Time to Pretend (31 page)

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Michele Zurlo

Confusion clouded his brightness a bit. “But you spent the day working. You left at six this morning.” Alaina nodded. “It’s not like this all the time. I’m on call one weekend a month, and this is it.” Really, it was a pretty sweet deal.

Though she taught at a university, she was affiliated with a hospital.

Most of her colleagues were on call every other weekend, not one out of every four.

Evan frowned. “Does that include Monday? Daniel’s family is really looking forward to having you at their annual Labor Day cookout. He’s never brought a girlfriend before.”

“But you’ve been?” She wanted to bite her tongue the moment she said it. Luckily, Evan didn’t catch on to her actual allusion.

“Yeah. Dan and I go way back. I’m like part of the family.” His frown turned to a brief grin that had her heart pounding. “They’re going to love you.”

Though she’d already met his father and sister, to her understanding, nobody knew that Evan was an important part of the relationship. “Has he told them about you yet?” Evan shook his head. “He plans to spring it Monday. I have to go to my sister’s house first, so I’ll be by later.” This was news to Alaina. She hadn’t known Evan’s family was having a get-together of their own. Was he ashamed of their relationship? Her face must have shown her thoughts, because Evan was suddenly inches away.

“She needs me to install her new water softener. My family will all be at the DiMarco’s, too. They’re going to adore you.” He pressed a brief kiss to her cheek. “I want to do more than that, honey, but I’m filthy and you’re clean.”

She crooked a smile at him. “I’d love it if I had time to get dirty with you.”

“Will you be home tomorrow?” He wiped his hands on his pants.

“Possibly, but I’ll be dead on my feet. I aim to sleep a lot tomorrow.”

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Evan sighed and nodded.

“You and Danny should have a guys’ night tonight. Watch some sports, drink some beer, eat things that stink. You know, whatever you usually do when no women are around.” She was treading dangerous ground, but if she didn’t nudge them, they likely wouldn’t make any progress.

Evan’s eyes slid away from hers, suddenly interested in a distant point on the wall. “I’m almost finished with this room. Does Zach want it back the way it was, or do you think he wants something different? I was going to get paint tomorrow.” She had no idea what color Zach wanted. “Tell me again why you ripped down all four walls?”

“It gave me a chance to make sure everything was up to code, and the wiring needed to be updated anyway.” He shrugged, still not looking at her. “This is your home, Alaina. I can’t have you living in a place that isn’t safe.”

He cared about her so deeply. Heavy emotions pounded inside her, touched by all of the things he implied. Evan was so easy to love.

“I love you.” The words were out of her mouth before she thought about what she was saying. Heat spread over her cheeks and suffused her chest. She had just been thinking about how she wasn’t ready to tell him that.

His rough hand cupped the back of her head. He pulled her close and slanted his lips over hers in a tender kiss that returned the sentiment wholeheartedly. He didn’t press his body to hers, and she was too stunned by her revelation to move.

“I love you, too, Alaina.” His mouth opened and closed as if he had more to say, but nothing came out. “It’s going to be fine, you know. I already told my sisters and two of my brothers. My mom took it well, though my dad thinks I’m nuts.” Alaina cleared her throat. “Is it the age difference or the sharing thing?”

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Evan laughed. “I haven’t told them about the age difference. You don’t look eleven years older than me. I don’t think they’ll figure it out on their own.”

She smacked his chest playfully. A little cloud of dust wafted from his shirt. “I’m ten years older than you.” He scratched under the strap on his neck and adjusted the face mask hanging there. “I just turned twenty-five. Daniel is a year older than me.”

Well, she was a month away from turning thirty-seven, so the difference was closer to twelve years. When she cleared her throat again, it was because of the dust. “At least I got the two best-looking cubs in the cradle.”

Evan’s nose wrinkled, and she knew he was going to say something suggestive and tempting. Maybe she would be late to work.

The vibrating phone in her hip pocket interrupted. She looked at the number, and then she smiled apologetically. “Hospital. I have to take this.”

* * * *

Evan slept in his own bed for the first time in over a week. Peace of mind, something that hadn’t come easily to him for the decade he’d known Daniel, allowed him the best night of sleep in his entire life.

Not only was Daniel physically next to him, he was mentally and emotionally there as well.

They had enjoyed a romantic dinner, something they’d never done before Alaina came into their lives. Daniel had surprised Evan with his special mouth-watering lasagna, which they had eaten by the light of seven candles.

Streetlight filtered around the edges of the vertical blinds hanging over Evan’s bedroom windows. Though they had already made love and showered, Evan knew Daniel wasn’t exhausted enough to fall
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right asleep. “I think we should tell Alaina the truth now, Dan. Her heart is involved.”

Daniel sighed and pulled the covers more to his side of the bed.

He kicked, freeing his left foot from underneath. “Her heart was always involved. Lainie isn’t the kind of woman who sleeps around.” Smacking Daniel might make him feel better, but Evan knew he’d be on the receiving end of the retribution. His martial arts skills were nothing compared to Danny’s. Another time, perhaps. Evan settled for something verbal. “I hate lying to her.” Daniel’s hand crept across the small expanse between them where Alaina usually slept. “It’s just for a little while longer. Evan, I couldn’t stand it if she wasn’t okay with this. I don’t want to lose her or you.”

Like a coward, Evan retreated. He said nothing as Danny’s hand slid low across his abdomen, and he moaned when Dan’s mouth closed around his cock.

* * * *

By Sunday night, Alaina was dead on her feet. How had she ended up stuck with a holiday weekend on call? Vaguely, she remembered she hadn’t been dating anyone the month before when the schedules were being made. Spending the weekend at the hospital with her patients wouldn’t have been so draining if she didn’t miss Evan and Daniel so much.

She would be sure to use this against anyone who wanted her to pick up on-call duties for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

After a hot shower that, due to the fact she kept zoning out, lasted a lot longer than she thought it would, she crawled into bed.

When she woke, the brightness of the morning sun streamed across her face. She groaned and turned her face into her pillow. Her body ached, and her head pounded. It wasn’t right to feel this way without having imbibed a ton of alcohol and danced on a few tables.

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A little later, the staccato rhythm of someone pounding on her front door jolted her from sleep again. The sun was brighter, but it had moved on and no longer shone directly in her face. Since the noise wasn’t going away, Alaina dragged herself from bed, made sure her clothes covered enough to be considered decent, and stumbled down the stairs.

Tall, dark, and handsome stood on the other side of the door.

Belatedly, she ran her fingers through her hair. She had no idea what it looked like, but she knew she needed product and a hair tie. It was no doubt big and frizzy.

Her fingers were extraordinarily weak. It took most of her strength to turn the deadbolt. Three attempts later, she managed to twist the lock on the doorknob.

Daniel didn’t wait for her to figure out how to open the door. He did the honors himself, pushing the door open only a little and waiting for Alaina to move out of the way before he finished opening it.

“You okay?”

She rubbed the sleep from an eye, or at least that was the plan.

Her hand ended up rubbing her face from chin to temple, bypassing the eye completely. “I feel like I’m floating.”

“What time did you get home?”

“Ten? Eleven?” She turned away from him, walked five steps to the couch, and flopped down, landing on her front side. Her eyes closed. “What time is it now?”

“Eleven.”

“Shit. I’m sorry. I thought I set the alarm.” Vague memories of turning it off surfaced. “I meant to be ready.” Today was the day she was scheduled to meet the entire DiMarco clan. Not only would Daniel’s immediate family be there, but his extended family would be there as well. Evan’s parents, two of his three brothers, and one sister were expected at some point in the day.

If there was ever a day for her to look nice, this was it.

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He turned her so that she lay on her back and tried to plant a kiss on her lips. She pushed him away. “I haven’t brushed my teeth.”

“I don’t care. I haven’t seen you since Friday night.” Evan had risen with her Saturday morning. He had made love to her on the bed right next to Daniel, who hadn’t awakened. She cracked open an eyelid enough to see him through a haze of lashes. “I guess you’ll be waking up early the next time I have to work all weekend.”

He traced his fingers along her cheek. “Lainie, I’m dying here.”

“Well, I’m half-dead, so I guess we’ll be here together.”

“What?” He blinked at her.

She struggled to sit up. When she was vertical, she opened her eyes completely to look at him kneeling on the floor in front of her.

He was dressed in long shorts that had a green plaid pattern. His white T-shirt made his olive skin look even darker. His big brown eyes and full lips pleaded with her. “Did I not make sense? I haven’t had coffee yet.”

“We’re supposed to be at my parents’ house in an hour. I have to help set up. How about I get you some coffee, and then I can make you something to eat while you get dressed?” Alaina groaned. Under the best of circumstances, leaving the house in under an hour was a stretch. Judging by the heat coming through the open front door, today was a shorts day. She needed to shave her legs.

“It must be nice to be a guy. Coffee, breakfast, clothes, done. You don’t have to worry about your hair sticking up.” She ran her fingers through the place where his cowlick was located, making it stand up even higher. He looked damn sexy. “Or shaving your legs.” He ran a hand up her leg, moving her sweats out of the way to feel her skin. “It’s not bad, Lainie. If you had a tan, nobody would notice.

And I like your hair this way.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Poofy?” He fingered a strand of curls. “It’s sex hair.”
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Pushing herself to her feet, she shot him a withering glare. “Yes, the perfect style for meeting your mother. It says, ‘Yes, she
is
a tramp.’ Way to make a girl feel better.” Daniel laughed and hugged her close. “I like when you let your hair down, Lainie. It makes me want to take you upstairs and see how much bigger it can get.”

She melted against him, enjoying the moment and his company.

She was glad they had come to the point where they could talk like this and neither of them took it the wrong way. Since the three of them had decided to be together, the enmity between her and Daniel had completely disappeared.

Forty-five minutes later, Alaina was pleased with the casual-yet-dressy look she managed to affect. The pale yellow skirt was short and had shorts beneath. Her blouse was both dressy and functional.

She wrestled her hair into a French braid and brushed light makeup over the dusting of freckles, a redhead’s curse, on her nose and upper cheeks.

The heavenly aroma of coffee and bacon drew her to the kitchen, though the thought of Daniel in there was enough reason to head in that direction. Daniel turned away from the counter, raised his cell phone, and a bright flash indicated he’d taken a picture.

“What are you doing?”

He waved her toward the table where her late breakfast awaited.

“I bet Evan you’d dress up for this. He thought you’d go with a more relaxed look.” He pushed buttons, and she had no doubt he was texting the picture to Evan.

“Is he almost finished at his sister’s house?” Daniel shrugged. “He’ll meet us at my parents’ house at around three or four. He’s going to swing by a friend’s party before coming over.”

Alaina felt strangely left out. She hadn’t known he had plans.

“Oh.” She knew she sounded disappointed, but she couldn’t help it.

Besides Daniel, she hadn’t met any of his friends yet. Perhaps he
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didn’t want them to know he was dating a woman who was closer to forty than to thirty.

Grabbing the chair across the table, Daniel sat down with a cup of coffee. “A bunch of his employees are having a get-together. He’s just stopping by for a bit. He’ll be over as soon as it’s polite to leave.” He flashed the grin that never failed to melt her bones. “He missed you, too, Lainie. We both have.”

She blushed, heat rising to let her know exactly how red she had become, and tried to change the subject. “Do you think I should change?”

“I love you just the way you are.” He grinned in acknowledgment of the cheesiness of his answer.

“I love you, too, Danny.” She hadn’t told him that yet. She wanted him to know she was all in before he took the step he was about to take.

Suddenly serious, he set down his mug. Ribbons of steam rose into the air, and he pierced her with his chocolate gaze. “Marry me.” Shocked, Alaina didn’t quite know how to answer. The idea that he would ask this soon in the relationship had not occurred to her.

Unprepared to respond, she said the only thing she could think of.

“Evan.”

Daniel’s eyes moved to stare into his coffee. “Yeah, you’re right.