“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.
Chapter eight
Aubrey
Losing my mind.
~ One Week Later / New Year’s Eve ~
I’ve been avoiding the girls all week, and even though they’ve been hounding me down with questions, I haven’t really given them any answers.
The morning after the wedding, when we finally made it to brunch, everyone was already in the room, ready to choose their seats. No one questioned why we were arriving at the same time, but I felt all my friends’ eyes on me.
When we got closer to the tables, I felt my nerves taking over. I knew the proper and expected thing for me to do was sit with my family and friends, but I desperately wanted to sit with Shane. Luckily, he solved that problem for us by asking if he could sit at our table.
When everyone at the table told him to take a seat, Shane took advantage of the opening and pulled out the chair next to him for me. Passing himself off as the perfect gentleman to anyone watching and making my heart flutter in my chest as I took my seat. I saw the way the girls grinned and the way my mother’s all-knowing eyes lingered on me, like she knew there was more to his innocent kind act.
After brunch, Shane and I snuck away to his rental car when everyone started going their own way. We drove around for a little while, until we found a cute little café that was pretty deserted of any clients. We settled into a booth, drank warm coffee, and tried different pastries for about two hours, talking about everything and anything until he really had to leave.
Then he drove me over to my parents’ home, parked a few houses down the street, and kissed me goodbye with a promise to text when he arrived at his parents. And he did, even sent a picture with proof, like I wouldn’t believe him. It made me laugh.
And then at midnight exactly, my phone rang with his name lighting up my screen. When I answered it, he said he wanted to be the first to wish me Merry Christmas. And he was.
We haven’t seen each other since, but we call and text one another whenever we can. I wake up to a good morning message from him every day. And every night, he calls me to wish me goodnight.
And then there are those moments when he’ll randomly send me messages that say he misses me, or that something made him think of me. Those are my favorite, the messages that I don’texpect, yet warm my heart as a smile grows over my lips when I see them appear on my screen.
Morgan was right; Shane is a romantic, and he’s proving it in every way possible.
Tonight is our New Year’s Eve party at Morgan and Clay’s. Their last big hurrah before parenthood since Morgan should be giving birth by the end of January. As always, everyone is invited, which means I’ll get to see Shane. And maybe, just maybe if we’re lucky, he’ll be my New Year’s kiss.
But that also means I can no longer avoid my friends, and they know it. Which is why Morgan ordered us over early to spend a bit of girl time together before the party while the boys are at practice.
I step out of my car, well, Ronnie’s car, in my new boots and walk up the driveway to Morgan’s house. I should probably start looking for another car; I know she’ll most likely want hers back soon.
The moment I step through the door, my phone pings with a new message. I pull it out and immediately smile at the name on my screen. Well, it’s not exactly a name, simply a heart. I didn’t want to risk my brother seeing my phone and having to answer a whole ton of questions I’m not ready for.
Say hi to Morgan for me.
I smile and shake my head, looking back out the open door and toward the house across the street. The house is owned by Jessie Storm—Julian Storm’s brother and another one of Shane’s close friends. He and his brothers own one of the largest security companies in the world, which means their houses are guarded like a fortress, and Jessie must have seen me stepping out of the car on his cameras.
Me
Is your friend keeping you updated on my whereabouts?
Maybe…
Me
