“El? Like, Eleven?” he asked innocently. She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Stranger Thingsfan, I take it?”
“Yeah, so? I went through aPirates of the Caribbeanphase when I was fourteen, too. Named our dog Rum so I could yell through the house ‘Why’s the Rum gone?’.”
Kasey’s burst of laughter made her lips twitch with the need to smile, but she fought it back as she pulled on her winter coat. “There’s no way that’s a true story.”
“Swear to God,” she said and crossed her finger over her heart in an X as they exited her apartment. “Ask Free. I’m sure he remembers. Jodi wasobsessedwith Orlando Bloom. She wanted to name the dogWill Turner. I won.”
Kasey held his hand out toward her and she stared at it, then raised her eyes to his in confusion. “Keys, Shaun.”
“You’re not driving my truck,” Shaun laughed, shaking her head.
“Really? You don’t trust me to drive?” he asked, stepping between her and the car door. “I drive for a living.”
“Yeah, on perfectly conditioned pavement making only left banks,” she muttered dryly, and fully enjoyed the annoyance that flashed across his stupidly handsome face. “You don’t know the first thing about driving on Michigan winter roads, Kasey.”
“Shaun…”
“Look, I have been driving myself since I was sixteen. I don’t need you or anyone else to chauffeur me around. I’m not some passenger princess, Kase,” she snapped, throwing her arms wide. “If that’s what you’re looking for, then you might as well hit the road, because that’s not the kind of woman I am.”
“You’re not the kind of woman that likes to be taken care of?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Her heart thudded in her chest. She took a long time to answer before saying quietly, “No. I’m not. I don’t need to be taken care of, or have some man do what they think is best for me because they think they know better.”
His dark blonde brows rose just the slightest in surprise, and she dropped her gaze to the snow-covered ground before reaching around him for the door handle. He stepped aside, and she climbed into the driver’s seat. She started the truck and then swallowed hard when he walked around the hood to open the passenger side door before climbing up into the seat. Neither one of them said anything as they fastened their seatbelts, and then Shaun backed the truck out of the driveway.
The short ride to the local hospital was quiet, which Shaun was grateful for. Her mind was still a mess; a lot had happened in a very short amount of time and her brain was still trying to play catch up.
The absolute kaleidoscope of emotions that Kasey elicited from her were on their own confusing as hell. Up until three days ago, she’d been convinced she hated him with everything in her.
Two days ago, she’d had a grudging acceptance that maybe he wasn’t allthatterrible.
Thirty-six hours ago, she’d been drunk on tequila and high on a multitude of world altering orgasms.
The last eighteen hours had been an exhausting rollercoaster. She liked the witty, snarky banter between them. She liked the way those gray-blue eyes watched her, made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, even just for a few moments. She liked his sense of humor when he wasn’t being a total dick. She liked his smile, that dimple that showed up in the center of one cheek, the quiet way he seemed to watch everyone and everything all at once, missing nothing. She liked the way his kisses made the world disappear, or the way she’d never felt more alive than when she was with him. No matter what they were doing. Arguing. Teasing. Fucking. She liked all of it.
She liked… well, him. She likedhim.
FML.
Shaun peeked at him out of the corner of her eye as she drove, both hands on the wheel to keep them to herself. She hated to admit it, but she’d known all along that if she left without a word, he would follow her. He had told her he would. If she were to be honest with herself, for once, she hadwantedhim to follow her. What woman didn’t like being pursued, wooed?
But that was where things got complicated. Where her mind started balking like a damn spooked horse. The last thing she needed, the last thing she wanted, was another man expecting things from her, speaking over her, making decisions for her without giving a thought or consideration to what she wanted. Kasey didn’t ask for anything. He gave and he took, without remorse or apology.
She didn’t want a man that wouldn’t let her have her own voice, her own opinions, her own choices, just because he thought he knew better.
No matter how much she wanted Kasey, whatever this was between them would never work. If she let him in, he would push and push until she finally caved, giving in to whatever his requests and demands would be of her. And she would hate herself in the end.
No, it was better to end this now, rip the band-aid off and say ‘sayonara’ than to let any man have that kind of control of her. Even if the orgasms were top notch, chef’s kiss, crème de le creme… nope. No man was worth that. Hell to the naw.
So when she finally pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and climbed out of the truck, she squared her shoulders and rounded the hood, stopping as he stepped close to her. “Kasey—”
“Nope,” he muttered, laying a finger vertically along her lips to shush her, and she glared up at him. “Whatever bullshit excuse that’s about to come out of that pretty mouth of yours can wait. I realize that you’re stuck up in that head of yours for God only knows what reason—though I do think I’m starting to see the big picture here, darlin’, and we’ll talk about that later. Don’t let that douche canoe and whatever dumb shit he did ruin what could be a very enjoyable weekend. That’s all I’m asking for; just the weekend, Shaun. If by the end of the weekend you still feel the same way, that will be it.”
He removed his finger from her lips and cupped either side of her head in his hands, leaning in to press his mouth to hers, and she melted when his tongue swept between her lips. Damn the man could kiss.
Whispering directly against her lips, he breathed, “If you say the words, I’ll walk away, and you can go back to hating me if that’s what you’d like. If that’s what makes it easier for you to pretend there isn’t something here.”
THIRTY
