“Amazing.”
Krista enjoyed the superhero glint in his eyes. “You must’ve felt invincible standing on top of the podium.”
“It was pretty great, I won’t lie,” he said then laughed softly. “Until that upstart from Canada came out of nowhere and began to snatch every title from me.”
“Ah. The Cocky Canadian,” Krista said with a smile. “And you’re the Nearly Man. Does that rattle?”
Shane bit into his burger and took his time chewing.
“Gosh, I’m sorry,” she added quickly. She’d been so swept up in their conversation, she’d forgotten to be tactful. “You’ve probably been asked that a million times before. It must be annoying.”
“It’s okay,” Shane said. He took a long sip of his lemonade. “I didn’t mind when I lost out to Mikey—he deserved to win every one of those medals—but when the media pounced on the Nearly Man tag after my ex called off our wedding, then yeah, it pissed me off.”
Whoa! Brakes screeched in Krista’s head.
“You were engaged?”
Holy cow, she hadn’t been expecting that! Food lodged in her throat, and she didn’t know where to look.
“I’ve surprised you.”
“A little,” she coughed.
Love Sucks Shane had once been about to get married?
To whom? And what the hell had happened?
But she couldn’t ask such personal questions. Not when they were enjoying a lovely, carefree meal. Not when it wasn’t any of her damn business.
“I feel like I’ve put my foot in something,” she said.
“You wear your heart on your sleeve, don’t you?” Shane chuckled. The sound surprised her. “Do yourself a favor and never play poker.”
“Eh?”
“Never mind. You’ve not put your foot in anything.” Smiling, Shane picked up his burger again. “Once upon a time, I was about to get married. It didn’t work out. I moved on. I barely think about it now.”
“Still, it must’ve been very upsetting at the time.”
“Meh.” Shane shrugged and continued to eat.
Okay. Maybe not that upsetting, then.
One woman was pretty much like another to him. He’d said so himself, and fair enough if that’s what he believed. Who was Krista to tell him any different? Holding out for love and romance and a steady, solid relationship hadn’t exactly brought her a boatload of happiness lately.
In fact, all it had done was deprive her body of the sex she’d been thinking about all day.
***
Big fat liar...
Of course Shane thought about his abandoned wedding. More so this week than these past few months.
As he drove back to their camp, tomorrow’s date flashed before him. His first wedding anniversary.
Or would have been if This Time Last Year had gone to plan.
So, yeah, he was thinking about his wedding, and he was thinking about Fiona too. She was a constant earworm, chanting a song of disappointment and shattered dreams.
