out to toy with one of the loose waves hanging around her face. “He has the belief that he’s always right, too. He can’t believe that people can change.”
“People or you?”
“Me,” she said, sounding forlorn.
No matter what he said or did, their past would always be between them like an unacknowledged wound. The past hadn’t been healed by years of separation nor was the relationship they were building enough to wipe away the past hurt. He really stunk at relationships and had no idea how to make this right.
The only time he really felt in control around Shelby was when she was in his arms. He walked around behind her and surrounded her with his body, pulling her back against him, wrapping his arms around her waist and bending his head to whisper in her ear. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll run interference for you.”
And he meant it. The last time, he’d left Shelby on her own to deal with his dad, but now he realized he should have protected her better.
Why hadn’t he been able to see that she needed him? He hadn’t wanted to acknowledge that they were dependent on each other.
Her hands crept up over his wrists, holding him as he held her. She tipped her head back and looked up at him. He could tell she was searching for something in his gaze and he hoped she’d find it. Frankly, he knew that taking her to bed would go a long way to making him feel better.
“I don’t need protecting. I’m a grown woman.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her, trying to lighten the tension that lingered in the air like a streak of bad luck at a slot machine. “I’ve noticed.”
“Trust you to turn this back to sex.”
“Did I?”
She raised both eyebrows and gave him a very prim look. “You know you did.”
He winked at her. “Can’t help myself around you.”
She sighed and then moved away. “Thanks for coming to the rescue, but I need to get back to work.”
“You’re welcome. What were you doing out here?”
“Checking out the store from the outside.”
“You’ve checked it out before,” he said.
She walked toward her lingerie store and stood out of the foot traffic, watching the action inside. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s really mine. That this is my life.”
“You’ve worked hard for your success. You deserve it.”
“I don’t know about deserving all this.”
She gestured to her clothing and the shop and him. “I mean, I’m wearing a pair of shoes that cost three hundred dollars. When I was in Vegas before, I bought my shoes from the final-markdown rack.”
“I never knew that,” he said.
“I would have died if you had. I tried very hard to hide that part of my life from you. The house you picked me up at wasn’t really mine—it was the Jenkinses’. I worked there as an after-school maid. Their daughter was two years older than me and Mrs. Jenkins used to give me her old clothes.”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
