Page 11 of Unbreak My Heart

He’d told her the truth. She’d been gorgeous. Something completely out of his normal sphere, out of his league. Well-dressed in expensive clothes. She’d evensmelledexpensive.

Man, she’d smelled so damned good.

He glanced at Max. He hadn’t told him—hadn’t told anyone—about that night. About what he’d almost done.

He’d been too ashamed of his own behaviour to even mention it.

He knew none of his family would judge him for it, even if he’d gone through with it. But he certainly would have judged himself. And he wouldn’t have liked what looked back at him in the mirror the next morning.

Eva hadn’t deserved that. Hadn’t deserved to beusedas a crutch for his own pain.

The morning breeze had picked up a little as they reached the site and a breath of that delicious, expensive perfume teased him, floating by on a tantalising zephyr.

He stopped dead, shaking his head.

“You okay?” Max asked, stopping in front of him.

Simon glanced at his brother and tried to put the smile he knew Max would want to see back on his face. “Yeah. All good.”

Heck. What was that?His head was playing tricks on him.

“Morning, all!” Max called as he walked ahead of Simon.

He looked up as a short, curvy woman in a dark grey pantsuit started turning toward them. He noted her sensible—if fancy—shoes and held back a grin. He should’ve known better than to expect some over-the-top heels. His gaze lifted to the rich red hair pulled up in a tightly wound bun on the top of her head and his gut clenched, reminding him of Eva and her red hair.

Not a single hair seemed to be out of place, unlike Eva’s messy twist that had topped her head.

His gaze came to rest on her face as she looked at him, and his smile evaporated.

“Eva?” he blurted without thinking.

She startled, her eyes going wide, her already pale face paling further.

“Simon?”

Max glanced between them. “You guys know each other?”

A stilted heartbeat of silence flooded them, and Simon found his own mouth opening. “Yeah. I ran into her in Bialga.”

Max’s inquisitive look dissipated, seemingly happy with this explanation, as he walked over to the large table she and Isaac had set up with blueprints spread with weights on the edges to hold them down in the breeze.

A relieved half-smile flickered over Eva’s mouth as she jerkily stepped forward, hand extended. “Lovely to see you, Max.”

Max grinned as he shook first her hand, then Isaac’s as he came up behind her. “You have no idea how excited we are to finally get to this point. It feels like it’s taken forever.”

A light laugh left Eva. “I understand, believe me. This has been a long time coming.”

Eva’s gaze slipped to him, and Simon couldn’t help the heat that rose in his face.

Couldn’t help his mind barrelling back to the last time he’d seen her; what they’d been doing. What he’d doneto her.

No. Don’t go there.

His gut twisted and somersaulted and sweat broke out all over him.

Definitelynot going there.

He pasted what he hoped passed for a smile on his face and held out his hand as his brother had. Thankfully, she took it.

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