Trudy looked back and forth between the two. “No worries.” She gave them a knowing smirk. “I can warm up by myself. Give you two a minute to finish…” She swirled her finger between the two of them, “whatever this is.” She winked and walked away.
Eve blew out a breath and glanced back at Beck. “I need to go.”
He nodded. “I understand but… can you answer my question first, please?” His voice lowered. “I’ve been dying to know for a long, lonely week.”
Eve smiled, though if the online pictures were accurate at all, this man was rarely lonely. “I’m not dating anyone.”
He let out what sounded like a breath of relief. “I forced myself not to be the stalker-type and made myself leave every day at eleven-thirty when I wanted to wait around and see who you went to lunch with. If you’re not dating anyone, who do you have a ‘standing lunch date’ with?”
Eve bit at her cheek. He was interested in her. It was thrilling but terrifying. What should she do about it? “Do you want to know?”
He smiled and nodded. “I do. I really do.”
Eve was nervous but she wanted to be brave. She tried to be as brave as her amazing older sister Rachel who conquered her fears of showing her scarred face to the world for the man she loved. Eve took a deep breath and said, “Why don’t you meet me right here at noon and I’ll introduce you?” This was big. A man she was intrigued by was going to meet her daughter. This hadn’t happened in… wait, this had never happened.
Beck nodded quickly. “I’d love to meet… your lunch date… I think.”
“I think you’ll like her.”
His smile burst through. “It’s a her? Oh, man.” He chuckled. “I’ve been tormenting myself over the past few days and thinking I should stay away but not wanting to and…” He pushed a hand through his hair. “A her is nice.”
Eve was getting an adrenaline rush better than jumping off a cliff at Lake Powell from simply talking to him, knowing he was interested in her and had been “tormenting himself”. “She is a nice girl, but also… sassy.”
“I can handle sassy.”
“We’ll see.” She smiled and tilted her head toward where Trudy had gone to warm up. “I’d better go.”
“I’ll be waiting right here at noon.”
“Not an inch to the right or the left,” she teased.
He chuckled. “I’m memorizing this spot.”
She grinned, lifted a hand, and hurried to Trudy.
“Whoo-ee, girl, you are the luckiest woman this side of the Mississippi.”
Eve pushed at her ponytail. “It’s just lunch.” And with her four-year-old, hilarious but also unpredictable daughter. How would Beck react to her having a daughter? If he wasn’t great about it, she’d simply walk away with Paisley. She glanced at him and realized walking away would already hurt.
“Well make sure you make it more than ‘just lunch’, Trudy advised.
“I’ll try my best.” Yet Eve not only wasn’t an expert in flirting she wasn’t sure she should be meeting Beck for lunch. Life was good for her and Paisley: simple, fun, safe from Mark and the media— there were no complications. A man like Beck Tanner would definitely complicate life.
She looked up and he was squatting with a barbell loaded with forty-five-pound plates. It seemed like their eyes were drawn to each other as he straightened out of the squat and stared right at her. Her stomach hopped and her cheeks got hot. He met her gaze with the most appealing smile. Complicated? Definitely. Worth it? She didn’t know yet.
* * *
Beck waited by the staircase, exactly in the spot he’d been earlier this morning, just as Eve had instructed. He smiled greetings to other gym-goers passing by. It was almost noon and he was going to lunch withtheEve Jewel. He was as nervous, excited, and happy as a rookie playing for the Stanley Cup.
He’d gone the rounds with himself the past week—wanting to wait for her after her training appointments, wanting to stalk her and see who her lunch date was with, wanting to pull a favor from the realtor who’d just helped him find his house in Golden and find out where she lived and then stake out her house. He’d forced himself to calm down and give it some time. He was still peeved at his grandpa and he didn’t want to pull Eve into that situation, which he realized was a little messed up. He should be begging her to date him, seeing if she could possibly be the right one and moving on quickly to date someone else if she wasn’t. A little over two months and the hyenas got the fortune instead of needy children. Beck refused to get married if it wasn’t right, no matter where the money was wasted. His grandpa was such a… dipwad sometimes. Dipwad wasn’t strong enough but he was trying to quit swearing, at least in the offseason.
He didn’t want to mess up what could be something beautiful with an incredible woman like Eve by worrying about his approaching birthday and the guillotine hovering over his neck.
Forcing those troubles away he thought about beautiful, sweet, intriguing, irresistible Eve. He could hardly wait to spend time with her. It was only lunch, and someone else would be with her, a close friend he’d assume. He was definitely, definitely taking advantage of this opportunity to spend time with her. Hopefully he could win the friend over and she’d help him in his pursuit of Eve.
It made him shake his head at himself that he’d been torturing himself the past week about her “standing lunch date” and it was with another woman. A sassy girl. Beck smiled again. Despite the angst over the situation with his grandpa, he felt lighter and happier than he had since hockey season ended, no, since before he lost his parents. The anticipation of being with Eve was like waiting for Christmas morning. He’d have to focus on the friend as well, include her in the conversation, make her feel important so she liked him and encouraged Eve to date him. There was a fine balance though, under no circumstances did he want Eve to think he was interested in her friend. For some reason, every other woman had fallen to the wayside and it was all Eve for him. Had Papa planted these seeds with his angels directing him to force Beck into marriage, or were his parents watching out for him above and had set Eve in his path right when his Papa made his insane marriage demands?
He sensed movement behind him and spun to stare through the open staircase toward the back hallway. Eve walked toward him, smiling shyly, and carrying a little girl, maybe four or five. The child was a beautiful, miniature Eve. Eve was a mother. It hit him hard yet also took a second for the truth to sink in. Eve was a mother. This darling child was her standing lunch date. No wonder she’d said her date was much cuter than Beck.