“Don’t bother, really.” Evan scowled.
Geez, can’t this girl take a hint? he shook his head irritably.
“It’s no bother,” she called over her shoulder and waved her blue gloved hand.
Evan tried to hurry through the rest of his dissection so he’d be done by the time she came back, but he couldn’t hurry his work without risking the results.
Fifteen minutes later she was standing beside him, happily donning a new pair of gloves.
“Where would you like me to start?”
“Um, well…I finished everything I needed to do today,” he lied.
“Seriously?” she asked.
“Uh-huh,” he nodded, gathering his things and securing them in a locker beside the workbench he used to work on his engineering project.
“Okay,” the pretty blonde shrugged then looked up at Evan with an I’ve-got-an-idea expression. “Breakfast!” she beamed.
“What about it,” Evan looked at her sideways.
“What do you mean, what about it? I’m talking about coffee and food and more coffee. Come on, my treat. It’s the least I can do for startling you this morning.”
“I’m really not—”
“Hungry? Liar, I can hear your stomach growling from here.” Kylie smiled her winsome smile and Evan hesitated just long enough. “Excellent!” she beamed. “I hate eating alone and since I moved here a month ago, I can’t tell you how many meals I’ve had by myself.”
“Ninety?” Evan quipped.
“What?”
“Sorry, I just multiplied thirty days by three meals a day. Ninety.”
Kylie blushed just enough to pink up her cheeks. Even in his surly mood, Evan noticed how pretty the girl was. She just picked the wrong guy to have breakfast with.
They walked to the elevators after changing back into their street clothes and stood waiting for the doors to open. Once they did, Evan anticipated the standard awkward silence as the car lowered to the ground floor, but he was quickly learning, nothing was standard or silent around Kylie.
“So are you going to tell me your name, stranger?” she asked as the elevator chimed passing each floor.
He thought about giving her a fake name, but decided against it. She may as well know who she’s dealing with and if recognition happens, I’ll have to dodge her questions.
“I’m Evan Winter,” he said, trying not to cringe.
Kylie nodded then began to giggle.
Evan frowned at that unexpected reaction.
“I’m sorry,” she tried to control her giggles before they turned into full-on laughter.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, his scar starting to itch as though begging to be used in self-defense.
“It’s just,” she stifled her laughter. “It’s just your initials spell out, ‘Ewww’!” Kylie couldn’t hold it in any longer. The elevator doors opened and she emerged holding her stomach in gales of laughter. Evan found himself chuckling at the girl’s delight. In all his brilliance, study and discoveries, he’d never noticed his initials before Kylie.
Chapter 70 Expectations
“Ermos, please have all the packages delivered to Miss Meg’s room,” Michelle swept one bag up in her hands and started up the stairwell to her room.
“Yes, ma’am,” the chauffer bowed deeply. He waited respectfully as she exited the room before hurrying to his master’s quarters. Ermos tapped on the mahogany door lightly, frowning deeply at having to disturb the Senator’s beautiful music.
“Enter,” the Senator’s voice called as the vibrations of the piano keys hummed to a stop.
The surveillance monitors watching Meg caught Ermos’ eye even as he moved to bow his head in supplication. Ignoring what he saw he spoke reverently to the Senator. “Ms. Michelle has returned with the wardrobe for the new little miss.”
“Excellent, Ermos. Please bring the packages to her room and leave them outside her door. I’ll help her put the items away myself.” The Senator stood abruptly and headed out the door, past Ermos and directly down the hall to Meg’s room. He could hear water running as he pressed his ear to the door and kicked himself for not checking the monitors before approaching her.
He waited impatiently for the water to turn off before tapping lightly on the door. Ermos quietly laid bag after bag neatly against the wall behind the Senator.
“Who’s there?” her voice called through the thick door.
“It’s me, Meg. I brought you the clothing and personal items you requested.”
“One moment, please,” she responded. He heard a door shut from inside then her footsteps. When she opened the door wide the Senator’s eyes were wide with surprise at what he saw.
“My dear girl! Are you all right?” His keen eyes took all of her in, looking for injury that would match the destruction her room suffered.
“Never better, but we may need Eloise’s help in here before I add bags of clothing to the mess.”
“What happened?”