Page 26 of Accidental Wedding Crasher
“Oof.” Mia shook her head. “You’re even worse than me. At least I make my own salads and pour my own cereal and stuff.”
“Ipour my own cereal.” He winked. “I’m not so rich that I have a professional cereal pourer.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know.” Mia grinned. “You’re rich enough to fly private and do stuff like this.”
“Touché.” Evan raised his glass to her. “Anyway, I would have thought you’d like cooking.” He sipped his wine.
“Why?” Mia raised her eyebrows.
“Well, it has a lot of math in it. You know, three tomatoes, four cups of sugar, that kind of thing.”
“First, I don’t know what you’re making with that many tomatoes and that much sugar.” Mia laughed. “And second, cooking and math are basically opposites, in my book. In math, you follow a process, and the right answer comes out. In cooking, even if you follow the recipe, things can go wrong, and you can end up with a burned mess.”
“Okay, then how about I say that cooking is like teaching?” Evan suggested. “Both involve an element of chaos and unpredictability.”
“Clearly, you haven’t been to one of my lessons. They aren’tthatchaotic.” Mia winked. “But by that logic,youshould like spending time with people, because your company focuses on project management and HR issues, which are basically people management. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“I like people,” Evan protested. At her look, he admitted, “Well, some people. But the reason I work on HR and project-management software is because it meanslesstime with people.”
“Come on, though.” Mia gestured to his family, who were laughing and talking and passing food. “You have to admit that this is kind of fun.”
Evan swept his gaze across the people at the table and nodded. “Maybe you’re right.” He was enjoying his family, and thistrip, more than he’d expected. A small part of him was even disappointed that he’d missed the cooking session.
“What are you two lovebirds chatting about?” Aunt Tabitha leaned across the table.
“Nothing, just work,” Evan said quickly.
“It’s all work with you, Evan.” She shook her head. “Loosen up a little. You’re on vacation, at your brother’s wedding, no less.” She glanced at Mia and winked. “And maybe you’ll be hearing wedding bells yourself, sooner or later.”
“Hey,” Evan said. He knew he should say more, but he wasn’t sure how to answer. He’d been ready to deal with his family’s usual accusations that he never brought a date and that he needed to work less, but suggesting that he was going to marry Mia soon was something new.
“That’s our business,” Mia said smoothly, smiling at Tabitha. “But if anything changes, I’m sure you’ll be the first to know.” She winked. “Anyway, that was some beautiful singing earlier today. Have you ever taken lessons?”
“Oh, no.” Tabitha waved her off. “You flatter me, dear. Though I did always think I could have sung professionally…” She talked for a while about singing and her hobbies before pausing. “You know, Evan, your girlfriend is a real keeper.”
“I agree,” Evan said. He glanced at Mia, and something stirred in his chest. She wasn’this,not in any sense of the word, but she was a keeper. If they were actually dating, if Evan were willing to date anyone, he’d have lucked out. As it was, though, Mia was nothing more than his partner in crime for this wedding, and not someone he could “keep.”
That was the agreement. So why did his heart sink at the thought that, after this wedding, he’d never see her again? Maybe the month of distance he’d put between them hadn’t been enough. He needed to pull back further. But it was going to be very difficult now that they were stuck together with his meddlesome family, while sharing a room, for a week.
CHAPTER 12
MIA
“Great dinner, everyone,” Arthur said, getting to his feet. “But we’d better head to bed. It’s another big day tomorrow! Cycling and game night!”
Slowly, everyone else followed his lead, getting to their feet, stretching, and patting full stomachs. Alone or in pairs, they headed off to their rooms or to the villa’s bar. Mia stood, too, and walked with Evan back toward their room. They called out their goodnights, and everyone called back.
“That was fun,” Evan said as they crossed the patio toward the villa. “But I’d better get back to work.”
“No way.” Mia pivoted to face him, grabbing his arm so he couldn’t walk further. He was much taller than her, and right now, he was so close that she could smell his aftershave. He was close enough to kiss — or to punch. She wasn’t sure what would feel better. Narrowing her eyes, she said, “I survived the first day, but there were a lot of questions about ‘us.’ We need to get our stories straight.”
“You handled things fine today.” Evan looked down and raised his eyebrows. She was still holding his arm, and he put a hand on top of hers.
“I know, but we still need to talk. We’re going up to our room, I’m taking your laptop, and you’re not getting it back until we have a solid story in place.”
Evan grinned, and her heart did an involuntary backflip. “How can I say no when you threaten me like that?”
“Every teacher knows that if bribes stop working, threats might do the trick.” Mia winked to show that she was kidding, and Evan chuckled. The sound was deep and warm.
