Her Blind Date Cowboy - Taylor Hart Page 0,1
lived in Sydney. He felt a pang as he imagined her pregnant, maybe with their second by now, clustered in some little house where Evie finished her art degree and took care of the babies. She probably had a private nurse to help with the kids.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he whipped it out, seeing Shay’s number. Part of him didn’t want to answer, but this was his twin brother. If he didn’t answer, Shay would probably be able to read his thoughts, or he would hop on a plane and come to Australia early and bug him in a very protective way; that was how all the Summervilles were.
Reluctantly, he answered. “Hey.”
“You got there?”
“Yep.” He took another swig of water, already tired of this conversation.
“You know that you have to empower yourself. After all your antics last month, the press was kind of eating us alive.”
Liam didn’t indulge him. “Nice to talk to you, too. I thought PR was Mason’s job, not yours.” It was a low blow, because they all took care of each other, but Liam wanted him to receive the message: Leave me alone.
“O-kay.” Shay let out a light laugh. “Dude, listen to me. That woman has been in your head for way too long, and I know you wanted to go there as some homage to her or some …”
“You have no idea why I’m here,” Liam said, implicitly denying everything. It was pointless with his brother, though; he’d see right through it.
“Liam, just listen to me. We love you, and the family is ready to come early if you need us. We don’t want you to spin out.”
Clearly, the family had been talking about him behind his back. “Why would I spin out?” he demanded.
“Because that’s what you’ve been doing ever since we found out we’d be going to Australia for this gig.”
Liam pulled the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker. “Give me seven days alone, bro. Seven days is all I ask for. Then the family can rain down on me in all their glory and counsel me up, but I get seven days …” He felt the back of his throat scrape with emotion. “I get seven days.”
Shay was quiet for a couple of minutes, then relented. “Seven days, but you call if you need me and I’ll be there in a heartbeat. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you.” Warmth finally smoothed the edges of Liam’s pain.
His brother sighed. “You need to find a way to relax, bro. Really relax. Will you do that?”
Liam wasn’t exactly sure how he would do that, but he’d figure something out. “Of course.”
“Good. Then do it.”
“Yes, sir. But I have to go now.”
He didn’t have to go.
“Alright, love you.”
He softened. “Love you, too.” He pressed to end the call and slipped it back into his pocket.
Liam crunched up the empty water bottle in his hand and threw it across the room. He didn’t know why he needed seven days but somehow, he would finally get over Evie Williams. He stalked toward the shower and peeled his shirt off. Somehow, he would find a way to banish this ghost from his mind forever.
He vowed to himself he would find a way to relax. He thought of the lounge chairs on the beach. He would just lie there for a couple of hours, play music on his phone, and close his eyes. He could soak up the Australian sun, and he wouldn’t spend a second thinking about Evie.
Chapter 2
Evie locked up the gallery in the downtown Rock’s Harbor area of Sydney. The manager had promoted her a couple of months ago, and she still felt the thrill of moving on up. It was close to seven as she walked the boardwalk, gazing at the ocean on her way to the fish and chips place.
Her friend, Jason, was already sitting at the table that looked out over the ocean, waiting for her. He’d been a good friend to her after “the fallout,” as she’d referred to the worst time in her life. As she got closer, Jason stood and his blond locks gleamed in the last vestiges of summer. He reached for her hand as she sat. “How are you today, love?”
She let him kiss her cheek, but she didn’t return the gesture. It’d been unsettling between them lately. He’d let her know that he wanted more than friendship, and she’d let him know that she had nothing more to give. He’d said