Mistaken Gifts (10 page)

Eva slowly exhaled and purposely looking away from Jeff, she said to Troy, "That's right, sweetie."
 

She knew if she looked at him, Jeff would be able to see the uncertainty in her eyes. But worse than that, she couldn’t bear to see if she’d hurt him. The kiss they’d shared had been real enough to her if her body’s reaction was any indication, and she’d been around long enough to know he’d felt something, too. But maybe he was just that kind of guy, she thought, her eyes still averted. Maybe taking women out to the woods and kissing them was just a regular day for him? Maybe Jeff didn’t care at all.
 

She had to know.
 

Before she chickened out, Eva swung her head around, letting her hair whip across her face, and stared directly at Jeff. His handsome face was impossible to read. At first glance, it looked like a mask of indifference locked onto his features. But there was something else too. Hurt? Or did she just want it to be something more?
 

"Jeff, I want to—"

He held up his hand to quiet her. "I’ll leave you alone. I was just wondering how your arm was," he said. "That’s all."
 

Indifference, Eva thought. It was definitely indifference Jeff was feeling. The casual way he was brushing her off was all the evidence she needed.

"It’s going to be fine," Eva said. "Thank you for all your help." She looked down because it was so much easier than looking at his handsome face. "I really mean it. I don’t know what I would have done if you—"

"It looks like you’re in good hands now," Jeff interrupted with a gruffness she couldn’t ignore.

Eva looked up. His mouth was pressed into a firm line and he spoke through gritted teeth. He did care. The thought crashed through Eva’s consciousness. He wouldn’t be angry if he didn’t feel something. But what?
 

"I’ll leave you to it," Jeff said.
 

He turned to leave and it took everything Eva had in her to hold herself back from stopping him. Jeff pulled the door open and moments before he strode through it, Eva called out, "Jeff."

He froze but didn’t turn around. Eva could see his muscles in his strong back tensing under his t-shirt, waiting for whatever she was going to say next. The thing was, she didn’t know. She just knew she needed to stop him. Heat and confusion flowed through her, muffled by the throbbing of her arm. Her arm. That was it.

"Will you let me buy you dinner tonight as a thank-you?"

Troy squeezed her shoulder and she looked up to the question in his eyes. Damn.
 

"I mean, will you let us buy you dinner?” she corrected. Troy smiled and shook his head. She didn’t even want to know what he thought of the scene playing out in front of him, but she could only imagine.
 

With his hand still on the door, Jeff turned around and for a minute, Eva was certain he was going to refuse. Instead, a slow smile played on his lips. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "Okay," he said.
 

Aware of Troy with his arm still protectively wrapped around her, Eva swallowed her smile and said, "Good. Six o’clock then at the Grill? It’s just down past the lobby, by the—"

"I know where it is."

"Of course you do," she said. "So, I’ll see you…I mean, we’ll see you then."

Jeff’s eyes focused like beams into her soul, stirring emotions she wasn’t sure she still possessed. But despite the intensity, she couldn’t look away.
 

"I’m already looking forward to it," he said. And just when Eva didn’t think she’d be able to stand the tension in the air for one second longer, he turned and left.
 

She slumped forward as if he’d taken all the air out of the room with him. Fortunately, Troy, who still had a grip on her, caught her and guided her to a chair before she could fall over. He chuckled and brushed a stray hair away from her eyes. "Something funny?" She looked up into his face, full of humor.

"I’ve just never seen two people work so hard to pretend they’re not interested in each other, is all." Troy left her sitting in the chair and moved back to the table full of centerpieces.
 

"I’m not interested in him," Eva protested, but even as she did, she could taste the bitterness of the lie. "It’s not worth it, anyway. Besides, I accepted you as my fake date. It wouldn’t be fair to renege on that arrangement."

"Oh, darling. I promise you I wouldn’t hold it against you if you tossed me aside for Mr. Cowboy. I would absolutely understand."

Eva narrowed her eyes at him. "Don’t tell me—"

"He’s not my type," Troy said with a grin. "But he’s yours."

She crossed her arms and a moment too late realized her mistake. "Ouch. Stupid wrist." Eva cradled her wrist in her lap. "He’s not my type either," she said as defiantly as she could manage. "I don’t go for the rough, outdoorsy guys. I like a smooth, clean-cut business man all the way."
 

"Like myself?" Troy pointed at himself with a sprig of pine and she couldn’t help but laugh.
 

"Yes, just like you," she said. "But I prefer that the men I date like women."
 

He tossed the pine to the table. "Details, details. So," Troy said, changing the subject. "What exactly was your plan for dinner tonight? Should we stage a dramatic breakup in the restaurant? That would get people talking."

That would also get Andi stressed out, Eva thought. The last thing Andi needed was more drama of any kind. Even if it was totally fake. She pushed up from the chair and made her way to the table where she fingered the pinecones. What exactly was her plan?
 

"Or," Troy continued, “you could tell Mr. Cowboy that we have an open relationship and I’m totally okay with you dating him."
 

"Troy!" Eva tossed a pinecone at him, which he dodged artfully. "Are you out of your mind?"

He shrugged and went back to creating centerpieces. "It was just a thought."
 

Eva walked around the room, slowly taking in the arrangement of the tables, the cloth Troy had draped along the walls, and the twinkling lights and snowflakes that were hung from the ceiling. There was still so much to do. She didn’t have time to be worrying about a guy. Her eyes landed on a piece of holly that had fallen to the ground. She bent to pick it up and smoothed her fingers along the glossy leaves. It didn’t matter if she didn’t have time, and that he wasn’t her type. She couldn’t get him out of her head.
 

"I have a plan," she said to Troy.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, Eva thought. These types of things always did. But as she waited at the table for Jeff, she couldn’t help but have second thoughts about her plans. Troy had agreed to grab something to eat at the pub so she could be alone with Jeff and come clean to him about her fake date with Troy. She'd had enough deception in her relationships, and although whatever was happening with Jeff was far from a relationship, she was tired of playing games.
 

Troy seemed to be fairly satisfied with eating alone in the pub, and Eva promised to text him later to fill him in on everything that happened with Jeff. Secretly, she hoped it would be much later. But if he didn't show up soon, her report to Troy would turn out a whole lot differently than she wanted it to.
 

She looked down to her blue tank dress, which she hoped wasn’t too dressy for the occasion. It was the only thing she could find that would accommodate her bandaged arm and the sling. She’d done her best to get ready by herself, brushing her hair and trying to apply makeup, but in the end she’d opted for a more natural look than she usually wore, only because putting on eyeliner and mascara with one hand was quite a bit trickier than she ever would have thought.
 

"Excuse me," she said to a passing waiter. "Could you tell me what time it is?" She could have checked her phone, and despite the fact that she’d asked the waiter twice already, she needed confirmation of what she already knew.
 

"It’s 6:35," the waiter said. He gave her a knowing look, no doubt because he assumed she’d been stood up.
 

But that’s exactly what had happened, wasn’t it? She must have really misread the signs Jeff had been throwing out. And she never misread signs from men. Never. Except…
 

"Thank you,” Eva told the waiter, absentmindedly looking up. She took a sip of her water and focused on the empty seat in front of her. Almost forty minutes. It was official—she'd been stood up.

Before she got up to leave, she looked around one last time still unable to process that he didn’t come.
 

"It's probably for the best," she said to herself.
 

"It usually is."
 

Eva spun around and couldn't help but smile at the waiter, who was far more perceptive than she'd given him credit for.
 

"It's his loss," the waiter said. "If he stood you up," he looked her up and down appreciatively, “he's not worth it."
 

Eva smiled and flicked her hair over her shoulder, buoyed by the compliment.

"Thanks, sweetie."

His loss or not, it still stung, but not for the reasons Eva would have thought. Jeff not showing up had a lot less to do with her ego and a whole lot more to do with the deep ache of loss she was feeling inside.
 

She should have followed her instincts and stuck with the fake date. Relationships were safer that way. She pulled her cell phone out and tapped out a quick text to Troy. Maybe he hadn't ordered yet.
 

~ ~

She looked beautiful. Jeff stood and watched Eva for a moment before going into the restaurant. He'd wrestled with showing up at all. It would be torture to sit and watch her, this girl he couldn't help but fall for, with some other man's arm around her. He knew it would test every reserve of patience and self-control he had to sit so close to her and not close the distance between them, reach over and stroke the soft skin of her hand, or even better, kiss her.

But ultimately, he knew what his choice would be and when he got out of the shower, he’d reached for a clean pair of jeans, and a crisp new button-up shirt that Morgan had given for him for Christmas. He couldn’t stay away.

However, all his indecision had him running late and even when he’d arrived at the restaurant and had seen only Eva sitting at the table, something held him back from going in right away. Where was her boyfriend?
 
Maybe she'd changed her mind about him because she, too, had felt what he had out in the woods? Maybe Troy was simply in the restroom or running late. Maybe…it didn't matter.
 

Regardless, it was his chance. She was alone and he was sick of the games. He wasn't going to let one more opportunity go by before telling Eva how he felt. Even if he couldn't quite figure it out himself. He took a deep breath, straightened his shirt and…

"Well, don't you look handsome," a silky voice purred behind him.
 

He knew exactly who was standing behind him before he turned around. "Marianne. What are you doing here?"
 

The raven-haired beauty threw herself into his arms, leaving Jeff no choice but to accept her embrace. He instinctively took two steps to the side to keep her out of view in case Eva looked up.
 

He peeled her off his front and stepped back, needing space between them.
 

"Sugar, when you didn't answer my emails and weren't returning my calls, you didn't leave me much choice, did you?" she said, her voice washing over him exactly in the way it was intended. Marianne was a master of getting what she wanted.
 

"When did you get here?" Jeff glanced backwards. Eva was talking to the waiter, a beautiful smile on her face. She didn't seem too bothered that he was late, but that would change if he took too much time with Marianne. Eva didn't seem like the type of woman who would respond well to being stood up.
 

"Does it matter when I got here, sugar? The fact is, I'm here now." She ran a finger down his chest, pausing on each button. "You're sure looking good." She raised her eyes to meet his, but he quickly looked away. Whatever fleeting relationship, if you could call it that, they'd had during filming, Marianne clearly wanted to pick up where they'd left off.
 

He grabbed her hand and gently held it in his own, lowering it before letting go. He took another step back, trying to create a bit more distance.
 

"I have a…a…" He glanced back towards the restaurant.

"A date?" Marianne tried for a playful tone, but Jeff wasn't an idiot. He knew she wouldn't be happy.
 

"Not a date," he said quickly. He forced himself not to look back at Eva. "But I do have to go. This isn't really a great time to talk. Can I catch up with you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Marianne stuck her lip out in a first-class pout. "I drove all this way to see you and this is the reception I get?"
 

He still hadn't made a decision about the job. Not really. And he knew enough about women like Marianne to know that the decision would be made for him if he wasn't careful. There really wasn’t a choice. "Okay," Jeff said. "But I'm really in the mood for beer and a burger from the pub. I know that's not really your style, but—"

"I love burgers," she purred. Jeff knew it was a lie, but he let it go.
 

"Great." He pasted a smile on his face. "You go on ahead and get us a table. There's just a quick thing I need to take care of, and I'll meet you there in five minutes."

"Five minutes?" She lowered her eyelashes and fluttered them in a way that was likely supposed to be alluring, but Jeff found incredibly irritating. Next to Eva, he couldn’t be sure what he ever saw in Marianne. Both city girls, Marianne’s beauty couldn't even come close to what Eva had.
 

"I promise." He gave her a smile he knew was sexy. Whatever it took to get her out of there before Eva saw the way she was throwing herself at him. It was bad enough he was late, and he’d have to come up with some reason he couldn’t stay for dinner, but he did not want to miss his window of opportunity to speak to Eva alone. He was running out of time and he knew it.