WRIGHT TOGETHER (Wright Vineyard #6)

3. Whitton

3

WHITTON

“I’m over here,” I said as soon as we were out of the overly air-conditioned lobby of Wright Construction.

Eve tugged on the lapels of her blazer. “Christ, it’s a thousand degrees today.”

“Texas,” I said as if that explained everything.

“You chose this,” she pointed out.

“It was forced upon me.”

She shot me a look. “You just said you don’t miss Seattle.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m here for Lubbock weather.”

Or maybe I was.

Eve lifted her long, thick hair off of her neck and panted in the heat. Lubbock was typically a dry, dusty hundred degrees. Closer to the desert than the rest of Texas. No one was prepared for humid days like today after a freak thunderstorm.

I saw the moment that she gave up on professionalism in this weather. She bit down on the red of her bottom lip, sliding her emerald gaze in my direction. Then, she shrugged before slipping her suit coat off of her shoulders.

The first thing I noticed was the new ink across her shoulder—peonies in bloom with leaves curling toward her collarbone and down her arm.

Next was that underneath that black blazer was nothing but a thin camisole, the straps of an unlined lace bra now visible. The front revealed a touch of her impressive cleavage. Which only drew my eyes downward to where her n*****s had hardened under the silky material.

Fuck.

Blood pumped to places it certainly wasn’t supposed to when I was going to drive her home. I flexed my hand, trying to shake out the wave of need that pulled me under at the sight of her like this.

Because Eve was best in her element when she let her guard down. The first time I’d seen it happen, I hadn’t realized how rare it was.

She played with our friends on a rec soccer league. I’d only come at my brother’s insistence—I was more of a hockey guy—and then she’d caught my eye. I noticed that she was striking to look at and a force of nature on the field. But it was after the game where I first saw her. A random pop-up storm had everyone else running for their car, but not Eve. She stripped down to her sports bra and turned in a circle on the field with her tongue out, like she was trying to catch snowflakes.

I couldn’t rip my gaze away from her. I stood in the rain and watched her enjoy it like I never could. I ruined a very expensive suit to do it. West had run back in frustration and pushed me toward the car. I’d never told him why I’d been standing there, transfixed. I’d never been able to shake that vision of Eve.

Rather than the one she showed everyone. Cautious. Always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Forever looking around, as if she expected everything to be taken away from her. She put her back up when threatened, and I still hadn’t figured out how I’d threatened her.

“Whitt?” she said, her voice teasing.

I touched the handle of the car, unlocking the doors. I couldn’t explain my daydream, so I made a noncommittal noise and tipped my head at the car. “Get in.”

Her look was quizzical before she ducked into the passenger seat. She sank into the leather seat and crossed her legs, giving me an even bigger glimpse of her dream catcher. f**k me. The ink on this woman did something to me.

I revved the engine to my Lexus and shifted into drive. Eve lived in Tech Terrance, just off of Texas Tech University’s campus, with two of her friends. Nothing in Lubbock was more than a fifteen-minute drive away, except for the airport. An Uber wouldn’t have cost her much, but I wasn’t about to let her take one.

“So, what happened to your car?”

She huffed and looked out the window. “I have no clue. It wouldn’t start this morning. And I couldn’t jump it because Piper had to be at the winery early and Blaire was over at Campbell’s place.”

“I could give you a jump, if you need it.”

Her brows furrowed. “Do you even know how to jump a car?”

“I’ll take that as the insult it is. Of course I know how to jump a car.” When she still looked skeptical, I added, “I can change a tire and my own oil, too.”

Her eyes slid down my sharp suit, the perfectly knotted tie, and crisp white shirt. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

Because she had only ever seen me as a suit. An image I had carefully cultivated for years. West was my twin and my opposite. He was wild, rebellious, an artist, musician, and a dreamer. I was a realist and business-oriented. I was the guy with the five-plus-year plans. I had goals and ambitions, not dreams. Dreams were unactionable hopes and wants. Dreams led to disappointment.

“I can get my hands dirty.”

“Oh?” she asked, leaning forward with interest. “I’d like to see that.”

“Hmm,” I said with an arched eyebrow.

“Who taught you to work with cars?”

“My dad.” My throat was thick when I uttered the words.

Dad was…complicated. He’d been complicated before we discovered his duplicity. He was twice as frustrating now that we knew he had a whole other family. While I felt lucky to have Jordan and Julian in my life, he had uprooted all of us when it came out. He ruined everything he touched, and somehow, I still wanted him in my life.

“I see,” she said softly. “I wouldn’t have guessed he was a car person either.”

“Not really. But I had an interest, and…he usually invested in our interests.” I shrugged. “The man’s flawed, but he put West in front of a piano at a young age. He wouldn’t be in Cosmere otherwise.”

“Maybe. I don’t think either of you owe him anything for where you are,” she said hotly. Her hand tightened on the door handle before loosening. “You did it in spite of him.”

For a second, I wasn’t sure we were talking about my father anymore. But I didn’t know enough about Eve’s past to know if she was projecting. We’d never gotten to the point before to discuss her family. Eve wasn’t really much of a sharer. She always seemed like a creature of the present. Anything that happened beyond the moment we were in was forgotten.

I decided to drop the whole thing. My dad was a hot topic on a good day.

“Are you coming to Jensen’s thing tomorrow?”

“The mayoral announcement?” she asked with a wrinkled nose.

I laughed at her expression. “What’s that about?”

“What?”

“The look.”

“Politicians,” she said with a little gag at the end. “What have they ever done for us before?”

“Fair, but it’s Jensen.”

Jensen Wright had been the CEO of Wright Construction since he had graduated college. He’d passed the helm to his sister, Morgan, a few years back to pursue his true passion—architecture. Now, he worked closely with the company he had run and was a regular fixture around the property.

Against his better judgment, someone had convinced him to run for mayor. The spot was open, and the other options were appalling. It was a clever con, and it had worked. I didn’t know what his wife and kids thought about it, but Emery must have given him the green light or else he wouldn’t be having an event tomorrow in which all the Wrights were planning to be in attendance.

“The girls cajoled me into going,” Eve admitted. “Downtown will already be set up for the Fourth, and I can’t resist a funnel cake.”

“Noted,” I said as I pulled into Eve’s driveway behind her bright red early aughts 4Runner.

Piper’s blue Jeep Wrangler was parked next to it, and she came running out, holding up her cell phone.

Eve popped the passenger door open. “Forget your phone again?”

“Having a work phone and a regular phone is ruining my life,” Piper said. She winked at Eve. “What’s going on here?” Her tone was light and suggestive.

I got out of the car. “Hey, Piper.”

“Whitt,” she said with a head nod. “Why are you driving my girl home?”

“My car wouldn’t start this morning,” Eve filled in.

“And you were together…why?”

“We’re working together,” I told her. “Eve is the agent for my new survey project in Midland.”

Piper’s eyes widened, and she and Eve spoke volumes without saying anything.

“Ohhh,” she drawled. “Well, that sounds…fun. You told me about your new job. I didn’t know you’d be working with Whitt.”

“Neither did I,” Eve said. She knocked her fist into Piper’s shoulder. A clear sign to tell her to shut up. Piper just smirked. “Can you give me a jump?”

“Oh, I would,” Piper said, her eyes flickering between us, “but I have to get back to work. Could Whitt do it? Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can do it,” I told Piper. “Tell Hollin I said hi.”

Piper snorted. “Tell him yourself. He’s a pain in my ass.”

“Literally?” Eve asked.

Piper and Hollin had been dating for a year, and sometimes, it was still hard to decipher whether they liked or hated each other. Somehow, constantly being at each other’s throat worked for them.

“I’m going to forget you asked that,” Piper said as she strode to her Jeep. “Thanks for taking care of my girl, Whitt.”

“Anytime.”

“See y’all tomorrow.”

Then, she was pulling away, leaving us alone once more. Eve looked after her friend in dismay. Maybe she’d hoped to get out of my presence sooner. Too late now.

“You have cables?”

She jolted out of the reverie and nodded. She dug around in her bag and tossed me her car keys. “They’re in the back. I’m just going to change.”

I watched her practically hustle to get inside. Once again, I wasn’t sure what to make of her. It was apparent that she was flirting with me. Just like she had the first time around. Because Eve had come on to me when we first started talking. I’d been a willing participant. But I’d dated enough back in Seattle to know that I preferred a relationship to a situationship. It was fine if that was what she wanted. It just wasn’t what I wanted. No matter how my d**k reminded me that I couldn’t stop f*****g thinking about getting her naked.

I ran a hand back through my hair. She’d made herself clear the first time, and I wasn’t going to do this again. We were working together. That was it.