Page 38 of Owning Emma

“You and I both know that if she got that close, it was so much more than that for you. I’m selfish, don’t you think? For hating the fact that you found something or someone that makes you feel secure enough to drop down a barrier or two.”

“We’re all a little selfish,” he croaked out.

“I’ve got work to do, is there anything else you need?” I took out a stack of papers, fumbling around with them like they were of importance. In reality, I had no clue what was on them.

“Nope. That was it,” he mumbled.

“Good. Go ahead and do what you need to do, Shaw. I won’t get in the way,” I said, not even looking at him as I dismissed him.

He stood, the expression on his face oozed displeasure, but I still feigned disinterest. And when he slapped his palms on my desk hard enough to shake the wood, I finally looked at him as he said, “It doesn’t have to be that way.”

I slammed my palms down harder and leaned toward him. “You know, you keep saying that and it means nothing to me.”

He bent his knees and brought down his shoulders so that he was at eye level with me as I sat. “It means it doesn’t have to be her and me, or you and her. There doesn’t have to be one or the other or pick and choose.”

He stood then, his full height towering over me, reminding me just how large and intimidating he could be when he chose to, then he turned and walked away, slamming my office door behind him.

I stared at the closed door for minutes after he walked away, trying to decode what it was he was saying, or maybe what it was he wasn’t saying that mattered the most. It didn’t have to be pick and choose? What other option was there? I forced thoughts of Shaw and Emma out of my head. Trying to forget the look in his eyes when he said those words and hoping that whatever he decided he was going to do, every party involved made it through unscathed.

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