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“Not if you stay away from me.” She arched an eyebrow.
He cursed, spun away, and stormed back toward the party. Eva released a pent-up breath and slid the pepper spray back into her clutch. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. She couldn’t believe Trevor’s nerve, hitting on her in plain view of everyone. She nodded to the security guard. He gave her a grin and saluted her. Her shoulders relaxed a fraction at his approval.
She glanced to the spot where Hayden had been talking to the brunette. He was still there, and he was studying her. Even from fifty feet away she could see he was completely focused on her.
What was he doing? Why wasn’t he coming? The interaction with Trevor had shaken her, but she still wanted to talk to Hayden, thank him for what he’d done for her nephew, and hopefully flirt with him and get to know him a little bit. She lifted her hand and gestured. She hoped appealingly.
He gave her an incredulous look and then focused back on the woman he’d been speaking to.
Eva deflated. She’d never seen a man play so hard to get. But he’d come. She knew he would. He’d been watching her. She’d called the security guard off but she wouldn’t have minded Hayden storming over and putting Trevor in his place. Not that she’d needed him but it would’ve shown he wanted to step up and be her man.
She turned and focused back on the ocean waves, and brainstormed all the witty lines she could say to Hayden when he came. She waited. And waited. And waited.
Her phone beeped a warning. She pulled it out. Meeting with Sutton Smith in ten minutes. Shoot. She’d been standing here for almost twenty minutes, waiting for ‘the Beast’ to come talk to her. She had so many happy fantasies daydreaming about Hayden and what he would be like. The media and other women lauded him as charming, hilarious, tough, and yet kind. He was the man she’d been anxious to meet and hopefully date. He seemed ideal to her. Now if only she could spend some time alone with him. Why hadn’t he come?
She turned away from the view of the ocean and scanned the party. The crowd was thinning and she could easily see nobody taller than average was lingering on the patio. Dang. She’d had hundreds of men, maybe thousands, hit on her, pursue her, even stalk her throughout her life. Yet the one man she wanted chasing her was not stepping up to the task for some reason. Was he involved with someone else? She hadn’t seen that on any of his social media or the many interviews he gave, but maybe he was keeping it private. Her heart felt heavy and disappointment filled her. What if her dream man was already taken?
Slowly walking across the grass, she avoided looking at Trevor, with Samantha by his side, the poor lady, and responded to everyone else who spoke to her. She headed inside, asked for a restroom, and was directed down a side hall. She reached for the door just as it swung open, revealing none other than Hayden ‘the Beast’ Warren.
He straightened to his full height and glowered down at her. Eva blinked in surprise. What right did he have to glower at her? She’d motioned to him, twice, and he hadn’t come. She should be glowering at him. He could’ve heroically rescued her from Trevor, made her heart sing, and given them an incredible story to tell their grandchildren.
Instead … All the dreams she’d had of this first meeting were crashing around her and neither one of them had said a word. Was the man she’d fantasized about already taken, or was he a fraud and underneath his charming, perfect exterior he was really a heartbreaking jerk?
“Thanks a lot for the help with Trevor and coming out to meet me,” she hurled at him. It wasn’t even close to what she’d hoped to say to him but she was frustrated and off her game. All flirtatious and funny lines of gratitude were shelved for the time being. Unless he had the excuse of the century.
He lifted one eyebrow. He looked gloriously handsome with his smooth, tan skin, trimmed beard, those deep-brown soul-ful eyes shadowed with black lashes and brows and his fit, tall, impressive body. He leaned casually against the doorframe with one shoulder and crossed his arms. His dark gray suit was obviously tailored for his tough frame. The silky material draped just right, revealing his broad shoulders.
“Eva Canterbury in the flesh. The most beautiful and successful woman of the century.” His voice was deep and a smooth timbre, cultured, intelligent, and as perfect as the rest of him. His tone was so charming, he almost sounded British like Sutton, but his suave pitch and inflection were definitely American.
She flushed at his words. Yet there was something in his tone. He looked charming, the words were charming, but the look in his eyes said he was … uneasy around her. That made no sense.
“I was mentally practicing,” he continued, “first a right hook, then an uppercut, then it would’ve been lights out for Mr. Allred. I swear to you I was planning it all out if he pushed things too far.” He lifted a hand to her. “Being the sassy, impressive, and accomplished supermodel and businesswoman that you are, you called the security guard off who was trailing you and easily took care of Trevor. You obviously didn’t need any help from little old me.”
“Thank you,” she managed. Another compliment. Maybe a compliment. She liked the slightly-joking way he talked, but why did his words seem completely insincere? Why did he look at her as if she were a jaguar about to leap at him and rip out his throat?
“I gestured to you twice,” she said. “Why didn’t you come?”
His answer was of the utmost importance. She’d never wanted a man like she did this one. Being this close to him made him more enticing than ever, but he had to be willing to show some effort and interest.
“I have something to tell you, Miss Canterbury, and you should prepare yourself, this may come as a bit of a shock to you.”
“Eva,” she corrected. “What do you need to tell me?” She raised her eyebrows in what she hoped was a sassy yet alluring look. Please let it be something flirtatious or at least a lead-in to playful banter. All her carefully constructed lines didn’t fit the conversation. He still had that wary look in his eyes and a carefully-coiled appearance to his lean, fit frame. He wanted to sprint away from her. Why?
“Though I wish it could be different, and I pray you’ll forgive my impertinence,” his words were said in a teasing lilt, but that reluctance about his eyes and his body concerned her deeply. “I can’t be expected to jump at a summons from you.”
“Whyever not?” She tried to tease back in the same smart-alecky yet formal tone, but something was dreadfully off with this interaction. Was it him or her? Disappointment filled her, thick and heavy.
“Deep-seated reasons that I absolutely refuse to divulge at this time.” He inclined his chin to her and started to step away.
She laughed at his odd answer but she couldn’t let him just walk off. “Wait, please.” She held up a hand, scrambling to think how to salvage the interaction. This should’ve been an ideal meet-cute and instead it was looking to be a train wreck. “I was only hoping to officially meet you and thank you.”
“We’ve met,” he said, a smirk playing on his lips but a storm brewing in his dark eyes.
They’d met? No, they hadn’t. She’d remember meeting him. They’d apparently been at the University of North Carolina at the same time. She’d been on the spirit squad as a dancer her sophomore year when he’d been on the basketball team as a Freshman. He’d been a redshirt that year so never on the court and she’d been focused on dancing and the crowd. She could not recall ever noticing him at the university or meeting him in person in the eleven years since she’d left school to pursue her modeling career. She’d only learned the details of his redshirt year on an interview he gave.
Her heart thumped painfully against her rib cage. Their first meeting was turning out nothing like she’d hoped.
“Believe me.” She forced a smile she wasn’t feeling. “I’d remember meeting ‘the Beast’.”
