Chapter 16

For the next couple of weeks, Eve and Adam attended several festival events. She finished doing a lot of work to pay off the cost of the photo lenses. It was a big relief to not feel obligated to her boyfriend once she worked off the cost.

Adam had finally started to realize Eve really was a simple girl. The smallest gestures meant the most to her. He knew she loved the outdoors as much as he did and made a point to do things they both enjoyed. Things like sitting on the riverbank watching the annual steamboat race with a nice picnic and long walks through local parks meant the most to her.

It was a few days before the big celebrity gala events and he planned to do something special for her. They headed out to the night's event, ready to have a nice evening outdoors. As they pulled into the park, Eve was grinning ear-to-ear and almost bouncing in her seat.

"Look, Adam. Isn't it amazing?" She looked over the beautiful hot air balloons lighting up the night sky at the Great Balloon Race.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? Come on. Let's get a closer look." Adam got out of his big Dodge Ram truck and helped her out.

"Adam, I love this. Thank you for doing so many fun things with me in the last couple of weeks. It's been a blast. I don't have a lot of close friends and family, so this means a lot to me."

He pulled her to him, kissing her forehead. "Anything for my girl."

They walked through the hot air balloons, looking over the beautiful colors of the night's balloon glow. Adam stopped to talk to one of the balloon owners as if he knew him. Climbing inside the balloon basket with the man, he reached out for her. "Hope in. Eve. This is Frank. My brother's friend from the nightclub. He's going to take us up so we can view the balloons from the sky."

Eve's mouth dropped open. "Are you serious?"

"Yep. Just a quick trip. We are just going up, then back down again. They can't fly out tonight but it's a great view from up top." He helped Eve inside the balloon and it started to rise above the crowd among other lit up balloons.

Adam stood behind Eve, wrapping his arms around her, sweetly kissing her cheek, and she leaned back, letting him hold her. Everything seemed so perfect from this high up while looking out over the beautiful colors of glowing hot air balloons against the night sky.

Eve felt Adam's phone vibrate from his pocket, and once more, her happy moment quickly deflated. He huffed, grabbing his phone, turning away from her. Eve felt him pull away, texting whomever had been messaging him over the last few weeks. She couldn't help but notice his demeanor change when the phone rang or a text came. Quickly, he became secretive and distant with every call.

In annoyance, she asked the balloon pilot to drop the craft back to the ground. Adam didn't even notice as he focused on the text messages, but she definitely noticed him smiling with a slight blush. Once on the ground, Eve jumped out of the basket and stomped away, sick of being ignored.

Once Adam looked up, he found she was leaving, and jumped out fast, running after her to catch up. "EVE! Wait up! Where are you going? Babe! Stop. Wait up!"

Almost reaching the car, she turned around, pointing at him. "Don't babe me. Who do you keep texting? Every time we are having a nice time, your phone is going off. As soon as it does, you forget I'm even there. I'm not a jealous person, Adam, but you promised it was just you and I tonight."

"Eve. It is. I'm sorry. It's just work."

"Work? So work has you blushing like a schoolboy? Who is Sylvia? Why is she texting or calling you all the time?"

Adams' mouth gaped open. "What? Babe, what are you talking about?" He walked over to get closer to her.

"Who... Is... Sylvia? You are always texting her. Don't think I haven't noticed." She crossed her arms in front of her to keep space between them.

"Sylvia is my… cousin. Just family. We're really close. She's my… um... my roommate back in LA. That's all. She helps with the LA office. She's just helping me out with the business, that's all."

"Why didn't you tell me about her? You always seem like you're hiding something from me." Eve could sense something wasn't right for a few days now. She just hadn't been able to pinpoint what was going on.

"Sylvia is sort of a handful. I don't like to talk about her because she tends to cause a lot of drama. She's really needy, just like Drew." He rubbed her arm. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I can see why you would be upset. Babe, nothings going on. You're my girl. It's nothing to worry about."

Suddenly, thinking she would melt into his sexy coolness, he looked her over like she was a treat. Although, trying to look suave, it came off as fake and rehearsed. His handsome good looks seemed to be his go-to when he was in trouble, and he played on it often. Something told her that wasn't the whole story, but she didn't want to argue with him about family if he was being honest.

She sighed in irritation as he nudged her playfully.

"Babe, come on. We were having a fun night. Just forget it, okay? It's nothing."

"Okay. I'm sorry. Let's just head back to the festival. For being a jackass and texting on our date, you can buy me a funnel cake. If you're a good boy for the rest of the night, I might share with you." She stuck out her tongue at him.

He grabbed her, kissed her hard while grabbing her butt with a squeeze. "Deal. I've been a bad bad boy. I might need to be punished later."

Eve bit her lip with a slight blush. "Maybe you do. Bad boy."

"Hum? Is my girl feeling a little frisky tonight?" He nuzzled her neck with a low growl.

She giggled, wiggling away. "We will see how much of a good boy you can be first."