“Excuse me, I’m looking for my wife,” Noah grins. “Tall, gorgeous, curves for days. Golden blonde hair and breathtaking blue eyes. Have you seen her?”
Eva turns around and smirks at him, rising quickly from her seat, he quickly makes his way towards her.
“Well, if that isn’t the way to steal a woman’s heart,” she says, but he grabs her and dips her in his arms. I watch as she smiles up at him, and Noah lays the most tender of kisses against her lips. Breathless, she looks up at him at a loss for words.
“Don’t tell me I still take your breath away after a couple months of marriage,” Noah jokes, bringing her back up to standing. She goes to swat at his arm, but he pulls her close and kisses the top of her head.
Looking back at me, Eva asks, “What time do you get off?’
I glance back at my computer screen. My boss would kill me if she knew I was taking time off when I was this far behind. I wouldn’t need to screw up this major deal. She’d fire me on the spot. But when old friends beckon, you answer the call.
Releasing a heavy sigh, I switch off my computer and look back at the two of them. “Now.”
“Fantastic,” Eva squeals, bouncing towards me.
Noah gives her a swat on her butt, which puts a little extra bounce in her step and earns him a glare over her shoulder. Grabbing my purse, I link arms with her and exit the office.
“I was hoping you’d quit early,” she says, as we make our way towards the front doors. “I could use some Gwen time, not that hanging out with my husband 24/7 isn’t a blast.”
“Heard that,” Noah yells after us as we walk down the hall, giggling like little school girls.
We round the corner to the front office, and I relax for the first time in a while knowing I have nothing else to do this evening but hang out with my best friend.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask as we exit the building and start walking to our cars.
Noah catches up to us. I watch as Eva’s back is turned, and he gives his wife a look that would melt any woman’s heart. It’s one that says he’s damn proud to call her his, and that fact will never change. It’s a look I recently saw in Rex’s eyes as he stared at me while we made love.
Holy fuck, Rex!
I fumble with my purse, trying to get to my phone, only now remembering his text from earlier.
“I dunno, let’s go out,” Eva shrugs. “You have to know a lot of the spots here by now. I mean, come on, we are in New Orleans. Let’s have some fun. But first, I want to see this club you are working on. Let’s stop there and then hit Bourbon Street.”
Before I can protest, or finish pulling my phone from my purse, Eva saunters off after Noah to their car parked a few spots over. She looks at me over the hood as she climbs in the passenger seat.
“We’ll follow you,” she winks, and I know I have just been royally set up by the one and only Eva Monroe.
I hadn’t planned on telling her about Rex and me until I was sure of whatever was happening between us. I glance down at the phone in my hands, at the text I still haven’t responded to, and tap my finger against the screen a few times. It’s pointless to respond now, seeing as I will see him in a few minutes, and so I climb behind the wheel of my car and slowly put it in drive.
Maybe having Eva and Noah here will be good for us. Maybe it’ll force both our hands and make us finally take a stand. That is, if it doesn’t force us back into hiding first.
19
Rex
I check my phone for the millionth time and still see no message from Gwen. I’m not one to wait by the phone for any woman, yet it’s slowly killing me that she hasn’t responded. A burning hatred starts to build around my heart. Hatred for myself for letting her in when I have spent most of my life putting up walls.
I won’t let myself be like my old man, but fuck if the sting of her not responding isn’t making me go a little mad worrying I already am.
The message I sent earlier is not nearly as crucial as needing a reply. Something, anything to keep me strung along and not thinking all the nights I’ve come home and lost myself in her until morning wasn’t a total waste.
So, for the last several hours, I’ve busied myself with cleaning the bar to take away the sting. To occupy my mind. Now, onto storing glasses I’ve recently unpacked from boxes, I shake my head, push Gwen from my thoughts, and put another one away on a shelf.
The club is coming together nicely, and with just a little more luck, we should open on time.
Even dumbass Eric Maxwell couldn’t stop that.
Eric Maxwell. Another thorn in my side like the woman who can’t answer a simple text . He has a nasty habit of showing up at Gwen’s office uninvited a few days a week. And even though she always says no, a part of me would like to brand her in front of him so he knew who she belonged to. Stake a claim to let him know to keep his hands off. But I can’t.
