Page 129 of From Now On

Eve is already dressed. All she has with her are her clothes from last night—a sinfully short skirt and the shirt with the bows. Untying each of those was every bit as spectacular as I thought it would be, and I already want to do it all over again.

“You wanna borrow something to wear?” I ask her.

“I’m fine,” she tells me, toweling her hair. “I’ll change at home.”

“Sorry about the guys,” I say, wrenching open the top drawer of my dresser and pulling clothes out. “I should have warned you that they’d probably be loitering out in the hallway.”

“It’s fine.” She fiddles with the towel, running her finger over the embroidered letters. “Do you, uh, think they’ll say anything?”

I can’t tell from her tone what she wants the answer to be, so my reply is just as careful. “Aidan talks a lot. Conor talks to Harlow a lot.”

Both facts she already knows.

Eve nods in agreement. “Right.”

I still can’t tell what she’s thinking.

“I’m not trying to hide anything, Eve.”

She hangs the towel on the back of my desk chair. “I’m moving to New York soon.”

My forehead furrows. “I know.”

“Does that, uh, bother you?”

“No,” I state, then yank on a pair of sweatpants so I’m not stark naked.

I’m not him. I think it, but I don’t say it, because I don’t want our relationship to have anything to do with her ex.

“Does it botheryou, that I don’t know where I’ll be moving?” I ask.

“No. I just—I—” She smiles ruefully. “I’d have an easier time thinking straight if you put a shirt on.”

My phone starts buzzing on my dresser. It’s Aidan calling.

“Hello?” I answer, holding the phone tight to my ear as I tug a shirt on and wink at Eve.

She blushes, and a little of the tightness in my chest eases.

I never had theAre we in a relationship?talk with Jemma, which is where I think my conversation with Eve was headed. Jemma just started calling me her boyfriend after we’d hung out a few times, and I went along with it.

Aidan’s repeating my name.

“I’m here, sorry,” I say.

“I said, I forgot my stick. Should be leaning right by the door. Can you grab it on your way?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Cool. Thanks. See you soon.”

“See you soon,” I echo, then lower the phone. “Aidan forgot his stick,” I explain to Eve.

“You should go skate with your friends,” she tells me. “We can, um, talk later?”

I scan her expression, trying to tell if she means it. “You sure?”

Eve nods.

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