Page 66 of Hot and Bothered
“I do.” He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “And I want to explain why I reacted so badly.”
“I understand,” I said. “I accused you of something terrible.”
“It wasn’t just that.” He averted his eyes. “It’s that accusing me of cheating was a sore spot for me.”
I waited patiently for him to continue.
“I don’t really talk about this with anyone,” he said softly before falling silent.
“You can talk to me about anything,” I said. “You know my entire sob story. You know everything about me. I want to know more about you.”
“My dad cheated on our mom.” He said it bluntly. “It wasn’t just the one time, either. She thought they were happy and that everything was fine.” His whole face screwed up into a scowl. “It turned out he had an entire other family. My mom found out and he left us. For them. It really hurt her.” He said the words evenly, but from the tightness in his voice, I knew he was understating it by a large degree.
I noticed he didn’t say anything about himself. He didn’t say anything about how he felt about his dad leaving them.
“Our mom hasn’t really been the same since,” he continued.
“Is that why…” I hesitated but powered on. “Is that why Christie is staying with us? Is something going on with your mom?”
Evan pressed his lips together, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to answer.
“It’s just tough for her when our mom gets in a mood.” He lifted a shoulder, trying to sound casual. “I hope you don’t mind her showing up out of the blue and staying for a few days.”
“Not at all,” I said. “I’m the interloper, crashing at your place.”
“I want you to consider this place as much yours as mine,” Evan stated firmly.
A giddiness bubbled up in my stomach, and I nearly burst with joy.
“Does that mean you forgive me?” I asked hopefully.
Evan pulled me back into his arms, cradling me to his chest.
“Of course,” he said. “I’m sorry I got so upset. We should have talked this out yesterday and not gone to bed angry.”
“I don’t know if I would have been able to explain what I was feeling if I hadn’t had a night to process everything,” I told him. “I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling.”
We stood there in each other’s arms, enjoying the long embrace. Eventually, I let out a yawn.
“Time for bed?” Evan asked, letting me go and tugging me down the hallway.
Once we’d brushed our teeth and washed our faces, we both climbed into bed and immediately resumed our cuddling. Evan lay on his back and I lay on my side, pressing against him, one leg slung over his with my cheek resting on his shoulder. He ran a hand up and down my back in a soothing motion. I let out a small sigh of contentment.
Evan cared about me so much. And I cared about him. I didn’t think I’d ever cared about someone like this in my life. I’d certainly never felt this happy, this content, this safe, this loved…
My mind came to a screeching halt.
Love?
The word popped into my head without warning.
I’d had thoughts close to those before, of course. I’d thought about Evan being my happily-ever-after. But I’d never explicitly used the L-word before, not even in my own mind.
I knew Evan cared for me. But did he love me?
Did I love him?
The longer I ran that word through my head, the more I played with it and contemplated it, the more comfortable with it I became.
