Free Sins from Her Past (Scandalous) by Jules Bennett

“Thanks for everything.”
    He grabbed her arm before she could turn away. “Call me if you need anything.”
    Glancing from his firm grip to his eyes, she swallowed. “I won’t.”
    She knew he wasn’t talking about work or friendship, and as much as she did need comfort and stability, she couldn’t ask him for it. Though she’d give anything if he’d be the one who helped her through this. But if he did, how could they face each other? How on earth would “friends with benefits” work for them—that is, if she was able to actually be intimate?
    And if she ever was able to be intimate, could she ever venture into love? The one and only time she’d ever thought she had stronger feelings for someone, her innocent vision of love had been shattered and now she had no clear picture of what it should even be.
    Evie made her way to her car. She didn’t care that she was running away. Her therapist had told her to do what felt comfortable, what felt right, and walking away from Alan’s damning stare was certainly the right thing to do.
    She needed to be able to think more clearly and she certainly couldn’t do that here. Vin needed to be the forefront of her mind because she couldn’t afford to keep looking back. Her future would be the only thing that would keep her from going crazy, keep her smiling and keep her from curling up in a ball and letting the bad guy win.

Chapter Seven
    The plane lurched into the air and Evelyn’s eyes drifted to the seat directly in front of her as Vin white-knuckled the chair. Since the seats were facing each other, she knew she wasn’t imagining things. Last time they’d flown to and from Italy, he’d sat beside her and she had thought she’d imagined his fear. But no. He was utterly and one hundred percent terrified.
    She never would’ve believed big, hunky Vincent Hawk would be afraid of anything. Interesting.
    She kept her eyes on his, silently willing him to look at her. When he kept his gaze on the window, Evelyn took a deep breath, slid off her sandal, extended her leg and allowed her bare foot to roam up the inside of his designer jeans.
    He jerked toward her and while his knuckles were still ghostly white, his eyes held something much, much warmer.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    Good question. All she’d thought about was distracting him, which had worked, but now what? God, this was so not like her.
    “You seemed tense.” She eased her foot back out and slid back into her sandal, suddenly feeling really silly. “You okay?”
    Hopefully, now that they were starting to level out a little more, he could relax. If not, well, she didn’t know what else to do to distract him. She had her limits.
    “Fine,” he replied with a devilish grin. “Just thinking about the site. I’m anxious to get there and see the progress.”
    “How far are they on the building now?”
    “I’m hoping to be open by Christmas, but that’s if everything goes according to plan and weather cooperates.”
    Evelyn nodded. “That would be a nice time to open and advertise specials for New Year’s Eve and even for Valentine’s Day.”
    Vin glanced out the window once again and sighed. “I want to offer a special honeymoon package for when we initially open. That’s the crowd I think this will bring in.”
    “You’re catering more toward couples?”
    He nodded. “So many of my resorts are geared toward families and I love that. Family is always important, but I also think the bond between a couple is just as important and it’s good for people to be able to get away, escape reality and just concentrate on being in love.”
    Evelyn swallowed, watching him from across the narrow aisle. “You’re a romantic,” she murmured. “Who knew?”
    He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not.”
    “You are too.” She couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. “First you tell me you want a child and now you’re focusing your resort on couples. Don’t worry, Vin, I won’t tell