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If what you want is someone to lean on, to love, to halve your burdens when they’re too strong to manage alone, come to Time For Love. We still believe in true love, perfect arrangements, and happily ever after.
We’ll be happy to help you find what you’re looking for—and if we can’t, Oliver can.
She left the links for my column and podcast and that was it.
Eva had conceded and I’d won the bet, but I didn’t feel like a winner—I felt like man who’d just let a million-dollar lottery ticket slip through his fingers. One stupid drunken sentence and I’d ruined everything. And Eva, well, she hadn’t been in much of a forgiving mood. I’d spent the past week trying to pin her down for a one-on-one conversation, but between her avoidance tactics and the help of her friends, I hadn’t heard from her. Spoken to her. Not once. Not since I’d kissed her goodbye the morning before everything turned to shit.
I picked up the phone and pressed Eva’s smiling face, holding my breath as the first ring sounded. “You’ve reached Eva Vargas.” Straight to voicemail, the same every damn time I called. I’d stopped counting at the seventieth call, figuring that one more call and she would either have me arrested or shoot me on her doorstep.
“Eva, it’s me, Oliver. Call me back. Please.”
I knew she wouldn’t call back so I stood and stretched, then rushed through my morning routine because I had a few errands to run before heading into the studio to do whatever craziness Michelle had set up for the day. Even the mundane acts of shaving and getting dressed couldn’t be accomplished without thoughts of Eva invading my space. Her smile and her laugh were what I missed most. Her touch came next, but more than anything, it was the way she never gave me an inch. Never let me get away with anything. She made me earn every compliment. Every smile.
And I had.
And now, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me—and I couldn’t blame her. No matter how much I wanted her back and how much I was willing to grovel, I couldn’t blame her for ignoring me. I deserved it.
Liam had goaded me into those callous words, sure, but I was the idiot who’d voiced them. He’d been trying to get me to see and to admit what I couldn’t. That I had fallen for Eva. Fallen in love with a woman when I wasn’t expecting it, and I’d ruined it before I’d even realized what I had. “Dammit!”
I flew out of the house and headed for the TFL offices, knowing that was where Eva would be with her friend Kendra to keep us apart.
“Welcome to… oh, it’s you. How may I help you?” Kendra’s voice was strong, even and cool. Totally professional.
“I’d like to speak to Eva, please.” I flashed the same charming smile that had worked in the past, but this time I was met with a stony look and dead silence.
“Eva isn’t in the office at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?” Her tone indicated that the message would likely get misplaced but I left one, anyway.
“Any idea where she might be?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the whereabouts of employees, Mr. March.”
Mr. March, huh? “My, how things have changed.” If Kendra wouldn’t help, I stood less than no chance with Sophie or Olive. They’d been her guard dogs, her protectors for the past few days. Living barriers between me and Eva.
“We don’t know where she is,” Sophie admitted from her spot in another doorway. “But even if we did, none of us would be inclined to help you.”
“I know I screwed up, okay? But I can’t make it better if she won’t talk to me.”
Sophie shrugged. “Maybe you can’t make it better. Maybe you can. You have plenty of time to figure it out while you search for Eva.” And then she flashed a cheeky smile and walked off.
“I guess I’m gonna have to work for it.”
“Is that a problem?” Olive asked, dark brows arched in question.
“Hell no, I’m willing to work for it. Ready to work at earning her forgiveness.”
That earned me a genuine smile. “Then you have nothing to worry about, Oliver. Good luck.”
“Yeah, thanks.” I wasn’t feeling all that hopeful, but there was one more place to check and one more person who might prove to be an ally. Or she might pump buckshot in my ass before I got a chance to plead my case.
The door opened and Mirabelle smirked up at me. “Well, well, well. It’s about time you showed your pretty face over here. I was worried you’d been too scared.”
“I was,” I admitted with a sheepish smile. “But I figured whatever punishment you had in store for me would be worth it, if it led me to wherever Eva’s hiding out.”
