The Taming by Teresa Toten, Eric Walters Page A

and be seen all over the place.
    “Do you like my jeans?” I asked, apropos of absolutely nothing.
    Evan looked a bit embarrassed. “Uh, Gap?” he asked.
    “Old Navy,” I admitted. “The sales bin.”
    I could tell by his expression that he didn’t know what I was talking about. His pink-and-blue-striped shirt probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.
    “I’m thinking that, uh, maybe the cashmere sweater suits you better,” he said. “You strike me as somebody who should be in cashmere, all the time.”
    I almost blurted out that the first time I’d ever even felt cashmere was when I’d slipped on this sweater, but I stopped. “This old thing? I’m so glad you like it!” I tried to match his smile. Maybe I could get Lisa to never wear the sweater again. This guy noticed stuff. What other guy would know cobalt blue?
    “Thing is, thanks to the play, I’ve had to claw my work hours back at the bakery to practically nothing, which has had a disastrous impact on my current wardrobe,” I said, desperately trying to provide an excuse for my shlumpy clothes.
    “You’ve got the lead in the school play and you work?”
    “Well, like I said, not as much as I used to.” I glanced at my watch. “Crap, it’s almost midnight! How did that happen? Sorry, I’m so sorry, I have to go now. If you don’t mind, that is.”
    Evan looked puzzled.
    “I loved every single minute and second, but I’ve got a double shift at the bakery tomorrow, starting at 4:30.”
    Now he looked stunned. “4:30? Like, a.m.? A double shift? Man!” He shook his head. “Well, I was hoping we could get together tomorrow night, but you’ll just be getting off shift. Next Friday, then?”
    Wait, wait. What had just happened? Had he just asked me out again ?
    “I’m sorry … what did you say?”
    “Do you want to go out with me next week?” he asked, throwing a million-volt smile at me.
    I burst out laughing.
    “That’s not the usual reaction I get. Is that a yes or a terrible rejection?”
    “A yes!” I practically screamed. Calm down, calm down, calm … “God, yes!”
    “Good. But do you have the same schedule next week?”
    I nodded.
    “Then Friday night it is.”
    “Great, okay, super!” I jumped up, ready to dart for the subway. “See you at rehearsal on Monday!”
    Evan jumped up too and grabbed my wrist. “No, Katie. Please, I insist. It’s late, I must drive you home. It wouldn’t be right to let you go home at night alone and unprotected.”
    “Oh, oh right.” I looked at my wrist—him holding my wrist. It felt so warm and strong and tender, all at once. “Sure, fine. That’d be great, but …”
    “I won’t come up,” he promised. “I’ll just see you to the doorman.”
    My stomach pitched. My real life kept getting in the way. “No, it’s not like that. No doorman, Evan, it’s not, our apartment is …” He’d find out, everyone knew what those apartments were. “It’s, we got a, it’s city housing.”
    Mom had pinned all her hopes on Joey and all her money on “Mommy maintenance,” as she called it. Her clothes, her hair, her spa stuff. She was the investment .
    “We’ll be moving soon, though.”
    “To the lobby, then!” Big smile.
    As useless as I was about this stuff, I could tell that Evan was going out of his way to make it easy for me. And for some stupid reason, I was close to tears as a result.

     
    As usual, the streetlights were out in front of our building.
    Evan put the car in park, leapt out and around and opened the door for me. I could feel my blood pumping even before he took me in his arms. The crispness of his shirt, the trace of aftershave that made him smell like a walk on the beach.
    Not that I ever have.
    And he was so strong.
    Maybe Evan didn’t play basketball like Josh, but when he held me I knew that he could take on Josh and win. He was even stronger than Nick Kormos. My eyes readjusted and I took him in. God, he was lovely. Evan tightened his grip