Just a Kiss: The Bradfords, Book 5 (7 page)

Stupid.

“Imagine that,” Monica said dryly. “I can’t believe someone might be upset about something like that.”

Eve frowned. They’d been over this before. “I wanted to talk to him. It’s not my fault he didn’t follow up on the paperwork until now.”

It wasn’t like she’d intended to keep it from him for over a decade. She’d wanted a chance to tell him what had happened that morning after their wedding. And that she still loved him. She’d thought it would take a couple of weeks, maybe a month, for him to find out things weren’t finished between them and come to see her.

Monica looked at her closely. “You really have been hanging on to him all this time, haven’t you?”

Eve had really tried to cover that up. “Not exactly.” It wasn’t like she was sitting at home on Saturday nights, her and her twelve cats, because she could never love another man like she loved Kevin.

She didn’t have even one cat.

“But you haven’t completely let him go,” Monica pointed out.

“I haven’t seen him or talked to him,” Eve replied. “I don’t know what I could have done to get
more
rid of him.”

“You could have signed the papers, or called him and told him that you needed new papers, or you could have actually moved on and needed the annulment because
you
were involved with someone else.”

Eve frowned. Of course, she could have done one—or more—of those things. But all of those ideas made her stomach hurt. As crazy as that was.

“I never had any closure. I never
wanted
to be without him so it makes sense that I haven’t gotten over him.”

“And now he’s here,” Monica said. “Time to do something.”

“I know,” Eve agreed, “this is my chance to finally finish this.”

“Good.”

“Or to see if we still have feelings for each other.” Her toes literally tingled at that.

Monica sighed. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“You think I’m crazy?”

“Yes,” Monica said without hesitation. “Also slightly delusional and hopelessly romantic.”

Eve nodded. “Probably. But it doesn’t feel crazy.” Or hopeless.

It should. Especially considering Kevin was likely here because he was Drew’s father and he was planning to marry Heather.

Which meant delusional was the best term of any of them.

“It should,” Monica said.

“But if Kevin’s The One? Then it makes sense I’m still in love with him, right?”

“You’re still in love with me?”

She turned to find Kevin staring at her, a strange mix of shock, concern and…was that hope?

There was no way he was going to believe that Eve was still in love with him.

No way.

Unless she proved it somehow…

Kevin shook his head. That was stupid. It had been too long. And she’d made it very clear that she’d made a mistake marrying him. Painfully clear.

“It’s probably more like the way I love Matt Damon.”

Her tone was surprisingly reasonable, considering the topic.

“Matt Damon?”

“You know, from afar, based only on his good looks and his sense of humor in interviews.”

“Oh,” Kevin said with a frown. So her feelings for him weren’t serious. Or even real. Great.

And why did that piss him off?

“Then again,” she said, “it’s got to be more real than that, right? I mean, we’ve known each other really well. And we’ve slept together. I haven’t done that with Matt.”

Kevin closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. “This is not how I thought this conversation would go.”

He’d honestly thought he’d show up, probably notice how great she looked, feel a few pangs of the old heartbreak, tell her they were still married, share in her shock, then sign the papers and move on. Or
pretend
to move on, as he had ever since the day she broke every promise she’d made to him.

“I suppose you found out about the annulment thing when you and Heather went to get your marriage license.”

He dropped his hand from his head and sighed. He wasn’t surprised by her assumption. He knew the news that he was taking Drew in had already circulated. He was a smart guy and knew how it looked, or sounded, or whatever.

“Drew’s not mine. I’m just helping out.”

Eve crossed her arms across her stomach. “That seems strange, you know.”

“Almost as strange as being married without knowing it.”

“Are you involved with Heather?”

“No. I haven’t seen her since high school. Until last night when I met Drew for the first time.”

“But why—”

“None of this is Drew’s fault. He needs someone. That’s all I’m focusing on.” It was all he was
supposed to be
focusing on, anyway. But there was a willowy brunette with big brown eyes that was making it hard to focus on anything except the fact that she claimed to want to kiss him.

His body couldn’t ignore something like that. Not to mention his heart. He’d wanted her since she’d first smiled at him when they were seventeen.

Eve had always seemed small to him. She was five-eight with legs that went on and on, but she was thin and lanky. Not that she would have appreciated either term. She’d always called herself awkward and skinny. She didn’t have much for curves, it was true, but he’d found plenty to appreciate. Her breasts were perfect, her hips just right. Her long dark hair, her big brown eyes, her creamy skin made him want to touch everything—and never stop.

This was bad.

She frowned. “How did you get involved with this whole thing then?”

He blew out a long breath. “I’m asking for temporary guardianship of Drew.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “While Heather’s in jail?”

He nodded.

“That’s really nice. But…
why
?”

He didn’t see a way around the truth here. Yeah, it wouldn’t make Heather or his father look real good, but hey, they were grownups who should have known better. “Because Drew’s my…little brother.”

The sound of stainless steel clattering against the tile floor came from where Monica was still working, but Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off of Eve.

She stared at him. She swallowed. She opened her mouth, then shut it. Finally she managed, “He’s your
brother
?”

Kevin nodded.

“Oh.
Wow
.” It was clear she was calculating the fact that Drew was ten and Kevin was thirty-two and that all of this would have to mean…

“Your
dad
… and
Heather
?”

There it was. He nodded, feeling the surge of anger he’d been periodically tamping down over the past several hours. “My dad and Heather.”

Eve huffed out a long breath. “Holy crap.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re helping Drew out,” she said. “That’s really cool of you.”

He shrugged. He didn’t feel cool about it. He felt a driving desire to do
something
to make some good come out of all of this.

“Seriously, Kevin, that’s great.”

He pushed a hand through his hair again. “Yeah, it would be great. If I had any clue about what I was doing.”

Suddenly Eve smiled and he had to force his feet to stay put. He couldn’t cave into her sweetness. He’d done that far too many times. He’d been tricked into thinking that sweetness was all there was.

He’d been wrong.

Still, she managed to make him feel lighter when she said, “He’s ten. What’s to know? Vegetables, not too much TV, decent bedtime. You can do it.”

You can do it.

Those four words made his heart thump. His dad, Heather, Danika, the guys—they’d all said or shown with their actions that they believed in him and in what he was doing. But damn if it didn’t make him almost grin like a dumbass when Eve said it.

“Nothing to it, huh?”

“No problem,” she assured him.

He sighed, the reality once again pressing in. “Oh, there’s lots of problems.”

“Drew’s a really well-adjusted kid,” Eve said. “I don’t think you’ll have any issues with him. And it’s not like he’s an infant. There aren’t any diapers to worry about.”

“No, Drew’s not a problem. It’s complicated.” What an understatement. “I haven’t had time to get anything really organized.”

“You should keep him here in Grover,” Eve said. “This is his home. That will be easier on him than anything else. And then you don’t need to organize anything.”

He frowned. “I know. I intend to keep him here. But I still have to worry about my other responsibilities.”

Eve frowned back at him. “He’s a ten-year-old kid whose mom is in rehab. I think maybe he’s a little bigger priority than…whatever else you have going on, don’t you?”

Kevin’s frown deepened. “Of course he’s the bigger priority. But there are other people who depend on me too. I have to figure out how to not leave anyone hanging.”

“I guess your girlfriend is just going to have to deal with it,” Eve said, her eyes narrow.

“My…”

Ah. His girlfriend. Eve thought there was a woman. Was Eve annoyed on Drew’s behalf or was she annoyed that there might be a woman who wanted Kevin around on a daily—or nightly—basis?

He liked the jealousy theory. Which was stupid.

“No girlfriend. But I work three twelve-hour shifts a week from seven p.m. to seven a.m.” He ran a hand over his face, feeling tired even thinking about it. “My days off are no problem, and even the days I work I can be there for him until about five-thirty, but I have no idea what to do about the overnight thing.”

He didn’t know why he was dumping this all out there. Maybe because all of the thoughts had been nagging at him since last night and he’d realized that this was going to be a major juggling act—and it was very likely he was going to drop some balls.

“We can ask around,” Monica volunteered from over by the oven. “Surely we can find someone who can stay with him.”

Kevin gave her a small smile. “Thanks, I’d appreciate it.” He’d figure something out. He could take some time off, of course, but that meant finding a replacement for the crew. It was a lot to think about. He turned to Eve, intent on dealing with one thing at a time. “Anyway, we’ll need to go talk to the lawyer in the next few days. After that, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do it. Things will be crazy.”

She said nothing. She looked at him, her bottom lip pulled between her lips. She seemed thoughtful.

“Can you do it tomorrow?” he asked.

“No. Sorry.”

Well, crap. They needed to get it over with. Not only because he needed to concentrate on everything with Drew, but because, frankly, it was still painful even with having had fourteen years to get used to the idea. It wasn’t as if they’d been living like a married couple, but for some reason the idea of signing those papers again made him want to get drunk and hit something. Again.

And getting drunk and hitting things were two things he’d been working on
not
doing in the past several years.

“Okay, how about Friday afternoon, before I have to go back to Omaha?”

Eve drew herself up tall. “Yeah, okay. Maybe.”

“Sounds good.” But it didn’t. Not at all.

“I guess at least we’re not fighting over custody of the dog or splitting up our dishes and furniture, right?” she said with a small smile.

Something inside of Kevin ached—he would have loved to have a dog and dishes with Eve. “Right,” he said, not bothering to try to force a smile.

Her brows drew together. “We’re not going to fight over anything, are we?”

“Nope, I’ve given up fighting.”

The corner of her mouth curled up. “On the straight and narrow now, huh?”

He swallowed. “Something like that.”

She gave him a full smile then. “I guess things do change in fourteen years. Are you obeying speed limits and drinking Shirley Temples too?”

She was kidding around. He knew that. He had to remember that he was the one who had constantly bent the rules and pushed the boundaries—even where she was concerned. Maybe
especially
where she was concerned. Tempting the sweet preacher’s daughter had been fun, particularly once he realized that he was the only person in the world who made her morals wobble. She clearly found the idea of him now being well-behaved amusing.

He looked down at her. This was the woman who had made him want to be a better man, the reason he’d ever set foot in a church before his own epiphany at age twenty-four, the one person who’s opinion mattered enough to make him want to change.

Speed limits and Shirley Temples were only the beginning of the changes Eve wanted…and that he’d been willing to give her.

But she hadn’t stayed with him long enough to see it.

Did he want her to know about the man he’d become without her, even in spite of her?

Damn, right.

It might not be particularly noble or even all that Christian-esque, but he wanted her to know that he was even better now than when she’d been—supposedly—madly in love with him.