Free The Idea of You by Darcy Burke Page A

hanging out.
    â€œI don’t really date.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    He turned from her and opened the door. “Come on, you can interrogate me in the car.”
    Her laughter followed him down the stairs. He held the door open for her at the bottom and closed it after she walked outside. She’d grabbed a jacket and her purse.
    â€œI wasn’t trying to interrogate you. You don’t have to talk about your love life.”
    Love life? He turned toward the garage where he kept his Subaru Forester—one of the middle bays beneath the apartment. “I’ve never had one of those.”
    She hurried to walk beside him. “Wait, are you saying you’re a virgin?”
    He stopped at the door and flicked her a glance. “I never said that .”
    â€œWhew.” She exhaled. “I thought I had a Jamie Fraser on my hands.”
    He punched in the code, and the garage door opened. “Who’s that?”
    â€œEighteenth-century Scottish hero from a great book series. Super hot, very gentlemanly, and a virgin until his wife deflowers him.”
    â€œDeflowers?”
    She giggled. “Too much?”
    â€œI’m not sure I’ve heard that word before, though I can deduce what it means.” He opened the car door for her.
    She nodded toward the open door. “See? Gentlemanly. And we’ve established your hotness quotient.”
    â€œI’m not Scottish. Actually, there might be some Scots blood on my Dad’s side. Yeah, I think so.”
    She slid him a sideways look as she sat in the car. “But not a virgin?”
    He curved his mouth into a half-smile. “Definitely not.”
    She smiled back, but there was nothing halfway about it. “Goody.”
    He closed the door and walked around to his side. Even he had to realize she was flirting with him. What was he going to do about that?
    He climbed into the car and started the engine. “I didn’t text Sean. Is that okay? I’d rather show you the place myself.” Apparently that was what he was going to do about her flirting.
    â€œWell, Sean is my partner. I should probably text him.” She was quiet a moment. “You know what? Never mind. I’ll text him later. Let’s go.”
    Evan pulled out of the garage and clicked the remote to close the door. He drove through the porte cochere and around the fountain in the front of the house, then down the long drive to the gate.
    â€œHow far is it?” she asked.
    â€œMaybe ten minutes. Up the hill a bit.”
    â€œSo Alex left this place to you in his will, and none of you had a clue?”
    He remotely opened the gate and drove through to the end of the road, where he turned left to head up into the hills. “No, but then, the only person who lived here at the time was Hayden. And he didn’t live in the house—he has a place on the other side of town. Kyle and Maggie are living there now while Hayden’s in France.”
    â€œSounds like you all drifted apart.”
    â€œSort of. Everyone’s fairly close, even when we aren’t together. We can go periods of time without seeing each other or even communicating, and when we finally do, it’s like no time has passed. But I talk to Tori all the time—at least texting and IMing.”
    â€œSounds like you and Tori are pretty tight,” she said. “I don’t have any siblings.”
    He couldn’t imagine what that would be like. The quiet, the lack of insanity . . . “Sometimes they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”
    â€œWas that a bit of sarcasm? It sounded like it, but you said you were literal, so I have to ask.”
    â€œYeah, that was sarcasm—I’m occasionally capable of that.”
    She nudged his arm, surprising him. “That makes me feel better. I’m the Queen of Sarcasm, or so Crystal tells me.”
    â€œWho’s Crystal?”
    â€œMy assistant. And my oldest friend. I