Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 22685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
And for the next two years, that was exactly what she did.
Broke all the curfews he laid down. Talked back whenever their parents weren't around. “Accidentally” spilled coffee on important documents. Left the TV volume too high when he was working. Borrowed his car without asking.
Each infraction guaranteed his laser focus on her. It also made him more furious and exasperated. But that was better, too. Anything was better than him not seeing her at all.
Every time he'd bite her name out in anger, it would send a secret thrill through her even as she feigned irritation and rejection of his authority. She pretended to make a big fuss at how he was the only one who called her 'Evelline' instead of 'Eve'—
Like, for real, can you get any more old fashioned?
She secretly loved this about him as well. It made her feel special, actually—not that she'd ever tell him that.
Hunter could spend an entire hour just lecturing her, the two of them alone in his study, and she wouldn't have it any other way. Since she couldn’t date him, she would rather monopolize her stepbrother's attention by keeping him perpetually angry.
It was a real good plan, too...
Until the accident.
“AND THAT’S HOW LONG I’ve been in love with him,” Eve finished.
Across the restaurant table, her mother dabbed at her eyes with a napkin while Boris wore an expression of contentment as he looked at her and Hunter.
So far, so good, Eve thought. Right?
The four of them were back in June's favorite restaurant after all these years, and while the sight of them together were causing quite the fuss, it looked like no one had been able to overhear Hunter's earlier words...
"Eve and I would like to have your blessing..."
It had been her turn after that, with Eve unable to meet Hunter's gaze as she spoke truthfully of her infatuation with him in the past. He probably thought she was making it all up, and well, she hoped he would keep believing that. Because otherwise?
Nope, I'm not going to even imagine such a horrible scenario.
Eve barely repressed a shudder and told herself to refocus on her parents.
"This has obviously come quite a shock," she said softly, "but if you think about it, Hunter and me...it's not a whirlwind romance at all, you know? It’s more like...it’s been a long time coming?”
"I just can't believe I'm hearing this." June had tears in her eyes as she looked at her daughter. "But don't get me wrong, please. I'm really so happy to hear this. I just...I just can't believe it. You always seemed to hate Hunter, but now I realize...you were just really infatuated with him!"
Hunter smiled at Eve. "Actually, she told me the other night she was extremely infatuated with me."
"I truly was," Eve agreed sweetly...even as she stepped on his foot under the table.
Hard.
“What about you, son?” Boris asked gruffly. “When did you realize you've been in love with our Eve all along?”
Hunter’s expression softened in a way that nearly had Eve rolling her eyes. Yes, she still believed that Hunter was falling more and more deeply in love with her, and that he didn't know it just yet. But this angelic expression of his?
Somebody give her former stepbrother an Oscar, ugh.
“She didn’t know it back then, but it was pretty much the same."
Yeah right.
“She drove me crazy every day,” Hunter continued, his gaze never leaving her face. “Breaking rules, pushing boundaries. I told myself I was just being responsible, keeping her in line. But deep down?”
Eve tried not to react as his fingers found her knee on the table.
“Those two years she lived with us were torture, and so, right now..."
Hunter suddenly gave her knee a squeeze, and Eve nearly jumped in her seat.
"I feel like I'm the luckiest man alive, to finally stop having to pretend. This time, I can let you two know, along with the rest of the world, that Evelline is my woman."
Eve could only swallow hard, which then caused June to dab her eyes and Boris's eyes to turn suspiciously bright as well. Her unusual silence probably had them thinking she was made speechless by her emotions, and yeah, sure, that much was true...since she was worried about making the wrong sound, with his fingers now trailing up her inner thigh.
It was a relief to have lunch eventually come to an end, with their parents happily agreeing to having lunch with them again next week. But as soon as she and Hunter were alone in his car...
Hunter only laughed as she kicked his shin again and again.
"I can't believe you did that!"
"Believe it, darling."
Ugh.
How could she go from openly annoyed to secretly thrilled just because he had called her 'darling'?
A phone call from his assistant had them making an unexpected detour to his office, and Eve made herself comfortable in one of the leather chairs across his desk as Hunter conducted his business.