Page 26 of Hot and Bothered
His eyes were so soft and sincere. He really meant it.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked, my voice on the cusp of wavering.
He paused, looking thoughtful. He let go of my chin and put his hands in his pockets. He shrugged casually.
“A pretty girl like you wouldn’t last two minutes on the street,” he said. “I’d feel bad kicking you out.”
“So it’s because you feel bad for me?” I didn’t know why my heart sunk a little.
“It’s like I told you before,” he said. “My protective instincts kicked in. Besides, you’re a quiet houseguest and we ended up getting help at the bar. It’s win-win for both of us.”
I didn’t continue pushing. It was as good an explanation as any. Besides, exactly what sort of answer was I expecting, anyway?
“I’ve got some cereal in the cupboard,” Evan said. “Think you can handle pouring the milk?” He winked, and I flushed.
In the end, we both sat down at the kitchen table with bowls of some kind of frosted shredded wheat. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had plain cereal for breakfast.
As we tucked into our food, Evan set a tablet on the table and picked up a stylus in his non-spoon hand.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. I rarely saw anyone use a stylus on those things. Everyone just tapped with their fingers.
“I’m working on a commission,” he said, using one hand to bring the cereal to his mouth and the other to swipe at the tablet.
I didn’t know what he meant by commission until I leaned forward in my seat to take a closer look at the screen. It seemed like he was working on some kind of drawing.
“You’re an artist?” I asked. I didn’t know why I was surprised. Maybe because a hot bartender who lifted weights in his spare time didn’t fit the artsy stereotype. “What kind of things do you draw?”
“People hire me to do lots of different stuff,” he said, lifting his eyes briefly to meet mine. “Once I had a lady who wanted an illustrated portrait of her dog. Some software developers want artwork for their mobile games.”
“Can I see?” I asked eagerly.
I wondered if Evan would be shy about his work, but he lifted the tablet to show me a half-finished illustration of a dragon. My mouth dropped.
“That’s amazing!” I exclaimed. “There’s so much detail!”
The dragon had hundreds of tiny scales all along its back, and its face was so intricately detailed, it almost looked real.
“This is for a fantasy book cover,” he said.
“You do book covers, too?” I asked. “That’s so cool.”
“Yeah, it’s a fun job,” he said. “It’s not the most stable of incomes, though. Commissions come in waves. That’s why I’m working at the bar. It’s a good way to make consistent money during the slow times.”
Evan hadtwojobs, while I hadn’t held a single job in my life until a week ago. Now I felt like even more of a privileged, pampered princess.
But, I had to remind myself, I was trying to change that. I was working hard to make a new life for myself.
“Have you done many book covers?” I asked. “Any books I would recognize?”
He named off a few I hadn’t heard of, but I was still impressed.
“I have copies of every book I’ve done illustrations for on my bookshelf,” he said. “You can take a look yourself.”
“Oh my god!” I put my hand to my mouth, remembering when I’d found that boxset. “You worked on my favorite series. You know, the one with the girl who can talk to ghosts? I loved those covers. She always had these cool, badass poses.”
“I remember that one,” Evan said with a nod. “It was tough, but fun.”
“Wow,” I said, taken aback. “You’re so talented.”
