A Prior Engagement (20 page)

Walking to the platform ten minutes before seven in the morning, William saw Evie sitting on a bench ahead. She stood when she saw him, her face lighting up. William liked that her happiness showed in her eyes, and he smiled, handing her a cup of coffee.” Are you ready for our quest for truth?”

“I’m most definitely ready for our adventure.”

They walked several train cars until they found an empty cabin with only a few passengers, and settled into seats next to each other, setting their stuff onto the table in front of them. “I’m very sleepy today. I didn’t sleep well last night,” Evie said, slumping over the table.

“Why didn’t you sleep well?”

A slight pink colored her cheeks. “I was a little nervous . . . and excited about today.”

“I was, too.” He reassured her that her feelings weren’t one sided. “If you’d like, you can lean your head on me and rest.”

Yawning, she held her coffee up. “Thank you, but I think this is all I need right now, but I might take you up on that nap on our ride home.”

William liked sleepy Evie. He realized that she didn’t hide behind her words as much. So during the train ride, he found out she had never been to an amusement park, an IHOP, or to Staten Island before she met him. William couldn’t get over how sheltered her life seemed. She was an oddity to him, a beautiful one, but an oddity all the same. She had traveled the world, but not her own city.

An hour and half later, they exited the train and hopped in a cab over to the city’s largest library, which was situated downtown. They approached the front information desk and promptly directed to a particular section of the library.

When they finally got a hold of the comparison manuscripts, their disappointment was palpable and they slumped. There were many similarities to Thomas Kyd’s work, but had as many markers to the contrary. Once again, their findings were inconclusive. William flopped into a nearby chair and watched as Evie perused the surrounding bookshelves. She seemed fascinated by the old spines as she dragged her finger across them.

Thoughts of his true feelings surfaced and he knew he was in love with her. A smile spread across his face, enlightening his feelings through his eyes and his whole expression.

When Evie came to the end of the row, she looked out the window. Even though he was near, she imagined William’s face in her mind. Closing her eyes, a feeling of warmth passed through her and she found her fingers gracing her lips again. When she turned around to look at him, all those cozy feelings of love disappeared instantly. She now spied a girl who had made herself comfortable on the arm of the chair in which he rested. William was smiling at her and seemed happy in their exchange.

Possessiveness took hold of her and Evie stood more upright, wanting to let the girl know through her body language that William was hers. But he wasn’t hers and the jealousy rushing through her veins wasn’t a fair emotion. She had made a decision not to tell him before, but she started rethinking her position altogether.

When Evie walked closer, she saw the girl set her hand on William’s shoulder in a blatant act of flirtation. Evie stopped in her tracks, knowing she had no rights or claims over him. Rights and claims was what she so desperately wanted to have with William and she decided she was ready to pay the price for happiness with him.

His eyes met hers and his brow furrowed in confusion. Turning back to the girl perched at his side, he realized what the situation must look like. With a quick shuffle right out from the girl’s friendly gesture, he stood. “This is my gir . . .” He stopped, catching himself indulging, wanting to call Evie what he already considered her. He thought Evie might not appreciate that shared with a stranger when they hadn’t even discussed it privately. “This is Evie,” he said, walking to stand next to her. He took Evie’s hand and turned back to the girl who was now standing, surprise on her face. “Jenny was telling me about early Kyd works located in the main Boston library. She did a little research for us and set up an appointment for Wednesday to see them.” As William pulled Evie forward with him, she suddenly felt silly for her unfounded jealousy.

“I should get back to the information desk.” The girl’s tone was clipped as she walked away.

Evie should be ashamed by her behavior, but couldn’t bring herself to be because William was still holding her hand.

He turned, putting his free hand around her waist and leaned down, and hugged her. Moving into his caress, she let her mind focus on his warm breath against her neck. Closing her eyes, she felt her whole body stir in response and she wrapped her arm under his, hooking it up and around his shoulder. William moved his head to the right, running his nose along the shell of her ear. Her knees began to buckle under the intimacy, but his grip tightened.

He whispered, “I’m yours, love. You don’t ever have to worry. I lo . . . I care about you.” She inhaled every word he spoke and rubbed her cheek tenderly against his jaw.

William stepped back, keeping a grip on her hand and picked up their bags. He led her out of the historical building, but stopped on the steps out front. “I . . . uh, I,” he started to say as he dropped the bags down and rested his free hand on the back of his neck. “I think you should know I really like you, if you can’t tell already.” He laughed and looked away. “I sound childish.”

Shoving his hands into his pockets for a tangible support, he tried to focus back on her by looking straight into her curious eyes. They made him feel better, stronger as he spoke. “I’m falling for you, Evie. I hope I’m not speaking out of place here. I saw what happened in there and wanted you, well, thought you should know how much I care about you. You don’t have to worry. I’m not interested in anyone else.”

While he was giving his heart to her, Evie’s joy from his words was crushed when she realized she couldn’t say the same things back. She could tell him, yes, but knew she would never be able to reciprocate fully until other things were handled. She would have to deal with things with speed and care, although she would still have to tell William the truth. He deserved the truth. But she didn’t want to ruin this moment, especially not for him. She cared too much about him to do that.

When he stopped, he didn’t wait for her to say anything in return. “I want you to know that.”

Dreaming of his kisses since the last one, she closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him. Their lips parted, gentle and slow, and they deepened their connection. As their bodies pressed closer, their heartbeats sped up. When their lips separated with reluctance, both Evie and William felt the loss as cold swept across their mouths.

They didn’t have to speak to make the moment more perfect than it was because it was as close to perfection than either had ever felt. William looked down at their bags and she watched his face and movements. The connection they had was different than either had experienced before, and strong, and meant to be. He picked up their bags, and with a sweet smile, asked, “Lunch?”

She nodded still too caught up in the moment to say anything. With her hand in his, he led her down the wide cement steps to the sidewalk below. When they found a sandwich shop, he turned to her, eyed her once, and said, “Have you ever had a Philly cheesesteak?” He had a feeling she hadn’t.

“I haven’t. I’d like to try one though,” she replied.

A few minutes later and with sandwiches in hand, they sat down on a picnic bench jus outside the shop. She smiled, and picked at the bread. “This looks good.”

“They’re amazing.” William took a large bite and moaned in pleasure.

Following his cue, she picked it up, mimicking his hold on the sloppy sandwich, closed her eyes, and took a small bite. As she was chewing, she opened her eyes to see him grinning at her and for the first time in her life, she felt it was acceptable to talk with her mouth full. “This is soooo good.” She finished chewing. “Like really good.”

William was still smirking when he stood up and leaned over to kiss her on the mouth even though it was full of another bite. He didn’t care because he found her sexy relaxed and happy like this.

She kissed him, not caring about how she looked or propriety. She did what she felt and she felt like kissing him twice, so she did.

After lunch, they did a little sightseeing, stopped for frozen custard then headed for the train station. As the train barreled back to Manhattan, Evie turned to William. She felt shy, but wanted a photo of him. “May I take a picture of you?” She knew once again she was crossing a line, but she felt selfish and wanted something just for her.

He chuckled at her formality. “Yes, if you want.”

She took a picture of him looking at her the way she most liked to see him,
in like of her
. His darkened eyes said everything they both knew it was too soon to say and she hoped to hold onto that look forever with the photo.

When the photo loaded onto the screen, she stared at it. She was soft spoken, but he heard her. “You look sexy like this.”

The right side of his mouth lifted into a smile, a bit confident, a tad cocky. He pulled his phone out and flipped through the options. William stopped and smiled at his display. “I think you look really sexy like this.” He turned the phone around for her to see and her mouth dropped open.

“When did you take that?” She tried to act mad, but she thought the picture was funny.

“I like the way you’re about to lick the ice cream, tongue out all greedy-like.” He laughed again when her fist hit his arm. “Okay, okay. I shouldn’t have taken it without you knowing, but I really do think you’re pretty damn sexy eating ice cream. That right there is what fantasies are made of,” he said, pointing at the picture.

“Ewww! Stop it right now. No doing anything dirty while looking at that picture,” she demanded, trying to grab the phone.

He held it out of her reach and continued the joke. “I don’t need this picture. It’s burned into my brain.” He felt her playfully hit his arm again. Grabbing her hand, he eyed her. “No worries. I only have chaste thoughts about you.” He tried to sound convincing by saying that with a straight face.

But her expression changed. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

Putting his arm around her, he squeezed her into his side and laughed. His grin got even bigger when she relaxed into him for the remainder of the ride back to New York.

Evie found William so comfortable to be around that thirty minutes later, she was asleep. He kissed the top of her head and rested his own against hers. Her breathing was even and calm. She slept peacefully the remaining hour. When the train came to a stop, he kissed her once more on the head then gently nudged her awake while whispering, “Evie, we’re home. We’re back in Manhattan.”

When she opened her eyes, she popped up, her surroundings unfamiliar, but calmed when she saw William. She looked at him, feeling embarrassed. “I fell asleep. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

He talked softly to calm her down. “It’s okay. I liked holding you. Are you all right?”

She tried to settle her racing heart as she came to her senses. “Yeah, I’m fine. I guess we should go.”

They exited the train station and knew they were going in different directions, so they stood on the sidewalk first, both feeling awkward and neither wanting to say good-bye. William decided to take a chance. “Do you want to come over or go do something?”

“Yeah, but I told my sister we would hang out tonight. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Uh-huh.” She turned to walk away, but turned back and flew into his arms, which he opened to embrace her fully. “Thank you for today. I had such a good time.” Her cheek was pressed against his chest and she closed her eyes, wanting this to last forever.

William kissed her head. “So did I.” He kissed her once more on the forehead and they went their separate ways.

While Evie took a cab home, William walked to save the money.

Chapter 17

Evie had a charity brunch the next day that she had committed to months earlier though she had no interest in going. Because it was for charity, she put on a pretty dress, her pearl necklace, and earrings, slipped on her engagement ring, and left for the event.

She had a good time despite feeling anxious to meet William later in the afternoon. He had texted asking her to meet him at Bean There at 2 p.m. She drank her mimosa and purchased several purses from the fundraiser before slipping out, she hoped undetected.