Bodywork (27 page)

Stupid thought. Of course he does. He’s human.
Her conscience demanded she not be blinded by lust and affection.
No one was perfect, and there was no such person as her dream man.

Yeah, but
Shane would
never knowingly hurt me. I don’t think.
And that was the
pr
oblem. She didn’t know. But how could she? Only time would show her the real Shane Collins. But time was something he’d promised to give her. Why not take him up on his offer and see where this
relationship
took them? Because even she could see that there was more than outstanding sex between them.

She grabbed another cup of coffee, still warm in the container. As she fixed it and crossed to the couch, she watched Shane sleep. He seemed boyishly innocent in slumber, and she pushed a bit of hair from his eyes, taken with his handsome face.

“What am I going to do with you?”

Apparently, only time would tell.

She sipped her coffee and contemplated the future. Worst case, best case… Did she have the courage to try again? But wouldn’t not trying
make
Rick the winn
er in the end
? He’d been the one to
spoil
what could have been a deep and wonderful friendship between them. Why let him ruin her future with Shane?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn’t want to be the
old
cat lady at the end of the day, afraid to live her life and take a chance on love. She’d already been dumped once and lived through it. She could handle it again if push came to shove.

But as she stroked
his hair, she knew
Shane leaving would be different. It would hurt so much more, because she cared about him in a way she’d never been able to care for Rick.

What to do about her heart
—
that
w
as the question
.
Because it already belonged to Shane.

Chapter Seventeen

Shane didn’t regret his time with Shelby Sunday morning. Having unscripted sex had felt right. More like something a boyfriend—a lover—might do. He was sorry to have fallen asleep on her couch, though she didn’t seem to mind. He’d woken up, his head in her lap, to see her watching an old movie. They’d spent half the day watching a Twilight Zone marathon
on TV
.

Monday evening had been like his other forays into the forbidden with Shelby. One smokin’ hot sixty-nine that had him coming like a geyser between her soft lips. The woman had a way with her tongue that made him see stars with little effort. Now he had a hard time looking at her mouth without getting an erection.

But hell, there were worse ways to suffer.

The rest of the week dragged at work. Not being with Shelby was tough. He tried to keep his phone calls spar
s
e because he didn’t want to seem needy. He continued to question himself about her. Was he in love with her or responding so readily to a woman with whom he had chemistry? Sure he liked her. She was beautiful, driven, and successful. And she made love like a dream. But was his attachment just part of his pattern
when it came to
relationships?

He’d wanted to talk to Mac about it, but Mac didn’t understand. Mr. Love ‘em and Leave ‘em didn’t want connections.
He wanted casual dates and one
night
stands
. But that didn’t work for Shane.

He thought about asking his mother or father for advice, but he didn’t want to
get
their
hopes up. If he wasn’t careful,
his mother
would
find a way to
screen
Shelby’s medical transcripts l
ooking for ways to
improve fertility
.

Shane wanted Shelby, sure, but a baby? The familiar panic he normally experienced when dealing with issues of marriage and all that followed didn’t come.
And he couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially when he spent sexual and nonsexual time with Shelby.

They played miniature gol
f
. He won. They bowled. She won and rubbed his nose in it, giving the word
competitive
new meaning. They liked Scrabble and Jeopardy, and he managed to drag her out for a few runs around
Green Lake
…after getting her to spend the night. A real
treat considering she let him do whatever he wanted to her in the morning. He was no morning person, but God, the sex was incredible. But then, with her it always was, and he had to admit, the physical connection between them helped everything else fall into place.

They’d seen Maggie and Mac
since their night at Botelli Mia’s
and played off their dinner. According to Shelby, Maggie said nothing more about her emergency at the gym, and Mac had been equally cagey about it. The liars.
But
Shane didn’t mind their involvement, especially now that they seemed to be leaving well enough alone. He didn’t trust it, but he decided not to question a good thing. And Shelby was a very
good thing
.

Staring at his office walls
two weeks later on a Thursday morning,
nonplused, he wondered when he’d
first
accepted the idea of Shelby in his life on a permanent basis.
He wanted to spend time with her every day. Her staying the night was the highlight of his week, because it meant he got to cuddle with her after sex, something she’d been the one to suggest. But every time he came inside her, he wondered what it might be like to make new life. He didn’t want kids with just anyone, but with Shelby.

He had a hard time remembering
intimate details of his relationship with
Lisa
anymore
, and Shelby openly joked about Rick, her ex, but no longer with the bitterness he’d once heard. He was glad the doctor had been a dickhead, and that Lisa had cheated on him. He couldn’t imagine a baby with a woman who thought compassion and loyalty were boring—vanilla.

B
ut that left him with more questions about Shelby, b
ecause
a baby
sure as hell trumped
her
girlfriend status. To Shane, babies meant wife, “I do,”
forever
.

And
t
he
i
r kids
would be so pretty. Her looks and brains mixed with his? An ideal combination.

His computer chimed, taking his attention from Shelby. Hell, he’d be lucky if he didn’t get fired with this attitude. He had work to do, deadlines to meet, and a hot brunette to convince to take a chance on him. No guesses as to which one had his priority lately.

“
Excuse me,
Shane
?
The Graces are here
,
”
the secretary said through
the intercom.
He groaned at the news
and realigned his focus.
Then he put on his game face, stood, and readied to meet the clients of his nightmares.

Mimi peered over the large, impressive desk of
the
Harmon & Sons secretary
while the poor woman scurried to find Thomas Harmon,
Mimi’s
supposed reason for visiting. She and Ron had design
ed one of the corporate offices
of a game designer
the company had built
a few months ago
and wanted to check on the customer’s satisfaction with their work.
Such a small world to think her daughter’s possible future and Mimi were connected.
Cosmic work, darling
, she thought with a smile.

“Do you see him yet?” Ron murmured as he thumbed through a copy of some architectural
digest
.

“Not yet.”

A tall
,
handsome older man who looked like Thomas approached in his stead. He had
crow’s
feet around his eyes, a sure sign of laughter
and
a fitting temperament for a man working around her daughter’s po
ssible future
husband.

The secretary trailed after him, a pleasant mien over her previously harried expression.

“Hello.” He held out a hand to Mimi
, who took it and jangled as they shook—her bangles were a trademark she refused to leave at home
. “I hear you’re looking for my brother, Thomas. I’m
Justin. The brains of the outfit.” He had a nice firm handshake he didn’t reserve
just
for men, she noted. She liked that.

“It’s nice to meet you, Justin.” She nodded.

“Hello there.” Oh hell. Ron’s
interested
voice. Though she couldn’t blame him. She might set her sights on Justin when she’
d finished interrogating Shane. Maybe for some added fun, she and Ron could fight over him.

“Hi. You must be Ron. Thomas told me all about you two.”
Justin took Ron’s hand and grinned.

She
’d
just bet he did. Thomas recognized talent, thankfully, but he was a stick in the mud compared to this happy soul. Then she caught the look that passed between Justin and Ron and sighed. Another one bit the dust. It just proved to her, once again, that all the good ones were either unavailable or gay.

She cleared her throat, and they released each other’s hands. As Mimi and Ron engaged Justin in conversation about their old client and sought information on new ones, she
gave Ron a subtle nod.

Happy to take over with the gorgeous architect,
Ron
slapped him on the back.
“Justin, I brought our portfolio with us. I was hoping to show Thomas our more recent work, since he’d mentioned you might have a few clients looking for designers
of our caliber
. Is
there somewhere we could go where I could show you our work
?”

Goo
d God. She’s need to work with Ron on the word
subtlety
. The way he pushed past her
to face Justin
,
batted his chocolate brown eyes
, and used his deep bedroom voice was too personal too fast, even for Mimi
. At least he dressed the part
of a design professional
. Skinny jeans that showed off his ass
and
a dark blue designer shirt with a while collar and cuffs added just the right contrast to his bronzed skin. It really was too bad Ron was gay. His looks complimented hers
perfectly
.

Justin blinked hard, looking like prey run to ground when Ron
tapped his shoulder in a friendly gesture
. “I-I, ah, sure. Come to my office.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she added, irked that the pair seemed to
have forgotten her
. “I just need to use the ladies’ room.”

“It’s down the hall,” Justin said vaguely and walked away with Ron.

Men. She walked back down the hall, looking at the office nameplates, searching for Shane Collins. She’d met his mother already. Waiting on Maggie for information took too long. And while the girl pumped Shane’s friend for information, she and Ron had scored with his mother. The father she still wasn’t sure about, but Lorraine Collins had a take-charge attitude Mimi appreciated. Lorraine was blunt about wanting grandkids, which Mimi seconded. And when she’d learned who Mimi’s daughter was, she’d been all over herself to welcome Ron and Mimi into her house.

It was with her blessing that Mimi had come down here to watch Shane in his “natural environment.” Though Lorraine couldn’t say enough about her son, she was obviously biased. But it helped Mimi to get a better picture of the man in whom her daughter had once expressed interest. And if she wasn’t mistaken, her girl had done more than express interest with
him
.

Maggie was cute but not so bright
, surprisingly.
She was convinced Shelby was seeing someone. Of course she was. Shane Collins. Who else had her daughter run into who’d altere
d her aura so much? After he’d smacked into her at
Green Lake, Shelby had been a fuzzy purple for days. And
another reading after that odd lunch downtown a few weeks ago had turned up a picture
of
The Lovers in the cards.

Mimi nodded at a few men talking by an actual
water cooler
. How quaint. Then she turned the corner and spied a partially open door at the end of the hall, next to which
a
placard reading
Shane Collins
had been mounted.
She quickly clamped down on her bangles, aiming for stealth, and stepped closer.

A husky feminine voice spilled out
of the room
. A look through the door showed Shane and the woman, and no one else.
Mimi took the opportunity to eavesdrop.

“I’m glad you stopped by today, Gloria. I’m only sorry Jonathon missed our meeting.”