Page 20 of Tender Heart
Ass.
Giving him the poutiest look I can make, I stalk toward the lighthouse. The wind plays with the hem of my dress, flipping it about. All of a sudden, the frigid bite of the wind finds me.
Right now, I couldn’t care less.
“You always do what you’re told, princess?” He chuckles from behind me.
Ugh!
I spin back and march right back to where he stands. My finger is in his stupid face a second later. “Don’t call me that,ever.”
A smirk pulls up on his stupid, handsome face as his blue eyes light up. “What can I call you, then?”
His demeanor has changed from a minute ago when he was accusing me of snooping.
“Eve. You get to call me Eve. That’s it.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, Evie.”
“Urgh!” Only my family and Allie call me Evie. You know, the close friend and family I love. Nothim; he doesn’t get that. I turn back and walk for the house.
A large hand wraps around my wrist a heartbeat later.
I stop dead still.
“Eve.”
“What?”
“You can’t go wandering around the island alone.”
“You do,” I say, turning back. His hand on my wrist burns, sparks flinging up my arm like damn wildfire, settling in my chest.
His gaze drops to where he’s still holding me to the spot. His grip softens before he pulls his hand back. I stare at the place his fingers had just covered my skin, willing my body to calm the hell down.
His face softens, and he sets his shoulders back. “Just tell me where you’re going if you wander away from the house.”
“Sure thing.” Sarcasm drips from every syllable.
Who the hell am I?
This man is infuriating.
A hint of a smile ghosts across his lips, and he walks away. But he glances back. “Don’t get too used to the warmer days; the last cold snap will be here”—he nods to the sky—“any day now.”
Watching him, I’m rooted to the spot. The bundled-up man from a month ago is down to jeans and a T-shirt. A broad back with musculature that would make a Greek god cry...
His hair is ruffled, like he’s been out in the wind since he woke this morning.
My mouth is gaping.
Shit.
Good lord, Evie, snap out of it.
