Evie's Knight (17 page)

No. It was just a dream.  He wouldn’t disturb her. He’d bide his time, call her first thing in the morning, and breathe easy at the sound of her voice.

Chapter Nineteen

“So where will that painting go when you’re done with it?” Evie asked while lounging on Calvin’s bed.

He spread a thick layer of paint on the wall-sized canvas. “Some Italian restaurant in Salt Lake.” He scraped off the excess paint.

“Hmm. We’ll have to go eat there once it’s up.”

“Uh huh,” he mumbled, eyes pasted on his work. 

He’d removed his shirt, and Evie smiled at the streaks of bold yellow paint that ran along the inside of his arms, where he’d rested them to work at the detail.  His hands were full, so he swept his hair away from his face with his arm, smearing a golden streak across his forehead as well. It almost helped to settle her nerves, but not quite.

She ran her gaze along the adjacent wall, saw the calendar she’d given him. “You know this is still on January?”

His eyes didn’t leave the painting. “What’s that?”

“This calendar I gave you.” She slid off the bed and reached up, flipping two pages. “There.”

He looked at her over his shoulder, eyed the calendar. “Thanks. Time has flown. Can’t believe it’s March already.” He gave her a quick smile before turning back to his work.

Evie returned to Calvin’s bed, eyeing the open door. She wondered what he would say if she walked over and closed it. “Calvin, we need to talk.” Once the words hit the air, she felt light headed.

He made a few more strokes with his loaded brush, merging two colors to make the perfect reflection of light. “About what?”

When she remained quiet, he dropped his arm and turned to look at her. An unsettling dose of heat rose to her face, the color betraying her casual approach.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, dropping the brushes in the jar with a clank.

“Nothing. It’s um…”

Calvin splashed the brushes around as a gold cloud of paint muddied the water. She watched as he pulled them out to dry, one at a time, wiping them back and forth against an old towel scrap.

“Go ahead,” he encouraged.

“I just…” she broke off, licked her lips. “Can you come sit by me at least?” she asked, suddenly irritated.

“Sure.” He set the brushes down and opted for the chair, scooting it close to the edge of the bed where her legs dangled. 

Evie summoned a thread of courage, used it to speak. “First, I want to thank you … for always being,” she looked over the muscled contours of his bare chest, “respectful.” She forced out a short cough and looked down at her hands, spinning the ring on her thumb. “You’re always a gentleman, and just so there’s no confusion, I want you to know that I’m grateful for that.”

Calvin’s lips tightened, as if he was holding back an argument.

“Since we’ve been together, it’s been like, the best days of my life, seriously.”

“The same goes for me,” he said.

“Well, you have a way about you. I mean, never once have you made me feel like you were out of control, or wanting to compromise . . . my uh …” she looked away, too embarrassed to finish the sentence.

“Your virtue?” Calvin said in a low, sinister tone. He flashed her a mischievous grin that almost eased her nerves, but not quite.

“Thank you, yes. That…was the word I was looking for.” Her face warmed again. “You have some paint there, on your chest.” She motioned to the smudge.

He looked down at the gold smear just beneath his shoulder.

“And some there on your arm, too,” she added, leaving out the mark on his head.

Calvin shrugged. “That’s why I paint without a shirt. If you weren’t here my pants would be off, too.” He smiled at her, making no attempt to remove the paint. His eyes narrowed. “I’ll get it later.”

Evie gulped as she combed a few blonde strands of hair off her face. “I know that you love me,” she said
.
“Not only do you tell me, but you show me in so many ways. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt closer to another person before, so connected. But even still, I have times where–I admit–I’m just insecure and childish probably, but I still wonder if you’re…”

A flash of concern flared in his eyes. “What?”

“If you’re attracted to me. The way I am to you.” She wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Evie, are you
kidding?
How could you doubt that?”

The booming sound of his voice silenced her, took her by surprise.

“How could you ever think . . .” A grunt of frustration sounded in his throat. “You are exactly what I want. Exactly. Mentally, physically, you’re perfect. You’re
beautiful
.”

Evie raised her voice to match his. “Well this is what I struggle with. I’m starting to wonder if I’m just crazy, or spoiled, or
what
the hell’s wrong with me. Because what I want seems to conflict with our whole objective to … you know,
wait.
You’ll think that when I say I want more that I’ll want
that,
but I don’t. I just want something in between. Do you get it?” Hot tears streamed down her face. What a mess she’d made of that.

“No, I don’t get it. I’m sorry, Evie. What exactly are you wanting from me?” Frustration tensed his tone. His chest rose and fell with each angry breath as he waited for an answer.

“You,” Evie shouted. “Your kiss. I want you to kiss me like you want me, not like we’re just greeting one another on the street. I want you to put your mouth on me like you did on my birthday, or at the bowling alley, or the few other times I managed to nearly seduce you out of your senses.” Her voice cracked in a humorless laugh. “You know, I get that you don’t want to make out on the doorstep each night Cal, or get all…carried away every time we’re together. Fine. Good, in fact. I’m sure there’s a lot of wisdom in your decision to take things so slowly. But if you never bother giving me even the smallest amount of passion, I’ll be left to assume there’s just…something wrong with me. What else is there?”

Calvin pressed his eyes closed, ran a tense hand through his hair.

What was he thinking? Why wasn’t he saying anything? “Look at me,” she scolded. “You’re driving me crazy!”

“Evie, I’ve done everything I can to make it clear that I’m good with waiting. It hasn’t been easy, trust me. And now suddenly your saying … what?”

“I’m saying that you can’t expect me to be some robot, some …
thing
with no physical wants or needs. I’m seriously supposed to just lay on your bed, watch you strut around here with your shirt off, and not feel anything?”

He tilted his head. “Strut around?” An amused chuckle coated his words.

Evie glared at him, hating that he’d managed to find humor in the moment. With an infuriated grunt, she strode toward the doorway, bumping his shoulder as she passed.

“Wait. Don’t leave.” Calvin caught her by the arm, reached over to close his door.

She turned away from him as tears gathered in her eyes.

“I had no idea-”

“Well how would you, Calvin?” she interrupted coldly. “How could you possibly know what it’s like for me unless you felt the same? Obviously you don’t want me the way–”

“I
do
want you,” he said sternly, grabbing her other arm. “You’ve had enough of the
gentleman
?” he asked in a low growl. “Huh?”

“That’s not what I said.”

His voice rose. “I’d be a better lover if I took lessons from Parker.” He pressed his unyielding body against her, strong and heated. His hands encircled her waist.

Her next breath nearly escaped her.

“Parker just takes what he wants, whether it’s his or not. And
I
want
you
.” The threatening sound of his voice caused her shoulders to tense.

An untamed thrill shot through her. She wanted to be angry with him, nearly wondered if she should fear him, but she didn’t. And to have his hands so firmly on her body, his declaration of desire spoken seductively in her ear, it filled her with a yearning that made her limbs warm and weak.
 

He whispered it again, “I
want
you, Evie. Always.” The softness of his tone made her wonder if the passion had fled him. But in the next moment, his hands slid longingly up her sides, then back down to her hips. He moved them up again, slowly up and over her arms where he swept her hair off her shoulders with his warm fingers.

His tongue drew slowly over his lips as he looked at her neck, tenderly gliding his thumb along her throat. Her eyes closed as he brought his mouth to her, gently sinking his teeth in, ever so lightly, grazing her flesh, just enough to have her back arching, her body reaching out to him.

Evie held onto his shoulders to steady herself, falling into the heaven of Calvin’s lips on her shoulders and arms, on her wrists and palms. He turned her and focused on the sides of her neck, and the upper center of her back while she reveled in the moist and inviting warmth of his mouth. He had her completely, and there was no mistaking his desire. He
did
want her, had been wanting her all along, but resisted. That knowledge added to the thrill, to know he’d protect what she held sacred.

When Calvin spun her back around, he muttered under his breath, “Quiero a ti.” He searched her face with what looked like conflict in his eyes. But before she could think more of it, he took her mouth to his own. Ravenous and hungry, as if he’d craved nothing more in his life than the taste of her kiss. She could feel the pent-up frustration beneath his lips matching–no–exceeding that of her own. The euphoric spell his mouth put her under had never failed, and this time, she took all she could.

With his arms wrapped firmly around her, he lifted her to the bed and lay her back on it, keeping his body against hers, loyally attending to her with his kiss. He took her hand, placed it flat on his heated chest where she felt his heart beat, fast and wild beneath her palm. She kept it there, let the heated pounding manifest the deep and utter passion within him.

A gasp pulled from her throat when his hands gripped her hips, his fingers pressing against her lower back, pulling her impossibly closer.

All else faded from existence–there was nothing but him.

Calvin’s lips fell to her neck once more. He planted kisses up to her ear and paused. “Tell me to stop,” he pled breathlessly.

She wasn’t certain she’d heard him correctly. But then he whispered again. “Tell me that you
want
me to stop, Evie. I don’t think I can do it otherwise.” He trailed kisses back down her neck while his strong hands moved up her back.

Evie seized the fleeting moment of distraction, “Stop,” she managed in barely a whisper. “We better stop.”

Calvin froze, and then pulled away. She felt the tight strain in his biceps as her hands slipped from his arms. The rapid sound of their breathing filled the air.

With a pained expression on his face, he scooted away and sat against the headboard. She sat up too, leaning her weight onto one straightened arm, and looked over his handsome face, the way he sat–breathless, flushed, and bothered.

“I
never
want you to doubt my desire for you, Evie.” He pulled a hand through his hair, rested his elbows on his knees.  “But you can’t ask me to do that kind of thing again.”

His statement took her by surprise. “Why not? We stopped just fine.”

“Five minutes,” Calvin said, voice cold and threatening. “Five more minutes and I could’ve had you out of those clothes and under these sheets with me.” The surety in his tone made her hedge.

“Don’t be so sure.”

“I
am
sure,” he said. “You wouldn’t have stopped me. And when I’m the one who has to slow things down, you know we’ve got a problem.”

Evie gasped, offended. “Well maybe my mind wasn’t going where yours was. I was just …”
Carried away.
But she didn’t want to admit that. She was used to being in control. Always. Yet in those brief  moments, Evie had lost all sense of it.

Calvin shook his head. “You’ve made it through dating the likes of Tyler Banks and remained a virgin. I’m not about to be the one to take that from you now. Not unless we’re married.”

Married?
Just hearing him say the word made her heart flutter.

“I should never have laid you on this bed with me. Or locked my door,” he said.

Evie spun around to look at the brass knob. “I didn’t see you do that.”

Calvin’s breaths were slowing now, and so were hers. Moments passed with neither of them speaking. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was angry at her. He seemed so … buried. Lost in thought, as if he were trying to solve some great mystery or riddle.

“We probably shouldn’t spend so much time alone.”

“What?”

“I don’t trust myself around you right now. You should have heard how quickly I started justifying things in my head. Even now there’s this voice pleading with me to keep you here and finish what I’ve started.” He looked away from her, ran his gaze over the canvas he’d been working on.

She gulped. “Calvin, we’ll just stay out of our bedrooms. Hang out in the family rooms and kitchens or something.”

He slid off the bed and held his hand out for her. “It’s late.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I better get going.”

They took the stairs in silence. The deep quiet of the night filled the air as they stepped into its darkness.

Calvin looked down, shuffling his bare feet on the pavement. “Do you play racquetball?”

Evie tilted her head. “Huh?”

“Racquetball. Have you ever played?”

“I’ve played before, with Jessica.” She wondered where he was going with the topic.

“I think that it might be a good thing for us,” he said. “You know, do that on the weeknights for a while, after I’m done working. Should keep us from getting into trouble.” He cleared his throat and looked at her through narrowed eyes, dark and piercing. “That was just way too close.” He seemed so affected by the incident, surprisingly so.

“Okay,” she said, a smile pulling at her lips. “Racquetball sounds good. Let’s give it a try.”

Chapter Twenty