Page 48 of The Harborer
“Then make sure it’s a good one,” he teased. He didn’t carewhatshe picked out, as long as he got to watch it with her.
“Oh, yay!” she squealed and disappeared into the living room.
He shook his head in amusement, but the amusement faded the instant it occurred to him she likely had had very little control overanythingat home during her time with Micky. She’d probably given it up one piece at a time by looking past Micky’s faults, by being herself, eager to please and too bendy for her own preservation. The notion both infuriated him and filled him with pride that she’d broken away.
The dishes clattered as he washed them by hand, but the noise was pierced by a high-pitched sound. He stilled his hands in the soapy water and strained to hear.
“I already told you!” A beat passed. “No! No way.”
Shane shook off suds and rounded the corner, coming to a halt when his eyes landed on Amy, who paced the few unoccupied feet in his cramped living room. She gripped her phone tight to her ear, and her full mouth had thinned into a grim line. Her features twisted with either anger or anguish; it could have been both. Shane had no doubt who was on the other end of the call.
Micky.
Amy’s eyes flicked to Shane’s and held. Instinctively, he opened his hand, palm up, signaling for her to pass him the phone. The need to tell the son of a bitch where he could stuff his attitude hammered away inside Shane, but Amy shook her head. She had to knowexactlywhat was racing through his mind.
“You know what?” she snarled. “You go right ahead. I don’t give a flying fig newton, and it’s not going to change anything. I’m over it.” Shane could hear Micky ranting, though he couldn’t make out what he was saying. “Micky? Micky!” she yelled, but Micky’s verbal assault continued. “Hanging up now.” She wrenched the phone from her ear and stabbed at it, ending the call. Then her thumbs flew furiously over the screen.
When she was done, she pulled in a huge breath through her nose and blew it out through her mouth. She repeated the action twice more, until her breathing slowed. Finally, she looked up at Shane. “That was Micky.” Her voice quavered. “I muted him.”
“You all right?”
Her face crumpled. “No.”
Shane opened his arms wide, and she rushed into them. He banded them around her and held her close as her body shuddered with tears. Her hands were balled into fists against his pecs. Long minutes passed. At last a giant whoosh of air fled her body. Her fingers unclenched and spread across his chest, and she seemed to melt into him. He rested his cheek on the top of her head, loving the feel of her silky strands against his skin. She was the perfect height for him.
Don’t go there.
He could have stood here with her enfolded in his arms all night, but he made himself draw back, gripping her upper arms as he held her away from him. “Better?”
She brushed her wet cheeks. “Yes. Thank you.” Her eyebrows knitted together. “I’m so sor—”
He placed two fingers against her soft lips. “Stop. Let me say it again. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
She looked up at him with something akin to wonder, and his insides ignited. “See? I wasn’t wrong when I said you were sweet.”
He released her and stepped back. “Uh, so what’re we watching? Unless you want to talk about what just happened with Micky.”
“I don’t, and nothing happened. He called, and I stupidly picked up because I thought maybe I owed him that. He told me he’d ‘gotten the point,’ and that it was time I came home. As if I’d staged the whole thing so I could get his attention,” she snorted. “I explained why that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t like that answer. You probably picked up on that.”
“Yeah, I got the gist of it.”
She shook her head. “How could I have been so blind for so long, Shane?”
“You saw the good in him, the good that was there when you two first started dating.”
“That’s what Hailey says,” she sighed. “I feel more like I had gauze taped over my eyes, and I just yanked it off. I can’t ever see myself going back to Micky, and I don’t think he gets it. I actually feel kind of sorry for him, but it’s just … over. There’s nothing there.” He waited silently for her to spill more if she needed to. Instead, she slid him a side-eye. “Forget the rom-coms. Let’s see if we can streamFast and Furious.”
He barked a laugh. “Which one?”
“All of them!”
Chapter 17
Wicked
An epic battle ragedinside Amy. While simultaneously trying to relax at one end of Shane’s couch, she struggled to contain her anger. For the thousandth time, she focused her attention on yetanothercar chase unfolding on his humongous TV. It wasn’t working. Maybe she should concentrate on getting lost in Paul Walker’s blue eyes instead, except … well, he was dead, and that fact not only saddened her, but it shot her fantasy all to hell.
She had swapped her jeans for leggings and now sat with her legs tucked under her butt. Shelookedcasual enough, but it was an act. Micky was out of her life, and she needed to get him out of her head. Maybe she could do that by turning her attention to her host instead.Hewas very much present, and she was acutely aware of his thigh only inches from her foot as he slouched, long legs sprawled, on the opposite end of the couch. She could practically feel the heat radiating off him.
