Jack took a step toward the door. “Well, I promised Ellie I’d meet her for lunch. Make printouts of two and three and we’ll take a look. I wouldn’t mind redoing the website if you had time for that.”

“I’d love to redesign your site. I don’t do much coding, but I know another freelancer who can help with that. If that’s okay with you, Evan.” Both of them were ignoring the big elephant in the room, but I wasn’t about to get involved in a family squabble.

“Sounds great to me, Paige. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.” I gave her a big smile that she genuinely returned. She was still obviously rattled, and I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around her to comfort her. Something about Paige made me want to be her knight in shining armor and come to her rescue.

“Okay, if that’s all settled, I’m starving.” Jack raised his eyebrows at Paige. “We good?”

“Fine.” Uh oh. Usually, when a woman used ‘fine’, it was anything but.

“Good.” Jack gave Paige a kiss on the forehead and turned back to me. “Be back in a couple of hours. Man the fort while I’m gone.” He gave me a pretend salute.

“Yes, sir!” I saluted back. Paige chuckled softly as she packed her stuff.

“Heading back to the office?”

I stood up to walk her out. “Nah, I’m done for the day, so I’m headed to Starbucks to work on a couple of projects. I like working from home, but too much time in my apartment makes me a little batty.”

“I can keep you company. I’m not very hungry and just wanted some coffee. Would you mind? It would be nice to catch up.” She furrowed her brow at me, but shrugged and nodded.

“Sure, that would be nice.” Now, that was a real smile.

I’ll show you who’s a chicken, Jack.

Starbucks was a quick walk across the street from their office, but there was a heavy silence between Evan and me as we made our way. I was so mortified by the way I acted that I could barely look him in the eye. He was helping Jack by being his partner, and I went in there like a bratty child because I was the last to know.

I settled at my usual table, towards the back and close to an outlet to plug in my laptop, as Evan ordered our coffees. I needed to apologize before I could concentrate on anything else.

Evan handed me my iced Americano and sat across from me. I nodded a thank you and wrapped my hands around my drink so I wouldn’t wring them in my lap.

“Evan, I am so sorry. None of that was against you. Jack is right. I can’t handle hearing things so he doesn’t tell me. He’s always been there when I needed him and I’m too weak to return the favor.” I lowered my gaze as my voice cracked. As if I didn’t humiliate myself enough in front of Evan today, I had to go the whole nine yards.

“Paige, please stop.” Evan pulled my hand from around my coffee cup and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “No apology is necessary. Jack is like your brother. Seeing him like this is very hard for you and Jack knows that. I want you to understand, I would never take his company away from him. He needed my help or he was going to have to close.” Another little tidbit I didn’t know.

“He called you?” My cousin was the most stubborn pain in the ass I’d ever met. He never, ever asked for help. For him to call Evan and ask him to move back, he had to be in a crap load of trouble.

Evan shrugged as he took a sip of his black coffee. “I didn’t have much going on in Philadelphia, so nothing was really keeping me there. I wanted to be closer to my dad anyway and was thinking of moving back. I just did it sooner. Jack, your aunt and uncle, they saved me when I was a kid. I hate the reason he needed my help, but would never have thought twice about whatever he asked me.”

I put my hand over his and ran my thumb back and forth over the top of his wrist. Instead of being awkward, it felt natural. My family had always loved Evan. He was such a good kid and obviously grew up to be a great man. I felt a rush of shame that it took a new haircut and muscles for me to notice how amazing he was.

“You’re a great guy, Evan. Always were. Jack is pretty lucky to have you as a friend.” I smiled as he bashfully looked away.

“Nothing Jack wouldn’t do for me,” Evan shrugged and lowered his gaze to the tabletop. “I was working with a couple of contractors but nothing full time. I didn’t have to give much notice.”

“No women devastated over the sexy contractor moving away?” It was hard to not roll my own eyes at my attempt at flirting, and trying to get information.

Evan cocked an eyebrow at me and smirked. “Sexy? I like the designs well enough already. Buttering me up isn’t necessary. But no,” I gave him a sideways glance and his smile grew a little wider.

“You look . . . a little different since the last time I saw you. I’m guessing you did a lot of hard labor for those contractors in Philadelphia.” I cocked an eyebrow back, trying to be playful but I was probably making a total ass of myself. Evan laughed, hopefully with me not at me.

“I got sick of the guys making fun of me on job sites. Before I cut my hair and found the gym they called me a ‘skinny hippie’. Besides, short hair is a hell of a lot easier when you work in the heat.” I closed my eyes for a second to get the thought of a hot and sweaty Evan out of my head. “What about you? I’m sure lots of guys waiting in the wings were happy when you kicked Chris’s ass to the curb.”

I huffed. “Are you serious? Actually, since Chris I haven’t really . . . I’ve had lousy judgement and awful luck when it comes to men, you know that. I’m sure you’ve heard an earful from Jack, and he doesn’t know the half of it.”

Evan leaned back and narrowed his eyes at me. “What doesn’t Jack know?”

“The morons I dated in high school looked good compared to the ones in college, and they didn’t get better once I graduated. I kept them nameless and vague whenever Jack asked who I was dating because I figured beating guys up for me in high school drained him.”

I laughed to myself. Jack always thought he was so stealthy, but I doubted all the cheating dirtbags had the same epiphany and all felt the same need to find me so soon afterwards and apologize.

“Chris, I thought at one time, was a decent guy, but he turned out to be the worst of them. I decided to step back and just be alone for a while since my instincts are good for shit——unless I found myself really interested in someone.”

“So, are you . . . interested in anyone now?” Evan leaned forward, his voice low and husky.

“Actually, yes I am.” Oh God, I was really doing this! “He’s a friend of mine, so it’s a little weird . . . but he’s sweet and sexy . . . and it annoys me that I never noticed how amazing he was. I think he might be interested, too—but like I said, my instincts are shit so who knows.” I shrugged and took a sip of my coffee, pretending to focus my attention on my computer screen.

I had never been so forward with a man in my entire life. How could I play this off that I was talking about someone else if I read him wrong?

“Maybe not.” Evan scooted his chair closer to the table and slammed my laptop shut. I had nowhere to look but into his hay-colored eyes that, at the moment, seemed to burn right through me.

“Maybe he’s noticed you for years, but never thought he had a shot. Maybe he’s sick of watching you waste your time with guys who don’t deserve you. Maybe if you ask, you’ll find out he’s very, very interested.” The intense expression on Evan’s face as he fixed his gaze on me made my pulse race.

“Maybe he figured out who I was talking about?” I crinkled my nose and gave Evan a playful grin.

He lowered his eyes and chuckled. “I need to work this weekend; the diner job starts on Saturday morning, but I’m free Thursday night. There is an awesome restaurant I know in Brooklyn if you wouldn’t mind making the drive with me.”