“So, what does she need to hire a boyfriend for?” Leo asked curiously.
“A family reunion over the Fourth of July weekend. She recently broke up with a boyfriend she was going to take to meet her parents. The guy cheated on her, and she doesn’t want to have to deal with explaining the situation to relatives or be the center of everyone’s sympathy, though I’m sure she’ll tell her parents about the split at some point after she gets back home.”
“So she’s going to be calling you by some other guy’s name all weekend?” Leo shook his head. “At least with Peyton, she used my real name when she fabricated our relationship to her parents, so there wasn’t any confusion.”
“The guy’s name that she was dating was also Eric, so no chance of mixing up names.”
“See, it’s kismet,” Leo said with exaggerated humor. “The two of you were meant to be.”
“Don’t be a dumb ass,” Eric said, laughing. “This is not fate or destiny or any other romanticized version of meeting my soul mate. I’m just doing Evie a favor because I’ve got three dares from you, Dylan, and Aiden sitting on my head,” he reminded his friend, though truthfully, that challenge hadn’t played a part in his decision at all. “And honestly, she’s a nice girl who doesn’t want to deal with family drama for a weekend, and I can help provide that diversion, so why not have some fun with the situation?”
“Yeah, why not?” Leo said, nodding his head in agreement. “How long is this family reunion thing, anyway?”
“It’s next Friday through Monday. I wanted to make sure there’s nothing booked that you’ll need me for over that weekend before I confirm with Evie?” Even though they were equal partners in the business, Eric always liked to clear his personal days off with Leo, and vice versa.
“Not that I can think of, but let me double-check.” Leaning forward, Leo pulled up their schedule on his computer that listed their drivers, the fleet of cars they owned, and what was scheduled on each day. “Looks like it’s a pretty straightforward weekend since it’s a long holiday.”
“Perfect.” He stood up, needing to return a few of the calls he’d received while he’d been with Evie. “Of course, I’ll have my cell phone on me, and it’s only in Santa Barbara, so in an emergency, I could be back in four hours.”
“Just go and forget about work, okay?” Leo said, his tone serious. “You hardly ever take any time off. And that’s what we hired fleet managers for, to keep things organized and scheduled so we can have more free time to ourselves.”
There had been a time when he and Leo had been the only two drivers in their company, and it was still hard to believe how much they’d grown and how far they’d come. “Okay,” he agreed, because he knew if Leo really needed him, he’d pick up the phone and call.
He headed across the hall to his office and started his day returning phone calls. He spent a few hours making changes to a contract with their attorney that a new client wanted them to sign that included an NDA, which wasn’t an issue, but Eric wanted to make sure their ass was covered. He and Leo had lunch with business investors to discuss their plans to open other offices in different states and major cities, and the afternoon was spent signing off on maintenance inspections they’d scheduled on a few of their vehicles.
If the day wasn’t busy enough, at six p.m., he and Leo met with another wealthy client who was in town for dinner. What should have been an hour-and-a-half-max meal turned into nearly three hours of business conversation that ended with a few new promising leads both he and Leo planned to pursue over the next couple of weeks.
By the time Eric arrived home later that evening, it was almost ten and he was exhausted. The first thing he did was take a long, hot shower. The steam loosened the tension across his shoulders, and the half-dozen body jets pummeled and massaged his muscles until he felt relaxed and his mind had wound down from his packed schedule.
He hadn’t had five extra minutes to himself all day to contact Evie to let her know he was definitely free the following weekend to accompany her to her family reunion. As he settled into bed, he thought about dialing her number right now, but nixed the idea for two reasons.
One, it was late and he didn’t want to wake her if she was out for the night, although he wouldn’t have minded listening to the sleep-husky sound of her voice in his ear, he thought as he absently stroked a hand down his bare torso.
And two, he’d rather deliver the news face-to-face, because quite frankly, even though contacting her by phone or text messaging was the simplest, easiest, cut-and-dried route, he couldn’t deny the most important reason for not calling her tonight . . . because he wanted an excuse to see Evie in person again.