My God, this man. He might be the most effortlessly charming man I’ve ever met. Never before have I wanted to melt through my own skin at the nicknamehoney. Never before have I met anyone whoputs me so immediately at ease the way Everett does. Even when I first met Amie and Katy, I had to fight through several layers of my own adolescent awkwardness before I could truly relax into our friendship. But there’s something about Everett Tanner, something that tells me I was supposed to meet him when I did. And something that tells me he might just change my life.
“Well, by virtue of being on the island with my own independent five things, I can’t be one of your items. So you still have two to choose, Cowboy.”
“I didn’t realise this would be such a tough question when I asked it,” he admits, ducking his face to hide his sheepish smile. A tiny hint of a dimple pops in his cheek, and it’s fucking adorable. “I think—maybe I’d bring origami paper. Or a sketchbook and a pen.”
“Origami, huh?”
“I dabble.” A shrug accompanies his embarrassed smile, and for the first time, I notice one of the tattoos decorating his biceps features a paper crane. It moves with the muscle as he lifts another forkful of food to his mouth.
“What do you draw?”
“Oh, not much. Not so much as I used to.”
“Portraits? Animals? Landscapes?”
Everett’s cheeks flush a sweet shade of pink. “Promise you won’t laugh?”
“Promise.” I wave my finger in the shape of a cross over my chest.
“I just like drawing… shapes. Like, geometric patterns. Sometimes I’ll draw objects or animals, whatever I can see in front of me. But mostly, I just like to scribble and let my mind shut off.”
“Why would I laugh at that, Ev?”
“Some people think it’s kind of pointless.”
“Isn’t everything? If you enjoy it, then that’s the entire point.”
Everett looks right into the lens of his phone, right at me through the screen. I see a wall or two come down in his eyes as his boyish smile turns just a little bashful.
“I think you’re right,” he says.
“Of course I am.” I flip my hair with a shrug and a smile.
“Do you draw? What do you do for fun?”
Fun. Not something I’ve done much of lately.
“I spend time with my girls—my three best friends. And my goddaughter, she’s three. I like to cook. I come up with new margarita recipes. I like to scrapbook, but I haven’t done that much lately. I haven’t really had the time. Honestly… I don’t do fun much. Mostly, I just work a lot.”
“What is it you do? It sounds like it brings you out here pretty often.”
“I’m a lawyer—an intellectual property lawyer. I work for Trenton Langley.”
“Wow, suddenly I’m feelin’ real dumb over here.”
“You’re not dumb, Everett,” I say quietly. Sincerely. There’s still a smile on his face, but the more we talk, the more it morphs into something more awestruck than simply happy.
“I ain’t stupid, I know that. But here I am, coasted through high school, never went to college, still working on my family ranch. Barely even left Texas until this year. And there you are, a lawyer, working in—what was it? Property? Aproperty lawyer, do you have any fucking idea how incredible that is?”
“It’s not that special, honestly. It’s intellectual property, so right now I work to protect things like patents and trademarks, as well as the brands and assets we own.” I duck my head. There are a lot of needlessly big words involved in my job, and sometimes, I feel like I sound pretentious no matter how simply I try to explain it to people.
“Ruth, whatever it is, you know what it tells me? It tells me you’re fucking smart, and you’re insanely motivated and determined, and on top of all that, you’re beautiful as hell. I can’t even quite believe you’re giving me the time of day, honestly.”
“Ev…”
“You’re beautiful, Ruth. I saw it in New York, I saw it in Austin, and I see it now. I can’t pretend I haven’t noticed. I can’t pretend it’s not makin’ me feel things.”
“Feel things?”
