The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (126 page)

“It’s a date,” Shea says as Derek walks over and places a comfortable arm around her waist. 

“You making dates behind my back already?” he asks, pulling her close.

“I am.  We’re double-dating with one of the NFL’s most well-known power couples.  I think my sister is the one who coined their nickname,
Evanette.
  Can we pencil them in for dinner tomorrow?”

“I think I could swing that.” He smirks. 

It’s late and I’m beyond exhausted, but now Evan wants to talk as we drive the short distance home.  Too many drinks and hours of sitting playing cards make me yearn for sleep, so I crack open the window to let in a little cold air, hoping the dose of frigidness will do the trick.

Evan takes my hand in his and immediately, I perk right up.  There’s no better stimulant than the feel of his touch.  I weave our fingers together as sensations rock through my body.

“So what do you think about Derek and Shea?  They seem great together, don’t you think?” I ask him.

“He’s definitely got that look.”

“That look?”

“Yeah.  Adam had it when he met Emmy.  Dean had it when he met my sister.  I probably had it too.  You know, like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.  I get it, but be careful around her, Juliette.  The last thing we need is to bring someone into this who cannot be trusted.”

“What is it with you and Laci?  I know you slept with her once when you were still playing for the Texans, but is that it?  Really?  All this drama over a one-night stand?  I don’t get it.”

“Me either.  I don’t hear from her for months, and then all of a sudden she’s constantly calling me and trying to hook up again.  For almost a year she hounded me until she got that job with the Celebrity News Network and she moved to the East Coast.”

“Why didn’t you ever just meet her for dinner or something?”

“Juliette, you know my past.  I wasn’t looking for a relationship and I didn’t want to lead her on or give her mixed messages.  Dragging it on would just have seemed ... wrong.”

“Yeah, well, maybe if you’d just talked to her she wouldn’t have hounded you and done all those exposés.  She really seemed to enjoy making you look like a playboy without a conscience.”

“Maybe I was.  Not everything she said about me was untrue.  Usually there was on ounce of honesty in every piece she ran.  I guess a part of me felt like I deserved it.  But when she stirred up that hornet’s nest of crazy with Averee, she crossed the line.”

I think back to the night I saw Laci Keilani’s Celebrity News Network special on television about Evan and Averee reuniting just weeks after we started dating.  Somehow she got pictures of Evan sneaking into Averee’s Manhattan apartment, carrying gifts I had no idea were intended for me.  We didn’t realize Averee was spiraling out of control.  That may have been the catalyst that fed into her fantasy and pushed her over the edge.  I don’t blame Evan one bit for having reservations about Shea.

“But what do you think about Shea?  Can you separate the two?”

“That’s what dinner is all about.  I need to know for sure that she’s different.  That she’s not just using Derek as some sort of a weapon to get to me and take care of some unfinished business her dearly departed sister left behind.”

“I hope you’re wrong.”

“I hope I’m wrong too.”

Putting all the Cards on the Table

I
want everything to be perfect tonight.  This girl has rather a large mountain to climb.  If she can get Evan to believe she’s not holding on to some grudge, essentially turning us into the Hatfields and McCoys, then tonight will have been a success.

Evan’s in the shower.  He had a long and difficult practice session.  This week’s game against San Francisco will be a tough one and Evan can’t afford to lose two games in a row.  I’ve laid out his favorite worn and tattered jeans and Black Sabbath concert T-shirt. 

I decide to make a simple dish that is almost universally loved, Chicken Francese served with angel hair pasta.  I want to keep the
wow
moment for dessert.  That’s where I really shine.  I have to make Shea forget about what she’s heard and convince her she wouldn’t be making a mistake with us.

I have my favorite music playing as I bounce around the house cleaning and lighting sweet-scented candles.  Maddy has been fed, exercised, her food bowl washed and put away, and I’m putting her upstairs in the home gym for the night.  There’s nothing but a baby gate keeping her from joining us down here, and she could easily topple it if she decided to.  But she’s such a good girl, she would never even try.

The house is neat, the table is set, and dinner is heating in the oven.  The last thing for me to do is get out my scrapbook of wedding ideas to share with Shea.  We never really got a chance to talk about weddings, and I hope that all changes tonight.

With scrapbook in hand, I turn to take it into the living room, and I walk right into the brick wall that is Evan McGuire.  Normally I can feel it when we’re in the room together.  Call it intuition, symbiosis, or a sixth sense, but I can usually sense when he’s near.

Suddenly all those senses that stopped working kick in at once and I’m on sensory overload.  The first thing I notice is how good he smells.  It’s that unique combination of testosterone and rich sandalwood soap that drives me crazy. 

Of course, there’s the mere sight of him dressed casually and youthfully.  His jeans are worn and soft, and they hang just low enough on his ass that I want to slide my hand into one of the pockets and grab a squeeze.  A pair of Sanuk Hemp loafers cover the bare feet I love so very much. 

The black T-shirt I took out for him hangs loosely and leaves me just enough of an opening to snake my hand underneath and steal a quick touch of his incredibly firm and sexy back muscles.  My body hums with the desire to feel his touch on my sensitive flesh.

The moment I feel his bare skin against the palm of my hand, I lose restratint and snuggle up against his warm body.  He feels so right.  He has such an immediate calming effect on me that I know without a doubt that tonight will end exactly as it should.  If that means Shea helps me plan my wedding, then that’s great.  If not, then it wasn’t meant to be, and I can live with that so long as Evan is by my side.

Evan slips his hand around my waist, drawing me even more tightly against his chest.  He wraps his other hand around my long hair and, with just the slightest force, he slowly pulls down enough to bring my face up to meet him. 

He looks down at me with smoldering eyes, leans down, and places a lingering, persuasive kiss on my lips.  “Do you have any idea how incredibly sexy you are?” he asks.

“That’s funny, because I was thinking the same exact thing about you.”  I deepen the kiss, our tongues madly seeking each other, our breaths quickening.   The arm he has wrapped around my waist slips beneath my shirt, caressing my bare skin with his warm touch.   I arch into his embrace, enjoying the closeness and wanting more. 

We are rattled from our stupor by the ringing of our doorbell.  It’s show time.  I pull away from his embrace and make my way over to the door to greet our guests.  I peek back over my shoulder and see Evan adjusting his pants.  I know how he feels.  My breasts are full and pert, pressing against the silk of my bra.  This is the effect we have on each other, and it’s intoxicating.

I open the door and welcome in Shea and Derek.  Derek knows his way around our home, so I tell him Evan is waiting for him by the bar in the kitchen.  I show Shea into the living room so she can deposit her things.  She’s brought with her a rather large tote filled with all sort of treasures I cannot wait to uncover.

As I lead her the short distance, I can’t help but notice how comfortable and relaxed she looks.  She’s wearing a baby-blue Henley shirt and a pair of gray skinny jeans.  I cannot imagine Laci ever dressing like that.  When I met her, she wore a power suit and presented herself in a very take-charge and intimidating manner.

I have to ask her about the contrast.  “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but you seem so different from your sister.  Were you two close?”

“Very close.  But we were always sort of yin and yang.  Despite how much we looked alike, we were actually fraternal twins.  The one trait we shared was our drive toward success.  She was very good at what she did, and I try to be the same.”

“Well, from everything I’ve heard, you’re exceptional at what you do.  That’s why I want to work with you so badly.  Come on, let’s eat.  We can talk business later.”  I show her into the kitchen, where Derek has already made himself at home making drinks.

“Here you go, Shea.”  He hands her a Cosmo he’s just finished making.

“Oh, yeah!  Thank you, Derek.”  She kisses him sweetly before taking a sip.  She turns to me and asks, “Have you ever had one of Derek’s Cosmos?  Aren’t they the best?”

Of course I’ve tried one of his Cosmos.  I think Derek has made me every type of drink under the sun.  Hell, he’s invented drinks just for me and my bar.  But I don’t want to throw that in her face, so I just nod my head and say, “Derek is one of the best bartenders I know.  He’s taught me a lot about bar science.”

Shea nods her head and smiles.  “So what’s for dinner?  Can I help?” she offers.

“Well, tonight I made Chicken Francese.  I hope you like it.”

“I love it.  It’s one of my favorites.  What can I do?  I have to warn you, though, I’m pretty helpless in the kitchen, so don’t expect miracles.”

“You don’t like to cook?” I ask.  It always amazes me when I meet women who don’t know their way around a kitchen.

“Nope.  When I was young, my mother would constantly tell me, ‘
Stove.  Hot.  Bad.’ 
And I always listen to my mother,” she chuckles.

She’s great.  I really like her.

“No problem.  Why don’t you start with the salad?”  I hand her four wooden bowls and tongs so she can serve the salad.  “I just tossed it with the dressing, so all you have to do is dish it out.”

As she does, I strain the pasta and check on the chicken.  Everything looks great. I look over at Derek and Evan and they are deep in a conversation about the playoffs.  Each has a prediction about who’s going to make it and who’s going to be shut out.

So far, Evan hasn’t said two words to Shea.  Nor has she spoken to him.  But when she hands him his salad, he of course thanks her.  It feels a little tense and awkward at first.  As we sit down and begin our meal, I slide my foot under Evan’s leg and run it up and down his calf, hoping to get him to relax.

“So Evan, is it true that you’re not sleeping around anymore like you used to?” Shea blurts out.

Holy crap.
I nearly choke on a crouton. 

“Shea!” Derek interrupts.  “We just got here.”

“No, no.  It’s okay,” Evan intercedes.  “Let’s get it over with.  You obviously have questions.  What do you want to know?” he asks her.

“Well, for starters I was wondering if you could tell me why you never once spoke to Laci again after you fucked her.”  Shea has daggers aimed right at Evan.  “You have to know she wasn’t the kind of girl who slept around.”

“Listen, I don’t regret anything that happened.  Your sister knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she took two men up to her hotel room that night.  My history with women was very well known.  We met.  We had drinks.  We fucked.  That’s it.  There was never any illusion of more.”

I listen to Evan talk about fucking other women, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

“So would it have killed you to talk to her?” Shea demands.  “All she wanted was an explanation.”

“No.  All she wanted was more.  More time.  More sex.  More attention.  Your sister was beautiful and intelligent, but she wasn’t right for me.  All I would have given her was more heartbreak and disappointment.  When you meet the right person, you just know it.” 

Evan takes my hand and looks at me with his big, beautiful blue eyes.  “All of a sudden, everything changes – your whole perspective on life shifts.  It’s like looking at the world for the first time, full of possibilities and potential.  I have that now.  I hope she found it too.”

Almost a whisper, Shea admits, “She did.”  The room is painfully silent as Evan and Shea size each other up.

Finally it’s Evan who breaks the silence.  “So let me ask
you
a question.  Are you here in my home hoping to finish the vendetta your sister had against me?  Juliette means the world to me.  She doesn’t deserve to be caught up in this vicious cycle.  She deserves better than that –”

“Evan, please!” I interrupt, but he won’t let me speak.

“She deserves better than me.  But for some inexplicable reason, she loves me.  And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a one-night stand that happened almost three years ago destroy my fiancée’s dream.”

“You don’t like me, do you?” Shea asks.

“I don’t know you,” Evan replies flatly.  “But if you can make Juliette’s dreams come true, I’ll be your biggest fan and I’ll see to it that everyone in the NFL knows where to go to plan their big day.”

“Okay, I’m in,” Shea states as she takes a forkful of her salad.