she liked it, Everly sat back down where she’d been before. She took a long drink and let out a happy sigh. “Do you regret last night now?”
Sitting down beside her on the edge of the bed, I placed my hand on her knee. “Is it crazy I don’t?”
“A little bit. I mean, we know next to nothing about each other,” she said quietly, moving closer to my side.
“That may be true, but I’ve known women for a hell of a lot longer and never felt for them what I feel for you in the short amount of time I’ve known you.”
She laid her head on my shoulder. “And I’ve never had a guy say anything even as remotely sweet as that to me. I like you, Leo. Really like you, but what are we supposed to do? I have to report back to work in a few days. I don’t even know where you live now. All I know is you’re from Sweden and went to school for a couple of years with Jordan at Stanford, which is crazy impressive by the way.”
Resting my head on top of hers, I took her left hand in mine and ran my thumb over the ring that now sat on her left hand. “After Stanford, I went back to Stockholm for a short while. I recently accepted a job in California, and I’m moving into my new place after we leave here. I don’t expect you to give up your life or job over a marriage that’s only a few hours old.”
“Maybe we could date or something on the weekends, depending on how far apart we live. I don’t know.” I felt her shrug from underneath me. “What I do know is I like you and I’d hate to not see where this could go.”
Maybe we could do this backward. Instead of dating first and then getting married, we could date now and see where it led us.
“I’m willing to make time so we can get to know one another. While I went to school at Stanford, I don’t know California all that well.”
“Well, I’ve lived there all my life so I’m sure we can figure out how far apart we live from each other. Are you up by Stanford and San Francisco or—”
“Not up there,” I stopped her. “I’m moving to a little town close to Palm Springs. You probably haven’t heard of it.”
Everly sat up, her entire face glowing. Her hand under mine flipped over and she wove her fingers with mine. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. I’ve lived in that area all my life.”
So, we’d be close. Good.
Finishing off the last bit of my coffee, I asked. “Have you heard of McArthur Architects in Oasis?”
“Not McArthur, but I know Oasis. I’ve lived there since I graduated high school.”
What were the odds?
“Are you saying you live in Oasis?” It couldn’t be.
“I live and work there. I have a little apartment not far from where I work. Where do you live?”
I flushed, hating to admit I hadn’t seen my place yet. “I’m not sure yet.” Her face screwed up, and she opened her mouth in what was sure to be a question asking me why I didn’t know. “I have an address where I sent my things, but I haven’t been there yet.” I shrugged. “I figured whatever they provided me would be good enough. How much room does one need, especially when I’ll be spending a considerable amount of time on the project they hired me for?”
“I guess that makes sense.” A chime went off in the other room, causing us both to turn our heads. “That’s my phone. It’s probably Camilla. We’re supposed to go get our hair and makeup done.”
“How do you think she’ll take the news?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Before she was telling me I shouldn’t hook up with you for some reason so…”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. She’s been acting kind of strange the whole time we’ve been here. I wanted to ask her about it, but she kept changing the subject. I guess I should see if that was her.”
I watched as Everly went to where her purse was on the ground and fished through it for her phone. Even from far away, I could see her frown.
Standing, I went to where she was rooted to the spot. “What’s wrong?”
“Camilla’s freaking out. Telling me I need to come to their room when I get her message. There’s a whole bunch of missed calls from