Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
SHE’S AS NERVOUS AS A LONG-TAILED CAT IN A ROOM FULL OF ROCKING CHAIRS
Dallas
“I don’t want any ice cream, Dallas.”
I shoot Shelby a look over Ryder’s head.
He insisted on riding on the bench seat between us, which is probably a good thing based on the way Shelby’s got her arms crossed over her chest like a petulant child.
She’s just mad I conned her into getting into my truck after supper while Frankie and Morgan schemed to drop her car off at my place in the morning—just to keep Shane from knowing where Shelby was.
“Since when does a woman not want ice cream after a breakup?” I drawl, to which Ryder snickers.
“Mom likes Rocky Road and that movie, War of the Roses, when she and Bowen have an argument,” Ryder adds helpfully. “Says it scares my bonus dad into an apology real quick.”
I can’t help but chuckle despite the tension in the truck.
My ex isn’t wrong. It might surprise some people that I actually like and respect the woman I coparent with, but I do.
Hallie is a good mom, a kind person, and absolutely not the woman for me.
We figured out real quick we had physical chemistry and nothing else.
However, after the breakup, she peed on a stick and got two pink lines.
We decided being friends and raising a child together was entirely possible.
So far, we’ve done real good, if I do say so myself.
“Sure you don’t want some mint chocolate chip? My treat,” I sing-song, knowing it’s her favorite flavor.
Shelby opens her mouth but hesitates. Ha! Got her.
“Well, it is National Ice Cream Day,” Shelby drawls slowly.
With a smirk, I swing the wheel toward Afternoon Delight, Big Knob’s one and only ice cream shop, and Ryder pumps his fist. I see Shelby fighting a smile out of the corner of my eye. She can never turn down a national holiday, no matter how small, just like her momma.
We find a parking space right outside the front door, order quickly, and are back in the truck, headed for Shelby’s place in a span of fifteen minutes.
Hopefully our little detour not only gets Shelby in a better mood but also provides some time for Shane to stop by her house, see she’s not there, and head on home to sleep off his intoxication.
I don’t want to have to bloody a man’s face in front of my kid, but I’ll do what I have to do to keep my best friend safe.
Shelby’s hands are twisting in her lap, her no-nonsense unpolished nails turning white as she grips them even harder the closer we get to her place.
My gut takes a nosedive, seeing her this nervous.
No woman should ever be fearful of her boyfriend.
I may not be the world’s best boyfriend, nor have I experienced the trap—I mean, privilege—of being married, but I would never treat a woman like this asshole.
Thankfully, the coast is clear when we pull up to Shelby’s building on the edge of downtown Big Knob. Her vet clinic occupies the bottom floor while she lives in a bougie apartment above. The douchebag’s truck with the oversized exhaust pipes is nowhere to be seen on the street below.
Shelby and Ryder climb the stairs on the side of the building, and she unlocks her door.
I command Nelly to stay in the truck bed and follow after.
Ryder heads straight for the old PlayStation Shelby keeps on hand just for him.
With ice cream all over his face and his attention redirected, I follow Shelby, only stopping short when I see an old picture of her and her parents on the wall in the hallway by her bedroom.
There’s a crack right across the glass that wasn’t there the last time I came over.
“Did that fucker do this too?” I hiss, not wanting to alarm Ryder, but needing to know the extent of this guy’s issues.
Shelby freezes, her stiff shoulders acting like earmuffs. When she doesn’t respond or turn around, I have my answer. I clench so hard my jaw shoots pain across my skull like the fireworks Meemaw threw in the bed of my truck as we drove away from supper.
“You gonna follow me into the shower too, Dally?” Shelby snaps from the middle of her bedroom, finally spinning around and plopping a hand on her hip.
I like the attitude. It means the scared is fading away.
“I will if that’s what it takes to get you to come back home with me, Sweetness.
” I lean against the doorway and try not to inhale too much of the perfumed scent of her bedroom.
Shelby is all woman, evidenced by the pink and white floral bedspread, refurbished shabby chic furniture, and the girly touches everywhere the eye can land.
It’s enough femininity to make a billy goat puke.
I watch in real time as her cheeks get heated, and her blue eyes start sparking. She holds up a hand, counting off on her fingers. “I’m not going home with you. I’m not moving in with you. I’m not your fiancée! Jesus, Dallas. What’s gotten into you today?”
Despite my better judgment, I step farther into the room.
Shelby and I have been just friends for longer than I’ve sported chin hair, but I tend to stay away from her bedroom if I can help it.
I have the problem of falling into bed with women, and I refuse to let Shelby be one of my mistakes. I care too much about her to do that.
“Listen, it’s for your own safety. This guy is a powder keg just looking to be set off. You’ve been on your own for too long, picking these stupid man-babies with zero substance underneath their fragile egos. It ain’t working, Sweetness.”
Shelby opens her mouth to let me have it, but I cut her off, needing to get this all out on the table before she goes scorched earth on me.
“Let’s try a new tactic. You use this temporary move-in to get Shane to leave you alone. He’ll get distracted soon enough. Small brains can’t stay focused. I should know. Then I’m gonna take the reins for a moment in the dating department and find you the perfect man.”
Shelby scoffs, the sound astonished and bitter at the same time.
Stepping even closer, I cup her elbow and sweep my thumb across her arm.
“I know you don’t want to marry me, so I won’t hold you to our agreement.
Even if that napkin is legally binding.” I shoot her a wink before sobering.
“I know you want a man to sweep you off your feet and feed you grapes and read you poetry. You also deserve a man who’ll handle his emotions like a fully evolved adult male.
In case no one’s told you lately, you deserve it all in a partner, Shelby.
You deserve a man who’ll give you the Bridgerton romance you’ve always dreamed about. ”
Shelby’s eyes fill with tears. She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and clamps down on it with her teeth. A few sniffles later, she drops my gaze. “I loved the Bridgertons long before they made the books into a series,” she says pitifully, refusing to address anything I’ve just laid out.
“I know, Sweetness.” I pull her into a hug, letting her face cradle into my chest. She fits there perfectly, her curves giving the kind of hug a man can sink into after a hard day. The scent of horses, sweat, and sweet perfume hits my nose, reminding me of no other woman on this planet but Shelby.
Would it really be so bad to be married to my best friend?
I mean, I’m not sure I’m up to being celibate for the rest of my life, but I’d certainly give it a try.
I’ll have to ask Shelby if wanking off is considered cheating on your spouse.
I’ve had plenty of years to sleep around with whomever I wanted, and I’ve definitely tried my best to spread my signature Dallas Gamble cheer as far and wide as possible.
Maybe it’s time to retire the Casanova lifestyle and save Shelby from all the crazy assholes and losers out there.
I kiss the top of her head and continue to rub up and down her back. “And if that doesn’t work out either, we’ll get engaged for real and live together growing old as best friends.”
Shelby stiffens in my arms and then pulls back, her fist connecting with my pec muscle so fast I don’t see it coming.
“Ow!” I howl from the pain, cupping my boob and stepping back. “What the hell was that for?”
Shelby lifts an eyebrow, looking cute as the devil all fired up.
“That’s for being an idiot. You really think my daddy left this green earth thinking that’s how his one and only precious daughter would be proposed to?
” She contorts her face into something comical.
Her voice comes out high-pitched and mocking and like I lost half my brain cells recently.
“If no man on the planet will have you, I’ll suck it up and marry you, Shelby. ”
“I don’t sound like that,” I snap.
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Are you two going to fight all night? Because I really need to get good sleep for my swim practice tomorrow morning. Coach says sleep is as important as practice.”
Shelby and I zip it real quick, looking over to see Ryder innocently standing in the doorway, head swiveling between us.
I point at my best friend. “Shelby’s getting her things together, bud. Women just take a little longer to get ready.”
Shelby gasps, but I ignore her, walking over to Ryder and putting my arm around his skinny shoulders. With both of us looking at her expectantly, and the cracked picture frame behind us, her shoulders fall in defeat.
“Fine. I’ll get an overnight bag.” She shoves her pointer finger in the air. “For just one night!”
My triumphant grin is instantaneous. She growls at it but spins around to yank various articles of clothing out of her dresser and toss them on her bed. Ryder and I wisely get out of her way.
When we’re back in the truck, Shelby’s bag stowed in the bed with Nelly, Ryder starts chattering about exact hand placement between several strokes. I love my son, but he just might lull me to sleep if he keeps on about the finer details of swimming.
About five minutes from home, Shelby puts her arm around Ryder and pulls him into her side. “That big brain of yours needs some rest, little Gamble. What do you say we make my famous blueberry pancakes tomorrow for breakfast?”
Ryder grins up at Shelby like she’s made of chlorine and swim lanes. The two fall silent, snuggling together in a calm way he never manages with me. By the time we get home, he’s out cold, looking more like the toddler he used to be, all dirty and exhausted from a day of running around the ranch.
I reach over and pull him into my arms, savoring the feel of him boneless against my shoulder as I carry him into the house.
There’ll be a day very soon when I can’t hold him like this, and I hate that it’s coming.
I lock the front door behind us, something I wouldn’t bother with normally, but Shane the douchebag might make a late-night appearance, and I don’t like my sleep disturbed unless it’s by a pretty woman waking me up with her hand down my boxers.
Shelby lifts up on her tiptoes and smooths Ryder’s hair from his forehead and kisses him. “Night, my little G.”
“Night, Shelbs. Love you,” he whispers back, apparently not as asleep as I thought he was, the little trickster.
Shelby and I grin at each other over his head.
She nods toward the stairs, and I move in that direction, careful to step over the toys and clothes dotting the floor.
I would have put them away if I knew Shelby was coming over.
She’s forever giving me a hard time about being a slob.
But since I have yet to find a way to make cleaning up fun, I rarely do it.
I set Ryder on the bed and pull his shoes off before he rolls over and is lost to his dreams. Nelly curls up in the dog bed next to his dresser, tail thumping quietly.
Back downstairs, I stop short when I see Shelby bent over the couch in the living room, clad only in a pair of short shorts and a matching tank top thing. The thin cotton with a dusting of blue flowers across it doesn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination.
“Ah, fuck,” I mutter under my breath, tearing my eyes away from her impressive backside to focus in on why she’s putting sheets on the couch.
She spins around, clutching the top sheet to her bosom. Her boobs are barely contained in the tank top, a detail any hot-blooded male couldn’t help but notice. “What?” she asks, blinking innocently.
I wiggle my fingers around in the darkness between us. “Where the fuck are the rest of your pajamas?”
She looks down at herself and then back at me with a little shrug, dropping the sheet onto the couch. Now my eyes are searching for anywhere else to land except for her breasts. “It’s summer. It’s hot. I don’t like to sleep in warm clothes. If I’m ‘living here,’ I want to be comfortable.”
I don’t like the way she used her fingers as air quotes. I latch on to the irritation and ride it through the wave of lust that shouldn’t be there. Not with my best friend. Sadly, penises do whatever penises want to do. And when they see boobs, they notice. It’s fucking science, okay?
She points at my crotch area, which does not help. Penises also like attention. “Do my breasts bother you?” Shelby’s struggling to hold back a laugh.
“You fucking know they do, you little tease.”
She bursts out with a shocked laugh like she doesn’t believe me.
Even knowing it’s at my expense, I love to hear it.
I lunge forward, making her shriek and move out of the way.
Snatching the sheet, I plop my ass on the couch and cross my boot over my knee like her half-naked appearance doesn’t affect me in the slightest.
“Get your exposed ass to my room, woman. What kind of man would I be if I made you take the couch?”
Shelby’s smile turns sad. “You certainly wouldn’t be the kind of man I date. That’s for sure.”
With that sad pronouncement of her dating history, she walks down the hallway and disappears into my bedroom. I look down at my lap and tell my dick to settle down. We do not lust after best friends.
Even if they have the best ass this side of the Mississippi.