Burn Out (8 page)

Erika knew it
wasn’t fair to use him as a buffer unless he knew the score. She pointed to the
chair across from her. “Sit down for a minute.” She waited for him to comply
before she said, “I’d be lying if I said I was completely over Evan. To be
honest, I don’t know that I’ll ever be over him entirely. He was a big part of
my life for a long time-”

“But that’s over.
You’ve said so yourself plenty of times.”

“It is, but that
doesn’t mean those feelings just go away.” She sighed, wishing she could find
the words to express something she didn’t understand. There was no logical
reason she should still be in love with Evan, but her heart didn’t seem to care
that the man was a thoughtless, self-centered workaholic.

“I understand that,”
he said, reaching across the desk for her hand. “I’m not asking you for a
commitment you’re not ready for. I just want you to give us a chance.”

“We made love last
night.” Her eyes fell to their joined hands before he withdrew his. “I’m sorry
if that’s not what you want to hear, but I thought you had a right to know.”

His lips pursed as
though he’d swallowed something sour. “I see. So what does that mean for us?”

“I don’t know,”
she said, scraping her fingernails over her scalp. “I like you. I think you’re
a great guy, but…”

“You’re thinking
about getting back together with him?”

“No, that’s never
going to happen.”

“Fine,” he said,
sighing. “Then why don’t we just pick up where we left off? We can continue
spending time together and see where it might lead.”

She was surprised
he was willing to be so magnanimous. “Are you sure you can do that?”

He looked her in
the eye. “I like you… a lot. I think you deserve better than a man who always
puts you last. It’s my job to prove to you that you deserve better. If you’ll
let me?”

She reached across
her desk to offer her hand. “The only thing I can offer you is friendship right
now, Jeff. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of us to try for more when Evan is
still in my heart.”

“That won’t always
be the case,” he said, bringing her hand to his lips. “One day you’re going to
wake up and realize the right guy has been here all along, just waiting for you
to come to your senses.”

She smiled at his
heartfelt sentiment. “You’re too good a man to waste his time waiting around
for me. You deserve better.” They were compatible on so many levels, but when
he touched her, she felt nothing compared to the volcanic eruption that
ascended when Evan kissed her.

“Sometimes the
love of your life is the person you least expect,” he said, holding her hand in
his. “You never know, that may be the case with us.”

She feared she met
the love of her life a long time ago, and no one else would ever be able to
steal that title from him.

Chloe was riding
shotgun in her harness when Erika pulled in to the drug store less than an hour
later. Fortunately it was cool outside, so she could open the windows enough to
allow the air to circulate. “You wait here,” she said, patting the dog’s curly
head. Fortunately, she was as tired as Erika after a full day of play at their
doggie daycare, so she had no problem resting her head on the seat and closing
her eyes.

“Mommy will be
right back.” Erika felt a sharp pang of regret as soon as the word left her
lips. She always referred to herself that way when speaking to Chloe, but it
sounded hollow tonight, perhaps because she was taking action to eliminate the
chance she’d created a baby with Evan last night.

Leaning her head
against the seat, she took a deep breath.

When she sensed
her mistress needed comfort, Chloe rested her head on Erika’s lap. “It’s not
that I don’t want a baby,” she whispered. “I do, but not now. Not with Evan.”
The little voice inside her head began mocking her. Truthfully, Evan was the
only man she could imagine fathering her children, but since that would never
happen, it was time to give up on the fantasy.

“Okay,” she said,
settling Chloe in the passenger’s seat. “I’m just going to do this. It’s no big
deal, right?”

Sprinting into the
drug store, she hurried to the back, grateful to see a familiar face behind the
counter. “Hi, Lucy. Do you have a minute? I just have a quick question.”

“Of course,” the
attractive middle-aged lady said, approaching the counter. “What can I do for
you, Erika? Are you here to pick up your prescription?” She began thumbing
through a small basket of paper bags when Erika held her hand up.

“No, I just, uh,
wanted to ask you something about the pills I’m taking.”

“Sure, what it
is?” She set her glasses down on the counter beside her. “Is there a problem?
Side effects?” She frowned. “You’ve been taking them a while and the doctor
hasn’t changed your prescription to my knowledge-”

“No, it’s nothing
like that. I was just wondering the risk if I forgot to take one?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

Lucy smiled. “The
timing, when you had your last period.”

“Right, of
course,” she said, blushing. She’d been so busy and distracted she hadn’t even
thought to look at a calendar. “Um, I’m not really sure.”

Lucy pulled a
small calendar out from under the counter. “Why don’t you have a look at that?
See if you can figure it out.”

“Right,” Erika
said, concentrating. Her last period had ended seven days ago, which meant she
was in the clear. “It was right here,” she said, pointing to the day on the
calendar.

“And you had
intercourse last night?” Lucy asked, lowering her voice when a white haired man
stopped in front of the counter to peruse the cold medication.

“Yes,” Erika said,
trying not to feel like an insolent child caught with her hand in the cookie
jar.

“Then you should
be fine. Just take the pill you missed as soon as you get home and resume your
normal schedule thereafter.”

“So I don’t need
the morning after pill?” She tried to ignore the pang in her stomach. She
couldn’t be disappointed she would never have the baby she didn’t even want
with a man who’d been out of her life for more than a year.

“You should be
fine,” she said, smiling. “No worries.”

“Thanks, Lucy. You
really put my mind at ease.” She turned to leave and ran straight into Evan.

He grabbed her
arms to steady her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Your receptionist told
me you had to make a quick pit stop here on the way home.” He glanced at the
pharmacist and nodded.

“What are you
doing here? I thought I told you-”

“Why don’t we have
this conversation outside?” he asked, threading his hand through hers.

She wanted to pull
away, but didn’t want to make a scene, so she allowed him to lead her outside
before withdrawing to put some distance between them.

“What the hell was
that about?” he asked, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.

“I wanted to make
sure I wasn’t at risk of getting pregnant after last night. You’ll be glad to
know you have nothing to worry about.”

He narrowed his
eyes. “I wasn’t worried. In fact, I was kind of hopin’ you were pregnant.”

She couldn’t
control the urge to laugh. “I thought it was women who usually tried to entrap
men with unplanned pregnancies, not the other way around.”

“Would it really
be so terrible… havin’ my baby?”

Erika could see
that she’d hurt him and that hadn’t been her intent. Touching his forearm, she
said, “I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful father, when and if you decide to commit
your whole heart to it.”

“Like I committed
my whole heart to you?”

She couldn’t deny
he had done that in the beginning and she’d been foolish enough to believe it
would last forever.

“Why did you track
me down?” she asked as she started walking toward her car.

A new black Jaguar
was parked beside her late model economy car and she had little doubt who it
belonged to. “Your ride?” she asked, trying to suppress a smile. That car had
Evan written all over it. Sleek, sexy, and expensive.

“Yeah, you wanna
go for a spin?” he asked, dropping the keys in her hand.

“Maybe some other
time,” she said, shaking her head. It was tempting. She’d always loved those
cars… “I better go. I’m tired and hungry and…” She tossed him the keys.

“Actually,” he
said, holding his hand up as he walked around to the passenger’s side of his
car. “That’s why I stopped by. I was over at my parents’ place for dinner and
my mom made her famous lasagne and homemade bread.”

Erika’s stomach
rumbled, making her grateful he stood several feet away, so he couldn’t hear
it.

“I figured you
wouldn’t take the time to eat today, so I thought you might like some.”

She couldn’t help
but smile. That was the Evan she’d fallen in love with years ago: sweet,
considerate, loving… “That was really nice. Thank you. And thank your mom for
me too.”

He handed her the
paper bag. “You can thank her yourself when you see her on Friday night.”

She raised an
eyebrow in question.

“At the airport.”
He chuckled. “You haven’t forgotten Dom and Lena’s wedding, have you?”

“Oh no.” She
blushed and dipped her head. “Right. Okay, um. I’ll see you there.”

He winked at her
over the roof of his car. “Lookin’ forward to it.”

Evan hated being
idle. He was a man of action, constantly putting out fires and mitigating
disaster. It wasn’t like him to sit back and do nothing, especially when he
wanted something as much as he wanted Erika, but he promised himself he
wouldn’t contact her this week. He would give her time to miss him and ponder
the incredible night they’d shared. One more day, just one more day until he
would see her. Pathetic, but he was already counting the hours.

Ryan poked his
head in the door and grinned. “Workin’ hard or hardly workin’?”

Evan rolled his
eyes. “That’s your motto, not mine.”

“I haven’t seen
much of you this week. You’ve been busy, huh?” Ryan asked, sitting down across
from him.

“Yeah, we got a
lot goin’ on. How are things on your end?”

Ryan crossed his
legs and smiled. “Nothin’ I can’t handle.”

Evan had to admit
he was impressed with the way his brother was settling in as the second in
command. He’d always been reluctant to give Ryan too much responsibility
because he wasn’t sure he could handle it, given his carefree attitude, but
that seemed to be changing. It gave Evan hope that maybe he could start
delegating more of his workload.

“So listen, I had
an idea I wanted to run past you.”

“I’m listenin’,”
Evan said, tipping his swivel chair back. When Ryan hesitated to fill him in,
Evan said, “Just say it already, I haven’t got all day.”

“So I stopped by
Uncle Trey’s place last night and we got to talkin’.”

“And?” Evan hit
the mouse to refresh his computer screen. “How’s he enjoyin’ retirement?”

“He loves the fact
he doesn’t have to travel anymore, but I think he misses the business.”

Trey Turner had
been country music royalty for nearly three decades before he decided to retire
last year. “But he’s made it clear that he’s not interested in makin’ music anymore.”

“I’m not talkin’
about him makin’ music.”

Evan reached for
his coffee mug and took a mouthful, grimacing when he found it cold. “Then what
are you talkin’ about?”

“A big part of
what you do is findin’ new talent, negotiating with them, workin’ with Avery to
help build their brand…”

“Yeah, so?”

“What if we
brought Trey on board as an artist development consultant?”

Evan frowned. No
one had ever assumed such a role at Titan. “An artist development consultant?
What the hell does that even mean?”

“Think about it
for a minute,” Ryan said, raising his hand to halt Evan’s objections. “No one
knows country music better than Trey. He understands what it takes to build and
sustain a career that spans decades. He understands the business, marketing,
packaging, branding, public relations, touring, song writing… Hell, there’s
nothin’ he doesn’t know about it.”

“I’ll agree with
you there,” Evan said. He started to see where his brother was going, and he
had to admit he liked the idea. There were few people in this world he trusted
more than his Uncle Trey, and if he could help reduce Evan’s workload by
shouldering some of the responsibility at Titan, Evan was all for it. It would
give him more time to convince Erika he was a changed man.

“Trey could scout
new artists and help develop them once we hammer out the deal. He could be
there to hold their hands, answer any questions, help build their image so they
can be a multi-platinum selling artist like he was.”

“It could work,”
Evan said, shaking his head.