"I'm going to make myself a bowl of cereal. You want one?" he asked.
Tickled he thought to ask and was willing to serve me, I smiled. Oh, yeah. Reese had been right. This one was a keeper.
If only he was available to keep.
I shook my head. "No, thanks. I'll grab a banana later."
His eyebrows shot up. "Banana? We have bananas?"
Before I was even able to answer, he was gone, shooting from the room like a rocket. Seconds later, I heard, "Holy shit!"
He pounded back down the hall until he reappeared with a pile of food loaded down on Julian's lap as he carried the poor boy like a human bowl. "Eva, there's . . . there's food freaking everywhere. And fruit. I love fruit."
I laughed, glad I had remembered that detail when I'd gone shopping. "I know. I bought it, remember? With your money?"
"But." He strode to the bed with his loot and let the heap tumble off Julian's lap and onto the mattress beside me. "There's apples, and oranges, and what the fuck is this?" He took a bite before moaning. "I don't care. It tastes amazing."
"Didn't you see everything I bought last night-or the night before-when you were in the kitchen, eating supper . . . and breakfast?"
"No." He shook his head as he settled next to me on the bed, placing Julian between us. Then he started a picnic with the food, letting Julian gnaw briefly on his nectarine before he stole it back. "I was too busy eating, and staring at you, and running off to my next job in between getting hit on by your cousin to notice much else."
"Oh, she was not hitting on you."
"Whatever." He shrugged. "You know, you keep treating me this good, I may never let you leave."
I couldn't say what I was really feeling, which was, who said I wanted to leave? But I definitely thought it. I think we were going to have to worry about me suffering more from attachment issues than Julian would.
Chapter 20
PICK
So the week progressed. And then a couple more days. I lived on a daily high where no one could bring me down, no matter what they did or said. I'd always been good at rolling with the flow and taking things in stride, but now I actually smiled through it all. Life was just amazing.
I didn't care if I woke up every morning with a raging hard-on that not even yanking off in the shower could calm. I woke up next to her. The smell of lilacs on my sheets, her hand resting next to my pillow only inches from my face, accidently spooning with her on some nights. Yeah, I had no complaints.
"So, how're things working out with Eva?" Mason asked one night, just before we opened the club, where I'd actually arrived on time to work . . . for the eighth stretch in a row.
He must've realized I was thinking about Tink, because his knowing smirk made me scowl.
"Oh, it's just . . . you know . . . awful." I gave an exaggerated roll of my eyes. "Supper's waiting on me every night when I get home from the garage. My apartment's spotless. The laundry's always folded and put away. My kid's happier and healthier than he's ever been, and this drop-dead gorgeous woman parades around in front of me nonstop, wearing ass-hugging yoga pants. It just, yeah, totally sucks."
Mason chuckled. "I didn't realize exactly how much E. did around our place too, until she was gone. Strangely, we kind of miss her."
I frowned, ready to tell him he couldn't have her back. She was mine.
"I didn't know she was going to actually move in with you while she watched your kid, though," he added. Narrowing my eyes, I studied him, trying to figure out what he was really saying. He shrugged. "I know you work some long hours, but there were a few nights in there you didn't work late at Forbidden."
Eva and I had always managed to fill those nights with reasons for her to stick around until it was basically too late to drive her to Mason and Reese's. Once we'd borrowed a couple strollers for the kids and took a walk down by the nearest park. On another night, we'd cooked spaghetti together and ended up talking afterward until almost midnight.
But Mason's blatant comment made me realize what I'd been doing. I'd been playing house with my dream girl, using her on borrowed time, and relishing every damn minute of it. I didn't like his questions, though. They threatened my paradise.
"What're you getting at, Lowe?"
He lifted his hands and laughed uneasily. "Hey, I'm not complaining. I finally have Reese to myself, and that rocks. I'm just . . . concerned. You two slipped into this domestic little . . . whatever it is, way too easily. What's going to happen when you get your regular sitter back? You just going to send her home to us without a backward glance? Or what if your wife returns? Where does Eva fit in this?"
I shook my head. "My wife's not-" I stopped short, telling myself he was right. What I was doing with Eva was selfish, and it couldn't last. I groaned and glanced away. "So, what're you saying I should do?"
Mason shrugged. "Hell, I have no idea what you should do. I'm just saying don't hurt her. Keep her, send her back, whatever. But if you hurt her, you'll upset Reese. And that will piss me off."
I nodded, a little miffed he was more concerned about affecting Reese than Tinker Bell. But Reese was his girlfriend, so I guess it made sense.
"I get that." I nodded. "And I'll talk to Tink about it. Make sure she's getting what she wants from this."
Mason was silent after that, seeming satisfied by my answer.
But I never did talk to Eva. I was too afraid she might say she wanted to leave once this was over, or maybe that she was counting down the days to break free . . . just as Tristy had done.
***
It was bound to happen. Thirteen days after Tinker Bell came to watch my kid, the chicken pox passed from my neighbor's apartment, and they were no longer contagious threats.
That night at dinner, Eva waited until we were seated at the table-Julian slapping at the top of his high chair and Skylar nestled over her shoulder-before she said, "So, Mrs. Rojas called today . . . "
The baked potato I was chewing caught in my throat. Why the hell had Mrs. Rojas called the landline too, when she'd also called my cell phone? I'd been trying to forget or at least put off responding to the conversation I'd had with her for as long as possible. Like maybe another week or so. A decade perhaps.
Eva glanced up at me, her gaze seeking, trying to read me. "I guess they're all healthy, and you finally have your regular sitter back."
I nodded and reached for my glass of iced tea, unable to say a thing. But iced fucking tea. The woman even made iced tea. How the hell was I supposed to just let her go?
Fine. Iced tea had nothing to do with it. Even if she'd never once cleaned or cooked a damn thing, I still want her to stay.
"Skylar and I packed our things this afternoon," she added, stabbing me right through the chest with her casual announcement. "After the supper dishes are cleaned, we can call Reese to come pick us up."
"No!" When Eva blinked in surprise, my face heated. "I mean . . . " Shit. I ran my hand through my hair. "You don't have to call her. Fighter and I can drive you guys over."
"Oh." Her shoulders fell half an inch, and I swear I saw disappointment in her eyes. It lit a fire of hope inside me. I opened my mouth to ask her to stay, but then she grinned and added, "That'd be great. Thanks."
Damn it. What the hell had I been thinking? I couldn't keep her forever.
Skylar saved my mortified ass by picking that moment to spit up, and Julian helped by throwing his chew toy over the side of the high chair and crying for someone to fetch it. But that was only a temporary distraction. After Eva and I worked side by side to clean the dishes, she brushed her palms over her hips and turned to me with a tense, expectant smile.
"Well . . . " she said.
"I'll, uh . . . " I blew out a breath. "I can carry your things down to the Barracuda."
Her blue eyes were soft and appreciative. "Okay. Thank you."
I nodded, stalled a minute, and then turned and headed from the kitchen. It only took me three trips to get everything she'd accumulated over the past few weeks piled into the trunk, which meant, after only three brief trips to my car and back, it was time to take her home.
We were both quiet as we bundled up the kids. I picked up both Julian's and Skylar's carrier, one in each hand. Eva slung her purse over her shoulder and slowly glanced around the front room as if bidding it farewell. Then she lifted her shoulders and asked, "Ready?"
I couldn't answer so I turned toward the exit. Tink got the door for me and led the way down the stairs, and then she opened the main entrance for me as well. I wanted to blurt out, "We work so well together, it seems like a damn shame to end this so soon," but I swallowed the urge.