Page 44 of Sipping Seduction
“I’m great. If only I’d known you had that ability… I probably would have jumped your bones years ago.”
His chuckle made my body shake since we were pressed so close together. “I didn’t know it would be that good, and I’ve been imagining it for over a decade.”
His comment had a sobering effect. We’d wasted so much time. I’d been looking for love everywhere, and Evan had been right in front of me all along. Well, except for the years when he escaped to join the Army.
“Can I ask you a question?” Thinking about why he’d left Beaver Bluff made me wonder if I’d gotten it all wrong.
“Ask away. I’m an open book.”
I considered my words carefully. His family could be a sore subject, and I didn’t want to say anything that would ruin the magic that had just happened between us.
“Why did you leave to join the Army? Was it really because of the feud?”
We were more than a little cramped in the small space, but he sighed and wedged his arm against the seatback behind his head. “I was tired of the pressure of being a Bishop in a place where half the town hated me for my last name. I mean, it didn’t help that I could never do anything good enough for my dad.”
“I’m sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to. I was just thinking that if you hadn’t left, we might have found our way to each other a long time ago.” I tucked my cheek against his chest.
“I don’t think it would have worked out back then. You were perfect, Frannie. I never would have been good enough for you. Hell, I still feel that way.”
My stomach tied itself into a pretzel hearing him talk about himself like that. “Are you for real? You’ve always been good enough. Why would you ever think otherwise?”
“Never mind. You wouldn’t get it.” He shook his head, and I could feel a wall sliding into place between us.
I put my palms on his cheeks. “No. We’re going to talk about this because I won’t have you thinking like that. Why do you feel like you aren’t good enough? Does this have anything to do with your dad?”
“Hell, I don’t know. I just felt like no matter what I did, he was always more concerned about the distillery. That’s all we heard about growing up. How Vaughn and Cole were going to take over. No matter what I did, I never got his attention, or his respect.” Evan closed his eyes for a long beat. When he opened them again, all the hurt he must have felt growing up in the shadow of his older twin brothers was reflected in his gaze.
“That stops now. I won’t try to make excuses for your dad, but you’ve always been more than enough for me. I love you, Evan. Probably always have. I was just too scared to admit it.”
“I love you, too, Frannigan, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving to you and everyone else that I deserve your love.”
My heart ached for him that he didn’t feel that way already. But with the newfound love between us, I vowed to make sure I told him each and every day how much he meant to me and how much I loved him.
The worst of the storm had blown over while Evan had me, ahem, distracted. Now a soft rain fell, making pitter patters on the roof of my car. We should probably get moving if we didn’t want to be discovered in the parking lot, but I didn’t want the tender moment to end. As I lay there wondering how long we could linger, a beam of light pierced through the fogged-up driver side window.
Evan sat up so quickly he bumped his head on the sloped window of the hatchback. “Stay down. I’ll handle this.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I curled up into a tight ball and pulled the blanket over myself to hide.
Someone knocked on the window. “Hey, anyone in there?”
Evan turned the car on to lower the window. “Hey, Hurley. We were just riding out the storm since we couldn’t get out of the parking lot.”
I didn’t dare peek out from under the blanket, but I could picture the look on Deputy Hurley’s face based on the low, deep chuckle.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Frannie and I got stuck here. Turns out it’s pretty stuffy in the car when you can’t roll down the windows.”
“You and Frannie, huh?” Hurley asked. “It’s about time the two of you—”
“Need anything else?” Evan interrupted.
I cringed. We’d probably be hearing a lot of people voice their opinion on us getting together once they found out. Beaver Bluff was on the smaller side of small when it came to a small town. Word would probably get around before we even made it back to Evan’s place.
“Nah. Turns out there was no tornado, just some powerful straight-line winds. Cole and Danica might need a do-over since they weren’t able to celebrate with everyone.” Hurley tapped his fist on the roof of the car. “Tree’s cleared if you want to get going.”
“Thanks.” The relief in Evan’s tone matched the feeling inside my chest. The last thing we needed was to be cited for indecent exposure or something worse by one of Cole’s childhood friends.
