Chapter Six #2
Kimberly, however, kept her lips tight together and refused to pry into matters she had no right to.
She wasn’t part of his pack, and she certainly didn’t deserve to know what the alpha did behind the scenes.
She wasn’t his mate and not privileged to any of that and never would be.
What little tidbit of easiness she gained earlier was nearly extinguished by cold reality of what this was … or couldn’t be.
Shane must have seen the trouble spinning in her eyes because he gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere just yet. He only gave me a list. I’m still in the researching phase. I won’t duck out on you too soon.”
The balloon of anxiety popped, and her lungs filled with air again. “But … you shouldn’t procrastinate too long. You need to find your pack a home.”
“I’m well aware of that, and I’m working on it.
But what I need right now is for you to park that pretty ass of yours next to mine, turn on the movie, and forget about anything and everything outside of this apartment for the next few hours.
Tonight, it’s just you and me. No pack. No Dominic. Just us.”
If she had any hands free, she would have planted them on her hips.
Instead, she shot him a disbelieving look. “Excuse me? Who are you to say I have a pretty ass?”
Shane smirked. “You always have.”
“You never said as much back in Warrington.”
He huffed. “Because I was probably afraid your dad would overhear me and kick me out.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Fair enough. He probably would have.”
“But I did tell you how beautiful you are, didn’t I?”
Kimberly felt her cheeks go hot. “Yes, you did. Many times.”
Shane let his smile widen. “See? I wasn’t too dumb back in high school.”
A laugh bubbled up as she settled on the cushion next to him, plate in her lap and remote in hand.
“So, how do you feel about Korean films? Netflix is lousy with them.” She navigated to the app on her television, but when he didn’t reply, she glanced his way.
He had an odd, serious look on his face. “What?”
Shane’s eyes jumped to the two feet of space between them, then back to her with a wordless demand.
One of Kimberly’s brows lifted, and the corners of his mouth rose in that sly, charming way that she couldn’t resist, not at seventeen and not now.
She knew what he wanted. They were supposed to be recreating those old movie nights and never, not once, did they sit this far apart.
Back then, it was all thighs-touching, arms around one another, Kimberly would eventually make a pillow of his shoulder or chest and they’d lay down.
Of course, things normally progressed from there as long as they thought her parents weren’t paying attention.
Making out wasn’t in the plans tonight, but she didn’t mind his flirting.
It had been a long time since anyone flirted like this with her and it felt good.
It made her wolf feel good, who seemed to perk up at the idea of getting closer to Shane.
With a roll of her eyes, Kimberly took a couple of graceless bounces on the sofa before her hip bumped into his.
His heat was comforting and the feel of his arm around the back of the sofa behind her was just as amazing as she remembered.
She had wondered if it would feel awkward, but Kimberly found it to feel more home than this apartment, than her father’s house, or even their old hometown.
This was turning out to be a great idea.
“Korean, you said?”
Kimberly took up the remote again and had difficulty putting her brain back in order to find the right category on the app. Tiles of dramatic, colorful movie covers filled the screen.
“Wow. That’s … interesting.”
Kimberly giggled. “Be nice. They’re not bad. Some are a little on the corny side and borderline weird, but they have some good storylines.”
Shane let out a breath and reached for his pizza, sliding his arm away from her for only a moment while he tugged off a piece. “Pick whatever you want, but not one you’ve seen already and turn off the subtitles. Neither of us can know what’s going on.”
“I remember the rules,” Kimberly chided as she searched for the right one that sparked her interest.
She picked one about a thousand-year-old dragon deity trying to find the reincarnation of his long-lost lover from the feudal ages.
She knew the plot template well enough, as it was a general go-to for some of these Korean fantasy stories.
Some cursed, possessed, or otherwise tortured soul of a man was hopelessly in love with a weak, awkward, mortal woman and they had to make their forbidden love work despite countless obvious obstacles.
For some variety, the genders of the characters were swapped, but she had seen the pattern countless times.
“That’s a series,” Shane pointed out.
“We can watch a couple of episodes. They aren’t too long.”
“What if we get hooked and have to narrate the whole series? I’ll have to come over every week.”
She elbowed his ribs. “We could make it a thing.”
Shane shot her a pleased look. “I think I might like that.”
Kimberly caught herself looking at the episode list and calculating how many weeks, how many months they could drag out this new fun date night tradition.
Would he be gone before they could finish the series?
Would they have to watch some shows over the phone?
That wouldn’t be the same. Not by a long shot.
But how much time did her wolf need to fully recover so she could shift again?
One date night might not be enough, but would anything ever be enough?
A gut-twisting thought came to mind. What if she managed to restore her wolf and shift again, but then Shane left and everything would go back to the way it was?
What could she do then? Another hard shake brought her back to the present.
She couldn’t sabotage the date by thinking too far into the past or the future.
Stay in the moment. Enjoy the time they had.
Kimberly curled her legs up beside her on the sofa cushion and leaned into Shane’s sturdy body.
The scent of his old, dearly missed body wash was like the best aromatherapy in the world.
As the opening scene played, Kimberly let herself melt, every muscle releasing and nerves coming unwound.
This felt so right, to be with Shane like this, the way they used to.
Only now, they didn’t have a chaperone in the other room with keen ears and noses peeled for anything unmated teenagers had no business doing.
After several minutes of quiet and one pizza slice to stave off the hunger, Shane started the mock dialogue.
In the scene, the future love interest was a child and was visited by the dragon prince in human form. He crouched to her level, long black bangs framing his pale forehead.
In a deep voice, Shane spoke over the fast, clipped Korean dialogue. “This will sound crazy, but twenty years from now, we’ll be banging each other.”
Kimberly gasped and slapped his abs. They were just as firm as they looked back at Larson Caves Park. “Shane!”
He shook her shoulder a little. “Here’s your part,” he whispered.
Flustered, Kimberly looked back at the screen. The little girl with chubby cheeks and black pigtails stood with a smile and twisted, her dress swaying with the motion.
She put on a high-pitched kiddie voice. “Gee, mister, I don’t know what that means.”
“You will,” Shane growled. “And you’re gonna love it.”
Kimberly tilted back her head. “Okay, time out! We gotta keep this PG until she’s grown up. Agreed?”
She felt the vibration of his chuckle. “Fine, fine.” He waited for the next line and corrected. “You be a good little girl and eat your peas.”
“That’s better.”
Shane sighed. “This is supposed to be fun, not like we’re rewriting the script.”
“If you went back in time and got to see five-year-old me, would you be saying shit like that?”
There was a smile in his voice. “We haven’t banged yet, so not exactly.”
Her face went hot at the yet part.
“I would try to tell five-year-old me to get the rocks out of his britches and start dating you sooner, but he’d probably do something like stick out his tongue and scream about cooties.”
That made her laugh. “And I’d tell my younger self to kiss you after that fifth-grade recital.”
Shane looked scandalized, but she knew it was all an act. “Fifth grade? You little vixen.”
“I always thought you were pretty cute, even if we were just friends at the time.”
“Cute!” he groaned. “Those are the words of death for guys, you know that?”
She poked his ribs. “Oh? And what’s better? I’m not about to call a ten-year-old hot or sexy.”
He blew air out through tight lips. “Hot and sexy are definitely goals after fourteen … maybe thirteen.”
“Would it make your ego feel better to say you were hot in high school at least?”
He gave her a smug look. “It would.”
Kimberly stuck up her nose. “Then I won’t say it.”
He slapped a hand over his chest like his heart had stopped. “Oh! My ego! It’s been bruised! How dare you!”
“You’ll get over it.”
Shane laughed it off and reached for another piece of pizza as the show continued into the present time.
Now, the girl was grown and working something like a reporter job, Kimberly guessed.
It was something having to do with writing, anyway, and she had been depicted talking with coworkers in a cubicle-like office setting.
“Can I narrate what she’s typing?”
Kimberly’s eyes went wide. “No.”
“I’m going to anyway.” Shane cleared his throat to make it feminine. “Dear, Diary. Last night, I had that same dream of fucking a dragon. It was so weird but so wonderful.”
“I swear to God, I will turn this off and we will watch a Marvel movie or something if you keep making everything about sex! You weren’t this perverted at seventeen.”
Once again, Shane laughed and squeezed her shoulder in a consoling way. “I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do it again.”