Chapter 23

Daniel

I slammed 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 was vicious. 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.

As much as I wanted Shawn to keep kissing me, to proceed with touching, I wanted to clear my head. It was painful, but I disentangled his arms from around me and moved away from the stove.

“Yeah? Maybe we should call them.”

The frustrated sigh that followed me as I walked out of the room didn’t make me feel like any less of a coward. It didn’t stop me from picking up my phone, finding my contact for Chase, and pressing the Call button.

“Yo. Have you killed him yet?”

I let out a laugh. “Ass. No.” I looked up as Shawn stopped in my doorway and leaned against the frame. I flipped the call to Speaker . “He’s listening, by the way.”

“Hey, Shawn.”

Shawn gave a strained smile before moving into the room to sit next to me on the bed. “What’s up, Chase? Danny-boy here was concerned about the baby of the group. You all doing anything special for him today?”

I glared at the nickname. He’d never used it before, and I wasn’t a fan.

Chase laughed before answering. “Careful, he’ll bite. Yes. We’re taking him out for dinner. Much less exciting than the original plans. I think he was looking forward to drinks with us, but you know...”

I sighed, dragging a hand down my face. “Tell me about it. At least it hasn’t snowed anymore tonight. Hopefully, it’ll stay that way, and they can clear things out. Maybe we can all spend New Year’s together after all.”

Maybe it was a little fucked up. Shawn shrank back a bit. After the last couple of days, I was still trying to get away from him. I needed to keep my distance, and it was a good thing that I wasn’t crossing that final line. This phone call was the out I needed to keep that barrier in place.

“Hopefully. I think Aiden would look forward to that. He’s been pretty bummed about the change in plans, though I think Nathan is relieved.”

I laughed, Nathan being the ever-protective older brother. He’d eventually have to loosen the reins there. The kid needed to make some mistakes on his own. We’d all been allowed to make them and for some of us, it’d fucked things up for us more than others.

We said our goodbyes and disconnected the call. A quiet fell over the room. Shawn leaned back on the mattress and stared at me. A strange prickling of awareness washed over me at his proximity, and I itched to get away from him again. If I stayed, I was bound to continue what we’d started in the kitchen. I wasn’t even in the mood to finish cooking my food. Instead, I threw on a hoodie and headed to the front door, calling over my shoulder.

“I need some air.”

It was stupid. Cowardly. Shawn had proven that I could talk to him. He wasn’t the same as Art at all, but I still didn’t completely trust it. Alarm bells kept going off in my head. Don’t get too close. Don’t go there again.