Chapter Nine
Shane typed out the message to Kimberly and hit send.
“Are you working today?”
He caught himself holding his breath as he saw the bubbles pop up at the bottom of the screen, showing that Kimberly was typing her reply.
“Yes.”
S: “Do you have deliveries?”
K: “I had one this morning but nothing the rest of the day.”
S: “Have you had lunch?”
K: “Not yet. Working on one more order before break.”
S: “DON’T MOVE!”
Shane had tried to catch her at the flower shop three times.
He thought showing up unannounced would be a nice surprise, but every time, she was either not working or making a delivery.
Her coworker was nice enough to offer to take a message, but the kind of message he wanted to give Kimberly couldn’t be passed along through a coworker.
So, this time, he took the direct approach. He’d show up when she was actually there and take her to lunch or bring her lunch. Anything to break the six days and two hours of separation.
He pulled up to the flower shop and hurried inside as if she would vanish into mist the minute he stepped over the threshold.
The space behind the counter was empty, but he could hear country music from the back workroom, and Kimberly’s scent was fresh and present beneath the suffocating aroma of flowers and candles.
His heart hammered in his chest and his palms went sweaty, and he hated the way his body betrayed him. His nerves were all on display for her.
Pull yourself together. It’s just a woman.
No, it wasn’t just a woman. It was Kimberly, and in his gut, he knew something was wrong. He just had to figure out what it was.
The electric chime doorbell alerted her to his arrival, and he heard quick footsteps approach.
It took Shane a solid five seconds for his brain to stop misfiring for him to understand who he saw walk through the curtained doorway. Any orderly parade of thoughts came to a grinding halt, jumbling into one another so much that he couldn’t untangle them fast enough to react.
Kimberly stood in front of him, but it didn’t look like her.
No version of her, past or present, could compare.
His legs went numb in response to the shock, but he locked his knees to stay standing.
His mouth went bone dry and he couldn’t swallow.
His wolf howled and panted for her. And contrary to it all, his cock went rock-hard, straining against the front of his jeans.
Obviously, the first thing he noticed was her hair, or lack of it.
The complete, utter lack of it. Her hair had always been up, down, or in a braid, and never any shorter than the bottom of her shoulder blades.
When they were kids, he thought he knew every strand of her hair so intimately.
Now, it was all gone. There might not have been an inch left of her hair from high school.
Hair could grow and get trimmed a lot in ten years.
But now, looking at it so short, he knew for a fact there was nothing left.
Nothing left from high school. Did she know she had cut off every lock he had ever touched?
Did she understand how that made him feel?
Was that what she had in mind when she did it?
But more than that, did she know how she glowed? He couldn’t point to a specific thing that made her exude this new, sizzling energy. Whatever happened during that kiss made her do this. And he tried all too hard to tell himself it wasn’t about him, just like she said.
But whatever this was, whatever her reasons, it seemed to suit her now, and the way she shined seemed so contradictory to everything else that he didn’t know what to say or do. All he knew was that, despite it all, he still wanted her as madly as ever.
“Not going to say anything about my hair?”
Shane’s mouth opened, but he had to stop himself from saying exactly what he thought, that the new cut made her look sexy. That probably wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Take it slow. “Uhhh … looks good. The shape of your face pulls it off.”
Kimberly jerked as if she hadn’t expected that response. She absently touched some hair behind her ear. “Someone said it looked like some actress named Shirley-something.”
“Definitely not Shirley Temple.”
She seized in a laugh, and Shane broke into a smile. God, he loved to see her smile.
When she recovered, she visibly relaxed, like a wound-up spring finally released and melted. “Thanks. I needed that.”
He eased up to the counter, glad for the cover from the hips down. “Happy to be of service. I’m serious, though. It does look good on you … but you know what I’m going to ask, right?”
Kimberly sighed. “No, it’s not about you. I just … This just makes me feel better. The first time I washed it was a huge reality check, and I still catch myself trying to mess with my hair like tucking it behind my ears or twirling it. It’s like phantom syndrome but for hair.”
Shane flipped his hand at her hair. “Is this why you’ve been dodging me all week? Did you think I’d get upset?”
A touch of red bloomed in her cheeks. “I knew how much you liked my hair in school.”
If he could have vaulted over the counter to hug away that insecurity, he would have. “I like your hair if you like it. I just don’t want you chopping it all off for the wrong reason.”
“What would a wrong reason be?”
“If someone else made you feel bad about it.”
Kimberly looked away, and his wolf growled at the speck of darkness that marred her brilliance.
“Did someone make you feel bad about your hair?” he demanded, a sliver of authority in his voice that he didn’t expect to come out.
Kimberly pulled herself back to the conversation. “No, no. Not exactly.” She took a breath. “Listen, I’m sorry I made you feel like I was dodging you. I just have some things to work out, and I didn’t want any distractions while I tried to reset.”
So much to unpack. “I’m a distraction?”
Kimberly smiled. “A nice one. A very nice one. But I couldn’t handle it this week.”
“And why did you need to reset?”
The smile dropped, but that confidence returned, and she straightened a full inch.
“I didn’t lie when I told you that this whole thing isn’t about you, but what happened on Friday messed with my head in a direct, but …
indirect way too. What we did opened up an already cracked can of worms, and I needed to clean up the mess because I don’t want you to have to deal with it too.
You’ve already got so much on your plate, and you don’t need me making it worse.
I wanted to be fully there for you if we hung out again.
So, I’ve been putting this off, and I realize that’s not entirely fair to you.
I’m probably not being fair right now because I’m not ready to talk about it either, but I knew I was ready to see you again.
That’s why I didn’t try to close up the shop for an impromptu lunch break and book it out the back door. ”
So much of that sounded rehearsed, as if she had been thinking about exactly what to say if they ever met again.
Knowing that Kimberly was thinking about Shane and cared enough to formulate a full speech like that was enough for him to forgive her completely.
Kimberly tried to tuck an invisible strand of hair behind her ear, another impulsive, nervous tick that would take a while to kick.
Shane stayed quiet, letting her word vomit, and listening for any vital clue that would help him figure out what the hell she was talking about.
He was still completely in the dark, but Kimberly probably preferred it that way.
Otherwise, she would have just come out and said what the problem was, what he had inadvertently done to her.
He slowly nodded, showing he comprehended, though maybe not totally. “Okay … Bottom line, we’re good?”
She let out a relieved breath, bobbed a nod, then grinned. “Yes, we’re good.”
“So, no more shutting down or cutting us off mid-kiss?”
Kimberly lifted one shoulder. “No guarantees, but I’m working through the worst of it.”
“Is there anything I can do to help you without finding out what it is I’m helping with?” Shane cringed. “Does that sound crazy?”
Her smile was sympathetic. “Maybe a little.” Then, she turned thoughtful. “You know, there is something you can help with. I need a dummy.”
Shane cocked an eyebrow. “Am I a dummy?”
“Well, you’re not dumb. I mean, I just need your body.” When Shane’s mouth widened in a ridiculous, eager grin, Kimberly reddened from neckline to forehead. “No! No, no! I don’t mean that either.”
Shane leaned his folded arms on the counter, pinning her with a smoldering gaze and dropping his voice to a husky growl. “You can use my body all you want, in any context, any time.”
Kimberly shivered, but the exploding scent of her arousal blasted through his senses, telling him that it was a good thing. He might have been teasing her, but there was a bit of seriousness in that offer.
All embarrassment disappeared and Kimberly mimicked his position, their noses just inches from touching. If he let his gaze wander, he was sure he’d get a perfect look down the front of her shirt. But he didn’t have the will to break away from her stare, so hot and captivating.
“I will make you eat those words, Shane Snyder.”
Electricity skittered up his spine. “I will eat anything coming from you, Kimberly Ross … starting with you.”
Taking it slow went straight out the window the minute the scent of her getting turned on reached his senses.
She said they were good, after all. Slow, bracing for rejection, he reached up and hooked his hand around the nape of her neck.
It felt so empty there, but he could still thread his fingers through whatever was left of her hair, though it wasn’t much.
She didn’t reject him, and Shane pulled her in for the kiss he had been craving all week. Kimberly murmured a pleased sound that made him ache for her even more. The taste of her lips, smooth and warm, made him and his wolf dizzy and giddy.