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Of course, after she'd pulled on clothes and donned her mask of shame, he'd had doubts. After all, he'd promised her he wouldn't kiss her, and then he'd tossed that out when the first little bit of temptation came along.
Okay, it was a big temptation.
But still, he'd violated the terms of their agreement in a very big way. He'd finished with the grilling, helped the boys set up the mini-bonfire in the fire pit, and then got the hell out of there. He'd spent the rest of the night watching crappy movies, begging himself to not think about how upset Eva had looked after the bathroom incident.
"I'll go talk to her," he said rising from the table and making his way back to the bunk area. Eva slept in the smallest room, sharing it with Moon, whom she professed was neater than a nun.
He knocked softly. "Eva?"
She opened it before he could knock a second time."What?"
''Can we talk?"
Staring hard at him, she slowly shook her head. “There's nothing to say."
"Look, they know something's up by the way you're acting. You've hardly said a word all night."
"So? I don't care what they think. I told them I had a headache. Now go watch TV and give me some space."
"No. We've got to address this. Ignoring things isn't working." He pressed his hands to the door frame before glancing back at where Dutch and Hank sat sipping coffee and talking about Hank's son walking on at University of Louisiana Lafayette."Let me in and let's figure things out. We can't work this way".
She stepped back. "Fine. But I like the idea of ignoring it. Because I'm horrified about what …aboutthat.”
''Come on, E, don't make it totally sleazy. Last time I looked, I'm a grown man and you're a grown woman. What happened wasn’t a crime," he said, hating the hurt that curled into a ball in his stomach. "Stop making what we have between us bad.”
He jerked his head toward the still-open door. Eva closed it. But she didn't look happy about it.
"Look, what happenedhappened,"she said. ''And it's my fault. I let you do it, and I'm angry at myself for being so weak."
“So here's the deal, Eva. We may not have wanted to feel this way about each other, but pretending it away, wishing it away, is not working. Obviously, the attraction isn't a passing thing for either of us."
Eva crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't want this. I mean, I do, but-"
“Maybe we were wrong to think we can't be more than friends. Perhaps it’s time to throw in the towel and embrace whatever this is between us.”
"Who says you have the power to declare that?" She sat down hard on the bed, her arms moving down to curl about her waist. For a moment she looked like a little girl. She stared at his boots, and he got the feeling her mind whirred with “do we?” or “don’t we?”
"No one gave me the power to decide, but you can't say that what we're doing now is working. So why don't we try to see if we're good together before we decide we're not? We both shot down the idea before really examining it, before trying it on. We might work."
“You can’t be serious? I don’t think we will,” she said, lifting her gaze.
"Go out with me. On a date." He hadn't intended on suggesting they start dating. He'd only wanted to stop the awkwardness between them. The past few hours had been filled with deafening silence. But taking Eva on a date would do one of two things- it would either prove they should remain friends only or it would break open a new possibility. Either way, taking a few steps on a new path couldn't hurt as long as they didn't get too far down. Of course, they'd sort of already turned a corner in that bathroom.
"You want to take me on a date?" she asked. She sounded confused. As though he'd just asked to borrow her panties.
‘’To dinner. Or that drive-in movie place that just opened over in Creole Gap."
"You want to go on a date?"
''That's what I said." He tried not to be flippant but her reaction made him defensive. What? He wasn't worth getting her nails done for? Not that Eva ever painted her fingernails.
"I don't know what to say," she said.
"I'm pretty sure it's either yes or no."
A few seconds ticked by before she shifted on the bed and folded her hands over her knee. Like a therapist. Like she was prepared to be logical about the matter. "I know we've had some hiccups in restraining ourselves, and I don't know why suddenly everything's changed, but I don't think we should date.”
Something hard and spiteful smacked him. Rejection. "So you'd rather continue meeting in bathrooms for oral sex? Cool, I think it's my tum to receive."
