And with that wise but smart-ass advice, Nicky smiled and strolled away.
Lawson didn’t stroll. He made a beeline to his office, walking faster than he usually would, but he stopped in the hall when he caught sight of Eve. She was standing and looking at something on his desk.
It wasn’t something he’d planned to do, but he took a moment to admire the view.
She was wearing a blue dress that hit a couple of inches above her knees. It was just short enough for him to see plenty of her legs. Her butt, too, when she leaned farther across his desk. The motion caused the dress to slide and cling in all the best places.
Speaking of the best places, she turned to the side, giving him a nice view of her breasts. Again, the fabric cooperated, and it was almost as if he could see her without her clothes. And he suddenly wished he could do just that.
Of course, this wasn’t helping him convince himself about that no-dicking-around promise.
Thankfully, she didn’t notice him ogling her. She kept her attention on his desk, but she was moving back and forth the way a person would if they were trying to look at something from a different angle or in a different light. Since he had payroll reports, orders for worming meds and a memo to the hands about the lousy job they’d done mucking horseshit from the west barn, he couldn’t imagine what she found so riveting.
Maybe she sensed he was there because she whirled around. Her eyes widened as if she’d been caught doing something wrong. Lawson felt that way, too. Except he was betting his “something wrong” upped hers. He’d been undressing her with his eyes while she’d just been reading paperwork.
“I hope this isn’t a bad time for a visit,” she said. “As I was pulling into the driveway, I saw Cassidy leaving out on the side road and figured she’d come here to talk to you.” Her breath was unsteady, and it was causing her chest to heave a little. Just what he didn’t need if he wanted to keep his attention off her breasts.
He went in but didn’t close the door. Best not to add the temptation of privacy to this mix. “Cassidy’s worried about you, that’s all. Are you okay? I mean because of Tessie,” he added when she just stared at him.
“Yes.” She stuttered on that word. “I mean, I was upset when she drove off like that last night, and that’s why I had to leave, too, and go home.”
Yeah, Lawson had gotten that. He hadn’t been in much of a mood to stick around, either. He was about to ask her if she’d talked to Tessie since then, but when he went closer, he saw what she’d been looking at on his desk. Not mucking memos or deworming orders. But rather those damn tabloid magazines with Eve’s picture on the cover.
“Tate’s girlfriend brought them over,” Lawson said as fast as he could manage.
She nodded. “Sophie mentioned it. I’ll sign them for her before I leave.”
Good. Then he could get them off his desk and not have daily visual reminders of one of the worst times of his life. Of course, he had no good explanation for why they were on his desk and not tucked away in a drawer where he couldn’t see them. He had tried to do that, but it hadn’t lasted more than a couple of minutes.
“Was something wrong with them?” he asked. “You were looking at them pretty hard when I came in.”
There was the traditional deer-in-the-headlights look, and then there was a deer-in-the-headlights look on steroids. Eve had the second one.
“I, uh, just thought I saw fingerprints or something on the covers,” she muttered.
On the surface that seemed a dumb thing to say. The magazines were old, had glossy finishes and had been handled by plenty of people. But then he remembered Sophie had seen him looking at, and touching, one of the covers.
Hell.
Had Sophie actually spilled the beans about it? Judging from Eve’s expression, Sophie had indeed done that, and he was going to take it up with Miss Tattletale the next time he saw her.
Since Lawson wasn’t about to confess to picture fondling, he moved on to an even more uncomfortable topic. “Did Tessie call you after she saw us last night?”
She shook her head. “You mean to talk about us kissing.” Eve didn’t wait for him to say no, that his question wasn’t about that. “Honestly, I was surprised, but she must have been upset to run off like that.”
Lawson took a deep breath because he knew he was going to need it. He didn’t like applying the tattletale label here because this wasn’t something that should stay a secret. Still, it was going to feel pretty crappy to do this.
He took Eve by the hand and led her to the sofa across from his desk. That alone let her know that something bad was up, but Lawson suspected he had a grim look on his face, too.
“Remember when I went to Austin to try to talk to Tessie?” That was all he managed to say before the color drained from her face.
“Oh, God.” And she repeated that a couple of times. “You saw her. And she saw you.” There went another round of the repeated Oh, God, and Lawson didn’t think it was part of some prayer, either.
Lawson hated that she was having this kind of reaction when he hadn’t even gotten to the bad stuff yet, but there was no easy way to soften the blow.
“Tessie was drunk when I got there. I stopped her two puking friends from taking her out of the building and then handed her off to her roommate when she came down the stairs. Her sober roommate,” he said, clarifying his last statement.
Eve’s mouth dropped open, and while he was expecting it, Eve quit Oh, God-ing. In fact, she seemed a little relieved. For a few seconds, anyway.
“Tessie was drunk?” she asked.
“Yeah. Staggering, falling-down-on-her-ass drunk.” And he gave her a moment to absorb that.
Eve didn’t absorb it well.
Her mouth stayed open, tears sprang to her eyes, and she made a sound that only a really pissed-off mother could make. He knew about that sound because he’d heard his own mom make it a time or two.
“What the heck was she thinking?” Eve blurted out. “Why would she do something that stupid?”
That was just the start of Eve’s questions that he couldn’t answer, and he was feeling pissed off and emotional about it, too. Because it had indeed been a stupid thing for Tessie to do. Along with being downright dangerous, it had brought back the memories of Brett. Hell, it was still bringing them back.
Eve continued asking a few more angry questions before she got to the one he’d been expecting. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
He didn’t have to answer because he saw the light bulb go on in her eyes. “You didn’t know it was Tessie until last night.” And she filled in the rest of the blanks. “That’s why she drove off like that, because she was afraid you were going to tell me what happened.”
The tears filled her eyes again, and this time they spilled down her cheeks. Lawson couldn’t do much to soothe this, but he pulled her into his arms and let her cry it out.