I snorted. “Moss? He’s a big ol’ pussy. He organizes the fights because he doesn’t have the balls to be in ’em. Lotta talk, not a lotta bite.”
“He’s still scary.”
“I guess I can see that.” I winked at her. “But when your older brother is a man like Zane, it becomes kinda hard for anyone else to seem scary.”
She laughed. “You make a good point.” She sobered, and met my eyes with a strangely serious expression. “I don’t know why I’m so worried about fitting into your life. Though, I suppose it’s not like that’s what this is, anyway.” A long, weighted pause. “Right?”
I shrugged, not liking the way that sounded, or my own viscerally emotional reaction to her words. “I mean, you got Yale, right?”
“Right. So whatever this is, it has an expiration date. Which is best for us both.” She was looking at me intently.
I really didn’t like the way my heart was hammering, as if protesting the truth in her words. “Right,” I agreed, working hard to sound casual. “It’s got a built-in expiration date. And until then, we can just enjoy whatever this is. Label, no label.”
“Part of me does wish I could just hide out here forever, though,” Evangeline said, after a moment of silence. “It would make avoiding Father and Thomas so much easier.”
“Do you think they’re looking for you?”
She nodded. “Oh, without a doubt. Father probably has an entire team of private investigators hunting me down as we speak.”
“Even though you took off on your own, of your own free will?”
She nodded. “In my family, one does not simply vanish without a word. It’s just not done. It’s bad enough that I’m not interested in politics, but to run away like this? It’s the height of embarrassment for my parents.”
I shook my head. “I do not get that shitat all.” I eye her. “Whydidyou run away?”
“They expect things of me,” she answered. “They pay for Yale. They bought my car. They would have bought me a condo near the school if I hadn’t insisted on staying on campus, which was a whole big fight by itself. I should already be married to Thomas, according to them. There’s no reason for me to even really need a degree in anything, when my breeding and pedigree is all about being a trophy wife for the great and mighty Thomas Haverton. He’s planning to run for Senate soon, and it will look best, optics-wise, if he’s married. My place, according to them, is at his side. Making him look good. Organizing his parties, having his perfect little children, decorating his perfect house in Georgetown—andI’mthe decoration, by the way.” A shrug. “I’m here because I just couldn’t handle their expectations any longer. I needed a break. I had to…I just had to get away for a while, and hopefully figure out what to do next with my life.”
She sighed bitterly. “They have my whole life arranged—it’s allbeenarranged for years. He has the house already picked out. He’s just waiting on me to come to my senses and finally agree to marry him. And my parents are putting ever more pressure on me to agree, no matter what I tell them. Next thing I know, they’ll be using Yale as leverage.”
“That’s bullshit.”
She nodded. “Yes, it is. But that’s my life.” She smiled at me, then. “That’s why I’m here: I needed an escape from it all.”
I thought about everything she’d said. “And I’m the escape, huh?”
She ducked her head, nodding. “Yes. I suppose that would be true.” She met my eyes, yet again looking sorrowful and apologetic. “I’m using you, aren’t I? God, that’s horrible. I’m a horrible person.”
I laughed. “Eva, babe. You’re overthinking it. I don’t mind being used. Not by you, not like this. I’m in this eyes-open, okay? You don’t belong here, and I don’t belong in Boston, or wherever the fuck Yale is. Like you said, this thing has a built-in expiration date. So quit vilifying yourself, yeah? You have my permission to use me, and then when you decide you’re ready to go back to your life, you can wash your hands of me.”
“Yale is in New Haven, Connecticut,” she murmured, and then she stared at me, emotions I couldn’t make sense of crossing her features too quickly to read. “I won’t wash my hands of you, Baxter. I will cherish this time I have with you.”
That caused something to pang, deep inside me; I didn’t dare look at it too closely. “Eva, babe—”
She gave me bright, happy smile. A little too bright, a little too happy, maybe. “Well…we’ve shopped and eaten. Now what do you want to do?”
“Aside from you, six different ways by midnight?”
She shuddered, goose bumps pebbling her skin. “Why does it have to beasidefrom that?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it doesn’t have to be.”
Her eyes, locked on mine, were openly and blatantly curious. Heated. Daring me. Challenging. “No, maybe it doesn’t.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “But…why only six ways? Why stop there?”
I grinned, and slid my hand onto her knee, teasing up under her skirt. “That was just an expression. I’m sure I can think of a lot more than just six.”
“A lot more?”
“Alotmore.”
