Finding Eva (Highland Creek Series) (18 page)

“Hey, guys,” he said, his mother sending him her silent permission to introduce the two. “I would like to introduce you to Elizabeth’s daughter Eva.” Eva waved and Aaron could tell from her sheepish expression that she was a bit embarrassed.

“Hello,” she said softly.

“And this is her friend, Gwen.” Gwen was a bit more outgoing, coming up to shake his sisters’ hands, and he was thankful that the attention was off Eva for a minute.

He came and hugged her, noticing that her hands were trembling, before he whispered in her ear, “You will do great.” She seemed to straighten her spine and that and turned to introduce herself to his sisters and brothers.

Bryan greeted her with a handshake, nodding his head toward Aaron. “It’s a good thing you got here when you did. I thought he was going to track you down if you didn’t come soon.” Eva laughed and looked at Aaron, who shrugged. He knew that he was going to have to deal with some good natured ribbing; he only hoped that it would not be too harsh.

“Nice to meet you.” Reagan hugged Eva, surprising her with the welcome reaction. Aaron knew that was just his sister’s nature, and he was thankful for it. Adelaide held back a little bit, but he knew once she got to know Eva she would love her as much as he did.

“What the hell?! Where is everybody?” They heard from inside the house. No one was surprised that Conner was the last to get there, other than he was screaming. He tended to make a big entrance.

“And there’s your brother,” his mother said, turning to chastise Conner for screaming in her house when she noticed the six pack in his hands.

Susan put her hands on her hips. “Why did you bring beer?”

“Did this become an alcohol-free house?” He kissed her on the cheek, passing the beer over her head to Bryan, who accepted it eagerly.

Susan laughed at him. “Well, no, but I don’t want Eva to think my kids are a bunch of raging alcoholics.”

Conner pointed his two index fingers at her. “Your kids, or yourself?”

His mother slapped him on the chest. “Shut up. Eva, ignore him, he’s an idiot.”

Eva laughed good-naturedly. “I am well aware of what Conner is capable of. Last week when he was working on the bathroom, he flipped the breaker and had me thinking that the power was out.” Everyone laughed—all but Gwen—knowing that he could be a bit of a jokester.

Conner put his hands on his chest, shaking his head in disagreement. “Hey, it could happen to anyone.”

“Right,” Eva said sarcastically, cocking her head, “and what about the bitter coffee?”

Conner laughed, remembering when he switched out her normal coffee for an especially bitter brew. “Ok, that was me. But moving on before my mother or Bryan kills me for making fun of you in the middle of a job, how are you?” He hugged her and she found herself missing her own brother.

She smiled, green eyes sparkling. “Good, thanks.”

Everyone started to break up into various groups, and Eva was able to mingle with all of Aaron’s family. She found her sister’s kindred spirit in Reagan, and a serious business-minded one in Adelaide. She could see how much they really loved their brother and seemed genuinely interested in learning more about her and her family. She couldn’t help but notice that Gwen and Conner gravitated toward each other and talked for a long period of time, and although she tried not to worry, she couldn’t help herself. She was finally able to extract herself from his sisters as she made her way over to where Aaron was talking to Bryan.

Aaron was happy to see how well everyone got along, wrapping his arm around Eva as she moved closer before kissing her on the head. “How was the lion’s den?”

She chuckled, and he knew she was recalling her earlier nervousness. “It was good. I really like your family.”

“You do?” Bryan said, “That’s great, because this guy right here…” he pointed his thumb at Aaron “…has been doing some serious drooling over you. If I had to hear him whining one more time about you and the whole situation with your mother, I would have killed him.”

“Really?” Eva looked at Aaron in a way that clearly told him he was going to be hearing about it later on.

He cleared his throat, drinking his beer. “Well, I may have asked for his advice about helping you.”

Bryan laughed at his response. “Is that what we are calling it now? He was horrible, conspiring ways to help you out without your knowledge.” She took a step back out of his arms, and Aaron would have happily punched his brother in his big fat mouth.

Eva glared at Aaron. “He did?”

Aaron could feel his face getting red and scratched his neck as he thought about how to crawl himself out of his current hole. “Mom?”

“Yeah, hun?” she replied, blissfully unaware of the hot seat her current son was sitting on.

“Is dinner ready?”

“I just have to get a couple of things from the kitchen before we’re ready. Want to help?” Aaron took off like his ass was on fire, and if the look on Eva’s face was any indication, he was going to be hearing about it later on.

Aaron briefly thought of beating the shit out of his brother, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. She probably would have found out about his poking around anyway; he just wished it wasn’t in the way she had. He quickly helped his mother, making sure everything looked good before they sat down.

He noticed how his family seemed to gravitate toward Eva, everyone making sure that she was comfortable before he sat down behind her. Despite her irritation at him, he noticed that her attention was on Gwen and his brother.
Interesting
, he thought and hoped that they knew what they were doing. From what he’d heard about Gwen she didn’t need any additional crap, and he knew that his brother tended to be a one-night stand king.

Aaron wondered if he should say something, before Eva turned to look at him and gave him a reassuring smile before whispering, “You aren’t off the hook. We will be talking later.”

“Gotcha,” he murmured before asking her to pass the hamburgers, not looking forward to his talk with her later on, if the glare she sent him was any indication. “If it makes you feel any better, I can beat the shit out of Conner if he gets too frisky.”

E
va couldn’t stop the smirk that came from Aaron’s comment, despite her irritation with him. What the fuck was his brother talking about him trying to help her? She knew that he always bugged her about trying to help, but going to his brother was just a bit over the top. Did he not listen to her when she said that she didn’t need or want his help? She would just have to file that piece of information away for later, because now she was thoroughly enjoying the dinner and the company.

She found Aaron’s family honest, generous, and fun. She could tell that they liked and respected each other, if their interactions before and during the meal were any indication. It made Eva miss her family, the easy banter and family dinners she had missed since she had been down here. They also subscribed by the philosophy stretch or starve; they reached for food with gumption, and she and Gwen watched the feeding frenzy before Aaron nudged her and told her to put some food on her plate.

“So how do you like the food?” Susan asked as Eva was in the middle of a big bite.

She smiled and wiped her mouth before answering, “These burgers are great! What is in the middle?”

“Those are my famous blue cheese burgers,” Ian said, his chest puffing with the compliment.

“Well, it is one of the best that I have ever had.”

“I’m glad. How is the house working out for you?”

“It’s good, thanks for asking.” She had come to Susan a couple of days after she gave her the letter to ask about Elizabeth. That is how she was thinking of her mother, as Elizabeth, because she knew that her real mother would always be Linda, who was there throughout all the highs and lows of her life and would continue to be there for her. It was good to share information with Susan and hear her talk about the different things her mother did for Susan’s family.

“I have just about gone through all the stuff and I am trying to figure out where to put everything so I can get the house ready to sell.” She felt Aaron stiffen beside her but chose to ignore it. He knew that she was leaving—a couple of great nights were not going to stop that—and she figured that ignoring that was the best way to go.

“You aren’t going to keep it? Even as a weekend home?” She knew why Susan was asking, it was an amazing house and most people would love to live in it. She was not most people, however, and didn’t know what she would do with a house two hours away.

“I have thought about it, but I am still deciding. I love the house, but I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with a house that is two hours away from where I work. At this point though, I am not seeing a reason to keep it. It isn’t like Highland Creek is a bubbling tourist spot.”

Ian laughed. “You have a point about the tourism, but I would recommend you keep the property, if for nothing else than because you will have a viable asset.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said, glad when Gwen turned to her and asked her a question.

Dinner continued on as it began, with food, jokes, and a bunch of laughter. After dinner was even better, his parents taking advantage of the wonderful summer night to roast s’mores outside by the fire pit. Kelly loved it and she ran around the fire excitedly, begging her Meemaw for more despite her father saying no. It tended to be a running joke because Bryan didn’t look that mad that his girl was getting hyped up on sugar. Eva excused herself toward the end of the night, desperately needing the bathroom, unsurprised when she saw Aaron outside the door waiting for her. He had been a bit clingy that night, maybe because he sensed her earlier nervousness when dealing with his family.

“Hey, babe.” He rubbed his hand down her arm, pulling her farther down the hallway into one of the bedrooms. She looked around, noting the sports trophies and the room that looked like a typical high schooler’s room before she asked if it was his.

“Yep.” He brushed his nose across hers as he pushed her against the door. He leaned down to kiss her before she realized that she was still irritated at him.

She shoved him back, pointing her finger in her face. “I’m mad at you. Don’t try to kiss me. What did your brother mean when he said that you were going behind my back to try and see if you could help me?”

He grabbed her finger and kissed it, brown eyes pleading. “Can we talk about it later? I just want to hold you and we don’t have much time before we will get interrupted. He leaned down again, and she found herself caving as he pressed his lips over hers. She opened her mouth, moaning as his tongue slipped in. The kiss went from zero to sixty, which tended to be their MO, and she hooked her leg over his waist and leaned forward, trying to get closer.

“I’m not going to last,” he whispered, and she shook her head no as she reached for her zipper. He freed himself and pumped a couple of times while she pulled down her pants and underwear before he lifted her against the door and thrust into her with no warning, sliding in smoothly because she was already wet for him.

“Right there.” She rocked into him as he helped her move up and down. His thrusts became quicker and quicker before they finally looked at each other, kissing, as he reached down to rub her clit, causing her to squirm. Eva felt herself close to the edge, urging him on with her moans of pleasure, before she bit down on his shoulder, shuddering through her release. Aaron followed soon after, groaning as he shot into her. He panted frantically near her ear, still holding her up against the door through sheer will, and she felt so boneless she knew that if he had let her go, she would have slid happily to the floor.

“Hey.” She kissed the side of his head, the only part she could reach, as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

“Hey yourself.” He moved his head, looking at her, before kissing her tenderly and sliding out of her.

“Shit!” He looked down, realizing he forgot something. Eva realized about the same time he did, her eyes going wide as she thought about the implications.

“I’m on the pill,” she whispered, and mentally calculated where she was in her cycle. “I think I’m ok. Fuck! I can’t believe we were so stupid.” Eva walked back and forth, having a mini freak out and trying to figure out what to do.

“It’s ok. I am never like that. I just start kissing you and my mind goes blank. I can’t seem to help it.” Aaron shrugged and Eva turned toward him and hugged him, not quite knowing what to do. “We’ll be ok. Whatever happens, we’ll be ok.”

She was having her doubts since she was the one who would have to deal with it, but what could she do, especially when there was a knock on the door and his mother called, “Aaron!”

“Fuck,” he mumbled before he answered his mother.

“What are you doing?” she asked through the door after she rattled the doorknob to find it locked.

He quickly adjusted himself and zipped his jeans, knowing this could go badly, given the fact that his mother was not one to stay outside the door. Eva moved behind the door to adjust herself while he answered the door. Trying to find some justification for having been in his room so long, she frantically searched for a prop to use as a cover. She spotted a plain white photo album that she grabbed from the shelf before she went to the door.