Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

even harder to say. “And you can also say, ‘fuck you, Evan, you knew the risks when you dragged me into this crazy relationship, and I’m doing everything right, so calm the fuck down on that too.’ ’Cause you are, you know?” Evan sees Dan’s quizzical look. “You’re doing stuff right with the relationship. Jeff and me… it was our idea, and we’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off, getting jealous, and expecting things to be easy, and… you’re good. You’re great, really.”
    Dan doesn’t really know what to do with all this. “Dude… I’ve gotten jealous a couple times. And I’ve got no right to that—I’m the new guy.”
    Evan shakes his head and smiles. “Yeah, okay… and I gotta say, I love it when you get jealous. It’s hot as hell. But… you keep it to yourself, mostly. You don’t make it our problem.” He stops for a second. “Or… shit, is that bad? I mean… you’re allowed to make stuff our problem, you know….”
Dan squirms a little. “Yeah, I think I was pretty good at making myself Jeff’s problem this morning.”
    Evan rolls his eyes at Dan’s discomfort. “Okay, so that’s good ! And I can help you out with stuff like that too.” He reconsiders. “Well, honestly, stuff like that , Jeff’s pretty much the man—he’s like the world’s best teddy bear. But if he’s not around, I can try. Or I can try to help you with other stuff….” He looks at Dan in exasperation. “Okay, I can’t quite think of what I could help you with right now, but there must be something….” He sees Dan’s crafty look and laughs as he adds, “Something beyond the physical.”
    Dan’s still leaning against the wall, and Evan shuffles in a little closer, then catches himself. “Shit. We need to get this worked out with Jeff. It’s fucking hard to see you and not touch you.”
Dan isn’t quite sure how he’s gotten off this easy. “So, wait, that’s it? I mean… with Tat?”
    Evan shrugs, but he seems resigned rather than nonchalant. “I tried to talk her out of it before she got started—like I said, I was aware of the risks. So… yeah, right now I want to line a room with rubber and fill it up with those little foam packing peanuts and make her live in there forever, but you know, she’d probably develop a foam allergy or something.” He grins a little guiltily. “I’m kinda happy that she got hurt just bad enough to put her out of action for a while and maybe to teach her to be careful.”
    He sees the doubt on Dan’s face and comes close enough to smooth the frown lines out with his thumb. “You’ve made it as safe as it can be, Dan. I see that. I’m… I’m sorry if me being an overprotective asshole made any of this harder for you.” He leans in for just a quick kiss. “Seriously. I can’t say I’m not gonna freak out again, or that I won’t be totally nervous when she gets well enough to start back at it, but… I’m gonna try to keep it under control, okay?”
    Dan thinks for a second. “And you can talk to me about it, right? I mean, if you’re helping me, I can help you too. Right?” This time it’s Evan with the inappropriate grin, and Dan can’t help smiling back. “Yeah, okay, we need to talk to Jeff.”
Evan laughs and then gets a little more serious. “But, hey, in the meantime—have you heard back from Chris? Are we good to go?” Dan’s confused again. Evan’s quick recovery is great, but a little disorienting. “Uh, I don’t know. I think he left a message earlier.” Evan frowns at him. “But you didn’t check it? Are you not into the idea anymore?”
    Dan just laughs a little. The idea that he could be anything less than thrilled at the chance to buy into the business, to be even a part owner of these magnificent animals, doesn’t make any sense. And Evan was right: being a partner instead of an employee would make Dan feel a lot more secure about the romantic relationship that the three of them are trying