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?? she retorted, the distain in his tone sparking her defenses. “How was I supposed to know?”
He started to straighten, only to halt with a pained grimace. It added lines around his eyes and pulled the corners of his mouth down. “You always freak out when someone opens a door?”
Nine years. She hadn’t seen the man in nine years, and in less than a minute he’d reawakened all those feelings of shame and humiliation he’d left her with when he walked out of her bedroom when she was sixteen. But she was no longer a shy, innocent little girl with hearts in her eyes—not entirely, at least. And she had nothing to be ashamed of right now.
Shelby raised her chin, his still bent position allowing her to glare down at him despite the solid eight inches he had over her five and a half feet.
“I thought someone was following me, and when you grabbed—” She broke off when he straightened to his full height, his gaze narrowing and sharpening.
“Who was following you?”
Without waiting for her to answer, he brushed past and yanked the door open. When he stepped through the doorway, her gaze was drawn down to the jerkiness of his movements, and she realized he was limping. Had she done that?
No. His brother, Reyes, had said he’d had surgery before being flown home from Landstuhl, Germany two days after Thanksgiving. She hadn’t let herself think too much about how close he’d come to dying, but now she had the craziest notion of stepping forward to hug him and tell him she was sorry about what happened to him—even though she didn’t know exactly what had happened.
“Shelby.”
She jerked her gaze up to find his expression forged with a combination of anger and resentment. Heat flushed her body at having been caught staring at his legs.
“Who was following you?” he repeated through gritted teeth.
“No one. Forget it.”
A muscle jerked in his clenched jaw. Clearly he didn’t believe her, and who could blame him after her reaction to the entire situation.
She had to force herself not to fidget under his suspicious regard. Dev at twenty-one had been the epitome of the guy she’d wanted to lose her virginity to; she’d been in love with him for half her life. Dev at thirty was mature and war-hardened, and she found herself terrified and enthralled at the same time. He was still the most breathtakingly good-looking man she’d ever seen, but years in the Special Forces had sharpened his features and put ice chips in his eyes.
“Do you want me to walk you inside?”
It was an empty offer, made purely because his parents still worked for her parents, and he’d been raised to do the right thing. She knew, because he looked like he’d rather face a firing squad than spend another second in her presence.
The feeling is entirely mutual, buddy.
“I’ll be fine.” Then she grudgingly added, “I’m sorry if I hurt you before.”
His lips stretched, though the result could hardly be called a smile. “I’ll be fine.”
Instead of exiting to the garage, he moved toward her, his steps slow and deliberate. She swallowed hard, fighting with everything she had to not look down at his limp. Feeling like he was testing her somehow, she stood her ground until he stopped right in front of her. It was damn near impossible to breathe with his gaze locked on hers, but she lifted her chin to show him—and herself—he didn’t scare her.
“Excuse me.”
She blinked at the raspy demand in his voice. “What?”
He gestured for her to move back as if she were an idiot. When she did, she nearly tripped on something at her feet and looked down to see a cane with dark lettering burned into the wood.
“Oh. Sorry.” She started to bend down to pick it up for him—
“I. Got. It.”
Flinching at the anger in his voice, she jerked upright and took another step back. He bent for the cane, the efforts of his movements evident in his tight expression and the fine sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead as he straightened.
Without another word, he pivoted and left her standing there, staring in shock…disbelief…mortification—until the door closed between them.
Chapter 2
Shelby backed up a few steps and sagged against the wall. Scrubbing her hands over her face, she leaned her head back. Holy shit. Never in a million years would she have expected to see Dev here.
And, oh my, God, I kneed him in the balls!
