out, she went to touch his hand then stopped. Even though she longed to comfort him, she needed to maintain her distance.
‘It wasn’t selfish. It must have been … well, very hard for you.’
‘Not as hard as it was for Scott.’ His tone was wry but it didn’t conceal the pain he felt and her heart ached all the more.
‘I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to lose someone you love, but it wasn’t your fault, Ryan. You weren’t to blame in any way.’
‘I know that.’
He shrugged, his shoulders rising and falling beneath the close-fitting black T-shirt he was wearing, and Eve’s heart performed another odd manoeuvre, one it hadn’t performed for many years. All of a sudden she was aware of him in a way that she hadn’t been since that night when he had kissed her under the mistletoe at the hospital Christmas party. It had started out as a joke. Egged on by their friends, Ryan had rolled his eyes and given in and kissed her. However, the moment his mouth had found hers, everything had changed.
Eve could still recall her shock as wave after wave of sensation had poured through her. Although she’d been kissed before, she had never felt anything like it. Ryan’s lips had awoken feelings inside her that she’d never experienced before, made her feel hot and hungry, made her want more than just a kiss. When he had let her go, she’d felt dazed and disorientated, filled with wonder that a mere kiss could arouse such a response inside her. She’d half expected him to do it again, to kiss her in private this time without their friends cheering them on, but he hadn’t.
If anything, he had become decidedly distant in the days following—taking his breaks separately from her, turning down invitations for them to have lunch together with the flimsiest of excuses. Eve had felt incredibly hurt at first until she’d realised that he was simply acting true to form. Ryan didn’t do relationships, didn’t do commitment, didn’t do anything that might encourage a woman to think he wanted her in his life long term. Maybe he was happy to have her as a friend but that was all.
Now, however, Eve’s eyes widened, her pupils dilating as she found herself taking fresh stock of the crisp dark brown hair clipped close to his well-shaped head, the dark slash of his eyebrows framing equally dark eyes, the firm strength of his jaw. Her gaze swooped lower, running over the broad shoulders, a well-muscled chest, trim waist. He was wearing running shorts cut high at the sides and they made the most of his long legs, showing off well-developed thigh muscles and firm calves. He looked fit and healthy and so incredibly attractive, even to her jaundiced eyes, that she gulped.
She didn’t need this! She had allowed physical attraction to dictate her actions once before and look how it had ended, with her life in tatters and her spirit shattered. All she wanted now was to pick up the threads and weave them together, attempt to get back what she had lost and by doing so find herself. No matter how attractive Ryan was, she wasn’t going to get involved with him. Ever.
‘Good. I’m glad to hear it,’ she said in a cool little voice that was totally at odds with how she felt. She glanced deliberately at her watch and shrugged. ‘Is that the time? I’ll have to go.’
‘Me too.’ He treated her to one of his wonderfully warm smiles and Eve had to force herself not to respond. There was no point encouraging him, after all.
‘See you tomorrow,’ she called, hurrying away. She rounded a bend in the path and slowed, aware that her heart was racing. The one thing she had never allowed for was that she would be attracted to another man but there was no point denying it. She was attracted to Ryan and she had to keep well away from him …
She groaned when it struck her how difficult it was going to be. Avoiding Ryan wasn’t possible when they had to work together but somehow she had to keep a rein on her feelings. The thing she mustn’t do was make another mistake.
Ryan did his best not to think about his encounter with Eve on the riverbank but failed. Miserably. As the week wended its way towards the weekend, he found himself returning to those minutes they had spent together far too often. Maybe Eve hadn’t said anything but he’d have needed to be deaf, dumb and blind not to have noticed her reaction. She had looked at him and he’d known that it had been a lightbulb moment for her the same as it had been for him. Because if Eve had suddenly realised he was a man, he had definitely realised that she was a woman. A very attractive woman too.
Saturday rolled around and he thanked merciful heaven that he didn’t have to go into work. He had the weekend off, forty-eight hours completely Eve-free. If he didn’t manage to sort himself out then it wouldn’t be for want of trying, he decided as he slotted bread into the toaster for his breakfast.
Once he’d eaten, he intended to go for a run and after that he’d do a few dozen laps of the local swimming pool. After that, maybe a little weight training would jolt his mind back into the sensible lane. If that didn’t work either he would think of something else, although it was doubtful if he’d be fit to undertake any more exercise. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told Eve that he had let his training lapse of late …
Eve.
Eve.
Red-gold hair.
Grey-green eyes.
Luscious curves.
Ryan cursed roundly as he exited the kitchen. Forget breakfast; he was going running now. And somewhere along the way he was going to outrun these thoughts that plagued him.
He followed the same route he had taken that night too, working on the principle that lightning didn’t strike twice. It didn’t either because he had rounded the bend when he spotted Eve coming towards him. He slowed down, hurriedly debating his options. Should he turn around and head back the way he’d come or would that be too revealing? If he’d spotted Eve, she was bound to have seen him and he didn’t want her to think that he had a problem with her even if he did.
One stride, two, and that was it; the decision was out of his hands. Ryan came to a halt, breathing far more heavily than the effort he’d expended warranted. It was just that seeing Eve made him feel breathless and giddy and all sorts of things he didn’t normally feel. He groaned under his breath. Hell and damnation. He had a really big problem, Houston!
Eve came to a halt, her heart beating in rapid little jerks. She could lie to herself but what was the point? She had chosen to walk by the river because she had thought … hoped … that she might see Ryan here. That was the truth, although it wasn’t all of it. She wasn’t ready to work out why she’d wanted to see him when she had decided to keep well away from him. She would start with the easy bit and work up to the difficult bits later … Possibly.
‘We meet again.’ She gave a little laugh, wincing when she realised that it sounded like a rusty nail being scraped down a blackboard. Ryan was jogging on the spot, obviously keen to keep up the momentum, and she felt a spurt of irritation strike her. He could at least pretend to be pleased to see her, couldn’t he?
‘Looks like it.’ He grinned at her, his handsome face breaking into the same wonderfully warm smile he’d treated her to the other night, and Eve was instantly mollified and smiled back.
‘You’re obviously a glutton for punishment.’
‘Or desperate.’ He laughed, a soft rumble emerging from his powerful chest. ‘Can you imagine how mortifying it will be if I have to drop out after I’ve persuaded everyone else to take part in this challenge?’
He
