Eva started working for Ms. Elsie in February, after the hotel chain she’d worked for laid her off at the beginning of the year. As regional events coordinator, Eva had overseen all their special events in the southern part of the state of Georgia. Now she earned a fraction of her previous salary, and because she worked part-time, she didn’t have any benefits. Ms. Elsie wanted to bring her on full-time, but the business didn’t support such a move.
Eva walked behind the display case and placed her purse under the counter. “Better than usual. I think I might actually keep food in my stomach this morning. That’s three days in a row.”
“Bless your heart. It’ll get better, sugar.” Her sympathetic gaze lowered to Eva’s stomach.
“She’s not making it easy on me, that’s for sure.” Eva rubbed her belly, which didn’t show any signs of her pregnancy.
Ms. Elsie laughed. “They never do. Just think, this is only the beginning. You still have the toddler stage, puberty, and the dreaded teen years to look forward to.”
Her exaggerated shudder brought a smile to Eva’s lips. “Don’t rush me. I already have my hands full.”
They chatted amicably as they went through their morning routine, preparing for the annual end-of-summer sale. Eva was in the midst of writing sale signs in a neat script to place throughout the store when the wind chime on the door tinkled an alert that a customer had entered.
She noticed the shift immediately as an intangible force stirred the air. The next stroke of the black marker in her hand remained suspended as she lifted her eyes toward the direction of the sound. A tall male figure stood in the doorway.
Derrick Hoffman.
She became a bundle of nerves as soon as she saw him.
Ridiculously beautiful, he had full lips and deep-set eyes that didn’t miss a thing, and that je ne sais quoi all men wanted but most lacked. It oozed from his pores and had the ability to surmount the halfhearted objections of any woman. Make her forget her upbringing and drop her panties without a second thought and deal with the consequences later. She’d been one of those women.
The smoky blue-gray of his eyes, inherited from his white mother, found her brown ones. After putting down the marker, she rested her hands on the glass of the display case and asked, “What are you doing here?” at the same time Ms. Elsie inquired, “May I help you?”
For a moment, his eyes shifted to the older woman several feet away, but they slid back to Eva almost immediately. “You know why I’m here.”
Eva willed her trembling fingers to remain still as she squared off against him behind the safety of the case. “No, I don’t. Even if I did, right now isn’t a good time. I’m working. Can we talk later?”
Eva could feel her manager’s gaze and wondered what she thought. If Ms. Elsie guessed this was the father of her child, then she was correct. The last conversation with Derrick hadn’t gone well, and she could only imagine why he’d decided to show up unannounced.
Derrick walked further into the store, his stride confident and sure. He planted himself in the middle of the dark carpet, feet set apart, as if he owned the place. He looked polished, elegant, and wore one of his pricey suits from London’s famous Savile Row, hand-stitched to fit his muscle-packed body. The light complexion of his skin contrasted sharply against the black curls on his head.
His sharp eyes remained on her. “This is important. I’m sure your supervisor won’t mind if you step out for a few minutes before the store gets busy.”
His luscious mouth curved upward into a disarming smile, exposing a set of flawless white teeth. She knew from experience his warm smile concealed a cold heart, a point her quivering belly had forgotten. It only remembered how those same lips had kissed a path from her navel and lower, how for hours at a time he could make her forget the outside world and live only for the moments in his arms.
“I have no problem with it at all,” Ms. Elsie confirmed. Her admiring glance remained riveted on Derrick’s profile. Even Ms. Elsie had easily fallen under his spell.