Shane #3
“Oh God! No, I didn’t mean to make her upset. I talked about Henry and the wedding, but I think she thought I was talking about you. I tried to explain myself when I realized it wasn’t you on the phone. I’m sorry, Shane. I really didn’t mean to confuse her.”
Shane searches my gaze, trying to read me. “Is it true?” he asks me softly as his hands rub up and down my thighs.
I nod. “It is, I was just a little shocked, I didn’t know what to think.” I feel the heat covering my cheeks amplifying the longer he stares at me.
“Okay.” He cups my cheek and leans in to press his lips to mine, then turns back to the phone.
“Hailey, I’ll call you back later when I’m on the road. I’d really like to spend these last few hours with my girlfriend. Uninterrupted.” He grins when my eyes widen and a whole different blush sets along my face.
He called me his girlfriend!
“Oh! Of course. You two have fun! I’ll see you later, Shane. And Merry Christmas, Aubrey. I do hope we get to meet soon,” Hailey says with a smile in her voice.
“Me too, Merry Christmas,” I answer honestly. Now that I’ve taken the time to settle that ridiculous doubt, she does sound like a nice person.
Shane ends the call and looks me over. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am.” I cup his face. “I promise. I’m sorry I let my emotions get to me, I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw the picture of you two, and then she talked about a wedding and I…”
“You thought I was the groom…” he finishes for me.
I nod, unable to speak the words.
He sighs with a bit of disappointment, and it makes me feel horrible that I could have ever thought that about him.
“I would never do that to you, Aubrey. I’ve always been honest with you, and I’ll always be.
There’s no one else for me but you.” He glides his fingers through my hair.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Hailey and our relationship.
To be honest with you, sometimes I forget we were ever married. ”
“Did you love her?” I ask, needing to know their story.
“I did, but not in the way you’re thinking.” He gets up and sits down beside me, taking my hand in his. I realize his face is completely clear from the little stubble he had yesterday. He must have shaved in the shower.
“Hailey and I grew up together. Our parents were best friends and neighbors and still are to this day. We did everything together from the moment we could walk, and our mothers instantly got this idea in their head that we would be a good fit.” He shrugs.
“Over time, we tried it out and it’s true, we were a good fit.
She was practically my best friend, why wouldn’t we get along?
One thing led to the other, and we got married.
We were in a happy relationship, so it made sense to everyone that we would. ”
“I can understand that,” I tell him, my thumb drawing circles on the side of his hand.
“I think we both knew from the start we weren’t in love.
It was more like a friendship love, a brother-sister kind of love.
” I make a face at that and he chuckles.
“I know, now that I think about it, I have no idea why we went through with it. Anyway, despite us knowing we weren’t the real deal, we still tried to make it work and stayed faithful.
But one day Hailey ran into an old friend of ours, Henry, while I was at an away game, and when I came home, I found her crying in our bedroom. ”
I frown. “Did she…” I can’t even manage to say it, because how could someone do that to such an amazing man.
“No, nothing like that. But Henry hadn’t known we were married, and he asked her out on a date. Hailey, being the good wife, refused, but she admitted she wished she could have said yes, and that made her feel guilty. The next day we started the process for our divorce.”
He turns slightly in his spot to face me better. “I wanted her to be happy, and I knew that wasn’t with me. Just like I knew my happiness wasn’t with her.” He lifts our joined hands and kisses the back of mine.
“Thank you for telling me, Shane. And I’m happy you still have a good relationship with her. Divorce is something that’s always scared me, I don’t want to be on bad terms with anyone.”
“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing I don’t plan on getting divorced in my next marriage.” He chuckles.
“You’re still open to marriage after going through it?” I ask intrigued.
“Of course, what’s the point in dating you if I don’t plan to marry you one day?” My eyes nearly bug out of my head as I flush a deep red, mouth gaping. I have no idea how to respond to that.
He simply laughs, kisses my open mouth, and stands. “Come on, we need to start moving if we want to get to your room and give you time to get ready.”
Going over to his luggage, he puts on a pair of dark jeans and a black sweatshirt with the sleeves pulled up, then begins picking up around the room and putting everything away.
Once he’s done, he zips up his luggage and pulls it toward the door, all while I’m still sitting on the bed, mulling over his words.
He grabs my phone from the nightstand and places it inside my clutch with my charger, then picks up the box containing my new boots and puts everything in a separate bag he has. “Let’s go, Angel,” he says as he comes over and takes my hand, pulling me off the bed.
I let him drag me, my steps a little heavy and still not saying a word. Finally, he opens the door, puts his suitcase and my bag out in the hall, and comes behind me. He wraps his arm around my stomach and kisses my neck as he walks us out the door.
“Did I stun you into silence with my comment?” He laughs.
I can’t help but giggle now because that really is the case. “You did.”
He turns me in his arms as mine go around his neck before he lowers and seals his lips to mine, devouring me with a fierce kiss. “You know what, I changed my mind. Let’s pretend we’re both sick and stay in here for the next few hours.”
I laugh against his lips. “Shane, we can’t do that, they’ll just come looking for us.”
“Hmm, you’re right. Let’s go rent a room somewhere else then.”
I shake my head at his ridiculousness and pull him closer to me, that desire blooming inside my stomach the more we kiss. His arms wrap tighter around my body, one hand coming to my ass as he squeezes my butt cheek through my dress.
A loud gasp sounds from beside us, and we quickly turn our heads toward it. Emma stands at the open door to her room with a hand covering her mouth and huge eyes. Oh my God! I completely forgot they were in the room next door! Oh God! Please tell me they didn’t hear us…
“Bunny? Is everything okay?” My brother’s voice travels to us from not too far behind, and panic begins to set in.
“Umm, yes, yes! But can you check if I left my phone in the room? I can’t seem to find it,” she calls over her shoulder, shutting the door slightly.
“Yeah, right away,” he tells her as his voice gets further away.
She looks back at us and gives us big eyes, clearly telling us to hurry and get moving while her hand shoos us away.
Shane releases me, grabbing his luggage and my bag in one hand while interlocking our fingers with the other. Then we race down the hall toward the stairs like two teenagers about to get caught by their parents, trying desperately to hold in our laughs at how ridiculous we must look.
There’s no doubting it. I’m crazy about this man.