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Chapter
Twenty-Five
JESSIE
After I’ve showered and slathered myself in cocoa and vanilla body butter, I lie in Shane’s bed waiting for him. The cotton sheets are soft and cool against my hot skin and I stretch like a cat, feeling so content that I could purr like one right now too. Shane is a complicated, moody asshole, but he is my asshole, and it seems like we are finally back on track. I glance at the clock and notice it’s been over an hour since he left the kitchen to see Conor. Is this some sort of test from him? Is he trying to see how long I’m going to lie here waiting for him? I turn on my side and reach for my phone, just as he walks through the door.
“Hey,” I smile at him.
His eyes are dark as he glares at me and I wonder what I’ve done to make him mad now when I haven’t even seen him since the kitchen.
“Are you naked under there, Hacker?” he growls, and I realize he’s not mad at all. Just horny.
“Of course,” I whisper. “And freshly showered. Just like you told me.”
He arches one eyebrow at me. “It’s not like you to do as you’re told so easily, though.”
“Were you hoping I’d disobey you?” I purr as the wet heat sears between my thighs.
“No,” he shakes his head as he peels his t-shirt over his head. “I don’t need a reason to spank your ass, Jessie.”
“Good,” I whisper as he stalks toward the bed. “Was Conor okay?”
“Yes. Just busy. I didn’t get much chance to chat with him. I’ll catch up with him tomorrow.”
“Oh?” I bite my lip. So where the hell has he been?
“What?” he frowns at me.
“You were gone for a while, is all. Longer than an hour.”
He crawls onto the bed, holding himself over me. “Erin called. I had to discuss some urgent business with her.”
Her name is a like a dagger to my heart. I know that I shouldn’t let her get to me, but she is always there in the background. Making me feel like I don’t belong with him.
“Jessie!” He shoots me a look that makes goosebumps prickle along my forearms.
“What?” I frown. “She was with you on your trip too, wasn’t she? I thought you two would have sorted all of your business out then.”
He closes his eyes and I see him take a deep breath, as though he’s trying to get his temper under control. “She came to Chicago with me. For one night. That was it.”
“Did she share your hotel room?” I ask, even though I get that I’m being petty and childish, because he wouldn’t be here with me now if he was screwing Erin.
“Don’t!” he says with a sigh.
“That’s not an answer, Shane.”
“That’s because it’s a stupid fucking question, Jessie.”
Damn! He was right earlier. We do screw everything up when we talk.
“It’s not stupid to me,” I whisper, and his face softens slightly.
“Of course she didn’t share my room. Erin is a good lawyer, Jessie. She has worked for me and my family for years. She’s going to be in my life, but there will never be anything between us like that. I need you to find a way to be okay with that, because I can’t keep having these conversations with you.”
“I am okay with it. I will be. It’s just that she’s so damn beautiful and elegant — like this graceful swan, while I’m a…" I trail off, unsure of what I am compared to her.
“You’re a what?” he arches one eyebrow at me.
