Dylan chuckled in a way that made Lawson want to bust in his face. That said, pretty much anything Dylan did at this point would make him feel that way. That’s because his brother was smirking. It probably wasn’t obvious to Eve and his mother that his brother was doing it, but Lawson knew him and that smirk. Dylan was enjoying watching him squirm.
“Oh, I asked Dylan to come here with me,” Regina said, as if that explained everything. It didn’t explain diddly-squat because Lawson still wasn’t sure why his mother was there.
“Eve,” Dylan greeted her as he walked past Lawson.
This would have been a good time for Lawson to leave, but his feet stayed planted to the floor and his Stetson stayed in front of his hard-on. Yeah, it was still there and would likely stay until he was no longer looking at, or thinking about, Eve.
Dylan went to Eve, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, his brother kissed her. It was on the cheek, but it was still a kiss.
“Dylan’s here to ask you something,” Regina said, prompting him with an elbow nudge.
Judging from the way Dylan and his mom were acting, Lawson was about 1000 percent sure he wasn’t going to like anything that came out of his brother’s mouth.
And he was right.
“Eve,” Dylan drawled, “I’m here to ask you out on a date.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EVE HAD HAD no trouble turning down Dylan’s date request. Especially after she’d suspected that Regina had put him up to it. Dylan had actually seemed relieved at her nixing the idiotic idea, and Lawson might have been relieved, too, but he had hurried off before Eve had even given Dylan her answer.
If Lawson had hung around, he would have also heard how adamant Eve had been about declining. That was despite Regina’s insistence that Dylan and she were perfect for each other. Even if they had been, which they weren’t, there was no way she could have gone out with Dylan, especially after the kissing match that’d gone on between Lawson and her.
And there was no way she should have followed through on Sophie’s girls’ night offer, either.
Yet, here she was, thanks to Cassidy’s weeklong prodding. At the Longhorn Bar, in a dark corner booth, sipping a bitter glass of merlot while she pretended to have fun. What Eve was actually doing though was wondering how Aiden was dealing with both Cassidy and her not being there with him, and that’s why she checked her phone again to make sure she hadn’t missed a call from Adaline O’Malley, the sitter.
Eve wouldn’t admit it to anyone, not even Cassidy, but she’d actually hired a private detective to check out Adaline before she’d called her and asked her to babysit. Adaline was a premed student and came with stellar references. Added to that, Eve had left her pages of instructions and multiple phone numbers in case of an emergency. It had taken Eve five hours just to prepare to leave for what she hoped would be less than a two-hour event.
“So, are you going to tell us all about the hot Hollywood hunks you dated?” Sophie prompted Eve. “I especially want to know about Kellan Carver. I had such a big crush on him when I was in middle school. There were posters of him all over my room.”
Cassidy and Eve exchanged glances. “Should I be the one to tell her that Kellan is a shallow, narcissistic dickwad?” Cassidy asked.
“I think you just did,” Eve answered.
Obviously, Sophie, Mila and Nicky hadn’t been expecting, well, the truth, so Eve added, “Kellan and I never dated. I mean, he’s Aiden’s father, but we were never a couple.”
Obviously disillusioned, Sophie’s chest fell. “Did he at least look good naked underneath that leather demon suit?”
Eve didn’t want to see any more fallen chests or disappointed looks, so she lied. “Of course.”
That was possibly true. Eve hadn’t actually seen him naked since they’d kept on most of their clothes for their one-nighter.
“So, who did you date in Hollywood?” Mila asked. “I kept seeing gossip about you with one hottie after another.”
All of it was manufactured by the studio or her publicist, but Eve didn’t want them to think she’d spent the past eighteen years pining away for Lawson.
“I went out with Jason Winters a time or two.” Since they gave her a blank stare, Eve figured they didn’t know who that was. “He’s the actor who played Elba, the Swaron warrior who used to help Cassidy’s character.”
The women gave variations of “oh” and some head nods though they clearly weren’t impressed.
Eve hadn’t been, either.
That’s because Eve had spent her free time being a mom to Tessie, and she didn’t regret any of it. All right, she did regret not telling Tessie sooner the truth about the nonadoption. If she’d done that, then she might not be in this position.
Eve checked her phone again, just to make sure Adaline hadn’t sent her a message. Nothing. So, Eve texted the sitter just to make sure everything was all right. Adaline answered back right away with a thumbs-up and a smiley face.
“You’re missing out on the conversation about Lawson and you having sex,” Cassidy leaned in and whispered to her.
That got Eve’s head whipping up from the phone screen only to discover that all eyes were on her. Sophie’s, Nicky’s, Mila’s and Cassidy’s. There was a moment of silence before they all burst out laughing.
“Told you,” Sophie said, giving Mila’s arm a nudge. “I knew sex with my cousin would get your attention.”
Eve shook her head. “I’m not sleeping with Lawson.”
“Sophie knows that,” Nicky assured her. She reached across the booth and patted Eve’s hand. “She’s just trying to get your worries off the baby. He’ll be fine with Adaline. She’s babysat for my two kids plenty of times, and they love her.”
Yes, Nicky had mentioned that when Eve had called her to check out Adaline’s references, and since Nicky had two children, Eve was hoping Adaline wouldn’t have trouble handling just one.
“But we should talk about Lawson.” Nicky smiled as she sipped her beer. “And that means the conversation will, of course, lead to the subject of sex—both past, present and future.”
Cassidy made a loud sound of agreement that might have been fueled by the tequila cocktail she was drinking. “The Granger men do make you think of sex, don’t they?”
Mila and Nicky made their own sounds of agreement. Of course they felt that way since they were married to two of them. Past, present and future sex were a given for them.
Eve stayed quiet on the subject. But yes, Lawson did cause a flurry of sexual desire in her. And confusion. Yes, she wanted him, bad, but sex came with big price tags. No way did she want to get involved with Lawson when her own life was such a mess. Regina had been right when she’d warned Lawson about it not being wise to get involved with her again.
“What about Lucian?” Cassidy asked, looking at Mila and Nicky. “Did either of you ever—”
“God, no,” Mila jumped to answer. Nicky echoed the same. “But I did have a coffee date with Dylan once,” Mila added as she turned to Eve. “I understand you turned him down.”
Mercy, was that all over town? “How’d you hear that?”
“Regina told Belle, and Belle called me to see if I would try to change your mind. I said no as fast as I could.”