Seemingly satisfied, he returned to his painting while Eva watched. As she did, she rotated her shoulder and stretched her neck from side to side. Her shoulder and neck hadn’t even hurt yesterday.
John glanced at her twice before putting his roller down and approaching. “Turn around,” he ordered.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I can’t watch anymore.”
So enlightening. He turned her around himself when she didn’t obey. A protest was on her lips but morphed into a groan as his fingers deftly found the knots in her muscles. Her head fell forward, her hair swept out of the way as he moved it aside. She should have been reacting to his hands on her, she should have at least grumbled, but the man worked with such efficiency that Eva wasn’t sure she ever wanted him to stop. His fingers were warm across her skin, skillfully melting her bones from the inside out. He made his way down her back, working under her right shoulder blade.
Eva let out a breathy moan. God, that feels good.
“Do you like that?” John whispered, his breath near her ear.
Heat blazed across her cheeks, a nod the only way she could answer. It had been so long since a man had touched her. The last time she’d had a boyfriend was when her mother had been healthy. When she’d become sick, everything else had been pushed into the not-important pile. Dating and a social life just didn’t seem a priority when faced with the likelihood of losing a parent before you’d even graduated from college.
John made his way over to her left side, kneading at her sore muscles and turning them to jelly. His hand ran down her arm, moving the limb to better reach a sore spot, and with each brush across her skin, Eva began to melt in a whole other way. Anticipation and need stirred deep within her. Awaking after a too-long sleep, she fidgeted, no longer thinking about her sore body but her pleasure-deprived one.
“Does that feel better?” John murmured, sliding his hands to her wrists and stepping so close behind her, she could feel heat coming off him.
If Eva were a wolf, she imagined she would have closed the inch between them and sank into his hold, tipping up her head to gaze into his eyes and convey all the things she desired with one look. But Eva wasn’t that bold. She was a human, playing in a wolf’s world, and whether Katalina said he liked her or not, Eva wasn’t brave enough to make the first move. She wasn’t sure she was brave enough to make the second or third either. If she was honest with herself, John terrified her—in a good way, but he terrified her all the same.
He shifted, his chest brushing her back before his lips landed on the shoulder he’d just effectively worked to mush. A sigh escaped her, electricity skating across her skin.
“Evaline,” he breathed, and though she’d told him not to use that name and it had hurt the first time he’d said it, today, the way the syllables fell off his tongue sent a thrill through her.
A knock echoed through the house, followed a second later by boots on the floorboards. Eva jumped away as a man rounded the corner and paused, his gaze traveling between them both.
“Hey, John,” he said hesitantly. “I have a few hours spare and thought I’d come finish the last of the cabinets.
Eva looked between the two men, unable to read John’s expression.
“I’m doing the same,” John replied. “Evan, this is Eva, Zackary’s sister.”
“Ah, right. It’s good to finally meet you.” He tensed to step, then glanced at John and stopped himself. “Well, I’ll be in the kitchen. I reckon we’ll have those two home in a couple of days.”
“Hopefully. Hey, how’s Cass?” John asked.
Evan’s laughter carried from the other room. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
John joined in with the laughter, causing Eva to feel like she was missing an inside joke, but then he explained seconds later. “Evan’s mate, Cassady, is eight months pregnant and fed up of him hovering.”
“Oh, right.” Eva smiled.
Over the next few hours, the house filled with people Eva knew and didn’t know. Every person she hadn’t met before came to say hello, but none came too close, almost as if John was giving off stay-away signals she was unaware of. Maybe he was. Maybe wolves communicated in ways she didn’t understand. She just knew it was irritating because she’d have quite liked to have some real conversations instead of a simple “Hello, my name is… nice to meet you.”
Whatever had passed between them in those moments before Evan had arrived seemed to have died a quick death. John kept his distance the entire time they were in the house and shortly left after, he dropped her back off at his cabin. She was left wondering if she’d imagined the ghost of a kiss on her shoulder. Had it been so long that she was now dreaming up touches to feed her parched soul?
Whichever it was, Eva wasn’t going to hang around in his cabin and mope. It was time to track her father down and drag him away from his obsessive building mission. The work was more or less done anyway. He had no excuse for not seeing her after she’d been attacked, and the five-minute phone call he’d given her was not enough.
***
“Dad,” Eva called. It had taken her twenty minutes to track him down with the help of two people. She eventually found him in Cassady and Evan’s cabin, installing some more storage.
“Oh, hey, honey,” he said absently, only briefly looking up from his position on the floor, half in a cupboard.
Eva rolled her eyes, a thread of annoyance lacing her next words. “I’m fine, thanks for asking. Not shook up or injured from
