Bringing Home the Bad Boy (Second Chance #1)(81)

“I’ll walk you home.” He turned her toward the studio doorway and swatted her rear end lightly.

“Lyon…” she started.

The video baby monitor appeared in front of her face, showing Lyon, his hair much shorter, sprawled on his bed, arms thrown overhead, sawing logs.

“Got it covered.” Evan preceded her to the door and opened it. “You need to worry about you for a while, Ace. Let the rest of us worry about us.”


*


Evan didn’t know if this was the push Charlie needed, but he did know constantly browbeating her into making love with him or sleeping next to him was not gonna be the norm.

So.

He was trying something new, thanks partly to a suggestion from Gloria.

She’d crashed into his house today all atwitter, arms in the air, her sleek black hair falling down her back. She clicked her way through the wood floors on high heels, dressed in a short skirt and ripped tee—her Evergreen Cove wardrobe, he was seeing—and shouted, “Rolling freaking Stone, baby!”

Then she’d grabbed up Lyon, who had been trying to build a Lego fort, and said, “Dance with me!” He did, giggling. She let him go quickly and studied his stitches, letting him explain there were “one hundred” and that they were “super cool.” Glo, being Glo, didn’t question any of it, agreeing, “One hundred stitches are not only super cool, Lyon. They are chick bait.”

“Glo.”

“What?”

“He’s seven.”

“So?” She’d propped her hands on her hips. “He’s going to be hot like his daddy. Hot with two Ts. I’m preparing him.”

“Hot with… Never mind,” he’d said, wisely changing his mind on asking for further clarification. He didn’t want to know.

After she calmed down, Evan had made Lyon swear he would never, ever, ever, refer to himself as “chick bait” lest he wind up single and alone for the remainder of his days. Glo took a stool at the breakfast bar where Evan was making sandwiches.

“Turkey or ham?” he offered.

“I ate.”

“Tell me what you’re prattling about.” He cut his and Lyon’s sandwiches into triangles and added Cheetos to the plates. She accepted the bag and ate several before answering.

Lyon took his food into the living room. Evan let him. If only to allow him to be clear of Gloria’s spastic energy for the moment.

“Rolling Stone,” she said, fanning fingers coated with Day-Glo orange dust.

He took a huge bite out of his sandwich and waved at her to go on. “And?”

“Asher got the cover! They want to interview you both!”

“Ash is going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone?”

His friend had wanted that since Knight Time landed their hit song. Ash had been disappointed when success hadn’t propelled them to the cover of the mag. The continued popularity of the song, paired with a hit children’s book, however…

“No shit.” Evan shrugged his eyebrows and took a bite.

“I tried to get you on the cover, too, but it was a no-go.”

Chewing his sandwich, he thought about what she’d said. He’d never expected to be on the cover of a magazine, and decided right then he didn’t want to be. “I’m good,” he commented, eating a handful of Cheetos.

“Okay, good. They’re flying out here to do the interview since Ash is staying a while.”

“How long are you staying?” he asked.

She hadn’t looked at him when she answered. “Probably as long as Asher.”

Really.

“You guys fight like two cats in a sack,” he pointed out.

“I fight with everyone.”

True. But with Asher, Gloria looked hurt by it.

“He’s my biggest client right now,” she covered, laying it on thick with, “no offense.”

He polished off his sandwich and Cheetos while she discussed the details about Rolling Stone and glossed over any details about her and Asher. Probably wasn’t a good topic to launch into with his kid in the room, anyway. Evan didn’t need to hear about their sexcapades.

In the studio, he showed off his latest illustration. With a shake of her head, Glo bolstered his spirits. “I knew when I saw your work you were talented. I knew it. And then to have Ash step in to pen the books…” She grinned over at him, her blue eyes going soft. “Sometimes things work out even when you don’t expect them to.”

He suspected she was talking about more than his involvement with Mad Cow and Swine Flew, but kept that to himself.

“How are you and Charlie? How was the trip to Rae’s mom and dad’s house?”

He filled her in, not leaving out the part where Charlie had tried to dump him on the deck and the way he’d gone to her after. He told Glo about Patricia, who let Charlie know this morning where she and Cliff stood. Evan knew where they stood. Charlie harbored major guilt over Rae’s death and over what was developing between them. He’d told Pat and Cliff as much while Charlie showered.

Pat got it right away. Cliff nodded, agreed “we love Charlie,” then escaped the emotions in the room with Lyon in tow to wax poetic about his toy car collection.

Glo had chewed her lip while he spoke, looking indecisive.