When the words are out, they do sound dumb to my ears, but Drew makes it okay when he cups the back of my neck with one expansive hand and pulls me to him. His lips are both firm and soft against mine. Sure and yet careful. The kiss feels so good. So new and promising. I want to step deeper into it, but my family is watching. And under my hands I can feel Drew’s awareness that they are watching.
I edge back just enough to break the kiss, but Drew keeps his hand at my neck, holding me, anchoring me.
“You need to talk to them.” He says this almost like a concession, as though it isn’t a given. “You don’t have to do it on their turf.”
I fast blink at him. “What? Turf? Is thisWest Side Storynow?”
The side of Drew’s mouth quirks in a wry grin, and he rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean. Talk to them, but do it on neutral territory.” He gives the back of my neck a reassuring squeeze. I could get used to this. “Let them see you as independent. In a different setting than one they’ve always controlled.”
It’s good advice. In fact, it’s a plan.
I nod. “That helps. Thank you.”
“I wish I could stay with you,” he says, shifting his eyes toward the street where my family still waits. Pretending they aren’t watching us. “But I don’t think my presence would help.”
A sudden urgency makes me grip the front of his shirt. “They’ll come around, you know,” I tell him, hoping with all I have he doesn’t decide I’m a lost cause. “They’re good people. I swear. You just need to give them time.”
He looks back at me, those eyes impassive, but I can see he’s not convinced. “Time’s precious, Guppy.” When he says this, my stomach absolutely plummets. But then that lazy grin returns. “I’d rather give it to you.”
I let go the breath I’ve been holding and practically sink into him. He drops his hand from my neck, fumbles around in his pocket, and pulls out a phone.
“Finally got one of these,” he says with a nod.
My smile is immediate. As is the desire to tease him. “Oh? And how many contacts do you have in it?”
Drew frowns at the phone as if in silent contemplation. “Five. Grandma Q, my Aunt Josie, my Aunt Shelly, my sister Annie, and the garage.” When he looks back at me, the corners of his eyes are crinkled with mischief. “I’m hoping to add a sixth one today.”
“Wow. Six whole contacts,” I muse, affecting awe. Then I tip open my hand. “May I?”
He places the phone on my palm. “Be my guest.”
I open his contacts, tap in my number, and then pass the phone to him. “Text me so I have your number.”
His unguarded look as he takes the phone should be all the clue I need, but when my phone chirps with his text, I still lose it.
I do see you.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
DREW
I don’t want to leave her.
And my fear that her parents will convince her to drop kick me out of her life is only part of the why. These people may be her family, and I’m sure she’s right that they are good people — honestly, how could the people who made Evie be anything else? — but the way they looked at her when she introduced me…
They just don’t take her seriously.
They love her. That’s obvious. Who couldn’t love Evie? But I can’t shake the feeling that although they adore her, she is still the butt of some family joke. As though she’s the one who makes them throw up their hands and roll their eyes.
As though they don’t see the way she touches the world. She can summon the pantheon of every culture — and likely make them do her bidding. She can heal with a word. Her smile alone can save a man.
Even one as damned as me.
How can they not see that?
I don’t want to leave her, but I know staying won’t help. The Lalondes want me to go, to be a memory. And I can see that puts Evie on edge. She doesn’t want them hurting my feelings.
It wouldn’t. They couldn’t say anything about me I haven’t thought already. We all agree Evie deserves to be with someone better. They just don’t know that I can’t make myself stay away. Not anymore.
