“This is not me,” she choked out. “This is not the person I am, letting someone else, let alone someone I barely know, step in and take care of my problems for me. I could take hating myself or even being ashamed, because there is nothing I wouldn’t do for my mother and father, but I do care if they are disappointed or ashamed of me, because they would never want me to do anything that goes against the way I was brought up in order to help them.”
She expected anger, even fury etched into Drake’s features and sparking in his eyes when she finally summoned the courage to remove herhands from her face. But she saw none of those things. In that moment, an inexplicable bond formed between them. One of understanding. And pride.
Neither spoke, both aware of the connection, not on a physical level, but on an emotional level. They might live in completely different worlds, but things like pride and a sense of self-worth were universal, and in that area they were on common ground. Just two people with something in common. No financial or social divide. People. Just people. Experiencing and respecting things that had no barriers.
“Would you prefer I call them and explain, Angel?” he asked softly.
It was tempting. God, it was so tempting. She hated conflict, avoided it at all costs because it ate at her for days, even weeks, after the conflict had subsided. But she had to retain control oversomepart of her life, having lost every other aspect of it in her brief acquaintance with Drake. And she was many things, self-admittedly a coward and one who kept her head solidly buried in the sand, but she’d be forever shamed if she was too afraid to face the two most important people in her life.
“N-no. No,” she said more firmly the second time. She sucked in a deep breath. “This is something I have to do. I owe them an explanation, and it should come from me, not from a man who is a complete stranger to them. That is not who or what they raised me to be. Above all else, they taught me to take responsibility for my actions and never to hide behind others. I may hide from myself, but I will never be accused of hiding behind another person.”
Again there was a deep flare of respect in his eyes, making them appear deeper and darker than normal. And in that moment, she realized that Drake’s approval—his respect—meant a hell of a lot more than it should given the fact she barely knew the man.
“Did you remember to bring your new cell phone or do you need to use mine?” he asked mildly, as though she weren’t about to make a call that had the potential to send her into an epic meltdown.
“I brought it,” she said, even as she glanced hurriedly around the room, her befuddled mind trying to remember where she’d put her purse.
“If you’re looking for your handbag, you took it into the bathroom with you.”
She flashed him a grateful look and then surged upward before she lost her courage and all but ran into the bathroom, where her bag rested on the counter next to the sink. She fumbled for the phone, realizing she hadn’t entered her contacts into the new one. Not that she had many. In her present state, she would be doing well to punch in her parents’ number by memory.
She was sliding her fingers over the glossy surface of the touchscreen, frowning in concentration, when she walked back into Drake’s office. Returning to the chair she’d just abandoned, she sank into it as she lifted the phone to her ear.
Her gaze lifted and met Drake’s, and she felt a drowning sensation. Like they were magnetized and she was being pulled toward him and absorbed. Without thinking or rationale, she slipped the phone away from her ear and hit the button for the speakerphone option and then she got up, moving toward Drake. She set the phone faceup on his desk and would have stood beside it while she conversed with her parents, but just as her mother’s familiar voice came over the speaker, Drake caught her wrist and tugged her around the corner and into his lap. He then reached for the phone, sliding it so it was closer to Evangeline.
Suddenly she didn’t feel as nervous. Calm pervaded her frazzled nerves and she soaked in Drake’s strength and his show of support.
“Hi, Mama,” Evangeline said in a cheerful voice.
“Evangeline? Is that you? Did you lose your phone? I almost didn’t answer. I get so many of those annoying telemarketers and scams claiming I owe the IRS some obscene amount of money. It’s ridiculous, I tell you. When a person can’t even answer her own phone without being harassed by someone who can’t even pronounce the wordpenaltyortaxes owed. But then I remembered it was your area code and well, what if something had happened to you and someone was trying to notify me? I’d feel awful if I ignored that call.”
Drake’s lips twitched in amusement and his eyes gleamed with mirth.
“I’m fine, Mama,” Evangeline said, hastening to reassure her mother before her imagination ran wild and she conjured all sorts of horrific things that had happened to her daughter.
Her mom had been convinced that Evangeline would be mugged, raped or murdered within the first week in such a sinful city. She and Evangeline’s father had pleaded with her not to move to New York, and they hadn’t wanted her so far away from them. To say they were extremely overprotective of Evangeline was an understatement.
She bit into her bottom lip, knowing that when she explained her situation her mother—and her father—would freak out and beg her to come home. Drake gave her a comforting squeeze and a nod of encouragement that was badly needed. In that moment she wanted to bury herself in his broad chest and just hold on tight.
“I have a new phone. The old one... uh, well, it crashed on me and I can’t be without means of communication.”
She winced at the white lie, because she never lied, and she didn’t like the feeling of dishonesty. Guilt swelled in her gut and she prayed for forgiveness for this one fib.
“Oh, of course. I’m glad you did the sensible thing and bought a new one right away,” her mother said. “It wouldn’t do at all for you to live in that big city and not have a way of calling for help. What if you got hurt? Or someone attacked you. Why, just the other day I read a news article about two women who were accosted in New York City. You can’t be too safe these days.”
Evangeline flinched, closing her eyes as the lie swelled and grew, because she hadn’t bought the phone. Drake had. So far Drake hadbought everything. She sat in Drake’s lap and listened as her mother extolled the dangers of living in a city where one’s neighbors couldn’t be counted on and people would walk right by someone in need.
She had tried to explain to her mother the stereotype of New York and that in fact it was quite safe, even if Evangeline lived in a sketchy area. Or rather she used to. Yet one more thing she had to tell her mother. But her mother refused to believe that a city as large as New York could possibly be safe and had told Evangeline that she was a sweet and trusting soul and cautioned her on a regular basis not to let herself be misguided. Oh how misguided her mother would think she was presently, throwing caution to the wind and handing her life over to a man she’d known mere days.
Drake shook against her and she glanced sharply at him, wondering what was wrong, but she saw him silently laughing, amusement clearly showing on his features.
“Um, Mama, is Daddy close to you? Can you put him on too? I have some things to tell y’all.”
“Of course.”
There was a long pause as her mother seemed to digest Evangeline’s request, which wasn’t unusual, so Evangeline could only think there was something in her voice that her mother had picked up on.
“Honey, is everything all right?” her mother asked anxiously.
