Page 34 of Shielding his Legacy
“Both.”
“We thought we were going to the Emerald Pools, then we’d have a campfire and eat s’mores and sleep in a tent weborrowed from the old guy who lived down the street. But my foster mom and her boyfriend broke up on our way there. He left us stranded at the motel without a car, and ‘Mom’,” she made air quotes around the name, “fell off the wagon and got drunk for three days straight while we watched the Disney channel in the motel room.”
“Did you even make it into the park?”
“Nope. But I did get to see the Emerald Pools and Angel’s Landing on Google Earth at the school library, which is pretty much the same thing. I didn’t even have to wait in line.” The pictures had been awe-inspiring, and she remembered how incredibly disappointed she’d been that they hadn’t gotten to see them in person. She’d never told anyone that before, and she was keenly aware of how revealing the story was. “Well, that took a dark turn,” she said. “Sorry.”
An awkward silence fell over them, and Eva cursed her exquisite knack for killing polite conversation. His phone vibrated and he answered it, transferring it from Bluetooth to his handset and putting it to his ear. His end of the conversation was brief and consisted of monosyllabic responses. He hung up. “HERO Force is ten miles out.”
Her stomach clenched. “How did they get here so fast?”
“Chopper.” Gavin turned off the main road and onto one without a center line, rutted pavement carrying them over bumps and around several sharp turns. “And don’t apologize for your caregiver being an addict who couldn’t see beyond her own shit. That isn’t your fault.”
She worried her hands in her lap despite his statement. Attempting to exonerate her for one piece of her childhood trauma was kind, but it was the news about HERO Force’s impending arrival that had snagged her attention like a charging animal heading her way.
Her very brief introduction to Gavin’s new coworkershad left her more than a little intimidated by the heavily muscled men lurking around the office, staring at her and Abby with obvious curiosity and more than a twinge of judgement. If she was being honest, she’d been all too happy to get away from them, and she wasn’t too thrilled they’d be joining their small entourage. “Who’s coming?”
“Sloan, Champion, and Trace.”
Eva rolled her eyes, not knowing these men from Adam. “That doesn’t help me. What are they like?”
“Sloan’s the class clown who should have gone to cooking school, Champion’s a reformed womanizer with twin little boys and a brand-new wife, and Trace is a southern gentleman with a fondness for beers that any real man would confuse with water.”
“You have a very strange way of describing people.”
“Can you picture them?”
She shrugged. “Yes.”
“Then I’mvery goodat describing people.”
“How would you describe me?” The words were out before she thought better of them. The silence that followed made the earlier one seem companionable. “Never mind. I’m sorry I asked,” she muttered.
“Innocent.”
Her mouth hung open. Out of all words in the English language, that’s the one he picked? “Innocent?”
“You asked.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Just because I hadn’t had sex before doesn’t make me innocent. Especially not now. I’m a mother, for goodness’ sake.”
“I’m not talking about your level of sexual experience, and there’s no reason to get haughty.”
“Haughty?” This just got better and better. “What are you talking about then?”
“You’re good, like a bone-deep kind of goodness you don’t see in people much these days. You’re kind. You value fairness and honesty, and you give everyone the benefit of the doubt.” He shrugged. “Except for maybe the guys at HERO Force. Why is that, by the way?”
“What do you mean, I didn’t give them the benefit of the doubt?”
“You didn’t like them. Every time I’ve mentioned them coming to help us, you start fidgeting and staring out your window.”
She hadn’t realized quite how observant he was, and she made a mental note to watch her body language. She briefly considered lying, then thought better of it, the decision articulating how correct he’d been in his assessment of her. “They stared at me and Abby, wondering who we were. They were judging me, and I didn’t like it.”
He glanced at her before his eyes went back to the road. “You’re a beautiful woman. I’m sure they were wondering who we areto each other.”
“One look at Abby should have answered that question.”
His face suddenly shone with a pleasure that surprised her. “She does look like me, doesn’t she?”
