The Life That Mattered (Life Duet 1)

“Oh my gosh … EVIE!” Lila grabbed my shoulders as soon as we slipped into the ladies’ lounge just outside of the room with the sinks and toilets. “He’s perfect! I like him. Graham likes him. He’s perfect! And that accent. I got so pissed that Graham kept interrupting. I could listen to Ronin read a dictionary. And don’t you dare tell Graham I said that. You have to marry Ronin. I mean … not until after my wedding, of course. But he’s the one!”

She knew everything—almost. I spilled the details on our shopping excursion. His ethnicity, his famous father, his clothing-designer mother, and the fact that he had a flight the next morning to Denver.

“I know. I know …” I plopped into a velvet chair and grabbed the skirt of my dress, fanning it to release some heat, but everywhere his hand touched remained ablaze.

“You’re going to make the most beautiful babies with beautiful Asian skin and hair, dark eyes, and they’ll speak French like their grandpa.” Lila grinned, hitching her ass to the arm of my chair.

“They’ll have half of my genes too.”

She sighed. “Maybe they’ll be recessive genes.”

“You’re awful.”

She laughed, hugging me. “Kidding. You’re the most beautiful … special really … beautiful person I know.”

“Wow! You’re more drunk than I am.”

“Probably.” She forced herself to stand again, teetering on her high heels for a few seconds before zigzagging toward the toilets.

We finished the night with dessert and more wine. Before Lila attempted to dry hump Graham’s leg, he excused them from the table, taking care of the bill with a simple nod to the waiter.

“Do you golf, Ronin?” Graham asked, sliding his arm around Lila’s waist to steady her.

“Sometimes.” Ronin finished his glass of water.

“Call me when you get settled. We’ll play.”

Ronin raised his empty glass before setting it down. “I’d like that.”

Okay … when did they exchange numbers? What went on while we were in the ladies’ room?

“Be good, Evie.” Graham winked at me, pulling drunk Lila away from the table.

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Sounds tragically boring,” Ronin said.

I returned my attention to him and the grin on his face after they disappeared around the corner. “What does?”

“Good Evie.” He leaned back, looking entirely too cool. Too put together. Too damn sexy.

I grabbed my water and gulped it down. It’s not that I had any intention of having sex with Ronin that night (outside of my head, of course). The last time I had too much to drink and hopped into bed with someone, it was Graham. Look how that turned out. A cautionary tale.

I flooded my system with as much water as possible to cleanse my thoughts.

“I have an early flight tomorrow morning. Can I escort you to your room?”

“Escort? Sounds like navigating to my room could be dangerous on my own. Is that what you’re implying?” I chuckled, pulling my phone from my purse to check the time. It was one-thirty in the morning. I cringed, making a quick inspection of the abandoned restaurant. The wait staff wouldn’t kick Graham Porter’s friends out no matter the time.

“Your friends left you in my care. I feel responsible.”

I peeled my ass from the chair, already feeling more sure on my feet than Lila. “But are you responsible?” As Ronin loosened his tie like it was ridiculous to have one on after midnight, I snagged my clutch from the table.

“Responsible? Yes. Well-behaved? Sometimes.” He grasped my hand like he owned it.

Again, I felt it in places that a responsible person should not have felt it. “So a sometimes-well-behaved man is escorting me to my room?” I followed him to the elevators, handing him my room card to gain access to my floor.

He didn’t let go of my hand. Not in the elevator. Not down the short hallway to my room. Not when we stopped at my door.

“Tell me about this?” He twisted my left arm, exposing my carbon atom tattoo.

“It’s carbon.”

Ronin chuckled. “Okay. What’s the significance?”

My eyes narrowed. “What’s the significance? Um … only the main element in organic compounds; therefore it’s essential to life on Earth. So … pretty significant.” That came out on way too much instinct and possibly way too many hours in a lab. Closing my eyes, I shook my head. Rolling my lips between my teeth, I stifled a laugh.

“What?” he asked on a slight laugh of his own.

“Wow! I just … went there. Couldn’t play it cool for two seconds before defending carbon’s role in the world like the science geek I was when I picked out the stupid thing and the science geek I clearly still am.”

“Science isn’t sexy” was an original Lila Mason quote and a hard concept for me to remember, not that she had any room to speak. Before she decided on the winged tramp stamp, she seriously considered a long math equation straight down her spine. At the time, she had an insane crush on her multivariable calculus professor.