"Come on, I am starving and there is Teppanyaki in my future." She hauled me off the bed and linked her arm in mine as we headed out for dinner.
-Meet me for lunch. Carter's text came a few days later.
-I know what that means. I smiled as I sat perched on a bar stool at home with my laptop open before me. Cate was holed up in her room sketching and the apartment was actually silent. Japanese had been delicious the night before and we'd come home stuffed and happy. We broke into the wine and watched reruns of Real Housewives of New Jersey until late. It felt great to have girl-time with Cate. I'd been so busy the past week that recharging over wine and Real Housewives was just what I'd needed.
-Interested in a repeat of Monday?
-Always. I texted back.
-Evangeline… you drive me insane.
- Back at you, buddy.
-Always the comedian. Seriously, I'll take you out for lunch. Be here at one.
-Yes, sir.
-I like that.
-Of course you do.
I walked the few blocks down Clarendon to meet Carter at The Hancock for lunch. Leaves swirled around my feet as the wind cut through the busy Boston streets. I'd finally settled in and had everything unpacked and I was looking forward to the weekend away with Carter. A few days tucked away in the mountains, just the two of us, felt like the perfect occasion to get to know each other. I knew there would be lots of sex, it was the one thing we did well, but maybe we could actually work on not driving each other insane the rest of the time.
I glanced down at my phone and realized I was 15 minutes early. I turned the corner and saw the Bentley sitting outside with Parker standing at the door. My steps quickened and a smile spread across my face. Just then Nikki Vilanova sauntered out of the glass doors of the building in an obscenely tight dress and a cropped leather jacket. Her cheeks were flushed and she ran a hand through tousled hair. She exchanged words with Parker and then slid into the open door of the Bentley. Parker got into the front seat and the car pulled away from the curb.
My brain ran a million miles a minute. What was she doing here? And why did she look like she'd just had a lunchtime "date" with Carter? Cheeks flushed with pleasure and hair that looked like strong fingers had just been twisted in it. My stomach clenched at the thought and I felt like I would be sick right here on the busy street. I took a few deep breaths. There was no way I could see him now. I didn't want to. There was only one reason a girl came walking out of her exes office looking like that. I turned on my heal and walked back the way I'd came with a painful lump in my throat.
I was walking away from him. I was leaving the most amazing man I’d ever been with. The man who drove me mad with anger and lust. The man who trampled all over my life and my heart.
Five
If my emotions hadn't been so jumbled the last 24 hours; if Carter and I weren't just coming off of a huge emotional cluster; if things had been different, maybe I wouldn't have walked away.
I knew it was hard for me to get close to people. I had a tough time with emotional connection. My mom was to blame for that. She had this terrible tendency of encouraging you to open up to her and then throwing it back in your face when the time was right. After years of having my heart broken by the person who was supposed to love me the most, I began to build walls.
Cate was the only person I was truly close to because she'd been there with me through it all. It was her I called at ten o'clock on a school night when things were rough with my mom. She was always there, and I could trust her to always be there.
But Carter was a notorious playboy, how could I trust someone like that? I wanted to believe that Carter didn't want to hurt me; that he meant the things he said in the throes of passion. A very small slice of my heart held hope that he really felt that way, but why did it feel like so many of his actions said otherwise?
I didn't think I could risk my heart on him. And yet no matter how hard I tried I didn't have the strength to resist him either. The connection I felt with Carter I'd never felt with anyone else, and it terrified me.
I walked another block and then hailed a taxi home. I could have walked, it was less than ten minutes, but I was barely standing on two feet at this point. My heart thrummed in my chest and my legs felt like jelly. I shut my eyes tightly and tried to keep the image of a sexed up Nikki Vilanova out of my head. It felt like tears could flow from my eyes at any moment, but they kept not coming. While part of my heart had been holding out hope that Carter felt for me the same way I felt for him, there was an equally small part that knew he was a playboy that would inevitably walk all over my feelings.
I took a deep breath as I sat in the back of the cab and steeled myself to stay strong and walk away from Carter with as much as my heart in tact as possible. I would not let this man dictate my life and my happiness. The cab pulled up to my apartment on Chandler and I stepped out a new woman. I'd only known Carter Morgan for one week; while he may have had my emotions in a twist in that time, it wasn't long enough for him to have a real, long-lasting impact. I stood on the sidewalk and turned my face to the sun and took a deep breath. Eva Austin was back; her life was no longer dictated by the sexy, controlling CEO Carter Morgan.