Page 27 of Catch and Release

Plus, he wasn’t opposed to Willa sitting up front with him.

The idea gave him butterflies.

Stupid butterflies. Again.

“The front seat makes you dizzy,” Willa deadpanned, crossing her arms.

“Yes, dear, that’s what I just said.”

“Grams, that makes no sense.”

Grams raised an eyebrow at Willa and gave her a look that still made Shawn feel like he was about to be grounded or have his phone taken away. It harkened back to the time he’d prank called the neighbors and Grams had sent him to bed without getting dessert.

“Are you calling me a liar, Willa Mae Greene?”

“Am I calling you a—” Willa paused and scrunched her nose. “Wait, how do you know my middle name?”

“I know a lot of things, missy,” Grams said sternly. “And I also know you shouldn’t disrespect your elders.”

“Disrespect? Grams, I’m just asking a question.”

“Here’s a question: Why are you about to make us late for Bingo?”

Willa sighed and turned her head toward the sky, as if asking God for mercy. Shawn couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this entertained, and he wasn’t anxious to end this interaction between Willa and Grams, but he knew better than to encourage this when being late to Bingo was on the line.

“C’mon,” Shawn whispered to Willa. “It’s not even a 10-minute drive to the church. You don’t have to sit next to me for long, Greene.”

Pink crept into Willa’s cheeks, and Shawn was thrilled to have caused it.

“I—it wasn’t—I don’t—” she spluttered, and Shawn guided her to the passenger seat and opened the door for her.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a wink.

Could you orgasm just from seeing a man wink? Because Willa thought she just might.

She’d done everything she could to put Shawn out of her mind. Behind all the grunting and saying the wrong things at the wrong time, he was a nice guy. She could tell. And he was also sexy as fuck, which was the problem.

Ida clearly had grand plans to bring them together. Willa had started to suspect the older woman during their walk this morning, when she waxed poetic for all of thirty minutes about how Shawn took such good care of her, how he was so kind and caring, how he had always been a good man. But her blatant attempt to make them sit next to each other in the car was clear proof that Ida harbored a hope that Shawn and Willa would get together.

Which couldn’t happen.

Because Willa promised herself that she was taking a break from men.

At least, from boyfriends. She didn’t trust herself not to fall for a man who’d do her dirty, just like they all had before. And even with Ida’s ringing endorsement of Shawn, she still felt uneasy. Plus, she wanted casual sex. A one-night stand. Or better yet, a fuck buddy. And she couldn’t do that with Shawn.

Could she?

“So, Ida, how was your day?” Willa asked, desperate to focus on something other than the man sitting so close to her that there was no avoiding his intoxicating scent—like a mixture of the salty air and some sort of aftershave.

“Can’t hear you from back here, sweetie,” Ida responded. “We can visit once we get there.”

Willa looked back at Ida with an incredulous expression on her face. Ida shrugged and looked out the window. Willa faced forward and sighed, rolling her eyes in irritation.

“Sorry about her,” Shawn said quietly. “She gets tunnel vision once she puts her mind to something.”

“Clearly,” Willa smirked. “So. How was your day?”

Shawn grimaced, and glanced over at Willa. He sighed.

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