The kiss deepened, and with it came a wash of sensation—heat, longing, and the sharp, dangerous thrill of being wanted. Shepherd had forgotten what it was like to be wanted. The realization nearly undid him. The world narrowed until it was just the two of them, the air charged with the risk and sweetness of this impossible, inevitable collision.
But, in the space of a heartbeat, Shepherd froze, stunned by his own impulsive action as reality thundered back over him like a tidal wave. He jerked away, his breath coming in ragged gasps. What the hell had he just done? Panic clawed at his throat as he stared at Evie's wide-eyed expression, her lips still parted in surprise.
"I... I'm sorry," he choked out, fumbling for the doorknob behind him. "I shouldn't have... This was a mistake."
Before Evie could respond, Shepherd yanked the door open and stumbled out into the frigid night air. He gulped in deep lungful’s, trying to clear his head of her intoxicating scent. His skin burned where she had touched him, while the ghost of her kiss lingered on his lips.
Cursing under his breath, Shepherd strode quickly down the snow-dusted sidewalk. What in the name of Christmas had he just done? He'd let his guard down, allowed loneliness and longing to mess with his good sense. His lips still tingled, her touch haunting his skin. What the hell had he been thinking?
The answer was easy - he hadn’t been.
He jammed his hands in his pockets, hunching his shoulders against the biting wind. The streets were deserted at this late hour, leaving him alone with the cacophony of his thoughts.
Stupid. Reckless. Impulsive. The words pounded through his head with each crunching step. He'd relaxed his defenses, allowed himself to get comfortable. And look where it had gotten him - fleeing into the night like a coward.
The familiar storefront of his coffee shop loomed ahead. Shepherd fumbled with cold-numbed fingers to unlock the door, desperate for the sanctuary of his apartment upstairs. As he climbed the steps, exhaustion settled over him like a heavy blanket.
He shed his coat, kicking off his boots haphazardly. The spartan apartment felt emptier than ever after the warmth of Evie's friendly home. Shepherd sank onto his bed, running a hand over his face. He knew better than this, though. He knew where soft whispers and stolen kisses led, and none of it was good.
But he learned from his mistakes.
It wouldn’t happen again.
Chapter
Seven
EVIE
Shepherd had ghosted her.
Or had he?
If Evie was honest with herself, all he’d done was go back to treating her exactly the same way he always had before the kiss that had made her feel things she hadn’t felt in years, so it was stupid to feel rebuffed by it. They weren’t in a relationship. They weren’t… anything.
Barely even friends, really.
So what if his lips had made her toes curl and her panties damp? It hadn’t meant anything, and it didn’t need to. Just one person comforting another when they were down. The only good thing about it was it had taken her mind off Ollie. She’d received a single cursory message from Adrian saying they’d arrived safely, that he’d return Oliver on December 28th, as planned, and wouldn’t be responding to any more calls or messages because ‘he was on holiday, damn it’.
That’s how Evie tried to think of it anyway, after the glow rubbed off and she realized it wasn’t the fluttery, fledgling start of something.
Which was why, three days later, she accepted a date with Asher when he asked… if itwasactually a date, and not her reading into things like she’d done with Shepherd.
Besides, Shepherd couldn’t have been clearer. He’d been blunt and told her it was a mistake.
Evie had taken it on the chin, sucked it up, then popped to the coffee shop like she always did during her mid-morning lull.
She’d seen Shepherd through the window, so knew he was there… Then she’d seen him hurry into the back room, leaving Joe, one of his baristas, to serve her.
“Is Shepherd free?” She’d asked it lightly, like it wasn’t a big deal, and the guy had looked waaay uncomfortable before telling her he was ‘unavailable’.
Perhaps she was just plain dumb, but Evie stood her ground and hadn’t backed down. “Can you let him know I’ve put aside some of his favorite cinnamon rolls. It’s my special Christmas batch, but they sell like hot cakes.”
She’d laughed at her own joke, while Joe looked everywhere but her, casting his eyes to the back room a couple of times, and didn’t even chuckle.
Evie had taken her pumpkin spice latte and tried not to read anything into it.
Shepherd didn’t show up for the cinnamon rolls, but hey, perhaps they got busy and Joe forgot to mention it.
