
“Do you know what Will did when he brought you out of that fire?” I demanded, my voice harsh and rough, the softest I could make it. She shook her head, trying to free herself but I refused to let her look away. “He gave me you, Eve. Everything I want in this life. The woman I need, the woman I’ll do anything for. Anything,” I whispered, stoking her temples with my thumbs. “Christ, I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“But I'm not.” Her voice cracked as the flood gates finally, fuckingfinallyopened.
I cradled her to me, weathering the torrents that shattered against my chest like waves upon a rock in a storm laden sea.
