Her phone rang and she seemed relieved to answer it. He was content with the chance to watch her move.
“Hello? Oh, hi, Mitch.” Her gaze flew to Brian, then slid quickly away. “Good. Yes, it was good to see you, too. Of course.”
He listened openly, not bothering to hide his interest.
“This Wednesday? I’m not sure I...” She looked up and flushed. “Maybe. I’ll need to check my schedule, but I have a customer here right now. Can I call you tomorrow? Good. Thanks.”
Brian raised an eyebrow as she ended the call.
Eve just glared.
“A date?”
“Yes,” she snapped. “Absolutely.”
“I hope you’ll let him down easy.”
“I won’t. I don’t have any reason to. We’ve gone out a few times and we’ll do it again.”
“Yeah? Lots of chemistry?” He felt more than a small surge of satisfaction when she got flustered at that. No. She didn’t have chemistry with that guy. At least not the kind she had with Brian. That was an impossibility, because it was too damn rare. He knew that from personal experience.
Everything about Eve made him want to sink into her. Everything had been right...except the timing.
“You’re jealous?” she finally snapped. She stalked to the far wall to turn off the exhibit lighting.
“No,” he answered honestly. “Should I be?”
“You’re kidding, right? Do you think I’ve been celibate for the past two years?”
She snapped off the last of the lights and plunged them into darkness, but the streetlamps leaked light through the window and his eyes adjusted. She grabbed her bag, and he followed her out the front door.
“You think I just gave up when you left?” she pressed as she locked the door and stomped away from him. He followed. “You think I just pined for you?”
“No.” No, he’d known she would see other men. He’d even known she might fall in love. He’d wanted that for her. Wanted her to be happy. Even if he also hoped she’d wait for him, if he were being honest. “I know you didn’t. That’s okay.”
“That’s okay,” she repeated. She stopped halfway up the stairs to her apartment and shot him an inscrutable look over her shoulder. “Of course it’s okay. It means nothing to you.” She hurried up the rest of the stairs and unlocked the door.
Brian shoved his hands into his pockets and followed her in. “What do you want me to say? That it’s not okay? That’d be a little hypocritical, wouldn’t it?”
She slammed the door. “I want you to say it matters to you! That you’re jealous. That you’re hurt by it.”
“Eve...” He dropped his head and studied his shoes, hoping that would make his mind work better. He didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know how to take her pain away or even mitigate it. “It matters to me.”
“I had sex with him,” she said coldly.
He hadn’t wanted to know that. He didn’t like it. But if he was being honest... “After last night,” he started, then paused as a memory washed over him, of Eve coming for him, her body squeezing his cock as she screamed his name. God. “If I’d known about it before, while I was away, it would have driven me crazy. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. It would’ve tortured me to know. But after last night, I don’t care what you did with that guy. Because it wasn’t anything like what we did, was it? Nothing has ever been like that.”
The anger on her face melted into a vulnerability that stripped his nerves raw. She looked...scared. Of him. “Eve.” He reached for her slowly, easing his fingers along her jaw. He traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “I don’t care what you did with him, because after last night, you’re never going to do it again.”
“You can’t—”
But he slid his hand behind her neck and eased her closer. Close enough that he could press his mouth to hers and stop her words. Her lips parted. He tasted her. His bruised heart pounded.
Her neck was warm against his fingers. That sweet, smooth skin he’d stolen so many glances of. He rubbed his thumb up to her neckline and felt her shiver. “I love you,” he whispered against her mouth.