Page 87 of Show Me How
Shade follows my gaze, pressing his palm steadily to my back and heading to the bench beneath a few overhanging branches. We sit, not bothering to leave distance between us. His thigh presses to mine, offering me some of the limitless strength he has leaking from his every pore.
“I’ve never experienced the type of relationship with a parent where they can be frustrated with you but still let you see how much they love you. Honestly, I don’t know what the latter feels like at all,” I explain, letting the words fall from my lips without trying to shove them back in. “I was raised in a dynamic that feeds off of power. My entire existence has always been about how I can give my parents more of it. The friends I had were selected for me and had to be from families of equal success as mine. My entire dating life has been planned for me since I was an infant, I’m sure.”
“Which explains the shitty fiancé,” Shade mutters.
“Chadwick is from a family with almost more money in the bank than mine has. His father owns the biggest investment firm in Western Canada. Our families have been shoving us together for as long as I can remember.”
Shade’s thigh tenses. “That’s a lot of power for one man.”
“You’d hate mine, then,” I say with a bitter laugh. “I’m pretty sure he was born with his chin already pointed at the sky.”
“You’ve never told me that your father does. What makes him think he deserves the world served up on a silver platter.”
“He owns nineteen ski resorts spanning through British Columbia and Alberta. Name one and it’s his.”
“Christ.”
I lean against the back of the bench, nodding. “My first few nights here, I thought I’d wake up and he’d be at the door to my cabin, ready to haul me home. But he hasn’t, and the longer I stay, the more I’m realizing he’s waiting for me to break and return on my own.”
“Do you think he knows where you are?” Shade asks tightly, the gruffness in his voice drawing my eyes.
“Without a doubt.”
He clenches his jaw, and I watch closely as the muscles flex and pull. “How badly do you want to stay here?”
“Bad enough that I’m tempted to ask Shelly to swap me cabins every few days just in case he’s been having someone watch me.”
“Stay with me instead.”
I pinch my brows together, blinking slowly. “What?”
“Is it that surprising?” he teases, releasing the tension in his thigh.
“Honestly? A little.”
“Well, don’t let it be. I have an extra room that I’ve already offered to you before.”
“You can’t honestly want to share your place with a woman. It’s so . . .” I trail off.
His smirk is feline, dangerous on so many levels. “So what, princess? Out with it.”
“It’s a bachelor pad. You’re okay with sharing a bathroom with me?”
“Do you think I’m scared of tampons or something?” he asks with a low laugh.
I knock my knee against his, rolling my eyes. “Maybe! I don’t know. Have you ever lived with a woman before?”
“Only my mother for eighteen years.”
“That’s so not the same.”
“Tell me what it’ll be like with you, then. I’ll decide after you’ve tried to scare me away.”
It’s a ridiculous push. I know that once I get past my initial surprise, I’ll find the real reason behind my doubt. Even now, it’s obvious it isn’t because his place has a weight rack in his living room or posters of beer models on the walls.
“For starters, I take twenty-minute-long showers every day,” I say.
He quirks a brow. “Any particular reason why?”
