Page 36 of Winter Ends
“Is this—is this too much?”
God, my question sounded so fucking small, even to me. Daniel had to think I was an idiot. But no, that wasn’t what I was seeing reflected in his eyes. He seemed worried. Like maybe he was pushing me too far instead of the other way around.
“I’d tell you. If I needed this to stop, I’d let you know.”
And I had to trust him on that. We barely knew anything about each other, but I had to believe he knew his own limits and he’d tell me when he hit them.
Chapter 23
Daniel
Islammed the pan down on the stove as the kitten ran out of the kitchen. My heart raced a million miles a minute. It would take time. A day wasn’t enough time to adjust to an animal that had previously terrified me now being in my life.
“What happened?” Shawn came around the corner. He wore nothing but a pair of black sweatpants that sat low on his hips. My breath hitched at the sight of him, but I needed to keep my thoughts out of the gutter. Three days being stuck here and all we’d done was have sex. Sort of. And take care of a kitten.
“Nacho. He—he just startled me was all.”
Shawn hummed, walking further into the kitchen and wrapping an arm around my waist. His chin rested on my shoulder as I adjusted the heat on the stove and the chicken in the pan sizzled.
“Did he touch you?”
“Rubbed up against my leg.”
“He wants attention.”
I let out a sigh. It wasn’t easy for people who weren’t afraid to understand. My grandmother’s cat wasn’t just mean, it wasvicious. I’d ended up with some pretty deep scratches that had gotten infected. It never seemed to matter that I would tell people I’d done nothing to provoke the damn animal. It was always my fault, and I was told I should just leave it alone. Hard to do when I was constantly avoiding it and the damn thing found me, anyway.
“I’m—I’m trying. He’s cute. And this is the best I’ve handled a cat in a long-ass time. Even better than I’ve handled Oreo...”
My words trailed off at the kisses against my neck. Good fucking God. It seemed like more sex was on the table. Not that I was complaining. This was the most I’d orgasmed in a short amount of time... ever. And Shawn was good. As much as I hated to admit that. He felt good, tasted good, elicited feelings I didn’t want to feel…
“What were you talking about?”
I had to laugh at Shawn’s question.
“I think you were trying to distract me and not the other way around.”
The puff of air against the damp skin of my neck from his kisses sent goosebumps sprawling across my shoulders. “I don’t know. You’re standing here, cooking, and looking all domestic and shit. I think it’s sexy as hell. One would think you were trying to seduce me in this situation.”
A smirk spread across my lips as I turned the burner off and turned in his grasp. My arms draped over his shoulders before our lips slammed together.
This was getting ridiculous. We’d gone from fighting to fucking. Or close to fucking. I’d let him. God, I wanted him to. And that was a crazy notion. I now lived in a world where I was okay with the idea of Shawn Stevens owning my ass.
When the hell had that happened?
We broke apart, and Shawn rested his forehead against mine. “Tell me, babe. What’s on your mind?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. The words were there, but they were hard to say. I’d spent so much time being afraid to give in after Art made me feel so stupid. How had I let him continue to fuck with my life for so long after that?
The longer we stood there, it was harder and harder to say. Why the hell couldn’t I do it?
“What do you think the guys ended up doing today?”
Sure, it was the chicken’s way out, but it was still a valid question. We hadn’t come up here to fuck around. The original purpose of this trip was for Aiden’s birthday, and we weren’t there while all our friends were still with him, celebrating.
Shawn’s arms tightened around me for a moment. Could he tell that I wasn’t telling him what I was really thinking? He had to know.
He sighed. “I don’t know. We could always call and ask.” Another kiss against the side of my neck told me he knew I was attempting to distract him from what I wanted to say.
