Chapter Twelve – Katy

I glance down at my suit wondering what the hell I’m doing going to a meal with Evan. I’ve spent the last few days trying to focus on other work that needs doing so I can create some distance between us while I try to tone down my feelings, but it hasn’t really worked. If I’m totally honest with myself, not seeing him has been worse because I’ve done nothing but think about him. The more I’ve learned about Evan, the deeper my heart falls for him, and now knowing the truth about his son and his tragic situation, I feel like I could tumble into the L word with him if I’m not careful.

Which is exactly why this is so dangerous. How did I let myself get talked into it? I know Evan said the word ‘work’ to try and make this an official thing that I would make time for, and I let him trick me… probably because I want to be tricked. And now the moment is upon me and I don’t know how to feel. The suit is on my body to try and keep a more professional feel about the night, but inside I’m still a hot, hormonal mess. I’m like a teenager about to go to prom.

As I bounce from foot to foot I stare at myself in the mirror. Maybe I look too smart, maybe I’ll give off the impression that there’s nothing to me but business. I want Evan to know that I think it’s all about work, but I also want him to see that I have a bit of a personality too… just in case.

Not that anything is going to happen, of course, this isn’t the sort of situation where it might become date like. Even if I do like Evan, we still have to work together. He’s still a client.

I can’t seem to stop myself, I tear the trousers from my body at the speed of light and grab a stark black pencil skirt to wear instead. It’s professional and something that I actually bought for work but I haven’t ever worn it yet. I haven’t ever had the chance to do so… which shows in my pale legs that haven’t ever been sun kissed. Still, as I tug the skirt up I realize that it looks better than the trousers even with my legs. Then I grab my hair out and I run a brush through it. It isn’t much, but I do feel a little more feminine with my hair hanging loose. It does look good actually down, I should wear it that way more often, I don’t know why I don’t aside from the fact that it’s easier to tie it up…

As a last ditch attempt to make myself look the best that I can, I grab my little used make up bag and I pretty up my face. I use mascara to make my eyes pop and I dust some foundation onto my cheeks to make myself look a little less tired. It’s not much, but I do look better.

At that moment, I hear a bleep of a car horn from outside my window, which I just know is going to be Evan. He said that’s what he’d going to do, so I’ve been expecting it for a while. Still it makes my heart leap up into my throat with nerves and excitement.

“Oh, my God,” I mutter shakily to myself. “He’s here.”

I already know that I don’t want to invite him inside because when I’m in the middle of a very busy patch at work – which admittedly is all the time – the housework takes a back seat. Since I live in a tiny, one bedroomed apartment it starts looking messy very quickly, and I don’t want Evan to see it. It’s embarrassing, he probably has maids to keep his house immaculate. I make my way to the door quickly and race down the stairs that run through the building two at a time.

As I push the door open and I step out into the street, my hair whips around my face in the breeze, reminding me again why it’s easier to keep it tied back. I tuck it behind my ears, keeping it off my face as much as I can and I smile over at Evan who’s standing on the outside of his flash car.

He looks amazing, absolutely breath taking. I’ve been thinking about him a lot since I last saw him but I don’t think my memory has done him any justice. I actually feel the wind stripped from my chest as I fixate on his gorgeous dark hair and his warm dark eyes. He’s wearing a suit too, and it’s one that’s tailored to his frame completely. It fits him like a glove, making my mouth water with lust.

Damn this is going to be hard, I think desperately to myself. How am I going to keep my hands off of him? I haven’t ever felt this way before, all filled with an uncontrollable animal lust, but with Evan I can’t seem to stop myself. He’s knocking all the sense out of my brain and turning me into a crazy ball of passion. I need to just keep my cool as much as I can.

“Hey,” I say, already sounding a little too flirty for my liking. “Good to see you.”

“Yeah, good to see you too.” He smiles brightly and runs his eyes up and down me, as if he’s drinking me in. I shiver under the intensity of his gaze. “You look good.”

I don’t know if he means this in an ironic way because I’m dressed to business like, or if he actually means it. I still don’t know if I have the dress code right, I feel really out of my depth. “Oh, thanks,” I reply lamely. “You look good too. That’s a, erm, nice suit you have on.”

“Why thank you.” Evan steps to the side and opens the passenger side door for me. “Shall we get going? I don’t know about you but I’m absolutely starving.”

“Yeah, me too,” I grin, suddenly realizing just how true that is. “I’m really excited to eat out again. I should get more clients like you that are willing to treat me.”

As I step towards the car, Evan gets a really serious, intense look on his face for a moment. “I really hope that you don’t,” he says gruffly, displaying a raw emotion.

I don’t understand his words, they’re too much for me. To the naked ear, they sound like the words of a man that’s falling for me despite the fact that he knows he probably shouldn’t… but I already know that he’s sleeping with Ally so it’s weird. He can’t really think that way, it must just be me projecting my feelings onto him. It doesn’t really mean anything.

I don’t answer Evan’s strange comment because I don’t know what to say. Instead I slide into the passenger’s seat and I wait expectantly for him to get in too. Maybe if that situation was different I would be able to ask him about his words and the meaning behind them, I might be able to pluck up the courage to do so, but I don’t see any point in complicating things further. We need to keep this as simplistic as possible. Silence is the easy option, so that’s what I’ll go with.

“Right,” Evan says with a grin, clearly not bothered by me ignoring his point. “Let’s get going, shall we? I have a table booked at a Japanese restaurant at half eight.”

“Ooh lovely, that sounds great. Let’s get going.”

***

“Do you want anything for desert?” Evan asks me, leaning in towards me in a manner that he wouldn’t do if we weren’t sitting on the big Japanese cushions in this restaurant, eating a meal with chopsticks which is surprisingly erotic with the right person. “Or have you had enough to eat?”

I can’t help it, my heart skips about ten beats, this is insane. He’s making me feel so many things at once, I don’t know what to do with myself. I can’t keep pretending that this is nothing more than a business meal when the chemistry is circling us so tightly. I’m practically shivering because I’m such a mess. I can barely even look at Evan because I’m so screwed up.

“I think I’ve had enough,” I tell him with a trembling voice. “But thank you, this has been…”

“Yes, it has, hasn’t it?” he murmurs back. I can hear the lust in his voice and it’s driving me wild. The sparks that have been underlying between me and Evan since day one have intensified tonight. Damn Robyn for being right, for seeing what I wasn’t able to. I can’t ever tell her that she’s right. “Really nice. It’s made me realize just how much I’ve missed you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut as his words kill me. I can’t hear that he’s missed me, not when I want to grab onto him to never let him go. “Yeah, I erm, I know what you mean,” I reply thickly.

Evan reaches across the table to get his drink and as he does electricity flies all over my body. My heart explodes with emotions and I struggle to keep myself under control. I want to wrap my arms around Evan and to cling to him like a limpet.

“So, if you’ve finished eating do you want to get out of here?”

I don’t know if I do. I mean, of course I do because it’s the logical next step, but at the same time the moment we leave this place the night comes to an end, and who knows what will happen then? I mean, I’ll see Evan in the office, I’ll probably go to see him tomorrow in fact, but it won’t be the same. Then we’ll be in ‘work mode’, whereas this is something else completely. I don’t know what ‘mode’ we’re in, but I like it.

“Yes, I suppose so,” I reply sadly, knowing that I have to be normal. I push myself into a standing position and move to the other side of the room where my shoes are waiting for me. “But it’s been a really lovely night.”

Evan leaves the cash on the table for the meal and he grabs his shoes too. Because he’s been driving and I’ve wanted to keep a steady head neither of us have been drinking, but I feel intoxicated, like I’m absolutely wasted. There’s something about being near Evan that makes me feel dizzy and excitable, like I’m not really in the room at all. It isn’t a sensation that I’ve ever experienced before which just shows how intense all of this is.

Just as I think we’re about to go, Evan does that thing again where he cups my cheeks in his hands and he stares deeply into my eyes. The last time this happened, we got interrupted by his cell phone ringing but it seems like nothing is going to stop us this time. The intense gaze that Evan’s giving me looks like it wouldn’t be broken even if an earthquake broke out. In the middle of this Japanese restaurant, Evan dips his head down and he crashes his lips into mine hard and fast. He presses his mouth against mine for just a second, not long enough to be inappropriate but for enough time to have fireworks exploding inside of me. The sweet kiss knocks me from my feet and turns my world upside down completely. It feels so much better than I expected it to, I never want it to end.

“Come on,” Evan whispers to me as we finally pull apart. “Let’s get you home.”

I don’t know what he means by that, it could be anything, but I’m very excited to find out.