She let out a breath. “I… she… forget it. I take that back. She’s not.”
“Then who is?” he asked. “I’d love to hear your theory.”
“I’m not feeling up to it right now,” Eva admitted. “It was a stupid idea anyway. You can find your own–your own…” She shivered and he took pity on her. He shuffled out of his coat and tucked the wool around her.
“No, no,” she demurred. “You need to stay warm, too.” She threw the ends of the jacket around him too, so that they were sharing both the expensive threadsandtheir body warmth.
He didn’t fight her this time. He wasn’t going to fight himself anymore either. That morning he’d decided to take his momma’s advice to heart. He was fighting for what he… uh… well…what he loved.
He winced in the darkness.
Loved?
He adored her. He didn’t throw the word “love” around lightly, but neither did he hold it so close to his heart that he second-guessed himself at every turn. He just knew how he felt.
How do I convince her that we’re right for each other?
She’d never let West go. His brother was a bad habit with her. West kept himself so closed off to love that he’d become a challenge, so much so that she’d never had the time to question whether he was right for her or not, because she’d never trulyhadhim. Not that she didn’t try. Oh, Eva tried to win West over every day, even by pretending to be something that she wasn’t.
It was like trying to throw a blanket over a gloriously bright light.
“I knew you could shoot,” he said.
She made a sound of amusement. “I ain’t talking, copper. You’ll never get me to admit a thing.”
“Good thing I can read you then… better than you do yourself.”
“Oh yeah?” Her voice echoed in the darkness. “Let’s hear it.”
Okay, but she was asking for it. “You’re a softie,” he said.
“Whatever!” she scoffed. He knew she’d hate that one—she tried so hard to put on a cool girl vibe with her little girl act. “Try telling that to anyone in Nashville,” she said. “I’m a tough cookie.”
“… who crumbles for small children and baby animals, and anyone smaller or vulnerable or hurting… that’s why you went for West, huh? He’s your project.”
She didn’t laugh at that one. “That’s not fair. What do you have against him anyway?”
“You know, actually?” He decided to get real with her. “Nothing that was ever important—until you came along, to be honest.”
“Me?”
He had to tread lightly here… but should he? He was tired of beating around the bush. “It’s like watching a python swallow a rare and glorious bird.”
“Wow! Wow… so you really think I’m that helpless?” She guffawed mockingly. “I told you that I can take care of myself. Ha! And what makes you think that I’m not makingyouinto a project, huh?”
“Because you don’t feel sorry for me. I’m not broken. I’m not your boy toy and you can’t play games with me. I’m not West… at all.” He actually appreciated her, and maybe he should tell her that? “I love everything about you.”
Her whole body tensed up beside him. He cursed his timing. Why had he even started this conversation down here? He didn’t want to blurt his feelings to her in the darkness, and in the middle of an argument, when he couldn’t even see her expression.
“You’re all talk,” she whispered hoarsely. She shifted and her hair whipped up against his neck. “ChugChug won that race by the way,” she said. “And you haven’t paid up yet.”
What was she talking about? “You want me to kiss you?”
She sounded far too angry for that.
“It’s so easy for you to act so above everything, isn’t it? But when it comes down to it, you don’t have the guts to make this about us. There’s no one else here, just you and me. West isn’t stopping you from doing anything.”
“You’re right,” he said.