Page 16 of Fate Fiction

An easy grin settled into his features, the crinkles by his eyes…well…crinkling in a very affable manner.

He was easily the most handsome man I’d ever seen. I knew this face well. I’d described it so many times, in detail, that I could sculpt him from memory. As he was standing before me, I forgot all of it and was seeing him for the first time.

Features came into focus one by one.

Wavy light golden brown hair that danced along his sculpted jaw.

A beard trimmed a hair shorter than he wore it in the show.

Thick biceps that strained the sleeves of his t-shirt.

Blue eyes that looked gray in this light, looking me over, taking this human disaster before him in. Evan’s eyes softened when they met mine, slowly raking over my features as though they, too, were familiar.

A small grin teased at his lips and he ran his tongue across them as neither of us could look away.

That had to have been completely hallucinated, not a chance I witnessed him linger.

Evan extended his hand, and I was frozen. My body was reacting in ways that my mind couldn’t seem to prevent. My stomach had become a block of cement and my ankles turned to Silly Putty. My arms had been rendered useless as he invited my hand to join his.

The physical effort I was making to not scream or pass out was harder than the furious paddle back to camp I had just made.

Was I dying? Was the sight of Evan actually going to be what killed me?

My heartbeat was pulsing so quickly it became one rapid vibration. I couldn’t feel my fingertips, but my brain went into overdrive. Be normal and shake his hand, dammit!

My hand slowly extended to curl around Evan’s as he introduced himself so casually like a used car salesman and not, well, him.

His hand was large, and warm, and surprisingly callused. The rough spots on his palm brushed against the softness of mine. He looked down on me, a simple feat given that he was easily a foot taller than I was.

I felt like a bug under a rock he lifted up. I wanted to skitter away into a dark corner and hide in the dirt.

Glancing up at those soft, unblinking, blue-gray eyes, it was impossible to not see Sir Erwyn standing before me. I was no better than a regular damsel in distress.

After silent, painful moments processing what on earth I was supposed to do, I cleared my throat and smiled weakly. “Nice to meet you, Evan. Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of you and your entourage’s hair this week.”

After taking a deep breath I hoped went unnoticed, I tapped into the version of myself I normally saved for casual work conversations or introductions to strangers at a party. As I patted myself on the back for how calm, cool, and collected I was, I realized I might have held on to his hand a smidge too long.

Evan also wasn’t letting go.

We stood there, engaging in the world’s most drawn out handshake until he barely released his grip, and my still slightly numb hand swung loosely to my side, haunted by the ghost of his touch.

He chuckled, a warm effervescent noise that rumbled straight from his diaphragm. “No entourage, just me.” His cheeks pinkened when he grinned.

This was far worse. Evan Fucking McLeod and an entourage was one thing. Now I had the confirmation that I would be alone. For a week. With no one but him and my aunt and uncle.

It was a sick joke from whatever powers ran the universe. What had I done in my past life to deserve this fate?

“Dani,” Sue interrupted my panic. “I thought you might be able to help out and serve as a guide for Evan here.” She turned to Evan and put her hand on his shoulder, so casually as if he were any other guest. Imagine being able to casually lay a hand on Evan McLeod. “Dani’s been coming up to camp since she was in diapers, she knows every trail, every hidden cove, and how to get the shower working.” She nudged him in the side and he stiffly laughed.

I hardly needed, nor wanted, to serve as a personal forest ranger for him, but Sue was letting me spend the week here at no cost, and she knew that I owed her the favor. The devilish glint in her eye as she spoke had told me more than enough. All this time I assumed I would be paying my way by washing dishes or clearing brush, not playing tour guide with the actor who played a character I’d been emotionally attached to for all of my twenties.

Evan gave me a weak, apologetic smile. Like he was sorry for being a bother.

Him. A bother.

“Oh yeah, sure, I’m down in that cabin over there if you need anything,” I heard myself say in a cool, disconnected tone. I adjusted my tote bag on my shoulder, and wrapped my arms across my chest. I finally had an out, I took half a step backward.

I felt exposed now, my entire torso was on display in my black bikini top and jean shorts. The waistband laid open, creating a low-hung v on my hips. IfI could choose what to meet Sir Erwyn himself in it wouldn’t have been anything close to this. I couldn’t have him perceiving this much of me. Ideally he shouldn’t be perceiving any of me.