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I turned back to Ryan who stood there straight-faced with his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed in on Hawke. As much as my body ached to be beside him; reassuring him that there was absolutely nothing going on between Hawke and I, I knew the best thing to do was walk away. We did need to talk, but somewhere private, and not in the middle of the street with others around. So, in the end, even though it pained me greatly to do so, I nodded and quietly said goodbye to Ryan and Annabelle, who was now standing beside her brother.

Before turning away I gave Ryan one last look and mouthed ‘sorry’ but seeing him look away and ignore my apology felt like somebody had stabbed me in the chest with a knife and twisted it.

“Sorry about that,” Hawke said once we were inside his car.

“About what?”

“Taking your hand back there. I knew it would drive him crazy, that’s why I did it. I just wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.”

When I gave him a confused look he added, “After what he put you through, he deserves to know he’s messed up big time, and if seeing you with another guy is going to make him see that, then so be it.”

I mustered a smile as we turned into the street. “So an Audi, huh?” I asked, coxing the conversation away from the current topic.

Hawke turned and met my playful smirk. I raised an eyebrow at him. “An Audi L W12, actually,” he replied, eyeing me suspiciously. “What’s wrong with it?”

I let out a laugh. “Nothing’s wrong with it. I just expected you to have some sort of sports car like most athletes seem to have.”

His face relaxed.

“If I tell you the truth, you promise not to laugh at me?” I chuckled but bit my lips when he flashed a faux glare at me. “It’s not my car. Robert, my sister’s husband owns it. I’m terrified of cabs, so I borrow this whenever I’m in town.”

My eyes widened. “You’re scared of taxi cabs? What? How?”

Hawke shrugged. “I don’t know? Nobody can ever get me inside one of those damn things, I totally flip out.”

I couldn’t help a giggle. “How bizarre. You’re a strange man, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear that plenty of times from the rest of the family,” he responded, shaking his head. “So anyway, where would you like to go?”

“I’m happy to go wherever you want to go.” I smiled, turning to face the front.

“Dessert? I know a place nearby that serves the best gelato in the city.”

“Sounds perfect. Let’s go,” I replied a little too eagerly. I was starving and a great big bowl of gelato sounded mouth-watering, but I was also eager to spend more time with Hawke.

Was I insane? Seeing Ryan made it obvious that I was still in love with him, but there was something different about Hawke. I felt comfortable being around him. Not to mention he was charming, funny, and my brother loved him, so that was an added bonus.

I knew I was thinking way too hard about this, but maybe Hawke was better for me than Ryan ever was? But all the happy thoughts were soon dispelled by one obvious fact. I was pregnant. How could I consider starting a relationship with anyone while I was carrying somebody else’s child? It wouldn’t be fair on Hawke.

My thoughts were interrupted when we pulled up in front of a cute little restaurant. I decided to push everything to the back of my mind and just enjoy the night as it was: two friends going out for dessert.

CHAPTER 31

Before long, the night was over and Hawke and I were standing out the front of my apartment building saying our goodbyes to one another. Dessert had been great. We’d laughed and spoken about a lot of things.

“I had a great time tonight,” I said, looking up at him with a genuine smile on my face.

“Yeah, I did too. My stomach is about to explode.”

“That’s your own fault! You were the one that wanted to try every flavor,” I teased.

“It had to be done. Anyway, you did alright for a girl, eating three large scoops on your own.”

“‘Alright for a girl’?” I put a hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow, which earned a laugh from him. “That is probably the most arrogant thing you’ve said all night,” I added, giving him a light jab on the chest with my fingernail.

With a mischievous grin, he caught my finger, wrapped his own fingers around it and took a step closer. I felt a lump rise in my throat as my heart quickened its pace. Why was he standing so close? “Would you slap me if I kissed you right now?”

I stared at him; unable to look away, and slowly shook my head from side to side. “Good,” I heard him whisper before his lips were on mine.

I stood up on tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck, while his hands grabbed hold of me and pushed me against him. Wanting more, I opened my mouth to allow his tongue to slip inside.

I moaned against his lips just as he pulled away, a gentle, sweet smile sat on his face.

The kiss was much different than what I shared with Ryan. Although it felt nice, it was missing something. The intensifying electricity that made my entire body tingle with just a single touch wasn’t there, but Hawke made me feel secure. This was the type of man I needed to be with.

“I guess this is the part where I say goodnight,” Hawke whispered against my lips.

“You could come up?”
What?!
Where the hell did that come from, Evangeline? My face burned realizing the words that had accidentally escaped my mouth. Was I insane? I was thankful when Hawke broke the awkward silence with a light laugh.

Pressing a kiss to the side of my face he replied, “Ask me again after our third date and I’ll definitely take you up on that offer.”

I blinked, stunned by his calm, casual and
polite
answer. He was saying no, but it wasn’t a rejection, was it?

“
Third date?
” I braved a look at his face and found him smiling.

“Yup. Tonight being our first.”

I couldn’t help but mirror his smile. For a guy having grown up in the limelight with famous parents and the rest of his family in the entertainment industry, it was hard to believe he was still so grounded and normal.

“So, will you let me take you out again?” he asked wagging his eyebrows like a ridiculous schoolboy.

I burst out laughing and almost lost my balance before Hawke’s hands reached out and caught me around the waist, steadying me.

“I hope you’re not laughing at me. That took a lot of courage for me to ask you out again.”

Trying hard to contain my laughter, I bit my lip and shook my head. “No, I’m laughing at your ridiculous attempt to look sexy,” I teased.

His eyebrows shot up in mock disgust. “What? You don’t find
this
sexy,” he asked wagging his eyebrows again. I burst into another fit of laughter.

After calming down and agreeing to catch up the next time Hawke was in town, we said our goodbyes with another quick kiss.

I couldn’t remember the elevator ride up to my floor. It felt like I was floating the entire time, and a permanent cheesy grin plastered to my face.

Once I got into my apartment, I raced into my bedroom and collapsed on the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, I found myself eagerly thinking about the next time I was going to see Hawke. That’s when I heard the doorbell ring.
Huh?
It was very late, the only person it could be was Connor, who had a swipe that allowed him access to my floor, but what would he be doing here at this time of the night? Could it be the young lady on the front desk or security perhaps?

I made my way to the front door and looked through the peephole.
What the hell?

Standing on the other side of the door with his head down and back towards me was Ryan, still dressed in his suit from earlier. What was he doing here and how on earth did he manage to get up to my floor? Knowing my luck, all he had to do was flash that panty-dropping smile and the young girl on the front desk would have fallen for his charms and let him through with no questions asked, and because security knew his face they wouldn’t have bothered to stop him.

I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for the second confrontation I was about to have with the guy on the same day.

The sound of the door opening caused him to spin around and our eyes met.

“I didn’t think you’d answer once you found out who it was,” he said with a nervous smile.

“Come in, Ryan,” I offered, knowing I was way too tired to push him away.

With a small nod, he stepped inside and made his way towards the living room.

Once he disappeared around the corner I released the breath I didn’t realize I was holding on to.
Calm down, Evangeline, you can do this. Just talk about anything else…

I repeated the words over and over inside my head as I slowly made my way over to him. While my body ached with need having him so close by, I thought it was best if I sat on the opposite sofa and kept my eyes to the ground. Awkward tension was thick in the air and even though I wasn’t looking directly over at him, I could sense he was also avoiding eye contact as much as I was. I wasn’t sure why he’d come over but something in the back of mind told me it had something to do with our little run in earlier, and not the big secret that I was keeping from him. Well… that was what I’d hoped for anyway.

“How are you doing?” he finally asked after a long silence.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out, so I nodded instead.

Ryan gave a small smile in response.

“Can I ask what you are doing here? And how you managed to get up to my floor at this time of the night?” I finally found the courage to ask.

His smile relaxed. “Promise not to get mad at Niall?”

I eyed him warily, wondering what my favorite concierge had to do with this and where the conversation was leading.

“So, I may have paid him to get my own swipe and key cut…” Ryan sucked in a breath and waited for my response.

“You did
what
?!” I shouted, springing to my feet.

“Calm down,” he replied, shaking his head. “I did it the day before we went to the charity ball.”

“Ryan! How dare you go behind my back and do that. Why didn’t you think to ask me?”

“Because I knew you’d say no.” He shrugged. “Niall approved it, so you should consider partially blaming him.”

I let out an exasperated sigh and dropped back down on the sofa. I was furious but taking it out on Ryan was like shouting at a goldfish. He was just not getting it.

“I
should
be doing that but I’m not going to.”

“Why not? I don’t see why it’s fair that I take all the blame.”

“Because! I know what you’re capable of! You can charm your way into getting anything you want!”

He scratched his chin and pondered on this for a minute. “
Almost
anything that I want,” he added mysteriously.

I threw him a frustrated glare and asked, “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t get everything I want, Evangeline. I don’t have you.”

“You had me but you ruined that!” I found myself regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth.

Ryan nodded but didn’t say anything. “Will you ever let me try to fix it?”

Did I ever get a choice?
He was going to try no matter what I wanted.

I heard him sigh. “Evangeline please let me explain the full story. I’m not going to lose you because of a stupid story some crazy girl made up.”

In the end, I decided to listen to his side of the story; it was only fair that I did. He told me that Jessica had done what she did because she was jealous of me and what Ryan and I had. She had thought she was different because he continuously went back to her, unlike the one-night stands he usually had, but then I came along. He refused to sleep with her and their therapy sessions turned into him rambling on about me for the entire hour. She’d tried to apologize for everything and even tried to convince him to stay with her but Ryan set her straight. He told her he wanted nothing to do with her, and if he so much as hears another bad word about me in the media, he was going to hunt her down and make her pay.

I told him that it probably wasn’t wise to threaten her. To which he just shrugged and said, “I will do anything for the people I love, Evangeline. You need to know that.”

I wanted nothing more than to forgive him entirely, but other thoughts were running around inside of my mind. Jessica was just one, out of how many scorned lovers out there? Would I be able to handle if this kind of thing happened all over again? The media frenzy that Jessica’s lie had caused was terrifying, and it wasn’t just my life I had to protect now. It was the tiny thing growing inside of me. I didn’t want the little guy to be exposed to the madness that I had been. How could I possibly find a way to stop that from happening?