Page 13 of Hot and Bothered

Evan chuckled.

“I can’t say you’re the best dishwasher I’ve ever seen, but that tabletop is looking sparkling and brand-new.” Evan cocked his head at me, examining me closely with contemplative eyes. They burrowed into me. I found myself trapped by his gaze.

There was something about the way Evan looked at me. As if he already knew all my secrets. As if my every thought was on display for him to read.

It didn’t make me feel discomfited. It didn’t make me feel exposed.

Instead, it made me want to bare myself to him even more.

For some reason, around Evan, I felt safe.

“You’re thinking about home?” he asked.

My heart thumped a heavy beat.

“I can’t stop thinking about what I did,” I replied. “About what everyone is going to think. How everybody’s going to react.”

“I think you should worry about yourself first and other people later,” Evan said.

“Don’t I owe it to my parents to be an obedient daughter?” I asked.

I knew it was a rhetorical question, one that I hadn’t yet been able to answer myself.

“Is this the eighteenth century?” Evan asked. “You’re not your parents’ property. You can live your own life.”

“I don’t know if that’s true,” I murmured quietly.

Evan opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, his phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and put it to his ear. How odd that he would get a phone call. No one used phones to actually call people anymore. It was all texts and messaging.

Evan spoke quietly as he turned his back to me, using a hushed voice. He nodded to himself then hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

“I’ve got to head out for a bit.” He didn’t wait for me to reply before he started striding off.

Lizzy called out from the register.

“Got a hot date?” she asked with a teasing grin.

Evan, not pausing in his stride, called back. “Sorry, just something I’ve got to take care of. I’ll be back soon.”

“Have fun,” Lizzy said with a grin and a wave. “Tell whatever her name is that I say hi.”

I followed Evan with my eyes as he strode out of the bar, letting the front door swing closed behind him.

Was Evan really leaving for a date, or was Lizzy just teasing? Did he have a girlfriend? If he did, why hadn’t he mentioned her to me? He seemed to live alone, but just because he wasn’t living with his girlfriend didn’t mean things weren’t serious between them.

Disappointment swelled in my chest, but I fought to push it away.

Evan was a good guy who was helping me out. I was happy for him that he had someone.

Although I had to wonder what his girlfriend would think about him putting up a random strange girl in his apartment.

“Hi there!”

I was distracted from my wandering thoughts when a cute looking girl who’d been sitting at the bar came up to me.

“Hello, what can I get you?” I asked politely.

She chuckled. “Nothing. I’m Bree.” She stuck out her hand for a shake. “I’m dating the bar manager, Mason. Lizzy told me you’re the new girl?”