I watch in real time as her cheeks get heated, and her blue eyes start sparking. She holds up a hand, counting off on her fingers. “I’m not going home with you. I’m not moving in with you. I’m not your fiancée! Jesus, Dallas. What’s gotten into you today?”
Despite my better judgment, I step farther into the room. Shelby and I have been just friends for longer than I’ve sportedchin hair, but I tend to stay away from her bedroom if I can help it. I have the problem of falling into bed with women, and I refuse to let Shelby be one of my mistakes. I care too much about her to do that.
“Listen, it’s for your own safety. This guy is a powder keg just looking to be set off. You’ve been on your own for too long, picking these stupid man-babies with zero substance underneath their fragile egos. It ain’t working, Sweetness.”
Shelby opens her mouth to let me have it, but I cut her off, needing to get this all out on the table before she goes scorched earth on me.
“Let’s try a new tactic. You use this temporary move-in to get Shane to leave you alone. He’ll get distracted soon enough. Small brains can’t stay focused. I should know. Then I’m gonna take the reins for a moment in the dating department and find you the perfect man.”
Shelby scoffs, the sound astonished and bitter at the same time.
Stepping even closer, I cup her elbow and sweep my thumb across her arm. “I know you don’t want to marry me, so I won’t hold you to our agreement. Even if that napkinislegally binding.” I shoot her a wink before sobering. “I know you want a man to sweep you off your feet and feed you grapes and read you poetry. You also deserve a man who’ll handle his emotions like a fully evolved adult male. In case no one’s told you lately, you deserve it all in a partner, Shelby. You deserve a man who’ll give you the Bridgerton romance you’ve always dreamed about.”
Shelby’s eyes fill with tears. She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and clamps down on it with her teeth. A few sniffles later, she drops my gaze. “I loved the Bridgertons long before they made the books into a series,” she says pitifully, refusing to address anything I’ve just laid out.
“I know, Sweetness.” I pull her into a hug, letting her face cradle into my chest. She fits there perfectly, her curves giving the kind of hug a man can sink into after a hard day. The scent of horses, sweat, and sweet perfume hits my nose, reminding me of no other woman on this planet but Shelby.
Would it really be so bad to be married to my best friend? I mean, I’m not sure I’m up to being celibate for the rest of my life, but I’d certainly give it a try. I’ll have to ask Shelby if wanking off is considered cheating on your spouse. I’ve had plenty of years to sleep around with whomever I wanted, and I’ve definitely tried my best to spread my signature Dallas Gamble cheer as far and wide as possible. Maybe it’s time to retire the Casanova lifestyle and save Shelby from all the crazy assholes and losers out there.
I kiss the top of her head and continue to rub up and down her back. “And if that doesn’t work out either, we’ll get engaged for real and live together growing old as best friends.”
Shelby stiffens in my arms and then pulls back, her fist connecting with my pec muscle so fast I don’t see it coming.
“Ow!” I howl from the pain, cupping my boob and stepping back. “What the hell was that for?”
Shelby lifts an eyebrow, looking cute as the devil all fired up. “That’s for being an idiot. You really think my daddy left this green earth thinking that’s how his one and only precious daughter would be proposed to?” She contorts her face into something comical. Her voice comes out high-pitched and mocking and like I lost half my brain cells recently. “If no man on the planet will have you, I’ll suck it up and marry you, Shelby.”
“I don’t sound like that,” I snap.
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Are you two going to fight all night? Because I really need to get good sleep for my swim practice tomorrow morning. Coach says sleep is as important as practice.”
Shelby and I zip it real quick, looking over to see Ryder innocently standing in the doorway, head swiveling between us.
I point at my best friend. “Shelby’s getting her things together, bud. Women just take a little longer to get ready.”
Shelby gasps, but I ignore her, walking over to Ryder and putting my arm around his skinny shoulders. With both of us looking at her expectantly, and the cracked picture frame behind us, her shoulders fall in defeat.
“Fine. I’ll get an overnight bag.” She shoves her pointer finger in the air. “For just one night!”
My triumphant grin is instantaneous. She growls at it but spins around to yank various articles of clothing out of her dresser and toss them on her bed. Ryder and I wisely get out of her way.
When we’re back in the truck, Shelby’s bag stowed in the bed with Nelly, Ryder starts chattering about exact hand placement between several strokes. I love my son, but he just might lull me to sleep if he keeps on about the finer details of swimming.
About five minutes from home, Shelby puts her arm around Ryder and pulls him into her side. “That big brain of yours needs some rest, little Gamble. What do you say we make my famous blueberry pancakes tomorrow for breakfast?”
Ryder grins up at Shelby like she’s made of chlorine and swim lanes. The two fall silent, snuggling together in a calm way he never manages with me. By the time we get home, he’s out cold, looking more like the toddler he used to be, all dirty and exhausted from a day of running around the ranch.
I reach over and pull him into my arms, savoring the feel of him boneless against my shoulder as I carry him into the house. There’ll be a day very soon when I can’t hold him like this, and Ihate that it’s coming. I lock the front door behind us, something I wouldn’t bother with normally, but Shane the douchebag might make a late-night appearance, and I don’t like my sleep disturbed unless it’s by a pretty woman waking me up with her hand down my boxers.
Shelby lifts up on her tiptoes and smooths Ryder’s hair from his forehead and kisses him. “Night, my little G.”
“Night, Shelbs. Love you,” he whispers back, apparently not as asleep as I thought he was, the little trickster.
Shelby and I grin at each other over his head. She nods toward the stairs, and I move in that direction, careful to step over the toys and clothes dotting the floor. I would have put them away if I knew Shelby was coming over. She’s forever giving me a hard time about being a slob. But since I have yet to find a way to make cleaning up fun, I rarely do it.
