Page 49 of You've Got Male

“Well, maybe we should,” she snapped, unsure why she was suddenly so angry. “With the way that just fell so easily fromyour tongue, like this hasn’t just thrown our lives into upheaval—our families’ lives! My concern was a sincere one, because of my fear of hurting our kids, and you give me some flippant question back.”

“It wasn’t flippant.” His words were loaded with ridicule. “That was me being pissed that my kid found out through the grapevine. Not even from Camila, but Dexter told him after practice in front of his teammates. And I guess Camila is avoiding him at school. This whole thing has blown up.”

“I am so sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix jack shit.” She heard bitterness spill over into his voice and her heart shrank.

Guilt mixed with some of her anger. Her voice barely above a whisper, she said, “Then we call it off. I tell everyone it was my idea, which it was. And that I dragged you into it.”

When he spoke, his voice was soft and clear. “I would never let you take the fall. Plus I came to you. I got you tied up in this mess.”

“We both knew what we were getting into.”

“Honestly, this is embarrassing, but the person I’m really angry at is myself. I just heard back from Kyle.” She could almost see the fresh battle scars on his ego. “I didn’t get the job. He said they just couldn’t take a chance on a guy who hasn’t been in the business for the past two years.”

Before Evie knew what she was doing, she just stepped down into his arms and wrapped him in a hug. To her surprise, he hugged her back, resting his jaw on the top of her head. They stood like that for a good moment or two.

It was when the embrace started to sizzle that she backed away and cleared her throat. “So what do you want to do? What is the best step forward for you?”

“I need your help, Evie. If I’m going to get Way potty trained, look like the candidate of the year, and fix up this yard, I needyou.”

Suddenly his yard and her nagging seemed so petty. She had no idea what he had been struggling with, and while she still wanted it completed before her mom’s party, it didn’t mean she couldn’t be neighborly and help him accomplish it.

“I don’t want to back out of the deal.”

He looked down at her. “Neither do I.”

She was shocked at the wave of relief that washed over her at his comment. She could attribute it to the ClickByte fiasco, or the humiliation that would follow getting dumped days after she’d told all of America they were dating. But neither of those reasons could explain away the hum that vibrated through her body over the way he was looking at her. Like he wanted to know what she had on under her dress.

“I really should have checked with you about how and when we told the kids.”

“And deny the public at large an opportunity to bet on our sex life?” he said with a mega-watt smile. “Did you know that the majority of America thinks I can get into your pants in just two dates?”

“Good thing this is all pretend,” she said, even though the tension between them was real as hell. By the smirk on his face, he knew it, too.

Only it wasn’t chemistry that had her worried, it was connection. Specifically, the connection that was forming between them. A connection that was clearly having an adverse effect on the kids.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked him up and down. “So I guess you ditched the lumberjack look?”

“You didn’t mind the lumberjack look the other day.” He ran a hand down his jaw. “But if you like the lumberjack, he’s only three days away.”

“I think your new clients will prefer clean-shaven. Everyoneknows that lumberjacks spend their days playing with their wood.”

“Everyone knows that wood needs regular maintenance. It’s a lonely job but someone’s got to do it,” he said with a grin and the image alone had her tongue turning to dust. “I’m taking applications.”

“Maybe you should post on ClickByte.”

Chapter Nineteen

Jonah

“My eyes are up here, sunshine.”

“I was looking at the belt.” Evie sounded offended, but Jonah couldn’t help but notice that she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear while setting the record straight.

She was sitting in a blue velvet, high-backed chair right outside of the dressing room at an upscale men’s clothing store. Her long legs were crossed, her posture prim and poised, but she couldn’t hide the heat in her eyes when he came out from behind the curtain.

Seemed sunshine had a thing for a man in a suit. Or maybe it was the way a man stood when he wore one. Jonah felt as if he were a superhero who’d just tied on his cape—invincible.

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