Page 21 of Reputation
“I’ll tell you on the way,” Eavie replied, turning from the mirror and heading back into her bedroom.
She barely paused to grab her workout bag before heading to the front door, grabbing a light puffer from the closet.Joyce kept pace behind her as she rushed around.
“Did you see Jax?”she asked, getting straight to the point as they entered the hallway outside her suite.
Eavie turned to lock her door, taking a second to ensure a blush wouldn’t betray her when she answered.Marching toward the elevators, she replied, “I did.”
“And…” Joyce prompted after it was clear Eavie wasn’t planning to elaborate.
“And…nothing,” she said, stopping at the elevator and jamming the down button harder than necessary.She hoped it could feel her plea to arrive quickly.She wanted to escape the conversation she knew was coming.Joyce saw too much.
When the elevator dinged its presence, they got in, and Eavie stood facing the doors, keeping her face carefully blank.When it began its descent, Joyce turned to look at her.
“So he wasn’t surprised to see you?Did you talk to him?”she pressed.
“Yes, I talked to him, and yes, he was surprised to see me,” Eavie said, answering her direct questions and offering no more explanation.
She could feel Joyce studying her in the careful way she always did.She had an innate ability to make Eavie feel like she was reading her mind.Her dark eyes were endless pools of knowledge, and their effect had cracked Eavie to spill her secrets more than once.
When the doors opened to the lobby, Eavie almost tripped in her rush to get out of the confined space.Emerging onto the sidewalk, they turned in unison and started toward the kickboxing studio.
Practically jogging to keep pace with her long legs, Joyce said, “Eavie, come on.I know you’re being evasive.I’m your best friend.Tell me what happened.”
Without slowing, Eavie considered what to say.She wanted to tell Joyce the whole thing, but how could she explain it when she didn’t fully understand it herself?He was nothing like the guy she’d met last week.But then, how did she explain the odd feeling she’d been carrying since she spoke to him?Why did she feel like something was off about his persona today?It didn’t make any sense.Was she so desperate in her love life that she was fooling herself into believing that night was more than it was?And how did she explain this without sounding crazy or desperate?Not to mention, her unexplainable attraction to him had phantasmic written all over it.
Finally, she sighed.“I saw him at the first team meeting today.”
“And…” Joyce prompted.
“And, as soon as I walked into the room, my eyes were drawn to him.It took everything in me to resist staring at him, although that only lasted so long.I couldn’t help myself, and when I looked over, he was staring directly at me.”
A flash of his smile when their gazes connected flitted through her mind, and an answering curl of longing wound its way down her body.
As they turned another corner, she continued, “You’re going to think I’m crazy.Honestly, even I think I might be, but when our eyes met, I swear, it felt like I was struck by lightning.”She paused, absentmindedly rubbing her sternum with the heel of her hand.Joyce, forever her sounding board, waited patiently for her to continue when she was ready.“I can’t explain it.I don’t even understand it.When I’m near him, it’s like I become someone else.He asked me to get tacos with him—”
“Tacos?”Joyce interrupted, eyebrows drawn in confusion.
A humorous smile tugged at Eavie’s lips.Shaking her head, she said, “It was part of something we talked about when we met.But that’s not important.”
“I mean, you love tacos, so I feel like it’s relevant.Did he know that?”
“Yes, I’m the one who brought it up.Really, it doesn’t matter,” Eavie answered, exasperated.
Joyce hummed as if this was an essential nugget of information.
Eavie sighed, rolling her eyes to the darkening sky above them.“We are really getting off point.”
“Then whatisthe point?”Joyce asked, brows now raised in amusement at Eavie’s evident vexation.
“The pointis I said no, but he…he refused to accept my answer.”Her face scrunched as she remembered their interaction.
“What do you mean?”Joyce asked.
“I mean, I said no, that I couldn’t go out with him, and he basically told me that my answer was irrelevant because he always gets what he wants.It’s like he’s viewing my rejection as a challenge.”
They had arrived at the kickboxing studio, but Eavie stopped outside the doors, turning to face Joyce.She crossed her arms over her chest and breathed in the fresh evening air.She could smell the beginning of fall on the breeze as she pulled in a deep breath and could see faint clouds where it blew out of her lungs when she exhaled.Before they knew it, the leaves would change to the vivid colors defining autumn’s arrival.
She could see Joyce choosing her response carefully.“Would it really be the worst thing to give in to it?”she asked finally.Before Eavie could speak, Joyce held up her hand.“I know you’re going to say he’s not your type and that you don’t date athletes.But seriously, babe, there was some major chemistry going on with you two—”
