Revered.
And Aspen’s quiet, “Good,” was so lush with gratitude that Eve couldn’t resist leaning in to press a brief but tender kiss to Aspen’s lips.
Eve smiled at the way Aspen grinned at her a little dopily as she pulled away, and sighed as she inclined her head toward Nolan’s car and the house beyond. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
The feeling of Aspen’s fingers slipping between hers as they walked stilled some of the disquiet in Eve’s chest, and she leaned into that calm as Nolan regarded them with a haughtily arched brow as they approached. His black hair was slicked away from his forehead, and she didn’t miss the surprise that flashed in his muddy brown eyes when he noticed the way her hand was tucked neatly into Aspen’s.
The disdain in his voice when he greeted them with a droll, “Well, this is quaint,” made Eve want to punch him in the face.
Judging by the way Aspen’s hand tightened around hers, she wasn’t alone.
“Hello, Nolan,” Eve drawled as she tugged Aspen forward. The sooner they could get away from him, the better. “If you’ll excuse us, we need to change for dinner.”
He smirked and slammed the hatch of the SUV shut. “Been skiing?”
“We have,” Aspen replied breezily.
“I’m impressed you got Eve out there. She hates it.”
Aspen threw a curious look at Eve. “Really?” When Eve shrugged and shook her head in a way that clearly said,I have no idea what he’s talking about, Aspen squeezed her hand and said, “Must’ve just been a you thing, my dude. Maybe she didn’t think you’d be able to keep up? Because we had a great day ripping up the blacks.”
Eve didn’t bother to hide her smile as Nolan visibly bristled. “I was the captain of the alpine ski team at Harvard.”
“Oh, well, that’d explain why you couldn’t keep up with her. No shame in that, man. She’s good.”
“Who the hell are you?”
Aspen’s smile dripped with malice as she offered him her hand. “Aspen Collier-West.” She arched a brow when he refused for a moment to take it, and her lips twitched in amusement when he finally did. “Not a bad grip,” she noted, sounding bored.
Nolan’s jaw flexed. “Thanks.”
Eve looked down at their hands, and rolled her eyes. Both of their forearms were flexed from the force they were putting into their grips. And, while it was clear Aspen was enjoying this little game, she had no doubt that’d it’d been Nolan who had started it.
Aspen inclined her head as she pumped his hand. “So, is this, like, a dick measuring contest? Because, if you give me a second, I can pop back to our room to get mine, and then we can whip them out to see whose is bigger. It’d be a lot easier than you failing to outmuscle me.”
Eve barked out a laugh at the way Nolan’s eyes bugged out of his head. She wished she had her camera. Seeing him put in his place was more entertaining than she’d imagined. For as much as she appreciated Aspen’s defense, however, theywereon something of a tight schedule, and she wrapped her free hand around Aspen’s bicep to get her attention as she murmured, “Aspen, darling, let him go.”
Aspen shot her a playful smirk. “You sure? I’m totally winning.”
“I know you are,” Eve told her. “And you’d win in the other metric, too, but we don’t have time for that right now.”
Nolan’s new girlfriend—Sadie, Eve recalled—snorted with laughter. “Damn. This trip just got so much more fun than I was expecting.”
The vein in the middle of Nolan’s forehead bulged as he spluttered, “This is ridiculous.”
“Right?” Aspen released his hand and chucked him on the shoulder. Judging by the way he stumbled back a step, she put a little more power into the blow than necessary, but the glare she gave him dared him to say anything about it. When Nolan wisely opted to keep his smarmy mouth shut, she turned to Sadie with a cheeky smile and a little wave. “Hi there. I’m Aspen.”
Eve bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the way Sadie preened and batted her lashes at Aspen. “Sadie Andrews.”
“Charmed,” Aspen replied with a playful wink that made the bulging vein in Nolan’s forehead even more prominent. Pure, impish delight danced in Aspen’s eyes as she turned to Eve. “Shall we?”
“We shall,” Eve replied. She stroked Aspen’s bicep as they sauntered past Nolan and Sadie, and by the time they reached the door, her cheeks hurt from smiling. Richard opened the door immediately for them. She couldn’t help but wonder if the smileand ever so slight bow he greeted them with meant he’d seen what had just happened, but Aspen just threw a cheery, “Hiya, Richard,” at him as she gallantly whisked Eve down the hall toward their room with a marked pep in her step.
Aspen was secretly glad that Nolan’s car had still been in the driveway when they’d left for dinner so she wouldn’t have to deal with him again. She unfortunately knew his type all too well, and she knew he’d spend the rest of the weekend asserting his fragile masculinity by trying to bully her.
It wouldn’t work, of course. She’d met and dealt with plenty of similar creeps during her years in the military. And while she was more than willing to keep knocking him back into place, he wasn’t worth the effort.
But, more than that, she didn’t want Eve to have to deal with his bullshit. Eve had been positively glowing all day, and that light had dimmed the instant she saw him. Even if she knew nothing about how he’d treated Eve—Eve’s reaction was more than enough for her to hate the guy.
