Page 29 of Dare To Tempt (Dare Nation 2)
“Hungry?” he asked. They’d only had drinks at the bar and he was starving.
“Sure.” She pulled away, seemingly eager to put space between them.
If she’d felt half as much as he had when they were together, she was definitely ducking on him now. He might be a quarterback, throwing a pass his specialty, but Jesse Prescott had drilled every possible play into him and Damon could catch a running target. It might take time, but Evie didn’t stand a chance of eluding him in the long run.
“How’s pizza sound?” he asked, keeping things light. For now.
“Perfect.”
He picked up his cell and, using an app, ordered their food.
While he was taking care of dinner, she pulled on his tee shirt, grinned, and leaned against the pillows.
“I like you in my clothes.” He caught sight of the red scar peeking out from the sleeve of the shirt. Coming to a decision, he ran his hand over the still-angry-colored jagged line. “You can talk to me, you know.”
She swallowed hard and remained silent.
“Or not.”
She leaned her head back and groaned. “I don’t like to talk about it.”
He pulled her into him and held her close. “And we can discuss why that is later.” Because the emotional issues probably explained much more than how she got the injury. “Let’s just start with what happened.”
“Okay, fine.” She placed a hand on his chest and began playing with the sprinkling of hair there. “It all goes back to John.”
“So far all I know is that you had issues and you had to involve the police.” He refused to admit he’d looked into the situation in online articles. He was just grateful she was confiding in him now.
She nodded. “Well, we had what I thought was a solid relationship. In fact, we were engaged.”
He blinked in surprise. He’d had no idea she had had a fiancé and didn’t want to dig into feelings of jealousy now. That went way deeper than he was ready to deal with, and right now he just wanted to understand what made her tick.
“How’d you meet?” he asked when she remained silent.
“I worked for the Miami District Attorney’s Office as an investigator. He was a criminal defense attorney at a high-powered firm. Our paths were sure to cross, and when they did, he asked me out.”
Sounded normal to him. So far.
He ran a hand up and down her arm, reassuring her, waiting for her to tell him more.
“He worked for a firm with an office in Chicago, and when he had to spend weekends there, it didn’t strike me as odd, you know?” She drew in a breath. “And I worked a lot of nights during the week. We still saw each other. Nothing seemed off to me and that’s what galls me. I’m supposed to have good instincts when it comes to people and situations!”
“Everyone misjudges someone or something at one time or another,” he said, hating how she blamed herself.
She blew out a breath. “Yeah, well. A colleague at the office had a sister who thought her husband was cheating on her. He asked me if I’d look into it. Off the clock.” She rolled her shoulders. “He’d done me a solid on a case or two, so I said sure. I asked for the name and information on the husband … low and behold, it was John Coltrane.”
He muttered a curse, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I guess there aren’t many John Coltranes in Miami?”
“Oh, there were a few. Just one the right age.”
Shit. “You told the wife?”
She lifted her head and met his gaze. “I did, at which point I blocked his number on my phone.”
“He lost his temper?”
“You could say that. Made a scene at my office, blamed me for ruining his marriage. One of the cops escorted him out. But he was angry and I underestimated him. One night I was coming home from a party for a friend, wearing a dress, my gun was home, my guard was down… He attacked me in an alley. It was surreal.” She pushed herself away and held her scarred arm in her hand. “I pressed charges, he lost his job, started to harass me, but he still pulled enough strings to get himself a deal. He blamed me for all of it.” She shrugged. “Fast-forward to us going viral and he’s back.”
“Guy’s an ass,” Damon muttered, wondering what he could do to get the bastard to back off and leave Evie alone.
The doorbell rang, letting him know the pizza had arrived. “Eat in bed?” he asked.
She answered with a grin.
He walked to the door, deep in thought. He now knew why Evie was so guarded. She’d had her trust betrayed in the worst way and she no longer trusted her judgment. John’s return merely reminded her and reinforced her self-doubt.
