“In my experience, they usually do,” she answered quietly. “We have all kinds of visitors here, but other than the incidents with your brothers at the Center, nothing much has ever happened here in Amesport.”
“That doesn’t mean that it couldn’t,” Evan argued, the thought of anything bad happening to Randi strangely unsettling. Hell, Grady and Dante had both been injured here in Amesport by some pretty nasty men. It happened. Amesport was a tourist town. There could be all kinds of temporary crazies running around the town.
She turned to him suddenly and stopped, looking up at him in the muted illumination of the streetlights. “Look, I don’t feel like fighting with you right now. Catch me tomorrow, or any other day, and I’ll spar with you. But I’m tired. I’ve had a long day. Can you just go back to your car now and leave me alone?”
Evan looked down at her. Even without much light, he could see the dark circles under her eyes, and weariness in her expression.
They were right across the street from the Center where her car was parked.
“I won’t say a word if you don’t,” he told her uncharacteristically. For some reason, he didn’t want to see her look defeated. If they couldn’t speak without zinging each other, he’d stay silent to see her to her vehicle.
She turned without uttering a sound, crossing the street and shooting him a doubtful look as he followed.
True to his word, Evan didn’t say anything as he fell into step beside her. He wanted to ask her why she was weary, but he assumed she’d done a full day at work, and then had come to tutor as a volunteer at the Center. Obviously, if she was out this late, her workday had been long. However, he sensed there were other factors, but they were none of his business, and he didn’t want to start another verbal sparring match with her.
I feel like it’s either fight with her or pin her against the wall and fuck her until she’s out of my system.
It didn’t matter that they were out in the frigid open air. His cock was at attention, begging him to pick the second option.
Unfortunately, she hated him, and Evan didn’t think fucking her senseless was going to be an option.
He wrapped his fingers unconsciously around the crystal in his pocket, wishing he could find a way to communicate with Randi. What was bothering her? Why did she look so tired? He wanted to strike up a reasonable conversation, but he was afraid of putting his foot in his mouth . . . again. The moment she put him on the defensive, he struck out verbally. It was always this way with her.
“We’re here. This is me,” Randi said breathlessly, pointing toward a vehicle covered in snow, one of the few cars still in the parking lot.
She dropped the remainder of her cold coffee into a trash receptacle close to her vehicle, and Evan did the same. He’d never really wanted the beverage anyway.
“Give me the keys,” he demanded.
Surprisingly, she reached in her pocket to hand them over. She pulled them out, causing something else to drop to the ground. Without thinking, Evan bent and picked up the object. He held the item in his hand for a moment, stunned. “You have one of these, too?” he asked hoarsely.
“The Apache tear. Yeah. I got it from Beatrice. She thinks I’m going to meet my soul mate.” Randi reached for the stone and hurriedly shoved it back in her pocket. “I like her. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”
Evan took the keys she was dangling in front of him and opened the door of the vehicle. It was hard to tell exactly what kind of car it was when it was covered in snow, but it appeared to be a small SUV. He started it quickly and grabbed the snow brush in the backseat to clear the slush and ice off the body and windows of the car.
“I can do that,” Randi insisted, trying to take the brush from his hand.
“I’m sure you’re perfectly capable, but let me,” Evan requested evenly. “There’s no reason for you to do it since I’m here.” He made short work of removing the snow and scraping the ice as he watched Randi eye him curiously.
She crossed her arms and observed his movements as he worked. “You’re a gentleman underneath all of your bluster.” The statement was almost accusing.
“I’m not chauvinistic,” Evan said carefully. “I employ plenty of smart women, some of them smarter than my male employees.” He put the snow brush back in the car, closed the door so the windows would finish defrosting, and turned to face her. “But I’ll admit that I have a hard time watching a woman do physical work when a stronger body is around.”
She frowned as her eyes drifted over his tall, muscular form. “I have a hard time arguing with the fact that you’re bigger and probably stronger. But it doesn’t mean that you have to always do the physical work.”
Evan looked at her petite figure. Logically, she couldn’t argue their difference in size. At a little over six feet tall, he towered over her. She might be the athletic type, but he worked out every day, and he was a hell of a lot stronger. “I have very little opportunity to do anything physical except in a gym. I have employees who do most things for me. I don’t mind, and cleaning your car is hardly strenuous.” He hesitated before he inquired in what he hoped was a casual voice, “Can I ask you a question?”
She lifted a brow before asking, “What?”
“Does Beatrice give out these stones to everyone?” He pulled the crystal from his pocket and held it out to her.
Hesitantly, Randi reached out and took the rock into her own hand. She turned it over and over a few times before handing it back with a perplexed look on her face. “Hardly ever,” she admitted. “You got one, too?”
“She mailed it to me with a letter a few months ago, telling me I was going to be married within six months,” he answered reluctantly, slipping the Apache tear back into his coat pocket. “I think she might be demented.”
Randi laughed, and a bolt of pleasure raced through Evan’s body at the husky, sultry sound.
“She’s not crazy. She’s just a little eccentric. Sometimes her predictions actually do come true.”
Evan shook his head. “She’s destined for disappointment with me.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Randi admitted, reaching for the door of her rapidly defrosting vehicle. It was a deep-purple SUV that somehow suited her bold personality. Evan could finally see the make and model clearly.
“Randi?” he questioned huskily.
“Yes?” She turned and looked at him, her expression no longer hostile.
“Don’t worry about my coat. I have another one.” It wasn’t what he really wanted to say, but he couldn’t exactly tell her what he was thinking. She was likely to apply a knee to his balls, and he rather liked them intact.