Playing All the Angles (3 page)

He shrugged and said, “Isabelle. I never really thought it’d be more than a short-term thing, but I really don’t want to be without her now. And there’s no way she’s moving across the pond. She won’t even consider children if I’m still racing.”

“Children?” Eve choked on her food, her hand going up to her mouth as she coughed.

Dominic pushed his water glass to her. “Children. Yes. People have those when they fall in love and get married. We’ve talked about when we’ll have any.”

“You’re planning a family with my sister?”

“You’d rather I planned one with you?”

Eve’s face went white, and she shook her head. “Don’t be a bastard.”

“We’ve talked children. We’ve talked marriage. We’ve talked the whole nine yards. It’s going to happen, and you’ll just have to get used to the idea.”

“I think I hate you.”

“No. You might not love me, but you don’t hate me. Same as I am with you. It’s got very, very little to do with our heads, or our hearts. I just know how fucked up you actually are, and you appreciate me for it.”

“That’s a very simplistic way of looking at it.” She stared down at his hand, which had covered hers.

“And you crave simple more than you crave oxygen.”

She met his eyes, frowning, and said, “It has to stop. We can’t keep doing this, Dom.”

“Whatever you say, baby.”

It was three in the morning when she woke up, Dominic snoring beside her, the sheets still mildly damp from their last round of shagging. She sat up quickly, shaking her head and climbing out of the bed, wrapping her sheet around her. She went around to Dominic’s other side and began jostling him. “Get up! Get up! Get up! You have to go!”

He grunted at her but didn’t move.

She tried harder, smacking his arm and calling his name a bit louder. “Dominic! Wake up! You have to leave!”

He raised his head off the pillow, squinting up at her. “Whu? Come back to bed.”

“No,” she said, bending to gather his clothes and throwing them at him. “You have to go! Right now!”

“Evie! For God’s sake! It’s the middle of the night!”

“Right. You should have been gone hours ago!”

“Evie!” He ducked a shoe. “All right! All right! I’ll go! You win. I’ll go.”

“Then go!”

He rose and dressed, glowering at her all the while, still grousing at her as she forced him out the door.

“Go.” She pointed. “Go home.”

“Going. Geez, woman. You know, you’re never going to find anyone with that attitude.”

“Out!”

As he left, the doorframe emptied of his shoulders, and Eve noticed a figure sitting in the courtyard. The hand came up in a half wave, and she recognized her new neighbor and lifted her own in response. Dominic seemed not to notice, likely too drunk to care if he did, and she found herself wondering if life would be easier if his motorbike skidded under a bus.

Chapter 2

E
VE
S
TOPPED
A
T
A B
AR
for a few drinks before taking a taxi home. The alcohol had barely served to ease the throbbing headache she’d developed while stuck in the midst of her family. It had gone just as she’d expected, though the damage was minimal because she’d purposely come late. Showing up late was better than showing up loaded or half-dressed and hanging off the arm of some completely inappropriate sexual conquest, or early enough to be caught shagging a conquest somewhere public, or twenty other things she’d done in the past to cause them distress.

She tried to convince herself it was familial stress and not a guilty conscience that made her head hurt, but she couldn’t deny it. Dominic had gone through with it. He’d proposed to Isabelle, who was always so warm and caring toward her older sister, even when no one else in the family was. And for good reason, since Isabelle was the only one she hadn’t gone out of her way to embarrass, harass, or horrify.

And how was Evie repaying her? By shagging her boyfriend behind her back. It would have been a fairer act to screw Alora’s desperately horny husband and let her pious, perfect sister find out about it. Anything to wipe that smug superiority off Alora’s face. Too bad Eve found Doyle completely repugnant. Even a case of rum couldn’t make him attractive. Eve knew from experience.

Dominic was a different animal altogether. She couldn’t explain why she was so drawn to him. It wasn’t his charm, for he rarely used his romantic skills with her. The sex was hot—phenomenal, in fact—but nothing that she hadn’t had with other people. It wasn’t just one thing. It was everything. A baser attraction that she couldn’t quite turn away from.

Not even after he’d gotten down on one knee in front of the entire family and asked her baby sister to marry him. Eve had stayed as long as she could and then tried to slink away, only to have Dominic meet her and draw her into the pool house before she could find her way out the door. Hence the headache. Hence the drinking.

She stumbled a little as she walked up to her door, having difficulty with the key. She’d had more to drink than she thought.

“Problems?” she heard behind her and turned to see the neighbor, Tad. He had mail in his hand.

“Do you have any siblings?” she asked.

“Nope. I’m an only.”

“Then I’ve got problems you couldn’t even begin to understand. But hey, could you open my door for me? I tried to drink my family into oblivion, but apparently all I made disappear are my fine motor skills.”

When he agreed, she handed over the key and leaned against her porch railing. Dominic was marrying Isabelle. She was going to have to stop shagging him when that happened.
There is a big difference,
she told herself,
between a boyfriend and a husband
. Maybe she could wean herself off him in the months leading up to the wedding? It seemed the likeliest plan. Maybe if she found other ways, or other people to occupy her time.

Tad unlocked the door. “Here you go,” he said, pushing it open and turning to hand her the keys.

“Thanks,” she answered, wobbling past him on her high heels. She paused inside, looking back at him thoughtfully, then asked, “Would you like a coffee or something?”

“Uh, sure. Seems we could both use one.”

“I could use two,” she agreed, continuing into the house and leaving the door open for him to follow. She kicked off her shoes on the way to the kitchen, surer in her bare feet. “How do you take yours?”

“Black, thanks. So, your family’s awful?”

“My little sister got engaged today. My older sister is married with two brats and probably another on the way. She looks knocked up, just probably waiting to say so. My parents think I’m defective because I’m single.”

“Defective?” Tad laughed. “Clearly not.”

“Right,” Eve said. “I’m far too pretty to be single, my mother says. Therefore, I must be defective. I can’t seem to keep a man. That’s a sure sign that something’s wrong with me.”

He shrugged at her. “I guess I wouldn’t mind finding out. I was hoping you wouldn’t catch me staring at you the other night.”

“Ha! I was too busy staring at you. Anyway, the whole party—parents’ anniversary and sister’s engagement—devolved into what kind of a scaly monster I must be that I don’t have a man in my life. So, I left and got drunk. Now, instead of irritated and hurt, I’m irritated and hurt and drunk. It’s even worse, since I can’t focus on anything.”

He winced sympathetically. “Are you happy being single?”

“I’m happy being me. Single, coupled, whatever. I’m just sick of them treating me like I’m a failure because I’m not married to some poor schlub I can’t stand and squeezing out kittens that I only want because I’m supposed to.”

“Is that your older sister?”

“Pretty much. No, not really. She adores her husband and loves being a mother. I’m just jealous? I don’t know. There’s a lot of water under that bridge. She’s a happy half of a couple.”

“And your younger sister? Is it that bloke Dominic that I met the other night who’s marrying her?”

“Yes. That’s Dominic.” Eve crossed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “And don’t even get me started on that one.”

“He seemed rather more than a future brother-in-law, if you don’t mind my saying. Seemed rather familiar.”

“Did he?” She looked at Tad seriously, and he nodded. “Well, that’s no good. Black, you said?”

“Black.”

She took a moment to play with a little brewer that spewed out a single cup of black for Tad, then tossed the cartridge she’d used for his drink and selected a new one for herself. “I’m doing mine with mint. Well, he’s not more than a future brother-in-law. I think Issie’s too young to get married. She’s barely twenty-two, and that lout’s only the second serious boyfriend she’s had. She dated the same boy from grammar school to university practically. We all thought she’d grow up and marry him. But nooo, she brings home that thing. I mean, who brings
that
home?”

He sipped the coffee and then looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “I hate to say it, but you do.”

She turned then to face him. “I told you, he was just here being miserable because she was away. Helping my parents with their party arrangements. He gets sulky and needy when she’s not around.”

Tad hummed, taking another drink. “I’m not going to tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“What? Tell who what?”

“That you’re sleeping with your sister’s boyfriend.”

Eve snorted and then laughed for several seconds, shaking her head. “I never let him sleep. Well, I try not to.”

“I was going to say he looked like he’d been sleeping when he stumbled out of here the other night.”

She sighed. “You think I’m defective too, don’t you?”

“No, I’m sure you have your reasons for helping him cheat on your sister. But I think that you could do a lot better than the likes of him,” he replied simply.

She raised an eyebrow and pulled her coffee cup from under the now-steaming spigot. “I met Dominic years ago,” she said, taking a seat at her bistro table and motioning Tad to do the same. “We had a really great time together and were decent friends as much as we were lovers, but we were both at the end of our time at Uni. He joined this band and was serious about making it big as a rock star, and I got an internship at Rode—Marcus Rode’s fashion house—at the same time. I just figured I had bigger fish to fry, so we drifted apart.

“Two years later, he turns up at my family’s Christmas party with my sister. I went to tell him off about leaving her alone, and next thing I know, we’re in the coat closet. Been over a year now, and I’ve seen a lot of coats.”

“Is it because he was with you first?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t feel competitive with Isabelle. She’s the only one in the family who doesn’t treat me like I’m worthless.”

Tad looked surprised. “Then why mess around with her boyfriend?”

Eve shrugged, sinking into a posture that matched her confusion. “I don’t know,” she said quietly.

“Are you going to stop?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he’ll just take up with someone else?”

“I’m fairly certain he’s taking up with other people regularly. It’s part of who he is.”

“And your sister knows that?”

“I doubt it. He says he loves her, though, and wants to have a family. And he’s not the type to get married just because, so he must have real feelings.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“No. And he’s not with me either. It’s weird. It’s complicated. I’m seeing a therapist to try to get it all sorted. Try to get me sorted. That’s going to take forever. Let’s talk about you instead.”

“I’m boring,” Tad said playfully over his mug.

Eve reached over, picked up his mail, and began sorting through it.

He gave a cry. “Hey!”

“You have at least two credit cards—” she flicked the envelopes back to him “—a subscription to a lad mag that’s coming due, and your last name is Edmunds. So, where do you keep your lad mags, Mr. Edmunds? Are you a toilet or a bedside wanker?”

He choked out a laugh. “Getting even with me?”

“Sauce for the goose. We’ve discussed my private life,” she said with a smile.

“Shower,” he answered.

“Oooh, rough on the magazines. Read first, then go to it? Or do you just soak the pages?”

“Read first.” He blushed, and it was disarmingly cute.

Eve tilted her head at him, dark eyes sparkling almost fondly. “So, this girl who broke your heart? Long-term?”

“Since I was seventeen. We were engaged, and then…well, we weren’t. She said she needed space and time and wanted to make sure I was ‘the one’ since she’d never had any others.”

“Ouch. Cold, but practical. How long’s it been?”

“Just over a year. So, not long, but I couldn’t take being up there anymore, and I got offered this job…”

“Aw,” she cooed at him and patted his arm. “Well, her loss.”