And if she did confesseverysingle thing? Who was to say the outcome would be any different? Only in this case, they might well skip Maddox and the other minions and go straight toDrake.
So she did something she never did with them because she trusted them absolutely. Never questioned them or their loyalty. But she also knew once they gave her their word, that even if it killed them—and it would in this case—they’d keep it. She set conditions.
“I’ll tell you the rest but only if youswearto me that one, itneverleaves this room and remains between the four of us. And two, you’re to leave it alone. I mean completely alone, as in you forget it as soon as I tellyou and there will be no confronting anyone, no questioning anyone, no investigating anyone or being nosy. You have to swear it,” Evangeline repeated emphatically. “Or my lips are sealed.”
The three looked shocked but each nodded in turn, though Steph didn’t look at all happy at having to promise something before she even knew what Evangeline was going to reveal. Her lips twisted into a mutinous line, but Evangeline stared her down, never once averting her gaze, until finally Steph threw up her hands in surrender.
“Okay, okay,” she said in exasperation. “I promise.” She glanced at Lana and Nikki and then added, “Weallpromise. Now will you just get on with it? We’re dying of curiosity here!”
Satisfied that she had their consent, and knowing that they’d never go back on their word, Evangeline falteringly related everything that happened after Eddie had been tossed from the club. She left nothing out. No words that Drake had said to her. They were burned into her brain, so it wasn’t as though she would ever forget them.
By the time she finished, her cheeks were on fire and no doubt so red that she looked like she was sunburned. The room felt way too hot and she desperately needed a cold shower, or even better, a bathtub full of ice she could submerge herself in until her flushed and aroused, traitorous body rid itself of the lingering aftereffects of Drake’s mouth, lips, tongue. His touch. God, just his touch had sent her up in flames. She didn’t dare imagine if things had gone further and they’d had full-on sex complete with penetration ofmorethan just his tongue. She could feel yet another wave of heat invade her body, and every single one of her girly parts tingling in wild anticipation. She had to stop this!
How on earth,hours later, could just remembering all the things he’d done turn her into a complete hormonal mess? She didn’t even have the courage to hold her friends’ gazes anymore and had long since fixed her stare at a distant point so shecouldn’tsee their reactions.
When she finally dared to sneak a glance at her friends’ expressionsfrom underneath her eyelashes, their mouths were agape and their eyes wide with complete shock. And for once in their lives, particularly Steph’s, who never had a shortage of anything to say, they were utterly speechless.
Nikki’s mouth popped open and shut several times in a row while Steph just stared in stupefaction. Surprisingly, it was Lana, the quietest of the three, who finally managed to squeak out, “What?For real? Are youserious?”
And itwasa squeak. Barely audible due to the obvious disbelief cracking her words.
Seemingly Lana’s breaking the stunned silence began a barrage of questions from all directions until Evangeline covered her ears and groaned, sinking back onto her pillow and closing her eyes. She reached for the second pillow and would have pulled it over her head to shut them all out, but it was promptly snatched from her grasp and Evangeline found herself staring up into Steph’s outraged features.
“Oh hell no,” Steph huffed, her eyes flashing as her head hovered directly over Evangeline’s face. “You are not getting out of this.” Then she stopped, clearly at a loss for words for a second time in mere moments—twice in a matter of seconds? Her hand flew above her shoulder, palm up and fingers splayed wide in a universal gesture that screamedwhat?Her expression said everything else her gesture didn’t cover... Likewhy?Andhow?And holy crap!Really?
If it weren’t for the fact that the events were all too real and they had happened toEvangeline, she would have found her friends’ reactions comical and would even now be holding her sides and laughing hysterically as if she’d managed to successfully pull off the mother of all pranks, something she wasn’t remotely capable of because her girlfriends informed her she was too guileless and wouldn’t even begin to know how to deceive someone.
They made it sound like a crime, or at the very least a cardinal sin.Did people pride themselves on being deceitful or worse, being convincing and successful at it?
Evangeline sighed because yes, she was indeed everything her friends accused her of, thoughaccusedwas too strong a word. They despaired of her naïveté and her inability to be catty and bitchy to those who deserved a good setdown. They were forever telling her she was too sweet, too innocent, too forgiving and trusting for her own good.
They loved her dearly for the very things they considered shortcomings, but they worried that those characteristics would end up being her ultimate downfall. Maybe they were right, but Evangeline couldn’t change who she was any more than she could change who shewasn’t. Hadn’t last night solidly proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt?
And well, she didn’twantto change. She liked herself just fine the way she was, shortcomings and all. No one was perfect. It just so happened she had more imperfections than most. So what? There was nothing she could do about it, so why waste time and energy she didn’t have trying to be someone that not only could she neverpossiblybe, but also that she had nodesireto become?
Put like that, last night hadn’t been the disaster Evangeline had immediately labeled it, and peace settled over her, pushing away some of the still-vivid and all-too-fresh humiliation cloaking her, even as her friends continued to stare her down looking like they were ready to rip her hair out by the roots if she didn’tfurtherexplain the shocking revelation she’d dropped on them as though it had been a live explosive.
“He actually went down on you in his office? On hisdesk?” Nikki asked in a hushed whisper, evidently having reached the breaking point of her patience and deciding Evangeline was going to have to be interrogated since she still wasn’t forthcoming with all the juicy details her friends craved.
“God, you make it sound so... sordid,” Evangeline said with a soft groan. “I feel like I should be in church right now, or at least at confession.”
“Hon, I think one has to be Catholic to go to confession,” Lana said dryly.
“Stop distracting her!” Steph said in a near shriek, her agitation making her even more agitated. “And Vangie, I hate to break it to you, but itwassordid. In a really delicious, oh-my-God, goose-bump-inducing kind of way. I need to sign up for that kind of sordid, because nothing I’ve ever done has even come close to that kind of hedonistic delight.”
Evangeline lifted one eyebrow in surprise. She’d expected... She frowned, giving her head a light shake to clear the confusion. She wasn’t entirely sure what she’d expected. Maybe condemnation? Disappointment? Judgment?
But that wasn’t at all what she saw reflected in her friends’ gazes. There was a myriad of responses, almost too many to sort through, but nowhere did she see anything that made her feel ashamed or even sorry for what she’d done. But then she hadn’tdoneanything. She’d just been a clueless—a completely clueless—participant, if she could actually call her response actual participation. She’d merely allowedhimto happen. To take over and control every aspect of the shattering, life-altering sequence of events that had begun as simple, petty payback. There was no blaming shock, being overwhelmed, or even the fact that her senses had been so scattered that she wasn’t even cognizant of what was happening. She knew who was to blame, and it wasn’t Drake. It was her own damn fault for not having the fortitude and daring to put a stop to the entire farce. She didn’t have a brave bone in her body, and last night had only proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Worse, she’dknownexactly what he was doing—what he wasgoingto do—and she’d quivered to her bones, shaking violently with suppressed need and longing. He’d awakened a fire that had long lay dormant within her, and God help her, she’dwantedit,craveditand him—with every breath in her body. With wild desperation that still bewildered her, because the wanton woman she hadn’t even known existed had responded withcomplete abandon to a man she’d known for all of a few minutes. For once in her life she’d given in to spontaneity. Done something completely out of character. Grabbed onto the moment and reveled in every single second of unimaginable pleasure. Like in her most erotic fantasies she’d never shared with anyone. Not even her friends. Because they shamed her, and more than that, they frightened her, because in no way, in any of her wildest fantasies, was she in control of any aspect. She belonged to a man who cherished her, protected her, spoiled her endlessly, but in return he was demanding, ruthless even, with an edge of danger and mystery that clung to him like a second skin, one he wore with the comfort and ease of someone well acquainted with such a lifestyle.
What kind of messed-up person did that make her? She closed her eyes again, refusing to dwell on things better left in the past. If she had her way, she’d never see him again because she sure as hell would never venture into places like Impulse where even the hired help were seen in a more superior, deserving light than she was.
It might make her the biggest coward on earth, but even if she wasn’t scheduled for work that night, there was no way she would be here at seven that evening waiting to be collected like a “possession” and expected to do unimaginable things—even if the thought of those things sent her body up in flames.
She gave a small sigh, ignoring the looks of growing impatience and irritation on her friends’ faces. One taste was all she’d ever allow herself and it would have to be enough. Because Drake Donovan was not a man to be trifled with. He demanded and expected unquestioning obedience. That much was obvious in his demeanor.
She had to work tonight until closing, and no matter that her girls had told her she could always take a nap after giving them the scoop, Evangeline knew she didn’t have a prayer of going back to sleep. Not with the vivid details from the night before still playing over and over in real time in her memory.
