Evelyn
“How about that coffee?”
I shifted on my feet, glancing nervously towards the office. On one hand, I didn’t want to be rude and turn him down when he had been nothing friendly to me, but on the other, my relationship with Nathan was more important than anything.
“I’m not sure that it’s a good idea,” I replied with a small smile.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s okay, I understand.” Derek glanced over to the other side of the gallery. “Want to see the painting I’m buying?” he asked, changing the subject.
I didn’t see why I shouldn’t, so I nodded. Soon we were in front of the one piece we had looked over during the exhibition.
“It’s so pretty. I’m glad you’re buying it,” I said honestly. It was one of the more beautiful pieces there; Derek appreciated it.
Nathan always said that was the beauty of art, the various interpretations possible for one painting. It was true. I understood it now.
Whether it be music, or paintings, or writing, interpretation varied according to your beliefs. Your thoughts.
“Do you paint?” Derek asked. He turned to face me, placing his hands in his pockets.
Snorting, I replied, “Nope. I don’t paint, and I don’t draw. I’m not really sure what I do.”
His brows pulled together at my statement. “Why is that?”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully.
Truth was, I wanted to go back to school but didn’t know what to major in. I wanted to do something I enjoyed, not just for the sake of having a career. The problem was finding out what that was. Now that I was having a baby, figuring my life out was much more important.
“You’re young.” He smiled warmly. “You have time.”
“Everyone always thinks they have time.” I shook my head as we continued to walk throughout the gallery. “They hold on to that ‘time’ and then let it pass them by, and in the end, they end up doing nothing. I don’t want to be like that. I want to do something, something for others, something to make a change.”
Derek’s expression changed. I could see his jaw working as he pondered my words; he’d even taken a step back after I spoke, as if the words had caught him off guard and he didn’t know what to say.
I’d spoken too much.
“Sorry.” I wrinkled my nose, feeling like an idiot. He was a stranger, and I was overwhelming him with my issues. “Sometimes I just talk, even if I shouldn’t.”
He shook his head, relaxing his shoulders. For some reason, he’d gotten tense and was now struggling to go back to his normal self. “It’s okay. It seems like something that you needed to get off your chest.” Derek cleared his throat, looking away briefly. “You’re Hannah’s sister, aren’t you?”
The gallery suddenly felt colder, the tension between us at an all-time high. Knowing who I was meant him knowing what I did, the video out there. That was something that I’d tried to avoid at all costs, not because it was my fault but because of the embarrassment that followed.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” I heard him say softly. He placed his hands on my shoulders, turning me around to face him. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Evelyn.”
My eyes met his green ones and saw the guilt etched all over his face, true guilt. Like he’d done something wrong, something horrible. “It’s not that,” I finally said, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “It’s just a lot of memories come back, but yes, I am Hannah’s sister.”
“You’re very different from her,” Derek noted.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I smiled.
“That you should.” He chuckled, relaxing a bit more. “I don’t understand. Maxwell was her husband, and now you’re…with him.”
“Yeah, but that’s a long story.”
“Which brings us back to you going out for coffee with me,” Derek said, raising his eyebrows pointedly.
I laughed, a real laugh this time. “You will not let that go, will you?”
“Sad to say I won’t.” Derek grinned. “Just coffee, no strings attached, no commitment. I know you’re involved with Maxwell, and I respect that. We’ll be out in a public place. Hell, you can even tell a friend to come along. I don’t mind.”
Just then, Nathan and Jesse came out from the back office, Nathan clearly unhappy when he saw me with Derek, and Jesse amused.
“Unless the boyfriend is pissed,” Derek whispered. I rolled my eyes, letting Nathan pull me into his embrace when he was close enough.
“Everything okay?”
Nodding, I sighed. I could have ten thousand friends, a million acquaintances, but Nathan was my home, my source of comfort.
“I was just asking Evelyn out for a cup of coffee, Maxwell, if you don’t mind, of course?”
“Oh, of course he doesn’t mind,” Jesse said, nudging Nathan with her elbow.
Nathan glared, speaking up. “We’re going to the office. Excuse us.”
We excused ourselves from the gallery and went over to the office, where he sighed, his eyes set on my face. Finally, he cupped my face tenderly with his hand, a warm smile on his face. “You want to go, don’t you?”
I grinned up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I don’t know anyone here. It would be nice to meet someone new, you know? Not that I’m interested in the guy or anything but—”
“I don’t need an explanation, Evie. I trust you.”
I kissed him then, showing him that he was the only man I was interested in, the only man that would ever have my lips, my body. He had to know it. There couldn’t be a doubt in his mind that I was his.
When I broke off the kiss, his eyes were dark and lust-filled, a small smirk playing on his lips. “You should go before I bend you over that desk.”
I was shocked, but my eyes quickly traveled to the object in question. Without knowing, I was biting my lip. The picture in my mind was quite appealing.
“You freak.” Nathan grasped my chin, forcing me to look at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? For me to bend you over that desk, fuck you there.”
I swallowed, both nervous and entranced by his dark stare. My lips parted when his thumb gently caressed my neck, the teasing touch sending sparks of desire between my legs.
In an abrupt move, Nathan pulled away, locking the door, and then went to the computer that controlled the camera. After a few clicks, his mouth was on mine, consuming me in each way possible.
***
“How long have you been in New York?” I asked Derek as we walked down the park. In the time that I had lived in NYC, I had never been there, and I was pleasantly surprised. I took a sip of the water I had gotten instead of coffee and glanced around. There were people everywhere enjoying themselves.
“I usually traveled throughout Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. I own a chain of restaurants, so that keeps me busy a lot of the time.”
Food.
Hm…I want food now.
“What made you move to New York?” Derek asked after my momentary distraction.
I shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to be here. It’s fun, and there’s always something to do.”
Derek looked around, grinning after a moment. “Can you hear that?”
The rich sound of a saxophone made me smile. With the relaxing music echoing throughout the park, a sense of calmness surrounded the usually stressed environment. Derek nodded towards it.
There were already people around the man and dancing to the upbeat music.
This was exactly why I loved it here.
Captivated by the man’s perfect playing, I didn’t even notice Derek extending his hand to me with a playful smirk.
“How about a dance along with this coffee?” I pressed my lips together for a moment until Derek raised his eyebrows. “C’mon, just a dance.”
I ended up taking his hand and grinning as we walked up to the dancing crowd. He easily began moving to the music, his relaxed demeanor making me feel more at ease than I had minutes before. Derek and I circled each other, dancing to the music.
He seemed like the type of man who knew how to have fun, the type of man that attracted several types of women as well. I didn’t miss the way different women tried to approach him, but he didn’t seem to notice.
And despite what Nathan feared, Derek was very much respectful towards me. He didn’t try to make any advances; there was nothing to make me think the man had anything other than friendly intentions with me.
“You know how to have fun.” He grinned as the music ended. He took out a generous amount of money, giving it to the musician.
“Everyone should know how to have fun.”
“Very true,” Derek agreed as we continued to walk. “Your sister didn’t, though.”
“No, she didn’t. How much do you know about her?”
“I’ve done my research.”
I nodded, sitting on a bench and stretching out my legs. “Do you know where she is now?” I asked Derek.
Once again, he tensed, the carefree man from before gone. He swallowed, looking down to his hands as if searching for an answer. “She’s in jail, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” I replied, biting my lip. “Thanks to me.”
“And thanks to you, many families got justice, so that’s a good thing. You shouldn’t feel bad about that.” Derek ran a hand through his light brown hair. “Your family hurt many people, Evelyn.”
“They’re still my family, though.”
Derek cocked his head to the side, studying me. His furrowed brows told me he was deep in thought, and though he seemed like he had a lot to say, he held back. He ended up shaking his head slowly in disbelief.
“You’re nothing like I thought you were.” It almost sounded like he was complaining, as if it had been a letdown that I wasn’t what he thought I was.
Offended, I immediately put my guard up. “What did you expect?”
His green eyes met mine, for a moment distant until something resembling hate filled them. “Honestly? I thought you were a frivolous bitch.”
The words cut through my chest like a knife.
I looked away, wanting to prevent him from seeing the tears in my eyes. For some reason, it hurt to have someone I didn’t know think I was so cold-hearted because of my family’s reputation. The silence consumed us for a few minutes, but I was sure I could hear the loud beating of his heart.
“You’re far from what I thought you were,” he repeated, this time more to himself. He sighed, placing a hand on my arm to get my attention. Quickly, I blinked away the tears before turning my attention to him. His gaze was now full of compassion. “You’re kind and sweet. You’re different than all the women I know, and that’s a good thing.”
I bit my lip, once again feeling like I was going to cry in front of this man who was a stranger.
He frowned. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
Searching for comfort, I placed my hand over my belly. Derek’s gaze followed the motion, and soon his eyes widened as his lips parted, realization setting in.
“I’m sorry, are you pregnant?”
“Yeah, I am,” I replied with a small smile.
He sighed once again, as if he couldn’t figure what to do or say next. “Shit,” he cursed, standing up. “Shit, fuck.”
“Is there a problem?”
He ran a hand over his face, groaning as if he was upset. “No wonder Maxwell takes so much care of you, huh?” His lips tilted up ever so slightly as his eyes sparkled at me with genuine care. “I’m telling you, you are far from the woman that I thought you were.”
Speechless, I tried to decipher what was going on through his mind. He seemed troubled.
“Congratulations on the baby,” he finally said with a smile. “Now, we should get you back to Nathan or else I think there’s going to be bloodshed.”
The man next to me managed to confuse me more than I thought possible, and I intended to figure out exactly why.