“What on earth, where are you going? I thought you were heading to the main lodge,” her mother said with alarm when Shaun dragged her suitcase down the stairs.
“Zoey called,” she lied, swallowing hard. Her mother’s blue eyes lit up with joy and she clapped her hands. Guilt for lying to her mother assailed her, but she needed to go, and she needed to gonow.
“Baby time?” Seren asked excitedly, and it was all Shaun could do to nod her head yes. “Oh, this is just so exciting! Go, go! We’ll be home in a week! Be careful and let me know when you land!”
Nodding, she hugged her mom hard, squeezing tight for an extended moment. “I’ll see you guys when you get home. Have fun.”
A horn honked outside, and she pulled away from her mother and headed toward the door. She spotted her father out of the corner of her eye and turned to wave, blowing him a kiss as she exited. Nearly tripping down the wide stone steps, she rushed toward the cab, hauling the suitcase into the trunk before climbing into the backseat.
Resting her head against the headrest behind her, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about the man thatwould be waiting for her, or his reaction when he realized she wasn’t returning.
TWENTY-SIX
“Let me get your bag,” Chase said as he turned the Jeep Rubicon into Shaun’s driveway in front of the duplex apartment she rented. Her neighbor’s car was gone, fresh tire marks cutting through the deep snow. An older set had cut through her side, and footprints led to her door. “I’ll make sure you get inside safely. Zoey and I were here yesterday to check on Steve, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Shaun smiled gently over at him as she climbed down out of the Rubicon. He had been more than willing to come pick her up from the airport a half an hour away, and she was grateful that he hadn’t asked why she’d come home a week early, like Zoey would have. “Thank you, Deputy Manning. I appreciate it.”
Zoey’s husband was a deputy at the local sheriff’s department and took the safety of those he cared about very seriously. Tall, dark, and handsome with a sweet personality and a protective streak to boot, he’d been perfect for her timid and shy best friend.
He lugged her suitcase through the snow like it weighed nothing. She unlocked the front door and he stepped inside, making a quick check of all the rooms, which didn’t take long because her apartment wasn’t very large, and then he was back with a smile. “Everything looks good.”
“Thank you, Chase,” she said and kicked the snow off her boots by the door. “And thank you for the ride.”
“Zoey would have had my hide if you’d taken an uber all the way from Pellston,” he laughed, stopping at the door.
“It’s not that far,” Shaun said with a roll of her eyes.
“All the more reason for you to not take an uber,” Chase said drolly and she sighed, and then his cobalt blue gaze met hersand it was gentle, though a little sad. “Strangers still make her nervous. She just wants to make sure you’re safe.”
Shaun nodded. “I know.”
“The doctor told us today that if she doesn’t go into labor by tomorrow they’ll induce, so I guess it’s a good thing you came home early,” he chuckled. “She really wanted you here.”
She swallowed hard and forced a smile. “I just had a feeling.”
“I should get back home,” he said and smiled again. “I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you, Chase.”
He winked at her and then was out the door, closing it behind him.
Steve, her tortie cat, wound herself between her legs, meowing in hello. Shaun bent down and picked her up, cradling her against her chest. Steve purred, rubbing her little face into Shaun’s hands for aggressive pets, making her chuckle.
“I missed you, too,” she murmured, walking down the hall to the bedroom. Setting Steve down at the foot of the bed, she flopped into the middle of the mattress, burying her face in the pillows.
She’d done everything in her power to forget the last several days. The brooding, heavy lidded stares from those storm cloud eyes, the way his fingers had felt against every inch of her body, or the rush of electricity when his mouth would crush against hers… she wouldn’t even let herself think of the way it had felt to have him buried so deep inside her—
No, ma’am.Rolling into a sitting position, she shook herself.Nope. Don’t even go there. Don’t think about that.Whatever this was, it was over. Done. Finite. They’d gotten it over with, and now they could both move on. And it would be alongtime before she would have to see Kasey again.
Standing, she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting the water heat up until the small bathroom wasfilled with steam. Stripping, she dropped her clothes to the floor and then stepped into the shower, reveling in the scorching spray of water as it did wonders to relieve the tension that had tightened her shoulders into knots.
She felt a million times better by the time she stepped out of the shower. Passing the towel over her body to dry, she then wrapped it around her hair and walked naked back into the bedroom. She skipped underwear and chose a tightly fitted pair of yoga shorts, the inseams high on the inside of her thighs. Pulling a loose, long-sleeved shirt over her head, her breasts swayed unrestrained beneath it.
Pulling the towel from around her hair, she combed through it and then used her fingers to apply a curl cream, then left it to air dry.
The flight she’d managed to get on from Colorado the evening before had gotten her to Detroit, but she’d had a ten-hour layover between that flight and the flight to get her to the small Pellston airport in northern Michigan. Yawning broadly, she walked into the kitchen. Steve jumped up onto the counter, meowing excitedly as Shaun scooped dry food into her bowl.
Despite the fact that it was barely noon, she was exhausted, having not slept since she’d woken in Kasey’s arms the morning before. Falling into bed, she pulled the comforter up around her chin and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep mere minutes later.
