Chapter 13
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Conditions were perfect. Evan was in sweats, sitting in his beloved leather recliner in front of his seventy-inch flat screen. He was watching the Waves, the team he’d loved since he was five years old, the same team that he’d pitched for for two years, destroying the A’s. There was a large ham and pineapple pizza on its way and he had the next two days off.
He should be relaxed. Calm. Happy, even.
But he wasn’t.
“Fuck,” he cursed between clenched teeth as he stood and ran his hands through his hair.
He was anxious and unsettled. He couldn’t sit still. He kept getting up and pacing the floor.
Thoughts were running around in his head like they were Usain Bolt at the Olympics and nothing was slowing them down. Not even baseball, which historically had been the one thing that could distract him from anything.
That kiss had pulled the rug out from under him. Those thirty seconds had shifted his existence as he’d known it. He still wasn’t clear on what had happened.
It was acting. That’s what he kept telling himself. At least, it was acting on her part. On his part, he didn’t know what the hell it was. When she’d gasped right before settling her lips over his, it was as if she’d sucked all rational thought right out of him.
In truth, rational thought might’ve left him even before they’d started the scene. He couldn’t explain his knee-jerk reaction to that Brad Pit look-alike PA throwing his hand up and volunteering to be Kyle’s stand-in like he’d won the damn lottery. I’ll do it, just came out of his mouth. It wasn’t premeditated. It wasn’t a decision that he’d made. Something overrode his common sense.
All of his life he’d been a measured person. He did things with purpose.
But when her lips touched his, he wasn’t thinking about how he should behave in a professional capacity or that they were surrounded by people watching them. All he was thinking about was that the kiss that he’d been dying to share with her since the first time he saw her at the town hall meeting was finally happening.
The moment he heard and felt her whisper an apology against his mouth, something snapped inside of him. Just like the branch that had snapped during their hike, except this time it was him falling and instead of stopping he went straight over the edge, freefalling into their kiss until Kyle yelled cut.
Afterward, as he tried desperately to regain his balance, both literally and figuratively, he realized that he was in a mild state of shock. He’d treated people in that condition, but had never experienced it himself. He’d walked to the window to try and regain his bearings and give his body a chance to calm down so that his pants wouldn’t reveal that his dick had no idea they had been “acting.”
The entire incident had instantly gone from slow motion to fast forward. One second he was tasting the sweetness of her lips, feeling her body tremble against his, and the next she was gone.
He let out an audible sigh as he started making the same trek from the fireplace to the stairs and back again. The same trek he’d made over a hundred times in the last hour. He had so much pent-up energy with no place for it to go. The unmistakable crack of the bat as it made contact with the ball followed by an outburst of applause played in the background and his only response was a quick glance at the screen to see whether it had been the Waves or the A’s at bat. It was the Waves.
Damn. This mental fog was getting out of hand. He still had four weeks of working on the movie. He needed to get a grip or the next month was going to be frustrating as hell.
There was a knock at the door and for a split second he forgot that he’d ordered pizza.
Yeah, this pining shit ends now, he resolved as he walked to the front door.
“Hey, man, let me go grab my wallet,” he said, turning his back as he opened the door so he could pay the same tall, gawky delivery kid that had been at his door every Friday night since arriving in Hope Falls.
“Hi.”
Evan froze. That was not the voice of a teenage boy.
His head turned and instead of Shaggy, which he assumed was the kid’s nickname because he was a dead ringer for the cartoon character, he saw another look-alike, this one being a Hollywood starlet.
“Shayne.” He couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
She was standing on his porch wearing a white, V-neck T-shirt, blue jeans with holes in the knees, and sneakers and she looked…stunning. It had only been a few hours since he’d seen her but, as always, he was blown away by her beauty. Her aqua blue eyes popped against the dark lashes that surrounded them and he knew that he could easily drown in them. Her lips were a deep shade of red that drew him to them like a moth to a flame. And her hair was styled in soft waves that framed her face and his hands itched to run through it.
“Hi,” she repeated, as her eyes darted to the ground then back up at him.
That’s when he noticed that she was unsure. Nervous. It was behavior he’d never witnessed in her before. She carried and conducted herself with unwavering confidence at all times. Even on the challenging hike.
“Sorry, I just stopped by like this.” Her gaze yo-yoed down then up again. “I have your number, from Kyle, for the movie and I could’ve texted but I didn’t want to talk over text and no one really calls anyone anymore—”
“Shayne,” he interrupted as he opened the door wider. “Do you want to come in?”
“Oh, right, yeah.” She nodded and pulled the strap of her purse higher up on her shoulder as she walked past him leaving an invigorating floral scent in her wake. It wafted up as he inhaled deeply. It was sweet, fresh, and intoxicating, just like she was.
The door shut with a soft thud and he remained near it.
Sensing her nerves, he figured he’d try to make small talk and set her at ease. “I thought that you were in Los Angeles or New York?”
“I was.” Her head nodded up and down as she turned to face him. Her anxious energy was palpable as she starting speaking at a much faster pace than he was used to hearing her talk. “And I will be. I had a photo shoot in LA and was supposed to have a dinner meeting before catching a red-eye back east but it got moved so I came back here and am flying out of Sacramento instead of LAX because I needed to talk to you about…”
“About the kiss,” he finished when her words trailed off. He’d gotten carried away and he had no idea what the protocol was when real actors stepped over the line, which he assumed must happen, but regardless he felt like he owed her an apology. Since he wasn’t one to waste words, he got right to it. “I’m sorry. It was inappropriate and—”
“It was inappropriate,” she agreed as a wide smile spread on her face. It wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d expected. “But you have nothing to apologize for. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me.”
His brow wrinkled in confusion. “You don’t have anything to apolo—”
She lifted her hand, halting his protest and continued, “You are right, though. The kiss is why I’m here.”
His heart started beating so loud he could barely hear himself think. If she didn’t want an apology, then what did she want to talk about? Had she felt the same intensity, the same passion, the same connection that he had? Was it more than just acting for her?
Her tongue ran along the seam of her lips and his dick jumped beneath his sweats. It was involuntary, just like everything he did around Shayne Fox.
*
Shayne blew out a nervous breath as she contemplated running back out the door.
Pull up your big girl panties, then maybe he’ll pull them off, Nolan’s voice sounded in her head. Her stylist piping up in her subconscious was not surprising, since he’d been the one to convince her to show up at Evan’s house and not let the entire weekend go by without talking to him. It had sounded so good an hour ago.
Shayne’s nerves were bouncing around like tennis balls in a dryer.
“Do you want to sit down?” Evan extended his hand toward the living room.
“Sure.” She took in the inviting atmosphere as she walked to the opposite end of the room. There was a large, leather couch, a love seat, and a recliner that looked worn and comfortable. On the far wall hung a large flat screen, and several plants that looked to be thriving. She couldn’t keep a plant alive if her own life depended on it.
She’d decided to go for the recliner in the far corner in the hopes that the further journey would buy herself some time so she could get control of her nervous energy. It hadn’t worked. She was more nervous than ever.
After setting her purse beside the chair, she turned and saw that Evan was still standing beside the couch wearing an expression that was unreadable. Her eyes searched his for some kind of a clue if he was happy to see her or not. She looked for hints as to what he felt about her unannounced arrival. No dice. He was the Fort Knox of Emotions.
His ambiguity just made her stomach spin faster and her nerves jump with greater intensity. She bit the inside of her mouth and wrung her hands in front of her as she lowered into the recliner.
“You can do this,” she whispered under her breath.
“What?” Evan asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Are you okay?” he asked patiently.
“No.” She hadn’t meant to say that and stammered to correct it. “I mean yes…I mean…I don’t know what I mean.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry, you must think I’m crazy.”
“No. I don’t,” he responded without hesitation. The way he said it was so reassuring. So assertive. Like everything else about him, it was hot.
“Good,” she grinned, unsure of what to say next.
As she sat across the room from him their eyes locked and she felt the same connection between them that she had felt the first time they’d laid eyes on each other. She trusted him. Intrinsically. Maybe she was being naïve or her newly discovered hormones were pulling one over on her but her gut was telling her that she wasn’t being naïve and her hormones were not lying.
During her flight back here, she’d had an hour to think of all the things she wanted to tell him. Now she couldn’t think of a single one of them. She figured she was going to have to wing it. “So about the kiss… I just wanted you to know…I don’t do things like that.”
The corners of his eyes scrunched. “You don’t kiss your costars?”
“Yes. But that’s not what happened today. I wasn’t kissing Landon. I was kissing you. Evan. I got carried away because…” She searched for the words. “I kissed you because you’re…different.”
“Different?” He didn’t sound offended, just curious.
Her mind was spinning trying to come up with a way to explain how he was different. She wanted to tell him that he was different because she never knew what he was thinking and was attracted to him, but she wasn’t sure how to say those things in a way that he’d truly understand.
“Have you seen True Blood?” It was the first comparison that popped in her head and she had to admit, she wasn’t mad at it.
“I saw the first season.”
“Great!” She enthused. “Okay, so you know how Sookie was a fairy and she could read people’s thoughts and then she met Bill and she couldn’t?”
“Because he was a vampire,” Evan finished.
“Right! Well, you are my Bill. I mean, not the vampire part. Obviously. But I usually know what people are thinking. What they want from me. What their real intentions are. I can’t read their minds but I pick up on things. But I can’t read you.”
“And that’s a good thing?” he asked slowly, like he was trying to follow along.
“Yes.” She chuckled. “A little mystery is nice. But it’s more than that…I’ve never been attracted to someone…before I met you. I thought that maybe I was asexual or something. When people say that their pulse races from just looking at someone, I thought they were exaggerating. Or when they say that they literally get weak in the knees from a kiss, I assumed that it was just a figure of speech. Or when they describe fireworks going off when they…you know. I knew they were lying. I mean, I’ve never been with anyone …” She pursed her lips, stopping herself when she realized that she was about to say that she’d never had an orgasm when she’d had sex.
“You’ve never been with anyone?”
Now he thought she was a virgin. Wow.
Could this go any worse?
“No, I’ve been with people,” she clarified. “I’ve just never…you know…” She swallowed as she tried to think of a way to dig herself out of this. “I’ve just never…I’ve never…you know,” she repeated before blurting out, “had an orgasm. I mean, I have but only with Roger.”
Yep. It could get worse. Panic swept through her. Why had she just said that? Was she having a nervous breakdown? A stroke? What was going on?
“Roger?” His brows lifted.
“Yeah…you know, my…” If someone could die from embarrassment she would be deceased right now. “Personal, you know, toy. It’s a rabbit. Anyway, that’s not the point. I just wanted to explain what happened and my side of the story. You’re the first and the only person that has ever made my pulse race and my knees weak and I got carried away. I’m sorry if I crossed a line when I kissed you.”
“For the record,” Evan’s voice held the same raspy quality it had when he’d pulled her on top of him during the hike. The same one that made her lady parts clench with need. “I kissed you back.”
His words turned her insides to jelly just as she heard her iPhone buzz. She reached down and pulled it out of her purse and saw that it was a GIF from Nolan of Faith Hill’s Breathe music video. She grinned. He sent her funny messages whenever he thought she was in a situation where her anxiety would flare up. This was definitely an anxiety inducing situation.
Figuring she’d use this interruption as her out, she clutched her phone in her hand using it as an anchor, and stood. “Okay, well I’ve got a flight to catch,” she explained as she crossed the room. “I’m glad we cleared the air. I’ll see you Monday.”
Without looking back she opened the door and bolted out of it, rushed down the sidewalk to the car, threw the door open, and jumped inside. She would’ve hit the back of the front seat and yelled, “Drive, drive, drive!” but she couldn’t because the driver was walking around the front of the car after getting out to open the door for her—she’d beat him to it.
Her heart was beating as fast as the time she’d drank five energy drinks after being on night shoots for a week and Chester taking advantage of her “time off” by scheduling events, meetings, and interviews during the day.
When the driver got in he shifted to look back at her. “Is everything okay Miss Fox?”
No.
“Yes,” she lied. “Everything’s fine.”
He nodded before turning back and driving her away from her second Evan disaster of the day. She couldn’t believe what she’d just done or that she’d let Nolan talk her into coming here in the first place. She wanted to kill him.
She knew that her anger was misplaced because she was mortified and didn’t want to face what had just happened.
Her phone rang and she looked down, relieved when she saw it was Ruby. “Hel—”
Before she could get the greeting out, her friend cut her off. “How did it go?”
She sank back into the seat and pressed the button to raise the privacy screen. She’d subjected herself to enough humiliation tonight, she didn’t need an audience as she relayed it to her best friend.
Cutting straight to what she considered the pinnacle of humiliation, she said, “I told him about Roger.”