“My wedding is in an hour…and I need you to stop it.”
Chapter Three
There was something to be said for the passage of time. One day there was a gangly boy, subconscious and a little too quiet—wearing clothes that were a little too big—and the next there was a man standing in the place of his memory. Not completely unfamiliar, but absolutely not the same small boy Eve had met in the space between their houses when she was just as young.
Time hadn’t paused because Eve had left.
Instead, it had built a boy into a man.
And it had apparently taken care to make that man quite the looker.
Darius Williams was one heck of a sight. There were no two ways about that. Built like a capital T, his upper body was wrapped in a button-up and corduroy jacket that fit him like a glove, and his Levi jeans hugged him right comfortable like an old friend. There wasn’t a scrap of fabric on him that didn’t fit him. Not an inch of awkward to see. In fact, Eve couldn’t help but think if Darius ever wanted to leave the life of law enforcement behind, then he could make one heck of a living out of modeling denim for the masses.
It was obvious that he worked out or ate right or a little of both, she had decided as he’d walked across the asphalt to meet her.
And that was to speak nothing of the fine form that face of his was. Eve could see the boy she used to know in the coloring of his dark eyes and the overly serious set of his matching brow, but the rest had taken to growing up mighty fine. Hisjaw competed with the seriousness of his expression—hard and slightly intimidating—and he had undoubtedly grown into his nose. Though, it looked like it might have been broken in the time since Eve had seen it last. There was also a small scar at the top of his lip, barely noticeable but there all the same.
Eve saw it with ease before he had even stopped across from her.
Its corners never pulled up from its frown.
She had started to mentally comment on the slight wave of his dark hair—and how it, too, was a far cry from the buzz cut he’d been forced to keep as a kid—when a new reality had hit her beneath the smile she couldn’t help but give when seeing him after all these years.
Darius hadn’t recognized her.
Only after she had mentioned his height had she seen the connections start to form.
If she had had more time, Eve would have smarted at that. It wasn’t like she had changed all that much since her preteen years. Her hair was still just as middle-of-the-road brown as it had been then. Her eyes, a muddling hazel. A few freckles, a jawline that was nowhere near as cutting and eyebrows that still rarely pulled together with such severity. While she had been cute when she was a kid, that cuteness had only grown into ordinary as an adult. It was, after all, one reason the gossip had been wholly unkind to her once it had been announced that she, an average woman on all fronts, was marrying into the Keys family.
Still, Eve couldn’t help but feel a little sting at being overlooked by him.
But there was a time and place to think longer on such things, and as the wind bit into the skin above the cut of her wedding dress, Eve reminded herself that now certainly wasn’t it.
Her last words still hung heavy in the air between them.
“My wedding is in an hour…and I need you to stop it.”
Darius looked just as serious as before, if only a bit confused on top of that.
He finally responded, but it was only one word.
“What?”
Eve reined in all thoughts of the little boy whose voice had never been that strong and barreled into her bottom line.
“I’m marrying Mitchell Keys at the old library downtown at five thirty,” she said. “The wedding planner acts like we’re an army unit going to war, so I’m sure that’s a hard five thirty, and even if I try to stall she’ll find a way to cut my metaphorical legs off. So if you can’t get there before and find a reason to stop it from starting, then you have until five fifty to do something. After that we’re sayingI doand being told to awkwardly kiss in front of everyone.”
Darius was wearing a watch. Eve went for it. He was faster and batted her hand away.
“I’m sorry but I’m going to need more than that,” he said, holding his wrist up and away.
Eve still tilted her head to see the face of the watch. The minute hand was a little too close to the two.
She had wasted more time than she had thought waiting for Darius to show up.
“There’s not enough time to get into specifics. I just need the wedding to stop.” She also needed to leave. The drive back would eat up at least ten minutes. She was already playing way too close to the line.
Darius didn’t understand, and although she knew that was a valid reaction, that didn’t mean knowing fixed the issue.
