“Hey, I thought that was you.” My head whipped to the side. Speak of the damn devil. Evan was standing next to our table. With a tight white T-shirt that hugged every delicious muscle in his upper arms, worn jeans that clung to all the right places, and a tool belt hanging low on his hips, he was even hotter than when I saw him at Jack’s house. I offered up a silent prayer to not make a complete fool of myself and openly drool over him yet again.

I swallowed my first bite of French toast whole so I could say hello. Smooth.

“Hey Evan, not sure if you remember my friend Natalie. This is her daughter Angelica.”

“Hi!” Angelica greeted Evan while chewing on a piece of bacon. Her mother’s eyebrows shot upward towards the ceiling. I had to bite my lip not to laugh.

“I definitely remember Evan. Nice to see you again.” Her voice dropped down to a husky low, the “cute boy” tone she used with guys she liked when we were sixteen. Just like back then, she had tons more game than I did.

“Sure, nice to see you.” Evan gave her a friendly smile. Shit, were those dimples?

“Daisy, is he your boyfriend?” Angelica asked innocently. I grimaced at Natalie, now laughing with her head down and obviously enjoying the hell out of watching me squirm.

Evan’s mouth turned up in a smirk as he turned to me. “Daisy?”

“Angelica couldn’t say Paige when she was a baby, so she called me Paigy, and then Paigy turned to Daisy. The name stuck as she got older.” I gave Angelica a wink and she giggled.

“Hmm, Daisy.” Evan said to himself as he stroked his jaw. He had a scruffy but really effing sexy one-day beard. I tried to keep my gaze on his face and not let my eyes wander lower. My cousin’s formerly geeky best friend was gorgeous now, I couldn’t believe the difference two years had made.

Ridiculous. This was Evan, for God’s sake—no need to get so damn flustered. Jack was one hundred percent right: I needed to get back out there. I had to lose this awkwardness I had around human beings with a penis.

“Daisy suits you.” Evan nodded at me.

I huffed at him. “Suits me? I look like I date a duck who doesn’t wear pants?”

Evan threw his head back and laughed. Why was every move he made now so damn sexy?

“No.” He chuckled. “Daisies were my mom’s favorite flower. She used to say that roses were a little obnoxious, but daisies were beautiful without showing off—and they made everything prettier just by being in the room.” That was the second time he’d said I was beautiful—not that I was keeping track or anything.

“Oh. That’s really sweet, Evan. Thank you.” I could’ve sworn there was a slight rosy blush on his cheeks as he looked away. The humbleness made him even sexier.

Good lord, this was getting worse by the minute.

Natalie loudly cleared her throat, pulling me away from the distracting impure thoughts that ran through my head.

“Are you guys doing a job here?” I was so glad he was here to take the pressure off Jack. Sure, he felt better these days, but he lost a lot of business when he was really sick. Evan was a good guy he could trust, so even though his presence made me a blubbering oversexed idiot, I was happy he was here to help.

“Yeah, the owner asked Jack for an estimate to replace some of the linoleum in the back rooms. I told him I’d come by this morning and check it out.”

“Oh good. I’m so glad you’re here to help him out.”

“Well, I’m his partner now, so I have an interest in new business, too.”

Partner? Jack always made it clear he liked being his own boss and never wanted a partner. I had a feeling this was one of his ‘just in case’ plans I never wanted to hear about. I didn’t doubt Evan had good intentions, but it saddened me that Jack felt he had to share the dream he wanted for himself.

“Jack mentioned you were coming by tomorrow to go over some work you did. I’d love to see what you have. What time do you think you’ll be there? I’ll make sure I’m in the office.” Jack had asked me to make a new sign for the front window. I always made everything he needed for promotion or advertising. I was a graphic designer at an ad agency, but was lucky enough to work remotely. Freelance work was easy to get and maintain with my schedule.

Now Evan would be approving the work I did for Jack? Did Jack make him partner because he was eventually planning to give Evan his company? It was time to pull up my big girl pants and ask my cousin what the hell was going on.

“I have a meeting in the city in the morning, so I figured about noon?”

“Perfect!” He waved to the owner in the back. “I better get to this. Nice to see you, Natalie, Angelica, Daisy.” Evan turned to me with a sly grin.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Cute. I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” He strolled away, and Natalie sucked in her teeth.

“Wow. He looks just as good going as he does coming, although you’ll have to tell me for sure about that one.” She gave me a wink and laughed, but I was too agitated to join in.

“I need to talk to Jack. He never said a thing about Evan being his partner now. I don’t like this, Natalie. I need to know what’s going on.”

She put her hand on top of mine and gave me a sad smile. “Honey, you’re a smart girl. You know what’s going on.”

“Well, I still want him to tell me.”

“I know. I think you both need to talk.” She squeezed my hand. “But, that boy,” She pointed her thumb in Evan’s direction. “He is definitely interested. He’s not a jerk, which may take some getting used to on your part . . . just a nice guy who just so happens to have a body of sin. Go to their office tomorrow, talk to Jack, and then see what happens with Evan. Take a chance, Paige.”

I let out a long sigh, I didn’t feel like arguing about it anymore. “Fine, I’ll feel him out and see what happens.”

“Feel him out, or up. Both could be fun.” I laughed and tried to ignore the building tension in my chest.

I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that things were about to change. And I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like it.

“Dude, how did you convince him to redo the whole diner?”

Jack had an impressed lift in his voice as he reviewed the signed estimate in his hand. I was glad I was proving my worth so fast. He’d never asked me for help before. I’d been the one asking him to help my sorry ass out ever since we were fifteen, and I was determined not to let him down.

“Wasn’t as hard as you think. We’re going to need some extra guys to help out. He wants us to do it all in one weekend so he doesn’t have to stay closed for very long. It’ll be tough, but I think we can do it. Plus, that’s a pretty popular diner. Could help us get the name out there.”

“Hmm, that’s true. I’ve been afraid to take jobs like this because I never knew how I’d feel from one day to the next.” His expression turned serious as his voice trailed off. He slapped my back as he got up from his desk. “You’re more than just a pretty face. Nice work!”

That was Jack. Always making a joke when things got too serious. Jack was more than just a friend; he was my brother. When my mother died during our sophomore year of high school, he never left my side. His parents practically took me in when my father became a grief-stricken zombie. I always vowed I’d pay him back, but hated the reason he asked me to return the favor.

I strolled over to my desk and sat down on the small chair. Little too small for me, but we were cramped into a tiny space as it was. Jack’s office really didn’t have room for two desks, but he insisted. I’d never run a business before and there was a lot of back end stuff that I was still learning. Jack thought it would be easier if we worked side by side. I leaned back in my chair and tapped on the desk with a pen.