“I wasn’t asking for my benefit. As long as you know the answer, that’s all that matters.”
Krista stopped in front of him. “Well, if you must know, I did tell him. Sort of. And I was gonna discuss it with him again today, only—”
“You had to discuss it?”
“That’s what friends do, isn’t it?” Mirroring his stance, she planted her hands on her hips too. “And not that you’d understand, but life’s been stressful for him lately. He needed a friend, so I was there for him.”
“The poor love,” Shane said, pouting like he used to as child when he wanted to bug his older sister Claire. “Did he have a boo-boo and need some TLC?”
“Like I said, you wouldn’t understand.” Krista cocked her head. “You don’t believe in love, so it figures you’re alsoThat Guywho thinks men who show emotions are weak.”
“Actually, I think men who string women along are weak. Maybe he just liked having you around, like an emotional crutch.”
“An emotional crutch? Is that what you think Ryan saw me as?”
“This may come as a shock to you, but I really don’t think about Ryan at all.” Shane barely knew the guy, but up until this morning—when he’d clearly shown such little regard for his friendship with Krista—he had always seemed decent enough. Although, there was one thing that always niggled Shane about Ryan. Whenever he came across him at the aquatics center, Ryan was usually in front of a mirror in the changing room, preening his hair. Once, he’d even caught him smoothing out his eyebrows. Each to their own and all that, but Shane couldn’t relate to that level of self-grooming.
“So you and Ryan weren’t a couple,” he said, continuing to bug her. “You were waiting for whatever you were waiting for, and now you’re hacked off because another woman got there first, baby. Deal with it.”
“Don’t call me baby,” she hissed.
Shane swallowed back a smile. He shouldn’t be pushing her buttons like this, but Krista was wound so tight trying to keep her shit together that maybe letting loose was exactly what she needed. The sooner she got the venom out of her system, the sooner he—they—could both enjoy this trip through the Rockies. If directing some of her anger and frustration toward him helped, then so be it. Otherwise, Shane really would be dumping her back in Banff as soon as they got off this trail.
“Tell me,” he said. “What is it about that pretty boy that had you so hooked like a fish?”
“A pretty boy? A fish? Jeez, but you’re an asshole, McDermit.”
“Aw, I’m just curious as to why women find him so attractive.” Shane stifled a chuckle. “I mean, his face is okay if you like cleft chins and chiseled cheekbones, and of course, those lush waves of his hair are styled to perfection. And as for those eyebrows...”
“What about his eyebrows?”
“Does he pluck or wax?”
“Ugh.” Krista rolled her eyes and shoved past him. “I think you should shut the hell up now, don’t you?”
“Sure thing,baby!”
She flipped him the finger.
Shane burst out laughing then hung back as she marched along the trail, keeping to a blinding—and rather impressive—pace.
Yep, burn that anger off—baby!
Shane sniggered. Clearly, he hadn’t forgotten those finely tuned little brother techniques at annoying the hell out of people, even if it had been a good twenty years since he’d had to use them. Next time he spoke to Claire, his sister, he’d have to tell her all about it, though Claire was sure to message him the moment she saw his Instagram post with Krista.Ah, shit. He hadn’t thought about that. Mum and Dad would be curious too. His family always grilled him about the women he posed with. Always eager for him to “move on” from Fiona with a “meaningful relationship” and “settle down” with a “nice girl.”
Never gonna happen, folks.
Shane scrubbed his face then pulled out his phone to delete the Insta post. But of course, if his family, friends, and followers back home saw this, there was a high chance that Fiona would too.
Zoey wasn’t the only person who Shane wanted to show the world meant nothing to him. Constant photos on social media of the new love of his life—having a ball in the Canadian Rockies with his pretty Canadian lover... Was there a better way tocelebratethe week that would have been his first wedding anniversary?
Shane stared at the photo of himself and a shell-shocked Krista then pocketed his phone without deleting anything. What was the harm in leaving that photo up for another few hours?
And he did have a bet to win, too. Shane was certain that someone as vain and needy as Ryan Dubois would sit up straight when he saw another man’s arm around Krista, a woman he must’ve assumed would alwaysbe therefor him, thinking the sun shone out of his arse.
Shane picked up the trail again, catching up with Krista. She’d covered a good two hundred meters without him, and he hoped to hell that his plan of annoying the misery out of her had worked.
But what if it hadn’t? What if he’d made things worse?
