Page 78 of Moonlit Temptation
“Huh. What a small world,” she murmurs.
“Rosewood is small,” Bane interjects.
Evangeline smiles at Bane, and I feel that same pang of jealousy twist inside me. I want her to only have eyes for me.
“Well, dinner is almost ready,” she says, turning to head back into the kitchen. “Hunter helped make it, so I apologize in advance if it doesn't taste good. He got a little heavy handed with the cilantro.”
“Aren't you staying?” Silas asks.
“Ah, no. But thank you. I have dinner plans with my cousin,” she says, glancing at me to gauge my reaction. “I'll see you tomorrow morning.”
Silas only grunts in response. Fucking typical.
She turns on the oven light and bends over to peer inside.”Hm, a few more minutes and it should be perfect. I'm going to say goodbye to Hunter.”
“I'll walk you out,” I say, stepping behind her as she walks outside.
I'm content to just be next to her right now, observing the way she talks to Hunter. She's good with him, really good.
I walk with her around to the front of the house after Hunter gets exactly six hugs from her before he lets her leave.
“Hey,” she says, bumping her shoulder into mine. “I'm sorry if this is weird now. Me nannying your nephew.”
I toss my arm across her shoulder. “Nah, it's not weird. I was just surprised to see you, that's all.”
“Well, to be honest I wasn't sure if it was going to last—I'm still not. Silas seems very particular about things, and I'm not always the best with rigid structure, ya know?”
“I understand, and for what it's worth, I think you're excellent with him.” I pull her in closer and brush a soft kiss across the crown of her head.
“I gotta go,” she murmurs, but she doesn't step out from under my arm yet.
“See you soon, yeah? Clearing up some work stuff, otherwise I'd be by your place tonight.”
Her hands wrap around me, her giggle against my chest soothing the earlier ache. “So confident. You can come by anytime, Nova.”
She pulls back, and I skim my lips across the corner of her mouth before she lets go.
“You're spoiling me, ya know?”
“Remember what I said about that?” I press a kiss to her temple.
“I remember,” she whispers.
“Good. I'm happy to remind you whenever you need it,” I tell her, chuckling.
She pulls away and walks across the driveway to her car I didn't notice before. I watch her walk away, my mind on a constant spin since we gleaned this information.
It's hard to make sense of the evil actions of asshole people.
Following them definitely gave us some general answers, but it opened up about fifty more.
There are too many variables, and I fucking hate all the unknown. I know we have to set a meeting with the sheriff, and I can only hope his replacement is on the same page right away. Or our lives are about to get a lot more complicated.
35
EVANGELINE
My phone vibrateson the island next to me. I found a small filing cabinet in the formal family room, hidden inside a china cabinet. Just packed to the brim with papers.
