Page 64 of Twisted Hearts

I figured if she reacted to every typical and normal adult adventure with the same interest, I’d have a hell of a lot of fun teaching her everything she needed to learn.

Back at the apartment, we were unloading groceries after several trips up to her place from the truck. I was opening a bottle of white wine we’d grabbed from the refrigerated section for her and poured it for her while she finished setting all the canned goods in her small pantry.

She organized everything, each shelf having a designated section, and when I choked down a laugh at how focused she was on the task, she grinned at me over her shoulder.

It took me a second to drag my gaze off the sweet cheeks of her backside as she was bent over, organizing a lower shelf.

“What?”

“I didn’t expect you to take putting away the groceries so seriously,” I teased.

She rolled her eyes and straightened, coming over to me, and I pushed the wine glass across the counter toward her.

“I like things organized.”

“I can see that.” I swallowed down another laugh, enjoying the way, given the shitty day she’d had, she truly seemed so little affected by it.

“Have some wine. Once you get everything put away, I’ll make us some dinner.”

“Anything I can do to help?” She took a sip and closed her eyes as she did like she’d been desperate for it.

Perhaps she hid her worries better than I realized.

I moved around her to the fridge and grabbed a beer I’d bought. “Do you know how to butter bread?”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes.

“Then you can help me with the garlic bread. Otherwise, I suspect you’ve had a hard day and I know you’ve had a long week, so I want you to sit down and relax. Let me do this for you.”

“Well, who am I to argue with being waited on? I am used to it after all.”

I threw my head back and laughed.

This woman.

20

Addi

More than a week went by. When I wasn’t working, I was with Shawn. When he wasn’t teasing me, we were laughing. Since I worked the day shift at the bar, not getting off until seven at night when the nighttime replacements came in, I was usually exhausted.

To my surprise, Shawn started leaving the bar half an hour before my shift ended, and when he came back to get me and took me to the apartment, he already had dinner either ready or nearly so, giving me enough time to take a quick shower to rinse the stench of booze, sweat, and grease off me.

I waslovingmy job. Sure, I was just a bartender and it wasn’t anything glamorous like I’d been conditioned since birth to strive for, but I actually had a lot of fun talking with the customers, and my co-workers were a blast. Most of them were in college and went to NC State so I only got glimpses into their lives when they came in to relieve me at night, but I loved all their stories.

They were living hours or even states away from their families, and they had a freedom, along with a maturity, I didn’t know if I’d ever had.

But I was getting it now, and despite the heavy weight that curled in my gut every morning when I remembered Daniel was still out there and Shawn had very little additional news to tell me, I was liking everything I experienced so far.

The only downside, outside of the fact that Daniel hadn’t made a move at all and Shawn constantly had irritation lacing his features, frustrated as all hell that they couldn’t figure out whether they were looking for me or not, was that I woke up every single morning alone.

Outside that insanely hot make-out session we’d had over a week ago on the couch, Shawn had barely touched me.

Sure, I caught him looking. More than once I’d caught his heated gaze when I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. There was flirtation in our words and our actions, gentle brushes, teasing pushes, and playful swats when we were watching TV or movies at night.

But those kisses that had revved my engine to maximum warp speed in seconds?

Those were non-existent. And without any explanation as to why, I was starting to doubt that he really wanted me like he had seemed to that morning. Maybe he felt ashamed; maybe he’d only touched me because it was natural for guys to wake up with erections and I’d been the closest body to relieve that.

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