Just Fooling Around(18)
“On the way to my apartment,” Cam said. “And unless my little sister has changed, there’s no way I’m going to convince her to stay here for the day.”
“What do you want me to do?” Already he was out of bed. Already, he was imagining a day with Darcy.
“I need you watch out for her, buddy,” Cam said, voicing the words that Evan so wanted to here. “I need you to take care of her. I know it’s a lot to ask—following my kid sister around—but I’d really appreciate it if—”
“No worries,” Evan said, his voice in a rush. “I get it. You’re worried about her. She’s alone in the city on April first.”
“The kid’s brilliant,” Cam said. “But she can be scattered. And tunnel-visioned. And she’s determined to pretend like the curse doesn’t exist.”
“Don’t worry,” Evan said. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“How?”
“Huh?”
“She’ll have both our butts in a sling if she realizes I asked you to keep an eye on her. And it’s not like you’re going to play James Bond in a trenchcoat and tail her from afar. So what’s your excuse going to be? To hang out with her, I mean.”
“Right,” Evan said, scrambling. “I’ll think of something.” Heck yes, he’d think of something. The idea of spending the day with Darcy beat pretty much anything else he could think of doing that day, and that included winning the lottery.
“How about an article?” Cam said. “Tell her you’re doing a feature on the family curse.”
“That’ll go over well,” Evan said. He might believe in the curse—how could he not?—but he knew damn good and well that Darcy was the hold-out in the family. And the truth was that antagonizing her wasn’t what he had in mind. No, his image of the perfect day was something significantly different.
“She says she doesn’t believe in the curse,” Cam said. “But she can’t deny what happens to us every year.”
“I’ll tell her I want to write a feature piece from her perspective. Holding the line in a family of believers.”
“You’re a good man,” Cam said. “There’s no one I trust more to keep an eye on my baby sister.”
An eye, Evan thought. He’d keep an eye on her, all right. On those flashing green eyes and that mass of wild, untamable curls.
He imagined brushing her hair out of her eyes and stroking her cheek, taking her hand and walking through the park. Sharing a kiss on the top of the Empire State Building.
And, yeah, he imagined a hell of a lot more than that, too.
Cam sighed. “It’s just that she can be so damn naive, you know? I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Right,” Evan said, reining in all of his fantasies, because he could have none of them. This was Darcy he was thinking about. Cam’s little sister, who’d never once shown the slightest hint of interest in him. “I’ll keep her safe.”
Safe, he thought. And at arm’s length.
2
“YOUR PURSE WAS STOLEN,” Cam said. He spoke the words as if they constituted mathematical proof, and punctuated them with a scowl, the effect of which was only slightly lessened by the flower-print blanket Jenna had tucked around his shoulders, his body and his elevated foot.
“So? Lots of people get robbed in New York without being cursed. All it means is that I was an idiot for not holding the thing closer. And,” she added with a wry grin, “it means I need to borrow some cash.”
“And if I say no?” Cam asked, as if that was his trump card.
She rolled her eyes. “I only need to borrow a few bucks. As soon as the bank opens, I can get more.” She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out her driver’s license. “I always keep it in my pocket when I’m in the city. I figure that’s just smart.”
“You’re being irresponsible,” Cam said, apparently unimpressed by her foresight. “Stay here, nice and tight and snug. Tomorrow you can window shop or do whatever you planned on doing.”
“Tomorrow, I’m going back home. And I don’t want to stay in today. I have theater tickets for tonight, and I’m going. They’re for Dance in the Winter, and it’s sold out for the next two years. It’s the hottest thing on Broadway right now, and I’m not missing it. Just because you’re laid up on the couch doesn’t mean I have to be an invalid, too.”
“It’s hours until your show,” Jenna said, coming back into the room with a yellow tray topped with three mugs of coffee. “And Cam and I hardly ever see you.”