A mix of frustration and affection churned inside me at that comment.
“I just want you to be another shitty man. Another person who lets me down so I can write you off and then smugly control everything. But you.” She poked me hard in the chest. She’d gone from tears to rage in the blink of an eye. “You just keep being decent and helpful. You want to build a patio, for fuck’s sake.” She threw her arms up. “Do you know how much easier it would be for me if you were a deadbeat?”
My breath caught. “What? How would that be easier?”
“You don’t have enough childhood trauma to understand.” She poked me in the chest again. “So I appreciate you and what you’re doing, but give me a minute to catch up, okay? You can’t just show up here day in and day out, being all decent and helpful and handsome and expect me to be okay with it.”
“Um… what? Why not? andhandsome?” Ego stroked, I grinned down at her.
She only glowered back and turned away, pacing the small room. “So yes, you can do stuff around the house,” she said, “I actually appreciate it. I just need to process. My default setting is icy bitch. But you just have this way of, ugh. I don’t know.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Of defrosting me and catching me off guard.”
My heart lifted, though I had to hold back a chuckle. This conversation had gone in directions I could never have predicted. But I got the sense I needed to quit while I was ahead. Evie didn’t need me, but she was willing to put her own baggage aside and let me be here anyway.
I’d take the offering gladly. And I’d take this moment and tuck it away to think about later. Tonight, I’d made a tiny bit of progress. She didn’t know it yet, but I didn’t want to be anywhere but here. Even when she was yelling and crying, I wanted to be with her and Vincent.
And I couldn’t imagine that desire ever fading.
Chapter 20
Evie
“Get in here,” I yelled from the back door. The man was being a stubborn ass.
It was one thing to sleep outside when it was cold. But in an absolute downpour? Hell no. Once the thunder started, I expected him to show up at the back door, but he remained hunkered down in that tent. Up here in the mountains, the weather could get extreme quickly, and even though it was only June, the stifling summer humidity had already begun. So I pulled my raincoat around me and trudged into the backyard.
“Jasper.” I was an asshole. Night after night, I climbed under the blankets in my warm, cozy house, and he was outside.
With a storm like this, it would be downright cruel not to invite him in.
Inside, the lantern was on, and his shadow moved over the tent wall. Then he unzipped the flap a few inches and peeked out.
“Come inside,” I yelled over the rain, gesturing with one arm.
He disappeared, and then the flap was fully unzipped and he was hopping out, barefoot.
And shirtless.
Oof.
He sprinted into the house wearing only mesh athletic shorts, but he pulled up short at the door.
“You sure you want me inside?” he asked.
Holy hell. As he stood before me, water droplets slowly rolled down his chest. And it was a chest, that was for sure. Wide and muscular and a bit hairy.
I blinked several times, chiding myself for my lack of control, and pointed into the house. “Hold on. I’ll get you a towel.”
With a smirk, he held the door open for me.
I scurried to the linen closet and returned quickly with a fluffy mint green towel.
When he took it, I should have walked away. That’s what a normal person would have done. Instead, I watched as he toweled off, making sure each inch of tan, muscular skin was dry.
“Thank you,” he said. “But if you’d rather have me out there, that’s okay. The tent’s technically waterproof.”
“You’re not staying out there in a storm.” At this point, between my crying in his arms, our bonding over Vincent, and the argument we’d gotten into where he forced me to accept more help, any pretense had been dismantled. This man had seen me at my absolute lowest. I wasn’t going to let him get soaked.
He nodded, giving me a grateful smile. “I won’t get in your way.”
