Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
“I am perfectly capable of going to the store by myself, Kasey,” Shaun argued, standing in front of the door, arms crossed over her chest.
Dangling her truck keys in front of her face, he waggled his eyebrows. “Yes, I am aware. But I’d like to go. There are a few things I need, anyway.”
Swiping in the air for the keys, he barely pulled them out of reach before she could grab them. She growled in frustration, and he grinned down at her. Damn she was cute when she was riled.
“Nice try. You’re stuck with me.” Pointing toward the door, he smirked. “Let’s go, darlin’.”
“You’re not driving,” she muttered sourly as they exited her apartment, walking toward her truck.
“For once, can you please just not argue?” he asked, pushing her up against the side of the truck and curving his body over hers.
“I’m not trying to protect you, or save you, or turn you into a passenger princess or whatever you called it.
I am a driver, Shaun. Driving is what I do.
I enjoy it. It’s like…breathing for me. A necessity.
Even if it’s just driving to the store and back. ”
She glared up at him and he tilted his head to one side, one eyebrow rising, waiting for her response. Finally, she rolled her eyes and muttered, “Fine.”
“Good girl,” he whispered before kissing her soundly.
Releasing her, he stepped back enough to open the passenger door for her to climb into, and then rounded the hood of the truck to climb in behind the wheel. “You might have to point me in the direction we’re going. I’m still unfamiliar with the area.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she smirked over at him. “If you’d have let me drive, you wouldn’t need directions.” He sent a pointed glare over the console at her.
She guided him through the snow-covered streets of Petoskey, along the frozen bay that lined the highway, and then into the parking lot of a local grocer.
She didn’t wait for him to come open her door, climbing out before he could.
They walked side by side into the market and she stopped for a grocery cart.
“Wanna race?” he asked, pointing to the carts with cars attached to them, the kind that little kids rode in to keep the basket of the shopping cart open for other things. She rolled her eyes, but the laugh she couldn’t stifle made his chest warm.
Stopping first in the produce, he watched as Shaun picked through until she found what she needed.
Kasey was content to follow, watching her as she moved from one item to the next.
She had pulled on a pair of cock-teasingly tight black leggings that hit high on her waist, and her feet were covered in thick winter boots.
A loose, cropped sweater in a seafoam green color covered her chest and stomach, but as she reached for a produce bag over her head, the cropped hem of the sweater rode up, baring a couple inches of her midriff, at which Kasey couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Her long, spiral curls had been left down after her shower, and they’d dried in riotous ringlets down around her shoulders and back.
She’d pulled on a simple, brown leather jacket, but hadn’t zipped it, so it hung open as she moved.
The sun had been especially bright as it reflected off the white snow, and she’d pulled a pair of Aviator sunglasses from the center console of the truck, sliding them on her nose. Now, inside the store, she’d pushed them up to the top of her head.
When she caught him staring, she gave him a lopsided grin and shook her head.
He stepped forward, stalling her hand as she spun the plastic bag that held two giant zucchinis.
She gazed up at him with those damn insanely blue eyes of hers, and in that moment, he knew he would never get enough of this woman.
He’d gone and fallen head over heels for Shauntelle Kendall.
“You are so beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes and set the zucchini in the cart, then glanced back up at him. “You already got me into bed, Kasey. You don’t have to say stuff like that.”
His eyebrows pulled together in a frown, and he opened his mouth, but then she glanced over his shoulder and her eyes widened, and the smile he knew she reserved for those she wasn’t particularly fond of pulled at her lips.
Turning, he saw a middle-aged woman approach them, a wide smile on her face. She stood nearly the same height as Shaun, plus sized, with ashy blonde hair and blue eyes.
“Well, my gosh, hi Shaun!” the woman said as she stopped beside their grocery cart with her own. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since you and Dustin broke up!”
Kasey’s brows pulled together again, jealousy rampaging through him at the thought of some other guy with Shaun.
“That was what, way back in high school?” the woman continued, and he watched as Shaun nodded, then the woman’s gaze turned to him. “I’m Karen. And who is this handsome thing?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but Shaun beat him to it. “This is uhh, my friend, Kasey.”
“Oh, just friend?” Karen asked, her blue eyes bouncing from Shaun to him and back.
When Shaun nodded stiffly, Karen said gently, “Well, that’s okay.
My Dustin always had such wonderful things to say about you, just that you were…
well you know you were a lot to handle when you were younger!
So strong-willed and of course, you could be pretty wild back then!
But you’ll find someone that can handle you.
Dustin always liked that you were so… so free spirited, he just had a hard time keeping up with you!
I’m sure your parents are glad you’ve mellowed out a little, too! ”
Kasey’s mouth had hardened into a tight line at the sheer gall of this woman, but it was the almost invisible hurt that had clouded Shaun’s eyes that cut him to the quick and made him adjust the two of them so that he stood between the two women.
Extending his hand, he murmured low, his voice tight, “It was so nice to meet you, Kathy.”
“Oh, my name is Karen,” the woman said, shaking his hand in return.
“My apologies,” he muttered, then turned back to Shaun, who had dropped her gaze to the list in her hand. “Shall we?”
She nodded as Karen walked away, leaving the two of them alone near the Brussel sprouts.
“So, I’m thinking about roasted chicken and veggies–”
“Please tell me you don’t believe a word that woman said.”
Pinning him with a stare, she laughed, though it didn’t reach her eyes, and it gutted him. “Who, Karen? Not at all.”
“Then why are you mangling that grocery list in your hand?” he asked softly, pointing at the crumpled piece of paper in one fist. She glanced down at it and released the death grip she had on the paper.
Taking it from her, he grasped her chin in his fingers and forced her eyes up to his.
“Tell me you don’t put stock into one single word that she said. ”
She shrugged, her eyes searching his. “She’s not wrong, Kasey. I know I’m a lot to handle. You’ve said it yourself. Tommy didn’t like how wild I am, either.”
He was shaking his head before she finished talking.
“I want you to listen to me, Shaun, and listen good. Tommy wanted to water you down, make you easier to swallow. Because yes, you are a lot. You are so fiercely your own person, and I pray to whatever God there is that you never fucking change. I told you once that I couldn’t wait to let out all that fire that I see inside you.
I want you to burn me up, darlin’. Can you be absolutely maddening sometimes?
One thousand percent yes. Would I change one single thing about that wild heart of yours?
Absolutely not. If they thought you were too much, that’s their problem, and bears no reflection on you. Do you hear me?”
She nodded, though he knew by that stubborn tick in her jaw that she was going to dig her heels in and wouldn’t believe a word he’d just said.
He sighed heavily in frustration, his mouth tightening into a hard line.
Shaun was so fiercely steadfast in remaining true to herself, it was refreshing.
Maddening at times, yes, but so vastly different than how Savannah had been during their relationship.
Savannah had attempted to mold herself into being the perfect girlfriend in order to secure an engagement ring, it wasn’t until it was nearly too late that Kasey had realized she had no true or genuine thoughts or feelings for him.
It had all been contrived to get what she wanted, and she nearly had.
Shaun’s fiery nature and total lack of a filter were intoxicating.
She never pulled her punches and there was no beating around the bush; she just cut the damn thing down out of her way.
She didn’t hesitate to let her feelings be known and was adorably independent.
He had a feeling she would fight like hell for the things she wanted, too, the things she loved…
Christ, this fucking feeling. There was so much more he could say, so much more that he wanted to say…
but she wasn’t ready to hear it. And he wasn’t ready to lay his heart out on the line like that, at least not yet.
Not when he knew if that’s not what she wanted, she wouldn’t hesitate to let it be known. And he wasn’t entirely a masochist.
“Can we please finish our shopping so I can get you back home and naked?” he asked roughly, kissing her quickly.
She pursed her lips when he released her, and he muttered, “Because every time you have to reach for something up high that sweater rides up, and I can’t walk around a family market with a hard on. ”