“Are you crazy?” I stare at her. “The only reason I have time is to spend it with you.”
Claire freezes, her mouth falling open as she blinks hard. She gasps softly, “Shane, that’s the sweetest thing–”
I pick her up, pulling her partway down an alley between two buildings. Lifting her so that her legs wrap around my waist, I pin her against the brick wall.
My lips crush to hers, our electricity spreading in time to our heartbeats. Gripping her thigh carefully to hold her skirt so it doesn’t hitch up too high, I can feel her hips rock against me.
“Shane,” she murmurs against my lips, “What…”
“Just a tease, baby. I’m not taking you in an alley.” I pull back to grin. “Not today, anyway.”
I love the way she smiles at me. I love the way I can feel her desire coursing through her veins.
Kissing her hard and deep and rough, I wait till she’s breathless before setting her back on her feet. She smooths her skirt, blinking up at me. “Wow.”
Taking her hand, we walk to Henry’s. I listen attentively to the details of her day, while realizing that I’m falling hard.
Like a giant boulder down a hill. Nothing can stop it.
I just hope that falling in love is a bit less destructive than that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~ Claire ~
As always, my chat with the book club girls is incredibly invigorating.
Tanis is excited about her new work project, and Diana is relieved that her old car made it out of the shop faster and cheaper than she expected. Becca can’t stop talking about the new reality TV series she’s addicted to, and Elizabeth seems glad to have made it out of her busy office.
It’s exciting to get to know such interesting women, and be a part of their lives. But I still don’t know how many ideas and problems I should bother them with.
“What’s up with your giant hunk?” Tanis asks me.
“Oh. Things are really good. My parents met him Saturday night, and I think it went well.”
“Wow, that’s always a relief,” Becca laughs.
“I’m not sure if my brother likes him, but I don’t even care about that.”
Diana raises a perfect eyebrow at me. “He’s treating you well? He really listens?”
“Absolutely.” I can feel that I’m smiling too hard, but can’t control it.
“I was wondering, though...” I start, then stop.
“Go ahead,” Elizabeth says. “Ask us anything.”
“On a scale of one to ten, how terrible is it to interfere with someone’s business?”
The girls all look around at each other. “That depends what you mean by interfere,” Diana said cautiously.
“We’re going to need details,” Elizabeth says.
“Okay, so Shane’s store is great. And he does incredible restoration work. But his website absolutely sucks.”
Tanis laughs. “Sorry. Go on.”
“My mom and all of her friends love antiques, and love shopping for things that their friends can’t get. So I made a sample new website to show Shane.”
“Did he like it?” Diana asks.
“I haven’t had a chance to sit down and show it to him yet. I was going to do that tomorrow morning.”
“Then what’s the problem? It’s just a suggestion,” Becca says with a smile.
“But my mother was asking about his website the other day, so I sent her the sample, and I have a feeling she might be sending it around to her friends already. She always loves being the one to tell everyone the good news that she’s found a new cool restaurant or whatever.”
Elizabeth shakes her head. “Well, it’s only to a handful of people, so it’s not that bad.”
“And I’m sure it’s a tasteful website,” Diana says quickly. “It’s not like he could get mad about it.”
“I’m positive that he’ll like it. I just don’t want him to think that I’m being pushy.”
Elizabeth shrugs. “Some men think that getting involved with their affairs is pushy no matter what. There’s nothing you can do. But he’ll probably understand that you’re just trying to help.”
Nodding down to my tea, I hope that they’re right.
“If he doesn’t like it, he’ll tell you,” Diana says. “I’m sure he’s a reasonable guy, right?”
“Yes,” I nod emphatically.
The thing is, I still don’t know Shane very well. We haven’t been in a whole lot of situations yet that show me who he is. Maybe things are going a little too fast, but I’m okay with that.
I guess I have to remember that Shane and I are on this ride together, and there’s going to be some curves and bumps in the road, no matter how perfect I try to be for him.
Still, the thought of offending him in any way gives me chills.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
~ Shane ~
For years, every day has begun exactly the same way. Smack the alarm. Sit up and take a few deep breaths. Get up and brush my teeth.
Begin the shuffle of the morning. Vaguely recall what day it was, think if there is anything important going on, then get myself to work.
Now my mornings are different from the very beginning.
Smack the alarm. Sit up and take a few deep breaths. Realize that Claire is not with me. Consider that she should be, and remember that once we’ve been together a little longer, she will be.
Waking up to her beautiful face every single morning is now one of my most important life goals.
As I rush to work, I can’t wait to hear how Claire’s project is coming along. Although I don’t quite understand the details, I have a feeling that she’s worrying unnecessarily. It certainly sounds like she’s very good at what she does, and is putting in a lot of effort.
The second the truck is parked behind the shop, I jump out and race across the street to Henry’s. I don’t care that I look like a lovestruck fool. I am.
Now that’s something that I never would’ve thought in a million years I’d be saying about myself. Claire has changed me so much already, bringing me out of my shell and back into the world.
When Dad passed, the entire planet was gray for a long time. Now my sweet little spot of color is the highlight of my entire life.
I order my coffee, and thank Henry for knowing which tea is next in Claire’s order. I also get her a banana nut muffin in a paper bag so that she can stash it in her purse if she doesn’t want it yet.
As I sit at a small corner table, I wonder for the first time if this is what being married is like. Anticipating the other’s needs. Knowing their habits, and making their day easier.
I like this feeling. Caring for her. Having her presence in my mind so frequently.
I’ve barely sipped my coffee when Claire walks in with a bright smile, sitting down close beside me. “Wow, thank you.”
“If you’re not hungry now, take the muffin for later.”
“I still can’t believe how sweet you are.” She kisses my cheek, making me feel like a blushing fool.
“Ready for an exciting and productive day?” I ask, as she blows lightly on the edge of her tea.
“Yes,” she nods. “Today is the day I hope to find some industrial material that can be cheaply made into notebook covers.”
“That’s the spirit. I know you’ll find something perfect.”
“Oh!” Claire pulls her phone from her purse. “I meant to show you something.”
She calls up a website and hands me the phone. It’s a new website for my store.
“What am I looking at?”
I look up to see Claire biting her bottom lip. “No offense, but your website is a bit dated. You have so many wonderful things in your shop, and your website doesn’t even really mention all the restoration work you do.”
I look back to the site, not sure what to think.
“People like to get a feeling for a store before they even arrive,” she says quickly. “So I thought if the website had a little more style, and a
bunch of photos, it would help draw people in.”
“Are you saying that you think I need more business?” I ask.
She shrugs slightly. “I mean, every store needs a steady flow of customers, right?”
I feel the back of my right jaw tighten. “Did you show this to anyone else yet?”
I try to keep my voice soft, but she flinches slightly. “Just my mother. She was asking about your shop. And she might have sent the demo link to a couple of her friends.”
I hand her back the phone, trying to quiet my heavy sigh. “That explains all the rich ladies who have been in the store the past few days.”
“But that’s good, right?” she says brightly.
“I just wish that you had asked me before sending the link around,” I say slowly.
“I know, I’m sorry. It just slipped my mind. I needed to distract myself Monday afternoon, so I just sort of threw it together on a whim.”
I point to the phone. “You did that? By yourself?”
“Yes. I have one of those simple web programs on my work computer.”
My head tips up and down as I force myself to nod. “Well, thank you. It does look a lot more up to date.”
Claire’s hand jumped out to clutch mine on the table. “We can take some photos together, and then update the whole thing,” she says with that adorably warm smile.
“Our first project together,” I say, leaning in to kiss her temple.
Overhauling my website is incredibly sweet of her, and I’m not sure why, but it irritates me that she showed her mother before me.
Maybe there is some dark part of my mind still questioning if I’m good enough for Claire. I don’t want to think that she is trying to make my website and my shop look better than they are to make her mother accept me.
But I can’t talk to her about any of these things yet. I still feel like everything is so new and fresh and fragile that I should just keep small glitches to myself.
It’s always been hard for me to figure out how much I should share with people, so for now, I’ll be cautious.
Silence is usually safest.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
~ Claire ~
Thursday evening after work, the walk home takes more than twice as long as usual. Shane keeps stopping to kiss me in every doorway, at every corner. I couldn’t wait for him to invite me to his house sometime soon.
Even though we’ve both been busy, I haven’t stopped thinking about being truly alone with him again.
I love that he likes to walk as much as I do. So many people get a vehicle and then stop walking entirely, but I’ve always felt it was the best way to shake off the day.
Shane kisses me so hard and deep at my front door that I almost invite him inside. Honestly, with my parents so strangely determined to be polite at all times, would they say a word if I took a man to my bedroom?
But then I see that my brother’s car is in the driveway, so I assume they are in entertaining mode.
As soon as I wave goodbye to Shane and close the door, I hear voices from the kitchen.
“He’s a trash man, mother,” Glen huffs, sounding like he was in his high drama mode.
I tiptoe closer.
“He’s a metal artist,” Mom says. “ High quality repairs are important to genuine antiques and the people who collect them. And what’s it to you, anyway? You’ve never cared who your sister dated before now.”
“Well, to be fair, she’s never dated before,” Dad pipes in.
“It’s none of our business,” Mom says, as I creep even closer.
“It most certainly is our business,” Glen snaps. “With our family’s reputation, do you find it appropriate for her to be seen with some weird hulking scrapyard guy?”
Mom pauses. “I thought they seemed rather sweet together.”
To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that she’s disagreeing with Glen. He’s her favorite and she rarely talks back to him.
“Everyone was talking about them at my party,” Glen practically whines.
I can hear Dad chuckling. “Oh, so that’s what this is really about. The attention junkie had his spotlight taken away for ten whole seconds.”
“Gerald!” Mom’s laughing too.
“He has that gigantic chunk of land and he’s not even utilizing it properly,” Glen says snottily.
I take another step forward so that I can see the reflection of the three of them in the glass french doors. They’re all sitting around the kitchen table with wine glasses.
Maybe that’s why Glen is extra hyper. He’s never been able to hold his booze.
“You keep going on and on about this chunk of land,” Dad says, shaking his head. “Fine, if it makes you feel better, I’ll go over there and take a peek myself.”
I knew that I should stop him, but stepping in now would only make Glen worse. Once he gets something in his mind, he’s like a dog with a bone. He’ll never let it go.
Dad is super busy most of the time with his own wheeling and dealing. Maybe I can find a way to talk to him on Saturday, and tell him to leave my boyfriend alone.
I don’t know how recently Shane’s father passed away, but no matter how long, he certainly doesn’t need someone else’s father barging in and giving advice.
I sneak up to my room, relieved to have avoided that entire conversation. I’m also incredibly relieved that Shane didn’t seem angry about the website I made without asking.
He was confused at first, I think, but then seemed to realize that I was just trying to help.
Locking my bedroom door, I sprawl across the bed like a starfish, stretching my limbs out. I would give anything for Shane to appear in my room right now, even just for a hug.
Preferably a full body, extremely naked hug.
How did I get so lucky?
Shane is the perfect sexy older man who complements me perfectly. We always have interesting things to talk about, he treats me like a princess, and every time he touches me, my heart suddenly remembers how to do the chicken dance.
Now if I can just keep my uptight family away from him and out of our relationship until it becomes stable, everything will be fine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
~ Shane ~
Unlocking the shop after dropping Claire off at work, it hits me. I forgot to ask her out tonight.
Dammit.
I’m still slightly off about her making a new website without asking me first. Sure, it’s just a hidden test page that only went to her mother and some friends. But it still feels invasive.
Just enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
There is no way I can tell her that the stupid simple website is one of the last projects Dad and I worked on together.
It’s tricky trying to balance how much I should share with her. Growing up, the only things I discussed with my few friends were sports, or what movies we were going to watch.
We never discussed feelings. Or loss.
Any guy who dared to discuss his dreams would probably have been put in a headlock and teased mercilessly for weeks.
Claire seems to like that I’m the big tough guy who handles things, no matter what. There’s no way I can smash her opinion of me.
After checking the back bin for overnight drop offs, I listen to the overnight messages. Sure enough, someone named Francine, who heard about me from Penelope Cumberland, needs a chandelier polished and repaired.
Strangely, I enjoy repairing those giant monstrosities. It gives me several hours to zone out and completely immerse myself in the polishing and fixing. Usually there are a few little scuffs to buff out, and endless jump rings to tighten.
It’s peaceful. Although I’d never say it out loud to anyone else, it’s my form of meditation.
I write down her number on the back of a junk mail envelope, then almost laugh out loud. Claire’s right. Maybe I need a notebook for these things.
The bell over the door rings, and I expect to see some early morning bargain hunters o
r gardening enthusiasts.
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