Chapter 9 #2
It was pointless to argue because Axel was right. “Um…yeah. I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have responded to the texts.”
“Damn straight. You could have at least…”
“Where is he? Where the hell is Slater?”
He turned his head and saw Milo jogging toward them, looking as furious as Milo could, and Nora hot on his heels.
Here we go…
There was mud and water and downed tree limbs littering the path, but it didn’t slow either of them down. So Slater stood in the doorway—blocking it, actually—and mentally braced himself for whatever was about to happen. With any luck, Evie had fallen back to sleep and wouldn’t have to hear this.
“What the hell, Slater?” Milo demanded as he stomped up onto the porch.
He was a little breathless but got right in his face.
“I trusted you! I trusted you, and you had to go and sleep with my assistant! What is wrong with you? Aren’t there enough women out there for you? Did you have to go after a friend?”
Okay, that one hurt because it was true. But before he could say anything, Milo did.
“Evie’s not like the women you screw around with and walk away from. She’s good. Decent. And just like you were protective of Nora, I’m protective of Evie. She’s not only my assistant, but she’s also my friend. Hell, she’s practically family. And if you ruin this, I swear…”
One minute Slater was standing in the doorway, the next he was shoved aside, stumbling back toward his couch.
What the hell…?
“Milo Keene! Don’t you dare say another word, or I will personally kick your ass!” Evie snapped.
And for a moment Slater was too stunned to react, and by the look on Milo’s face, so was he.
Maybe it was sleep deprivation muddying her thinking, or maybe it was making her think clearer than she ever had, but either way, Evie was bristling with indignation.
“Evie, I…” Milo stammered, but she shushed him immediately with her hand in his face.
“What I do in my personal time is none of your business,” she said firmly. “I appreciate you being concerned, but you don’t get to come here and start making a fuss when you know nothing about the situation.”
“But I do know something,” he quickly countered. “I know that you’ve never been the type of person to have a casual…um…affair, and that’s all that’s going to happen with Slater!”
“I already know that! I’m not an idiot, Milo. I’ve known that about Slater pretty much since we met two years ago!”
“Then why…?”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Because I wanted to. There. Are you happy now? I had a crappy blow to my ego back in Seattle before we came here, and it made me realize that sometimes you don’t get to have everything the way you want it.
You can’t force people to love you or even want to date you.
” She huffed. “I am so tired of being the girl who’s just good enough until the right girl comes along.
And really, what am I waiting for? No one else seems to want me!
So what am I supposed to do, huh? Am I supposed to just sit at home and be lonely for the rest of my life? ”
“Um…”
“Or maybe since I am a grown-ass adult, I’m allowed to have a purely sexual relationship with a man who has made me feel more beautiful and alive than I ever have!”
The tips of Milo’s ears turned pink, and she kind of liked that she embarrassed him a little.
Until Nora stepped forward, resting her hands on Milo’s shoulders. “Evie, you have to know his concern came from a good place. He’s really just looking out for you.”
“And I appreciate that; I really do. But he should have come and had a conversation with me instead of storming down here because he was going to kick someone’s butt.”
“I could have kicked his butt,” Milo grumbled.
“I know, babe,” Nora cooed before grinning at Evie. “I’m sorry if we upset you. We really just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Some of the tension eased from her shoulders.
“I’m fine. Really. This wasn’t something either of us planned and…
” Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Slater was sprawled out on the sofa, watching her warily.
At first she didn’t know why, but then she remembered how she barreled out there and pushed him aside.
Offering him a weak smile, she was surprised when he didn’t smile back.
“Okay, if we’re all done talking about our feelings,” Axel interrupted with a huff, “we have actual work to do!”
With his eyes still on hers, Slater stood and slowly walked over to the door. His gaze held hers for a moment longer before turning to his friends.
“I understand that there’s work to do, Axel, but this is why we hired a very competent staff,” he said evenly. “Now, I don’t mind walking the property and helping evaluate the damage the storm left, but you need to relax and let the people we’re paying do their jobs.”
Evie looked between the two of them and could tell that Axel was ready to argue.
“I hate to say it, but Slater’s right,” Milo said. “We can give everyone direction on where to start and what to do, but they’re the ones more qualified to do the hands-on work.”
“So no one wants to work, is that it?” Axel demanded. “This resort belongs to all of us, and sometimes that means getting our hands dirty. And in case everyone’s forgotten, Evie’s cabin—my former cabin—has a tree on top of it!”
“What? When did this happen?” Turning to Slater, she felt ready to scream. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Evie, I found out ten seconds before you came out and shoved me aside. And then you were doing all the talking, so…”
“Oh.” Then it hit her that all of her things were in that cabin. “I need to go and see it. Everything I brought with me other than the clothes on my…”
Right now, the only thing she had on was Slater’s robe.
“All my stuff is in that cabin!” she cried. “How bad is it?”
Nora stepped forward and quietly ushered her back into the cabin. “Let’s get you dressed, and then we’ll go down there. It looks like it’s the whole front porch, but we didn’t look closer because we were worried about you.”
“Thanks. I’ll be out in a minute.” Walking into the bedroom, Evie closed the door and quickly realized all her clothes were in a heap back in the living room where she’d stripped them off last night. “Shoot. Now what…”
Just then, Slater joined her, shutting the door behind him and holding out her wrinkled clothes to her. “They’re stiff and muddy. You can borrow something of mine or maybe see if Nora has something for you because these are just a mess.”
Dammit. He was right.
“You’re a foot taller than me, Slater. Anything of yours will be too big.” Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she let out a weary breath. “I can’t believe that it’s barely six in the morning and so much has happened already.”
Sitting beside her with a nod, he took one of her hands in his. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You don’t control the weather, right?” She playfully nudged his shoulder, but he wasn’t smiling. “What’s going on? You look super serious right now.”
“I know it’s not the right time; Nora’s waiting for you, the guys are waiting for me, but…” Now it was his turn to huff out a breath. “It bothered me the way you talked about us. Like I was just a way to soothe your ego after that dick hurt your feelings back home.”
For a moment she thought he surely must be joking.
This was a man who talked a lot about how he never took anything seriously in the relationship department, and she’d heard more than she ever wanted to about how he had simply hooked up with women just because he could.
They were all nothing to him, and he never really remembered their names or even faces.
But when she saw the somber expression on his face, she knew he wasn’t lying.
“You’re right. Now’s not the time.” She got to her feet, gently pulling her hand from his. “I need to see what happened to my cabin and if my stuff got damaged.”
“Evie…”
She was pacing like she was looking for something, and yet she didn’t know what. When she turned around, Slater was on his feet, studying her.
“Why is it okay for you to hook up with nameless, faceless women time and time again, huh? Don’t you think their feelings may have gotten hurt? Or that they were bothered by the way you callously treated them?”
His eyes went wide, but he didn’t utter a word.
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t decide to sleep with you because of what happened with Tucker.
I slept with you because I wanted to,” she clarified.
“Did it make me feel a little better about myself? Hell yes! I’ve never had a man make me feel the way you do, and you know what?
I like it and I’m not going to apologize for it.
But we both know that this is temporary.
Even though we keep extending the end date, we both know there is one. ”
He at least had the decency to look a bit chagrined.
“We can talk about this later, right?” she quietly asked. “There’s so much to do, and people are waiting…”
Nodding, he offered her a small smile. “Yeah. We can talk about it later. I need to get dressed and you need to see if Nora can help you. I’ll see you over at your cabin.”
“Thanks, Slater.” And before she could stop herself, she nearly leaped into his arms and kissed him soundly. “I’ll see you there as soon as I can.”
Letting herself out of the bedroom, she found Nora standing out on the porch with the guys.
“So, um…my clothes from last night are kind of ruined. Any chance I can borrow something of yours until we see what’s going on with the cabin?”
Nora smiled. “Sure. Come on. I’m sure I have something you can wear.”
They walked in silence down the path, and Evie cursed the fact that she was barefoot and wearing nothing but Slater’s robe. When they stepped up onto Nora and Milo’s porch, she actually cringed. “I don’t want to step inside with muddy feet.”
“Hang on.” Nora quickly went and grabbed a towel for her to wipe her feet on before stepping aside so she could walk in. “Yoga pants, t-shirt, socks, and sneakers?”