Without a Doubt (13 page)

My fingers are itching to move. The tips of my fingers glide down his chest. I thoroughly enjoy feeling his stomach tense between them. Emerson returns to my mouth, and all I can think about is how this is the perfect way to turn my day around.

WHEN I DROPPED Eva off at work, she was once again smiling and happy. We'd kissed for a long time. I think she was trying to drive me crazy on purpose. My hands stayed in neutral areas. Eva's hands? Not so much. She danced on the line, though she never crossed it. I was borderline crazy with need until I pulled away and offered to take her to Smitty's for lunch.

However, I have my happy Eva back. My bad day wasn't quite as terrible as hers appeared to be; I was just late for my first class, which means I missed it completely. That particular professor locks the door, so anyone who is late is absent because you aren't getting in. Seeing Eva was exactly what I needed.

Now, I'm sitting in the parking lot in front of Sub Grub, and I'm crossing my fingers that she's still in a good mood. Eva disappeared into the back a few minutes ago. I see her come around and toward the door, so I get out to meet her. I'm not happy to see her much like I found her this morning; irritated.

“What happened, Eva?” I keep my voice gentle to prevent from setting her off.

She turns from locking the door and wraps her arms around me in a hug. “I'm so over today,” she mumbles as she buries her face in my neck.

“Good thing you got me now.”

“Amen.”

I chuckle and kiss her temple. “Want to tell me about it on the way home?”

“Yeah.”

I walk her to the passenger side and open the door for her before getting in myself. It doesn't take her long to begin to rant about what's happened since I left her.

“I've never had so much bad luck in one day in my life, Emerson. Not even kidding. I got burned, not once, not twice, but three times! And the kicker is that it was practically in the same spot, too!” She lifts her right arm to show a burn on her forearm. “To make things even better, a customer cussed me out for putting mayo and pickles on his sub
when he asked for them.
He changed his mind after he paid for it and then got pissed when I wouldn't make him a fresh sub for free. Then, when I was changing the trash, the bag broke. Last but not least, someone threw up in the bathroom, missed the toilet, sink, and trash, and didn't bother to tell me.”

“Damn, Eva. I'm sorry you had a shitty day.” I reach over to take her hand.

“It happens. I just want a shower, something to eat, and then to lie down on your comfy bed.”

“We can make that happen. Don't forget I have a surprise for you.”

She doesn't even smile at the mention of it; she's had that bad of a day. “I won't forget,” she says anyway.

Eva doesn't talk the rest of the way back to my apartment. It's so odd. She doesn't seem like herself without a smile on her face. All I can think about is how I can make her feel better.

“Go shower and I'll whip you up something to eat,” I tell her as we walk inside my apartment. “Want anything in particular?”

“Fries if you have them.”

“Fries it is.”

Eva nods and disappears down the hallway. I open my freezer, and I'm out of fries, of course. Luckily, I do have some potatoes. I get to work cutting them and then dropping them into the fryer. My phone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out. My heart stops when I see the number, a number which used to be in my contacts, but I deleted. For a moment, I consider not answering. This is the first time she's called me.

“Hello?” I answer, giving in to myself.

“Hey, Emerson,” she says, her voice sounding as perfect as the last time I heard it. “How are you?” A handful of simple words rocks me to my core. I lean against the counter to steady myself.

“I'm fine. What...why are you calling? Is everything okay?” Something has to be wrong, right? Otherwise, why break her silence?

There's a pause before she says, “Everything's fine. I wanted to hear from you.” Another pause. “It's been a long time.”

No shit. I hear the shower turn off. Damn it. Now would not be the time to explain this to Eva, not after the day she's had. But if everything is fine with Kelly, if she's moved on like my parents say she has, why is she calling me?

I grimace as I make a decision. “It has been a long time, but I can't talk tonight, Kelly. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. I missed you and I wanted to hear from you, even if for a couple of minutes. I really just want to know if you've been doing okay.”

“I'm doing great,” I tell her honestly. The sound of Eva's footsteps are coming down the hall. “I'm sorry, but I need to go,” I say again. “You could call tomorrow?”

“It's okay,” she repeats. “I might. Bye, Emerson.”

“Bye.” I hang up, slip my phone back into my pocket, and lift the basket from the fryer since the fries are done. Eva walks into the kitchen.

“I feel a little better now,” she says, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Good. Fries are done.” I plate them and sit them down in front of where she's taking a seat at the bar.

“You actually made fries?”

I nod. “I thought I had some in the freezer, but I didn't. So, you get some homemade ones instead.”

“Thanks, Emerson. Really. You're a day-saver.” Then, she gives me her beautiful smile. I take a seat to her right as she starts digging into her fries. “Since I'm nosey and all, you probably won't mind that I raided your cabinets for some cream for my burns. I felt like I should tell you anyway.”

I chuckle. “I don't mind. Your burn looks pretty bad.” The burn is about two inches down from her elbow. It's still bright red. There are three lines right on top of one another.

“Hurt like a mother, too. It was so busy, I had to bake more bread. When I went to pull out the trays, I hit the side of the oven each time,” she explains. “When exactly do I get my surprise?” Her grin is the best thing I've seen all evening.

“After you eat. In fact, why don't you do that while I get it ready?”

“Okay.”

I walk to my bedroom, and first, I change my clothes and get ready for bed. Then, I grab her surprise from my closet. It's seriously not much and I hope she's not disappointed, thinking it's something better than what it is. She happens to fall asleep here often, sometimes spends the night, and since I've been given the green light to share the bed with her and I'm apparently a cover hog, this seemed necessary.

The new, freshly washed black comforter takes up the side of the bed she slept on before. Now, she has her own comforter, and I have mine. I won't 'hog' the covers if we each have our own.

“You're officially the sweetest.”

I turn to see Eva standing in the doorway with a large smile. “I didn't want one of us to sleep on the couch again.”

Eva closes the distance between us. She slips an arm around my waist and gives me a short kiss. “You're fantastic, Emerson. Seriously. Thank you for everything today.”

“You're welcome. It's still pretty early. Do you want to watch a movie?”

She nods, and we return to the living room. I sit with my back resting on the armrest, my legs stretched out on the other cushions, and Eva sits between them, resting against my chest. I let her pick out a movie on Netflix. Now that we're settled and not talking, my mind wanders back to Kelly.

She said she was calling to see how I was doing. That's it? She could ask my mom that. Shouldn't I be overwhelmed with happiness at hearing from her? I'm not going to lie; I am happy she called. A bit of guilt eats at me with the thought. Here I am with Eva in my arms, soothing her after a bad day, and I'm thinking about Kelly. It's not right. Maybe I don't need to think about it too much. Kelly didn't call and say she missed me and wanted to get together. She missed me and wanted to see how I was doing.

Maybe that's all there is to it.

Then again, I didn't give her a lot of opportunity to say much.

I sigh, not wanting to think about it. She's supposed to call tomorrow. If she does, then I can think more about it then.

A hard pinch to my side makes me glance down at Eva, who has lifted her head to look at me. Her brows are bunched together slightly and more guilt rises at seeing I've caused her to be concerned. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.”

She hesitates before focusing back on the movie. After a moment, she says, “You never told me why your day was bad.”

“Oh, it's nothing compared to yours. I was late for a class and the professor won't let you in if you're late, so I missed it.”

“That's all?” she laughs.

“Yeah, that's all.”

“Well, I'm sorry you missed your class.”

“It's all right.”

We're quiet throughout the rest of the movie and crawling into bed. Eva snuggles up with her comforter, tucking it in down her sides before she scoots over to cuddle against me.

“If I wake up and you manage to have both comforters, I can't promise a gentle, accidental shove off the bed won't happen again,” she warns.

I laugh. “Does that mean the first time wasn't an accident?”

“No. It means the next time won't be.”

“We should be fine.”

Eva props herself up on her elbow and looks at me. “I'm really glad it was you I rear-ended, Emerson.” She leans forward, kissing me softly.

“Me too.” And I mean it without a doubt.

Not once during the night did I find myself on the floor, so I didn't hog the covers. When I first wake up, all I can smell is that soft, sweet scent of Eva's. The only thing better than that is hearing her incoherent grumbles when I wake her up. I don't know why, but I think it's one of my favorite things about her. She doesn't wake up and smile at me. She mumbles and groans, even grunts sometimes, and after about five minutes, I still don't get a smile. It's not until a few more minutes later when she'll unleash one in my direction.

I tug on one of her curls. “We should probably get up for real now,” I tell her since we're still very much in bed.

“If we didn't have to get up until right now, you could have let me sleep a little longer.”

“Yeah, and then it would take you ten more minutes to want to get out of bed.”

“So?” I laugh, and she adds, “I'm too comfortable, Emerson.
You're
too comfortable.” That would be a more accurate statement, considering her head is on my shoulder, her arm thrown over my chest, and one of her legs snuck underneath my blankets to lie over my legs as well.

“We have class in an hour,” I remind her.

“Sounds like you need to get ready first then.” When I get out of bed, leaving her arms, she says, “Crap, I didn't think that through.”

Chuckling, I kiss her forehead. “Don't fall back asleep.”

“I'll see what I can do.”

She doesn't fall asleep. Instead, when I get out of the shower, I find her in the kitchen. The smell of breakfast brings me in here before I go to the bedroom to get dressed. Eva hasn't noticed me yet. She's putting together egg and bacon sandwiches.

“You fixed breakfast?”

Eva glances over her shoulder before doing a double take. “Uh, yeah. Shouldn't you be getting dressed?”

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” I ask teasingly.