Worth It (Forbidden Men, #6)(22)

“Okay.” I put down my spoon and began to stand, but she laughed and waved me back into my seat.

“Not now. After you eat. There’s no hurry. They’ve been boxed up and ready to take to Goodwill for weeks. I keep meaning to ask Pick to carry them out, but for some reason, I always get distracted whenever I see him.”

He appeared in the doorway, and I could tell exactly what distracted her about his presence as her gaze heated and ran over him. He went to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, so I looked away, trying to forget how it’d always felt to be near that one special person, how just her smile could light me up.

I focused my attention on Julian as I watched Pick and Eva kiss out of my peripheral vision. He offered me another chunk of banana. This time, I took it without a word.

“I’m going to check on one of my waitresses who isn’t answering her phone. So, I’ll be out for a couple minutes.”

When I glanced up, I noticed he was telling me his plans, not Eva. She didn’t look surprised, so I figured he’d already shared this news with her, along with the million and one things he’d gossiped about me while I’d been sleeping.

A split second later, I tensed, realizing he was leaving me alone with Eva. The idiot hadn’t seen me in six years, and even then, we hadn’t been all that close, mostly just passing acquaintances. He knew why I’d been arrested; he knew what I’d done when I was in prison. Why the hell was he being stupid enough to allow me to be here with just his woman and two kids?

Eva cleared her throat. “Do you want me to go and talk to her?”

Pick leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “Not this time. I don’t like her boyfriend and don’t want you to have to deal with him if he’s there.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I think I can handle—”

“Not on my watch, babe.”

Before Eva could protest again, he kissed her full on the mouth. Then he straightened, snagged a set of keys off the wall, and pointed at Julian. “Behave for your mother while I’m gone, squirt.”

“Bye-bye,” the boy called and held up a slice of banana to his father.

Pick grinned at him and leaned down to take the food straight from Julian’s fingers with his teeth. “Mmmn. Thanks, man.”

Eva shuddered. “That’s so disgusting. You know he just slobbered all over that.”

“You mean, like I’m going to slobber all over you?” With a wicked grin, he descended on her. She screamed out a laugh and dodged her face to the side, but Pick caught her and kissed her, anyway.

I looked away again, catching Julian’s eye. He grinned at me, his smile seeming to say, they do that all the time.

When Pick pulled away, he waved at me. “We’ll talk work schedules when I get back.”

After he left, I was still too leery to take a breath. I couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t wanted Eva to go somewhere where he didn’t like one of his waitress’s boyfriends, but he hadn’t thought twice about leaving her here alone with me.

“Pick is a great judge of character,” Eva said, making me jump.

Wondering if I’d said something aloud or she was just reading my mind, I glanced at her suspiciously. She sent me a soft smile. “I swear, I can smell the tension oozing off you. You didn’t want to be left alone with us, but don’t worry, I’ll stop bothering you and asking you a load of questions. Okay?”

I wanted to tell her she could ask anything she wanted to. This was her home; she had a right to know what kind of person was staying in it. But I was too relieved for a reprieve to voice any of that.

“I will put you to work as soon as you’re finished eating, though.”

And that’s what she did. After my soup and grilled cheese sandwich were gone, she held Julian and instructed me as to which boxes to carry and where to take them.

About the time I finished, Julian fell asleep on her shoulder and Skylar woke from her nap. After putting one to bed and carrying the other into the living room, she sent me an exhausted sigh. “Believe it or not, once upon a time I had them on a schedule where they slept at the same time, but not anymore.”

I tried to see my own mother in her, perpetually exhausted, too busy to sit and just relax. She’d always looked aged beyond her years, and sad. So freaking sad. Eva didn’t seem sad, though. There was an energy and youth about her that told me she thrived off the life she had.

I opened my mouth to tell her it seemed as if she had mothering down to a fine art, but the front door opened and Pick returned.

“Hey.” Eva met him there with a kiss. “How’d she take it?”

Pick sighed, his shoulders sagging. “She wasn’t there. Some other woman answered the door, and apparently…” Pick glanced at me. “My waitress no longer lives there.”

With a gasp, Eva shook her head. “Since when?”

Pick shrugged. “No idea. I didn’t stick around to find out.” Growling out his impatience, he paced further into the room and ran his hand through his hair, only to pause when he caught sight of me watching him.

Eva came up behind him and grasped his arm. “When’s the next time she’s scheduled to work?”

“Friday,” Pick answered, keeping his gaze on me.

“Do you think she’s okay?”