His hands went to her waist. He had no problem touching her, and she noticed he took longer to push her away than before—they were getting somewhere. His fingers lingered over her for a moment before he slid her back from him, so that she perched halfway on him and the arm of the chair. “Darlin’,” he said. “Your daddy…”
Ugh. He needed to relax. Her brow arched at him while she balanced on his knees. “He’s not here, tough guy.”
What man in his right mind wouldn’t go for a rich heiress?
But West was different. West just didn’t care about stuff like that. Well, hedid, but he’d rather have his own money with no strings attached. She understood because they were the same. It was why she liked him so much. It was nice to know that he wouldn’t use her for her daddy’s money. If he went for her, it was because he liked her.
But did he? That was a mystery. His shifting attention was super confusing… and maybe just a little intriguing. She was able to captureanyone’sheart with the snap of her fingers.
But not his!
Men liked Eva’s blonde hair. She kept it long and thick with extensions. Her dark eyelashes too! She’d spent hours at the hair dresser’s and at fashionable shops to get it all down perfect. Her fans liked her in her tight clothes and made all sorts of scandalous cracks about her long, long legs. Her looks came from her momma’s side.
She tried to use the best part of her genetics on West. She ran her hands down the front of his shirt. “I told you not to worry about my daddy. He’ll love anyone thatIdo.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” West said with a sarcastic tilt to his lips. “I like your daddy, but we try to keep things platonic.”
She laughed and couldn’t help kissing his cheek. Clever West. And he’d just admitted that he didn’t feel platonic about her. She’d coax a kiss in return, but their problem was that he wasn’t a PDA guy. There were too many witnesses here.
Of course, he’d had no problem kissing her when they were alone that magical night after she’d agreed to leave her earring in Lacy Lynch’s Mercedes.
They’d ruined that man.
No one would work with WhiteBoulder’s Investment Company after they were through dirtying the CEO’s name. But Lynch deserved it. He’d been after the blood of West’s twin brothers, Nash and Porter. That creep had actually put a price on Nash’s head to get him back for ruining his oil scam on a poor widow. And then Lynch had tried to flex his muscles after that by trying to devastate Emily’s country singing career with blackmail footage that… Eva had to admit was pretty good.
That had been some pretty scandalous stuff.
That hadn’t been the worst of it. Porter had gotten shot by Lynch! And who knew what that jerk would’ve done to that unfortunate woman he’d cheated on and left pregnant with his baby that he wanted gone?
No matter what threats that dangerous man had breathed back at her, it had been absolutely worth it to take on Lynch.
She smiled and, ignoring that Nash was across the way, snuggled against West, squeezing his puppy between them as she rested her head against his strong shoulder. It was hard as a rock. “Daddy just has a bad rap—he’s really a softy. You haven’t figured that out by now?”
“No, not really,” he said dryly.
“After everything you’ve seen, you should know better than to believe those hatchet jobs against him in the papers. He’s a good guy… deep… deep down.” She ran her fingers down West’s neck. His breathing grew more relaxed. This was just the sort of trance she liked to put him in. He was far too stressed out lately. Feeling all sorts of mischief consume her, she leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “Do you know how crazy I am about you?”
West stilled, his long lashes lowering as he considered her. “You might have to give me a hint.”
Nowthat’swhat she liked to hear. It had been too long since they’d kissed, and his provocative eyes hinted how he’d like nothing more than to crush her against him again.
Oh yeah, lying to her daddy about that corrupt investor had been so worth it. West’s opinion of her as a brainless party girl was destroyed when she’d accused Lynch of hitting on her. Surprisingly, that simple fib, and not the countless wrongs and injustices the man had inflicted on his helpless victims before that, had crushed Lynch’s empire.
Well, good riddance. Eva would do it again if that jerk came back for them. Lynch deserved what he got. He was a dangerous man, who used his power to hurt everyone around him.
They’d stolen the tiger’s teeth.
And now look how happy everyone was. Nash and Emily were together, and they were the cutest! Porter was healing from his gunshot wound, and that defenseless woman? She’d escaped Lynch and was now dating Porter. Eva absolutely adored Cadence!
Eva was the happiest of them all! She couldn’t wait to visit the family that she’d helped rescue. West had an older brother, too—“the saint,” and then the youngest one he dubbed, the “baby,” who he only talked about when he was annoyed with them, but quite frankly, they were all related to West, and so,of course, she was fangirling over his family like they were characters from her favorite TV show.
No, no, he’d better not try to send her back. She threw a disarming smile his way.
Goosebumps popped up all over her arms in her enthusiasm as she met West’s mesmerizing gaze as his jet touched down on the runway. The wheels ground over the hard pavement on the way to their hangar.
“Will your whole family be meeting us?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Nash answered for him. Eva startled. She’d quite forgotten that he could listen in across the way. “Porter says he’s picking us up.”