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“You think that’s funny,Eve?” His eyes are the same striking blue as the Utah sky when I landed this afternoon, clouded with a touch of angry gray.
“It’s Evie, actually…” I meet his glare with an even bigger smile, then remember. “I mean, Evelyn. I prefer Evelyn. And yes, Idothink it’s funny. On so many levels.”
“You want cheese on your burger?” he growls.
My smile shrinks. “I didn’t order a burger.” I glance back at the menu and search for the thing I was so sure I wanted a minute ago. “I want the—”
“—Cheese or no cheese?” he snarls like a dog who has had enough petting from an adoring human.
“Cheese,” I mumble and let my smile take a break. “Please.”
I like cheeseburgers. I mean, I’ve eaten a million of them. Why would I want to try something new? No matter how delicious pork with browned butter sounds.
Adam stomps away and air returns to the space he’s left.
“He’s on one tonight,” Britta mutters to Bear, then says to me, “He makes an incredible burger. You won’t be disappointed. Once he gets to know you, he’ll make the gourmet stuff for you.”
“I’ll go put some fries in.” Bear’s voice is so deep it reverberates off the walls. “If he’ll let me. Adam’s possessive of his kitchen.”
“Fries sound great.” I remain cheerful, despite being hungry, tired, and not really in the mood for a burger and fries after seeing the wordsbrown butterandplumtogether.
Bear walks toward the kitchen at the same time the outside door swings open and another large man, just as chiseled as Adam and Bear, and almost as hot, walks in. But this one is dark to their light. Dark hair, dark eyes, darker skin.
And I have to give props to Paradise for producing some fine specimens of the human variety—at least the four that I’ve met—of every color. Because I was starting to wonder if everyone looks like they’ve just sailed in on a Viking ship. A friendly one. Like the river cruise ship line that caters to old people. Not the pillaging kind from back in the day.
Except for Adam. He’s definitely the pillaging sort of Viking.
Still, if every man is as ripped as the first three I’ve encountered in Paradise, it might tempt me to engage in a little “pillaging” myself and take one of them with me when I leave.
Just not the scowl-y one.
Chapter 6
Adam
“You’re late!” I yell to Sebastian from the kitchen, Bear by my side, when our cousin walks through the door. “Now I’ve gotta make an order.”
My cousin acknowledges my irritation by giving me the finger. Bear gets a friendly wave. Sebastian’s already walking toward Evie’s table—even though he should be headed to the stage to practice—with a huge grin plastered on his too-perfect face. The nose I broke (accidentally) only makes him more interesting to women.
I love the guy—despite the fact he’s always late for band practice—but he’s a vampire, minus the fangs and appetite for blood. No matter where he is, he senses the minute a pretty, single woman shows up in town. Within seconds, he’s sought her out and activated his magnetic powers. During the summer, he’s literally swarmed with women.
The off season means fewer women, but also gives Sebastian the chance to fine tune his magnetism. And I see it working on Evie already from my spot on the other side of the counter. Her eyes scan his entire body, growing wider and shinier the closer he gets. The fact that her eyes are stuck to him like flies on flypaper before he even introduces himself isn’t surprising.
What is surprising is the tickle of jealousy I feel just below my sternum.She didn’t look at me like that.Maybe because I have a talent for scaring women away, not drawing them closer. Or maybe because I’ve never put out the vibe to draw women in. I had Dakota by my side since I was fifteen and never wanted anyone else.
Now, I don’t know where to start. Obviously. But I also haven’t wanted to.
The feeling of envy toward both Sebastian’s skill and him sitting at Evie’s table grows from a tickle to hard poking, followed by billowing smoke. I don’t know where the feeling comes from, but the smoke is from the grill. Evie’s hamburger is on fire. I’ve been watching her instead of her dinner.
“You need me to take over here?” Bear asks.
“No,” I snap and dump Evie’s burned meat patty into the garbage.
“Not like you to burn food, is all I’m saying.” Bear’s gaze goes from me to Evie.
“I’m fine.” I slap another patty on the grill.
Dakota and I were together for so long, I can’t remember the last time I had a thought about another woman that was more than a passing distraction. But I’m having lots of thoughts about Evie. All of them about how I’d like to get close enough to see what color her eyes actually are. Blue? Black? Violet? Can eyes even be that color?
