“I should teach you how to meditate.”
“I’d really like that.”
They stared at one another for an uncomfortably long time. Evan flexed and curled his fingers, trying to calm the itch crawling across his palms. Heath wasright there, and his nerves screamed with a need to touch him.
Perhaps sensing the danger he was in, Heath cleared his throat and nodded to the door. “I should probably get back to my date. You know how Isabella can be if she thinks she’s being ignored.”
Evan’s stomach dropped, the blaze of hope they might work things out flash freezing into an icy brick. With a slow, deep breath, he shoved the disappointment down to where it wouldn’t affect the rest of the night, because he had rich people to cajole and a foundation to pimp. His broken heart wasn’t going anywhere. He could deal with it later.
“Right, yeah. Livie’s been excited to see you too. You should finish catching up.”
Heath nodded, stepping up to the door and pushing it open. “Looks like you have office hours.”
He leaned to the side and glimpsed Lucy’s figure standing just beyond the front desk. He let out a sigh. “Looks that way. Send her in, I guess.”
“It was good to see you, Evan.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets and nodded. “Yeah, you too.”
“Congratulations on the foundation. I’m glad you’re doing well, and I hope tonight is successful.”
The door closed, and he turned to press his palms against the conference table at the center of the room. He begged the stinging in his eyes and nose to fuck off before Lucy walked in. He’d never live it down if she caught him feeling actual emotions. A side effect of dealing with everything he’d repressed was that once they got a taste of freedom, it becameharder and harder to stuff them back in the cage. If he broke down now, he wasn’t sure he could stop.
“Evan?”
Shit. He sucked in a deep breath and swallowed hard, shaking off all thoughts of Heath so he could focus on relationship mistake number one.
“Lucy.”
“You have questions?”
If he’d give Lucy credit for anything, it was sentiment not being a problem for her. If it were possible, she’d have patented stoicism.
“What do you think?”
Her lips rolled inward, then returned with an audiblepop. “I know you’re angry.”
“Actually, I’m not. Not anymore.”
“You’re just disappointed?”
He let his eyes roll shut and counted to five. “Lu, I’m trying here. Work with me.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “Sorry.”
“Are you?”
“Yes, believe it or not.”
“What I want to know is why. Why say yes? Why go through the planning and bullshit if you never intended to show up?”
She sighed and ran the fingers of her right hand over the ring set on her left. “Initially, I had intended to show up.”
“You’re late. Also, polygamy isn’t officially legal, and I’m in love with someone else.”
She blinked at him. “Are you?”
He scratched the tingling at the back of his neck. “I think so. Maybe. Christ, I’m so fucked up I can’t even be sure.”
