She’d withered away to barely one hundred pounds by the time she worked up the courage to file for separation.
God, that had been a terrifying moment in her life. Absolutely terrifying.
She and Todd had been together for nearly ten years. They had two children together, an enormous home in a swanky part of town, were members of a country club. Their kids went to a charter school. From the outside looking in, their life was idyllic.
But from the inside looking out, Eva felt like she was in prison.
Todd had been the main breadwinner in their family. Everything was in his name. He took care of the finances. And as things in their marriage began to turn south over the years, he made sure to throw all of that in her face time and time again. He also threatened to take the boys from her, claiming that she’d never see them again if she ever tried to leave him.
Which was why it had taken her nearly three years to work up the courage to finally do it. She’d wasted away to practically a skeleton until that time, became a mouse, a recluse, ashamed of what their friends would say to her about how her appearance had changed. But she was too emotionally sick to eat. The way Todd belittled her, patronized her, bullied her, it made her ill. She had no appetite. Not when her guts were twisted in such tight knots of fear. Fear of his wrath, his emotional and psychological torment. She worried herself to near death.
He never beat her, but the scars from his words, from his manipulation would most likely be everlasting.
A little over a year ago, shortly before the kids’ spring break, which also encompassed the Easter long weekend, she packed up her and the kids while Todd was away for business and moved in with her sister, Celeste, and Celeste’s daughter, Sabrina. Then she filed a restraining order against her husband and also served him with separation papers.
Todd had been livid.
Restraining order be damned, when he received the separation papers he’d driven over to Celeste’s house and banged on the door, hollering and demanding Eva give him his children. Celeste and a few of the neighbors called the cops, and Todd had been escorted out of the neighborhood by three police cars.
And that’s when things in Eva’s life really turned ugly.
The year waiting for her divorce to be finalized had been pure torture.
She only let the kids see their father because the court ordered her to, even though Kellen and Lucas begged not to go with him when he came to pick them up. They said he ignored him when he had them. But whenever she brought it up to Todd, he said that if he didn’t get his kids, he’d take them from her and she’d never see them again. She fretted herself to the point of needing hospitalization, she’d lost so much weight. The assurances of the court were a cold comfort when her kids were out of her care.
That year had been absolute anguish. Besides threatening to take their children away from her, Todd dragged her through the mud until it was in her ears, eyes and up her nose. He used her weight loss against her, painting her as mentally unstable and a drunk. That the reason she didn’t eat was because she drank all her calories. But her lawyer, Richelle LaRue, had been outstanding and never let Todd get away with a damn thing.
Eva now had full custody of Kellen and Luke, with the boys spending the majority of their time with her—not that Todd really had anything to do with them when he was around—and Todd paying not only alimony but child support as well.
With her divorce settlement, she was able to buy a small, modest house in a nice part of town, one that had a fully finished basement where she planned to set up her hair and aesthetics studio.
Before all the separation and divorce chaos, she’d worked two days a week at a salon near the boys’ school, mostly taking care of the updos for wealthy older women who came in once a week to get their hair done.
But now, she planned to build herself a mini empire. The space in the basement was perfect. Lots of natural light, a sink, bathroom, plenty of space for not only a stylist’s chair, hair dryer and waxing table, but also the perfect place where she could set up her foot spa for pedicures.
She planned to open Eva’s Hair and Esthetics within a couple of weeks of moving into the new house. But she needed to get a handle on advertising. Word-of-mouth was only so useful. She needed to get her business onto social media, flyers, bus benches, billboards. She needed it all.
She blotted at her face with a piece of tissue and let out a shaky breath. “You can do this,” she whispered. “You can do this.”
A knock on the door made her jump nearly clear out of her skin.
You can’t do this.
What had she been thinking? Inviting a total stranger up to her hotel room for sex.
She’d been with all of four men in her whole life. The guy who took her virginity the summer she turned seventeen; Gary, her boyfriend senior year of high school; Rick, her boyfriend after Gary moved to Boston for college; and then finally Todd. And she and Todd hadn’t had sex in almost five years.
Now she planned to break that dry spell with who?
A seriously gorgeous man with a super sexy crooked nose and beard you want to rub all over your—
“Eva?”
Shit! Right. He was still standing on the other side of the hotel door.
She was busy daydreaming her nightmare of the past, and Scott, one of the most handsome men she’d met in a very long time, was patiently waiting for her to welcome him inside.
She blew out a breath, took one last look at herself in the vanity mirror and then went to open the door.
And of course, he was leaning against the doorjamb all casual-like, somehow balancing a wine bottle, coat and pizza box, all while hooking his thumb in his belt loop, which meant that his black button-down shirt pulled tight across his chest, showing off well-defined muscles and a breadth that took her own breath away.
She’d been aware of his height and size back at the bar, but there she’d been fueled by pheromones, tequila and confidence. Now, standing there in front of him, she felt like the mouse she’d fought so hard to no longer be.
“Thought you might have fallen asleep,” he said lazily, hitting her with the full megawatt smile, enhanced by a single dimple on his left side, nice lips, that sexy, slightly crooked nose, and of course that beard. Oh lord, the beard.
She swallowed and pushed the door open more, allowing him to enter. “No, not asleep, just, uh … ” She didn’t bother finishing that sentence because the scent of pizza made every thought in her brain disappear.
“I wasn’t sure what to get,” he said, wandering into the hotel room and over to the table and chairs next to the window. “Whether you’re a traditionalist, like a margherita pizza girl, or you like to walk on the wild side, like smoked salmon, capers and cream cheese.”
Eva must have made a face because he started to laugh. “Not a fan of the wild side?”
She shook her head. “Not on my pizza. I’m all for some chicken and artichokes, but keep the cream cheese and fish on my bagel. Some things are not meant to be fusionized.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is that a word?”
He opened up the pizza box. “It is now. I grabbed us a half-and-half. Half margherita, half pepperoni with sausage, bacon and mushrooms.”
Her mouth began to water. “Now that’s my kind of pizza.”
“I grabbed a zinfandel with a twist-off lid, as I wasn’t sure you’d have a corkscrew,” he said, grabbing two mugs from next to the coffee maker and pouring them both a healthy splash of wine.