Evie's Knight (13 page)

Whoa–
that
was seductive. An overwhelming rush of delight spilled over her. She’d never had anyone speak to her so boldly. So beautifully. With tentative movements, Evie slid her hands up his lean, muscular arms, reveling in the warmth of his body. She sighed when his lips ran softly along her jaw. Back, forth.

“And those lips…” His mouth brushed, ever so lightly against hers, taunting, teasing, inviting.

Evie tipped her head back, desperately wanting to feel the heat of his mouth on hers. It was more than a desire; it was a need.

“Bye, Evie.” His lips tickled her mouth as he whispered against it.

Near the state of unraveling, she opened her eyes and loosened her grip as he turned toward the door.

Calvin looked over his shoulder. “I’ll call you.”

She loved the sound of that. “Okay. And thanks again for tonight. That was exactly what I needed.” A rapid blush made its way onto her cheeks. She was referring to the batting cages, yet all she could think about in that moment was the kiss.

He smiled. “It was just what I needed too.”

***

The sleek, hardcover top on Calvin’s Jeep kept the breeze away nicely. Better than Evie had imagined it would. She pulled the buckle over her lap and steadied the crock-pot at her feet.

Calvin rested his hand behind her as he backed out. “That smells great.”

“Thanks. My grandma used to make the most amazing spaghetti sauce, and I finally got the recipe a few years ago.”

“So you’ve enjoyed cooking for a while, huh?”

“Yeah. I started taking cooking classes in Jr. High and, I don’t know, I just loved it.” The afternoon sun made Evie squint as Calvin pulled out of the cul-de-sac and onto the main road. She turned toward him. “So how was the camping…” Evie let the sentence die, her final words clinging to the air as an object within the Jeep seized her attention.

Strapped to a strand of leather, resting at the hollow of Calvin’s throat, lay a pendant. Gripped by a sudden need, Evie reached for the piece, securing it in her hand. An intricate bronze carving was centered in the quarter-sized pendant. Along the outer rim, strange-looking letters spelled unreadable words.

“What does this say?” she asked, her voice no more than a reverent hush.

“It says,
Caballero Valeroso.
It means courageous knight.”

Evie would have guessed the inscription to mean desire–fierce and demanding; she couldn’t remember wanting a simple object so badly. She circled the outer ring with her thumb and looked up at him. “Courageous knight?” The phrase appealed to her.

He nodded. “My mother gave one to each of us. Parker and me.” His warm breath grazed her cheek as he spoke, making her take notice of how close she’d gotten.

In a rush of embarrassment, Evie tried to release the medallion, but it didn’t fall, not right away. Instead, the pendant reached out for her fingers and thumb, stretching for her touch as she moved her hand. Once it dropped back to his throat, Evie gasped, certain that her mind wasn’t right.

“What’s wrong?” Calvin shot her a surprised glance before setting his eyes back on the road. 

His question made her realize she’d jerked away, frightened by the impossible scene. She nearly spoke up, was tempted to reach out and toy with the charm once more. Yet with her next breath, a certain flavor drifted across her tongue, strong and invasive. She closed her mouth and swallowed, trying to place the familiar taste. Salty, metallic. Blood.

A rash of chills broke over her skin. “Uh, I thought … I mean, my mind’s just being… weird.” She put her fingers up to her ear lobe and twisted the silver stud. Part of her was anxious to dismiss the incident, like she had done with the art and the strange hissing in her head.  But the other side of her, the more dominant part, was working to replay it in her mind. Solve the strange mystery surrounding him.

Over the last week, a day hadn’t passed without a call or visit from Calvin. In some ways, she felt closer to him than she did Kelly, especially with the way Kelly had been distancing herself.  Evie cleared her throat. “That phrase you spoke–that was in Spanish, right?”

“Right. My mother’s Spanish. And though her parents raised her here in the US, they insisted she know how to speak Spanish as well as English. She did the same thing with me and Parker.”

“So you can speak it?”

He nodded. The warm smile on his face, the sheer kindness in his eyes worked to melt the tension in her throat. She relaxed a bit, let her dismissive side win.

“Say something else.” She was hoping he’d distract her from the darkness that had crept into the space between them.

With his gaze set on the overcast sky, he cleared his throat. “Mientras que la cena huele delicioso, no creo que nada puede saber mejor que tú, mi pequeño melocotón.”

She was distracted already, melting in the warm bath of his handsome voice. “I love the sound of that. Seriously, I could listen to you all day. What was it you said?”

“I said, while dinner smells delicious, I doubt anything could taste better than you, my little peach.” He smiled, seeming to enjoy the way she gasped in surprise.

“Can’t believe you took a bite of my arm,” she said, loving the memory of it. “But since I know you love peaches, I made something special for you for dessert.”

“What is it?”

“If I tell you, will you say it back to me in Spanish?”

He gave her a nod. “Si.”

“Peach cobbler with whipped cream.”

Calvin ran a hand along his jaw. “Let me see, it’d be melocotón pastel con crema de leche, I think. I’ve gotten a little rusty over the years.”

Evie gave it a shabby attempt, repeating what he’d said. “Ugh, it sounds better when you say it.”

He reached over and took hold of her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. The sensation caused a flash of heat to spread through her body. She closed her eyes, rested back into the seat, and tried not to think about the fact that something didn’t seem right. That no matter how fantastic Calvin Knight seemed to be, there was a certain darkness that lingered in his presence. She only wished she could make it go away. Until then, perhaps she could ignore it.

Chapter Fourteen

“We need to have this little lady over more often,” Calvin’s father said, nodding to Evie. “Honestly, Hon, that was the best meal I’ve had in a long time.”

“Well, thank you,” Evie said.

“We don’t get enough home-cooked meals around here,” he continued. “Not unless boxes of mac and cheese count. Right, Cal?”

“True,” Calvin said.

Evie smiled at him, taking a drink from her glass. She’d been nervous about meeting Calvin’s father, yet he put her at ease the moment she’d walked in the door. Upon insisting she call him Jack, he’d given her a tour of the home, bragging about his son’s talent for refinishing hardwood floors. “I figure that if I can find enough projects around here to keep him busy, Calvin will stick around to house-sit while I’m out on assignment,” he had said.

Parker stood up and stepped away from the dinner table.

“You taking off?” Calvin asked him.

“No. I’ll stick around for a while.” Parker glanced at Evie before disappearing into the front room.

Jack stood up and started clearing plates from the table. Calvin did the same. Evie reached for an empty pot, but Jack stopped her.

“Don’t you worry about cleaning up, Hon,” he said. “Let the gentlemen do that.”

Calvin gave her a wink, hints of a dimple showing on his olive-toned cheek. “You can go kick back on the couch. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Evie smiled. Calvin had obviously gotten his father’s charismatic demeanor, among other things. The resemblance between Jack and his sons was unquestionable. Calvin had his jaw-line, square and chiseled. Parker had his dad’s blond hair, and the three of them had the exact same nose, perfectly straight and slightly squared.

Parker sat sprawled on the couch in the front room. Must not consider himself to be a gentleman. He grabbed the remote, flipped through the channels, and started cracking his knuckles.

Evie opted for the love seat and turned her attention to the screen.

“So, Calvin has said a lot of nice things about you,” Parker said.

“Hmm. That’s good to hear,” she said warily. He’d been fairly quiet throughout dinner, and his statement took her by surprise.

His eyes remained focused on the mounted flat screen. “Yeah, he didn’t actually mention that you were as uptight as you are. Maybe he just hasn’t noticed yet.”

Angry heat rushed in a wave over her skin. “Are you referring to my reaction to you at the party?”

Parker tapped down the volume on the remote and gave her a cold stare. “That was a major
over
reaction on your part. Don’t you think? I mean, what are you, a drama major?”

“Actually, I was restraining myself if you want to know the truth. I wanted to deck you.” She fought the urge to back away as he leaned toward her.

“I’ve never,
ever
had a girl do that to me before. Not once,” he boasted.

She held his gaze. “Parker, the only girl that welcomes that kind of groping from a complete
stranger
, is one who comes equipped with her own personal package of STDs.”

“You are such a priss.”

“Yeah, well you’re just,” she looked him up and down, “dirty.”

“Dirty?” He laughed. “Baby, you have no idea.”

They stayed there, locked in an unrepentant glare until Parker tapped the volume back up, muttering under his breath.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“I said… I got further with you in one night than your ex-boyfriend did after six miserable months of dating you.”

Evie looked down at her hands, cursing stupid Tyler and his big idiot mouth. “I’m sure you and Tyler have a lot in common.”

“Not really. I wouldn’t have stuck around in a relationship like that for six days. I’ve already warned Calvin about it, not that he cares.”

“About what? That I’m not someone he can just use and then throw out when he’s done? Good.”

“Calvin’s not as great as you think he is, Evie. He says that he likes how pure and innocent you are, but I’m sure that will change.” His eyes narrowed. “You should know that his last girlfriend, Kate–who’s extremely hot, by the way–had no problem putting out. Just a little something to think about.”

The ex-girlfriend thing stung, but Evie was determined to see past it. She focused on the other detail Parker revealed–Calvin had said he liked how she was–as in, he already knew where she stood, and he was still interested in her.

Though she wasn’t thrilled about the ugly tension between herself and Parker, Evie felt elated with the new information.

Just then she heard something out in the front yard. She peeked through the window behind her, saw Calvin throw a bag into the trashcan. Without another word, Evie walked straight past Parker and out the front door. She’d removed her shoes, and the cool pavement sent chills up her legs as she sped across it.

Calvin smiled when he saw her coming, opened his arms as she neared, and pulled her in for a warm embrace.

She planted her bare feet on the tops of his work boots, reached up and gave him a quick kiss.

“What did I do to deserve that?” he asked. A dark strand of hair fell into his face.

She swept it behind his ear, letting her fingers comb through the soft waves. “I…” she gulped. “I’m just … really glad that you’re in my life.”

He smiled. “I’m glad you’re in mine too, mi bella dama.” He ran his warm hands up her arms, caressed her cool cheeks with the back of his fingers. “My beautiful lady.”

As Calvin pressed his lips against hers in a short, soft kiss, Evie felt something lightly tap the front of her neck. She pulled back in time to see Calvin’s pendant fall back in place, just below the base of his throat.

Calvin looked down and took hold of it. “Sorry. Did this catch onto your hair?”

Evie shifted her focus back to the emblem. She knew it hadn’t, but she had no way to explain the strange things happening between her and the pendant. “It’s fine.” She pulled her gaze from the piece.

“Come on.” Calvin picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

He’d done it so quickly, so easily, that it caused her to laugh aloud. She breathed in the fresh, handsome smell of him, enjoying the playful way he carried her back to the house. Though she wanted to forget the strange incidents completely, Evie knew she’d think back on them when the lights were out. When she slipped under the covers that night, she’d dwell on the bizarre encounters she’d had with the
Caballero Valeroso,
the pendant around Calvin’s neck.

***

“Your dad is just  … a really great guy, isn’t he?”

Calvin considered Evie’s question as he backed out of the driveway. He’d known she’d take a liking to him. “He is pretty great,” Calvin agreed. Evie’s smile broadened, warm and friendly. He loved the way it made her apple cheeks reflect the light of the streetlamps. The grey colored blouse she wore tonight somehow changed her eyes. Their color now a wash of blue and grey–the cool waters of a tranquil lake.

During the drive back to her place, Evie spoke more of Calvin’s father. She mentioned his mother as well, referring to her great beauty, evident in the photo she’d seen. As Calvin engaged in the conversation, he felt the potent ache in his heart swell, a mixture of guilt and fear.

When it was time to kiss her goodbye, Evie’s hands moved to his hair just before their lips met. The sensation made his pulse race, and he withdrew. The hurt in her eyes hadn’t escaped him, but he wasn’t sure he could do it. Wasn’t sure he could even try to keep Evie Wylder as his own. He wanted her. But that didn’t make it right.

At home, he shoved open the door. Feeling heavy and sick, he made his way to the kitchen where his father stood.

“She’s a keeper, Cal.” His dad pulled open the fridge and grabbed a soda. “Don’t let that one slip away or you’ll regret it ‘til you die.” He cracked open the can and took a sip.

Calvin flinched at the comment, wondering if his father had sensed his torment. If he’d somehow known the inner workings of his tortured mind.