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“I went to apologize,” he said quietly. “Just like you told me to, Tessa. Then she called me about Monica Kendall. That’s it. It’s no big deal.”
“Oh, it’s a big deal,” Jamie countered.
“Come on.” Eric put up his hands in surrender. He saw Tessa’s gaze shift immediately to his scratched wrist, so Eric dropped his hands. “Even if…even if I… She’s just a regular girl.”
Jamie shook his head. “I seriously doubt that.”
Tessa giggled and Eric was pretty sure his face turned from red to purple. “I’m obviously not still seeing her,” he snapped. “Do you think she’d see me again after I lied to her?”
Tessa’s face fell. “I guess not.”
Jamie slapped his shoulder. “One time or twenty, I take back everything I ever said about you. Everything. Even the part about you being an asshole for using my name. If I’d known you were using it for—”
Eric pushed past him and headed for his office. He closed the door so he couldn’t hear them talking, but the low murmurs still filtered through the wood. He should’ve run to the tank room instead, but it was too late now. He sure as hell wasn’t heading back into the kitchen.
He didn’t know why it panicked him that they knew about Beth. It didn’t feel like modesty or embarrassment. It felt like greed. This was his and his alone. Something that had nothing to do with Jamie or Tessa or anyone else, for once. Something that belonged to him, no matter what his name was or who people wanted him to be.
Feeling only slightly calmer, Eric popped open his cell phone and tapped Beth’s name. “You could’ve warned me,” he said when she answered.
“About what?”
“My brother.”
“Oh,” she said. Then, “Oh, no! I completely forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got a dozen things going on at the store. And… Oh, Eric. I know you didn’t want anyone else to know.”
He couldn’t be mad at her. After all, she was being pretty damned accepting of the secrecy. And the Donovan family wasn’t her problem. Eric sighed and leaned against the door. “It’s okay. It was your turn to forget this time.”
“I’m so sorry. What did he say?”
“What you’d expect him to say, I guess.”
“What’s that? I’ve always kind of wondered.”
“Wondered what?” Eric asked.
“What people say about me.”
Eric shook his head. “I wouldn’t let him say anything about you. That’s not the way we were raised. But he did call me a rock star.”
“Yeah?” He could hear the smile in her voice. “That sounds about right.”
“Very funny.”
“I’m serious,” she said, her words softer now. “You certainly fucked like a rock star last night.”
Eric’s face flushed hot again, but this time there was nothing unpleasant about it. In fact, the heat felt damn good as it sank down through his body. “That was all you,” he murmured.
“Oh, no. Not even close.”
He tried to think of something witty to say. Or something sexy. Or just a few words that might make sense when strung together. But his brain had gone into Neanderthal mode at the husky appreciation in her voice.
“You make me forget things,” she said. “Everything I worry about, I can’t worry about it with you.”
“What do you worry about? Is there trouble in erotic paradise?”
