Page 6 of Unbreak My Heart

His eyes were blue-grey.

But it wasn’t the colour that made her breath catch. It was the all-encompassing desolation that hit her deep in the belly.

The tightness around his eyes. The lines around his lush mouth, as if he hadn’t smiled in who knew how long.

He blinked and the spell shattered. “Hey.”

One word. One word spoken in a deep, sexy voice that shimmered over her entire body like someone had taken a feather to her spine.

Wow.

“Ah… hi.” She motioned to the table. “Mind if I sit?” she asked, slightly too loudly so she could be heard over the music.

The guy glanced at the two empty chairs in front of him, as if noticing them for the first time.

“Sure.”

Nervousness threatened to consume her. So far, he hadn’t been either encouraging or dismissive. She knew she didn’t look like most of the women in here. She was short and, while she called herself curvy, she knew most would say she was chubby—if they were being kind. She certainly wasn’t tall and sexy and long-limbed, or equipped with any of the innate grace that seemed to ooze from some of the women around her like a cloud.

And she hadn’t dressed herself up to the nines tonight, either. Sure, she felt nice. But she hadn’t gone all-out into hunt mode. Her thick, unruly waves had been wound up into a bun to get it off her neck, the heat of the day having leached into the night as well. She was all about comfort. Snaffling a man for the night had been the last thing on her radar when she’d gotten ready.

Pulling the chair out, Eva sat gingerly and held out her hand. “I’m Eva.”

The guy looked at her hand a moment, then took it in a perfunctory shake. “Simon J—”

She quickly placed her finger on his lips. “No last names.”

His eyes widened in surprise. Either from the no last names thing, or her touch on his mouth, she couldn’t tell.

“Ookay.” He spoke against her finger and drew the word out.

Anddamnif that wasn’t as sexy as all hell.

Heat spread up her cheeks. She sat back and picked up her wine, sipping it to have something to do. She never did this. Never put herself so out there, so in the path of complete, humiliating rejection.

But …

She bit her lip and chanced looking at him. His gaze seemed glued to her mouth.

She pointed at the ceiling. “Would you like to get out of here? It’s rather loud.”

She almost slapped her own head at the cheesy line. What was she thinking? The guy would tell her no, and that would be it. He’d said a whole three words to her since she’d sat down. He certainly didn’t look too interested. But perhaps being close to another warm body for the night was something he needed, something that would smooth some of that desolation she’d seen in his eyes? She moved her chair back to leave before things went south.

“Sure.”

Eva looked up, shocked. “What?” popped out before she could censor it.

A slight tilt tweaked the edges of his mouth and her breath caught.

What would he look like if hereallysmiled?

Suddenly, she wanted to see that with a hankering that verged on compulsion.

“Oh. Okay. Um…” She looked around, then nodded.

Simon stood and reached out his hand as if to guide her, then yanked it back, covering his change with motioning anafter you.

Taking a final sip of wine for courage, she smiled at him and stood, walking out ahead of him into the warm night air.

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