Shelter Harbor: Sinner Part 21

Or possessed.

Who knows.

"How's your dinner?"

"Huh, what?"

I turn to face him, seeing him grinning at me.

"I just said how's dinner."

"It's fine."

"Thirsty?"

I purse my lips as soon as I see the little grin creep across his lips.

"I'm fine."

"I'm sure there's some tequila somewhere you could-"

"I'm fine, thank you," I hiss.

He grins.

"Get those copies made?"

My face goes red. "Yes," I mutter.

"Great. So is cla.s.s still in session tonight?"

I glare at him, my eyes going a little wide at the gall of him to bring this up at dinner like this, even if the room is full of other conversations all around us.

"Um, no," I shoot back, stabbing at my veggies.

"So, Eva, what do you do when you're not helping to build ministries outreach centers?"

I look up at Ivy, thankful for the interruption.

"Oh, well-"

"She just got back from missionary work."

Ivy blinks as my father interrupts, turning to him and nodding before looking back at me. "Oh, that's great!"

"Where were you-"

"Korea," my father interrupts again.

A shadow crosses Ivy's face, but she brushes it off as she pointedly looks at me. "Wow, Korea! That's awesome. I've always wanted to go there."

I nod. "Yeah it was pretty amazing. We got to visit a bunch of the old temples, and see the-"

"And spread the word of our Lord and Savior, of course," my father interrupts yet again.

"Right, and that."

"Sounds fun." Ivy smiles at me.

"It was! The urban policy stuff really stuck with me. I've been thinking about it for a Master's, if I ever go."

Sierra looks up with a wry grin. "Good luck," she laughs. "Forget about sleep."

"Well, I think it's a big maybe," my father says quietly. "After all, Eva has a suitor as well who's been showing interest in marriage."

Ivy blinks. "Wow, you're getting married?" She frowns. "Wait, a suitor?"

"Indeed." My father beams as he puts a hand over my mother's. "We're very proud of her."

Ivy looks at me with a half raised brow.

I know how this looks. I know exactly how bizarre this looks. It's just...not, at least, not for where I'm from and who my family is.

"Milton," I say evenly. "He's very nice. He owns his own business."

Ivy nods. "Oh, he and Silas would hit it off, then."

"Securities firm," Silas says with a shrug. "Me and Kyle, Ivy and Sierra and Row's other brother."

"Good for you, son," my father says earnestly. "It's important for a man to till his own earth."

As if my father has ever tilled anything.

"Wow, well, all sorts of independent business owners at the table," Sierra says with a laugh. "You know, Rowan actually owns-"

"I'm aware," my father says flatly, cutting her off. "A bar," he says with a disdainful look, his brow shooting up as he spears some salad with his fork.

Rowan clears his throat.

"Well, Silas," my father looks up from his plate. "You and Milton should talk. He's coming to town in a few days to begin his courtship of Eva."

"Courtship?" Ivy says quietly. Silas subtly shakes his head at her.

"Yeah, he sure is!" Rowan chirps up loudly, grinning. "Eva here is pretty excited. She is a little nervous, though," he says with a glancing look at me.

"What?" I nervously clear my throat. "No, I'm not."

"Which is why I've been helping her."

I freeze, the blood draining from my face as I slowly turn to stare at him.

He's insane.

He's going to blow this whole thing up in front of everyone and humiliate me.

"Helping her," my father says flatly.

Rowan grins widely. "You bet, Leonard! I've been giving her relationship advice."

The entire Hammond family snorts out a collective laugh. Ivy throws her head back, crowing a laugh and wiping at a tear, and Silas is all but doubled over as he shakes his head at Rowan.

"You?"

"Oh, har har, har," Rowan chucks his napkin at his friend. "I'll have you know, I can actually be an excellent teacher."

I freeze, a shiver jolting through my whole body.

Why?

Because Rowan's just put his hand on my knee under the table.

I swallow the gasp in my throat, my head whirling to stare at him as he calmly just grins at the table.

"I think she wants advice on how to keep someone around, Row, not the opposite."

The Hammond family dissolves into more chuckles, the likes of which I've never seen at a family dinner table.

"You guys suck," Rowan says with a grin. "Don't be shocked if those cannoli's come home with me."

"Awww, cruel, man!" Silas says with a laugh.

"Well, we'll just have to see," Rowan says with a dramatic sigh, all while his hand is still on my knee I'm sitting as straight as possible, staring straight ahead and trying to will myself not to blush as I feel his fingertips slowly tease over my bare knee. And I'm just about to crack - I'm just about to shiver, or snap, or give the whole thing away somehow, when he suddenly takes his hand back.

He slides his chair out from the table and stands. "Bathroom, 'scuse me."

"I love that Mom even laughed," Sierra says with a smirk as Rowan leaves the room.

"I did not!"

"Mom, you totally did."

Irene rolls her eyes. "I just- Oh! Shoot! I forgot the sauce for the cauliflower!"

"Oh, I can get it, Mrs. Hammond." I smile as I stand quickly before she can.

She smiles. "Oh, aren't you a dear! It's just on the back burner on the stove."

I smile as I make my way through the dining room door and around the corner to the kitchen. I walk through that, down the hall, and I'm standing with my brow furrowed and my hands planted on my hips when the bathroom door swings open.

"Jesus," Rowan jumps a step back.

"Do you think this is funny?"

He grins. "What, p.i.s.sing?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Oh, that? Yeah, definitely."

I roll my eyes. "Well, stop it."

"But it's so much fun."

"What on earth is so fun about making me uncomfortable and making me feel like you're about to ruin my life?"

"Besides these little one-on-ones I get for my efforts?"

I glare at him.

"You really want to know." He leans against the doorframe.

"Yes."

"Because I've never seen a cuter blush, that's why."

My face reddens.

Of course.

Rowan grins. "Yeah, like that."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say quickly.

"Yes you do."

"You just enjoy being an a.s.shole to me."

"Nah, trust me - it's all about that blush."

Why.

Why am I still standing here?

If I had any sense at all, I'd just walk away from this. I'd go back, get the cauliflower sauce, sit back at the table, finish dinner, smile at my parents and then leave.

If I had one single bit of sense, I wouldn't still be lingering here in the back hallway with this man waiting for my father to stumble onto this scene.

"You like making me blush? That's it? Why?"