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“Oh.” Nodding, she clasped her hands together on her lap. “Okay.”

Pulling onto the main road, I dropped my hand to the gear stick and shifted into third and then fourth before finally settling on fifth as the speedometer rose right along with my sense of freedom. Feeling like I was in control for the first time in weeks, I put my foot down and pushed Gibsie’s Focus as hard as it could go, all the while wishing we were in my Audi.

Unlike before, Shannon didn’t complain about my driving. Instead, she rolled down the window and rested her cheek against the door, smiling softly when the wind blasted against her face.

We couldn’t go back to Shannon’s house because, aside from the fact that I was banned from stepping foot on the property, I was likely to cause serious physical harm to that brother of hers, and we couldn’t go back to my place because if I rolled into the driveway behind the wheel of a car, my mother was likely to cause serious physical harm tome.

One of the best parts of living on the south coast of Ireland was never being far from water, so I detoured onto the coastal road, abandoning Ballylaggin altogether. It was half nine in the morning, and with the exception of the odd dog-walker, we should get some peace and quiet.

“Aren’t you going to ask me where we’re going?” I asked, casting a quick sideways glance her way before refocusing on the narrow, potholed road ahead of me.

“No,” she replied softly.

“No?” I cocked a brow. “Why not?”

She opened her eyes and turned to look at me. “Because I trust you.”

Well, shite.

Reaching over, I took her right hand in mine and pulled it onto my lap.

* * *

Several hours later, Shannon and I were on what had to be our hundredth lap of the beach, and I was trying not to think about my stomach too much. I had eaten my entire supply of lunch for the day not long after parking this morning—protein shakes and all—and I was stillstarving. I was putting my hunger down to the sea air, because I sure as hell wasn’t burning up enough energy to be craving meat, unless trying to keep my head on straight with Shannon in close proximity qualified as strenuous activity. My heart certainly thought so, as it did the rounds in my chest, leaping around like a fucking jackhammer. Or maybe it was the nerves making me hungry? Hell, I’d never been a nervous eater, but Jesus, this girl did strange things to my internal system.

Falling into step beside Shannon, I forced my legs to move, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and just moving. She didn’t make any comment on my pace or how fucking pathetic I looked as I shuffled awkwardly alongside her, freeing out my stiff muscles.

Every once in a while, I would test the waters by holding myself slightly back from her or inconspicuously stepping a few feet out of touching distance, pretending to look at something that wasn’t there, while I held my breath and waited to see what her next move would be. She skittishly closed the space every single time, moving closer and closer until she was sidled back up to my side. I did that at least four times just to make sure that this was where she wanted to be—with me—because it scared me sometimes, not knowing what was going on inside that head of hers.

Every now and then,shewould stop for a couple of minutes to check a shell on the sand or pretend to adjust her tights, but I knew that was bullshit. She was giving me pit stops. She was stopping so I could rest.

It was lashing rain down on us, but that didn’t seem to bother Shannon. She seemed perfectly content to be here with me. She was talking again, too, answering every stupid question my brain could think up as we wandered, side by side, over the rocks and wet sand. The more random and pointless my questions were, the more Shannon relaxed, so I asked her everything—from her preference between Nike and Adidas, to her views on the big bang theory—until she was laughing and talking freely. I hashed up every fucked-up thought and memory I could to keep that smile on her face, never once bringing her father into conversation. She didn’t want to talk about her family, and to be honest, neither did I.

I wanted to give her a good day to make up for the bad ones, or at the very least make her day a little better.

“Are you okay?” Shannon asked as she stood at the bottom of a rock, waiting on the sand for me to climb down to her. Her face was flushed from windburn, matching mine, and she was bouncing the rugby ball we’d found in the boot of Gibsie’s car this morning between her hands.

“All good.” Every inch of my body was burning up and I knew all the climbing was wreaking havoc on my injury, but I replied with a muffled “Just give me a sec,” as I resisted the urge to sit on my arse and shimmy down like a fucking girl.

“You can do it, Johnny,” she encouraged, smiling brightly. “You’ve got this.”

I really wasn’t sure if Ihad thisor not, but I moved my legs all the same and prayed for the strength I needed to keep myself upright as I hobbled down the rocks at a snail’s pace, feeling every ache and burn in my muscles, until I was standing in front of her with my feet planted firmly in the sand.

“Are you ready?” she asked, sounding a little breathless as a playful smile tipped at her lips.

“Yeah.” I nodded, feeling the burn on my skin from having her eyes on me. “Go for it.”

She held the ball out for me to take, but when I reached for it, she backed up a few feet. A small smile curled at my lips and I tilted my head, studying her mischievous expression. “Oh, so it’s going to be like that?”

Shannon laughed loudly—she actually fuckinglaughed—and nodded. “Come and get it, Mister Rugby.”

Shaking my head, I trudged after her, my movements stiff and awkward, but she didn’t seem to notice, or she didn’t care. She was smiling encouragingly and nodding at me to follow her as she bounced a few feet out of my grasp every time I got close enough to snatch the ball.

She looked fucking adorable as she ran several yards up the beach with the rugby ball in her small hands. Her wooly hat and scarf swamped her face and that mountain of dark hair was blowing around her, with wet clumps sticking to her rosy cheeks. Rain was dripping from her coat, her school skirt was drenched through and clinging to her bare legs, and I swear I had never seen anything so fucking beautiful.

Freedom suited her.

“Shannon, I can’t,” I called after her when she ran too far ahead of me for the millionth time. “I’m too stiff.”And embarrassed…

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