But the second box held books. Fair game.
I sifted through the titles on top. Mysteries, thrillers, classics. There was a well-thumbed paperback ofCatch 22. Something I’d always meant to read. Maybe Dean would let me borrow it.
Then, while I was flipping through a sci-fi epic, a folded piece of paper fell out.
I picked up the folded paper from the floor. Opened it.
And my heart squeezed.
It was a photo ofus. Me and Dean, smiling together on some random afternoon in Owen’s backyard. No, actually I remembered this day. We’d gone to a barbecue there. Just a casual get-together, full of friends from the station and Last Refuge.
In the photo, Dean was leaning into me. I was touching his arm. We looked like a couple. We’d been so close then, and I’d been dreaming of more.
I’d somehow convinced myself Dean would stay in Hart County forever. Be in my life forever.
My eyes stung, and nausea rose in my throat.
The creases in the paper were all worn, like he’d folded and unfolded it countless times. Who even printed out photos anymore, then kept them inside a book like this?
It was so stupid.Iwas stupid for ever believing Dean could be mine.
And the fact that he had this, stashed away in this weird secret house of his, was just one strike too far. I wanted an explanation for all of this.Allof it. I was tired of his mysteriously vague non-answers.
Maybe I’d been sweet, naive Keira two years ago. But I wasn’t anymore. I was tough, and I didn’t put up with shit.
“You’re going to tell me what the hell all this is about,” I muttered as I marched toward the stairs.
On the upstairs landing, I didn’t slow. Just kept striding from one doorway to the next. The bathroom was vacant, the mirror all fogged up with steam.
He wasn’t in the first bedroom I reached. Which left the second, the room at the very end of the hall.
The door was partway open, so I barreled in, shoving the door wider. “Dean, I want to know why?—”
The sentence dried on my tongue as I got an eyeful of him standing there.
Several things became evident at once.
Dean had just gotten out of the shower. In fact, his towel was still falling to the floor with a soft sound. Beads of water slid from his hair down his shoulders and along the slope of his spine.
Also, he was completely naked. Two firm butt cheeks were right there, searing into my brain matter.
His face wasnotthe only spot on his body that had dimples.
If I’d been more dignified, I might’ve calmly backed up and averted my eyes. Instead, I screamed. Which made Dean jolt and start turning around to face me, in all his naked glory, andholy shit that was Dean’s cock.
My hand clapped over my eyes. “Oh, fuck me. Fuck. I am so sorry.”
I didn’t usually curse this much. But I also didn’t tend to walk in when a man was undressed.
Buck naked. I’d seen everything.
There was a shuffling sound. “Towel’s back on. I should’ve closed the door, but I didn’t think you’d?—”
“No, I really shouldn’t have?—”
“It’s okay, Keira.” There was amusement in his voice. While my heart was sprinting and my skin was on fire. “What did you need?”
“It’s nothing. I’ll just, um, downstairs—” I started backing up. Stumbled.
