Midnight Hour (Shadow Falls: After Dark #4)(30)

He shuffled his feet again. “What? Shawn won’t let you?”

“Shawn doesn’t tell me what to do.” Then what he’d said earlier hit another chord. A painful one. “So all you want to be is friends?”

“Hell no! But I figure it’s a start. How else am I going to convince you that you should be with me and not him? Give me a second chance,

Miranda.”

“I was giving you a second chance when you came back from Paris and then you … left. Again.” She remembered what her sister had said about

him leaving because she’d been going to the hospital to see Shawn. Part of her knew that was true. Maybe she’d even done it because he’d

hurt her. She’d wanted him to fight for her. He hadn’t fought.

“Okay, a third chance.” He ran a hand through his hair. His blond strands landed in almost the same position—giving a windblown bad-boy

surfer appearance.

He swallowed as if struggling for words. “Look, I know I shouldn’t have left like that, but I had to … I needed to work through things with

my parents. And … you were seeing Shawn. I didn’t think … I could compete with him.”

“I told you I wasn’t seeing him as a girlfriend. Maybe I—”

“I know … but it hurt. I already needed to prove something to myself about my parents. So I … decided to go.”

“What did you need to prove?”

“Just … stuff.” He grinned. “You know, if I came by these good looks naturally.”

That smile. That laugh was as transparent as thin glass.

“Stop,” she said.

“Stop what?” he asked.

“Trying to cover up how you really feel by joking. I see through that every time.”

He shrugged again, this time deeper, as if trying to loosen the pain in his heart.

She looked him dead in the eyes. “Just say you don’t want to talk about it. Don’t play those games with me.”

He blinked. “Okay, no games. I don’t want to…” He stopped, the hurt in his eyes brighter. “I’m still figuring things out. Give me some

time. When I understand, I’ll talk to you about it. I always talked to you about things. Didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” She flinched. His pain echoed inside her.

His phone dinged with a text. He pulled it out of his jean pocket and frowned. “It’s Burnett. He’s upset that I didn’t go straight to see

him.” He met her eyes. “I should probably go before he sends someone to get me.”

He slipped the phone into his back pocket. “If I finish in time, can I swing by before I leave?”

It was a simple yes or no question. Why did it feel so big? She nodded.

“And later, every week or so, I’ll come home. Just to talk?”

Before she even realized she was doing it, she nodded again.

He smiled, a real it’s-Christmas-morning kind of smile—the sadness about his parents gone. His expression was so beautiful, her ribs hugged

her heart and the air went back to tasting like birthday cake.

He started to reach for her, but caught himself. “No touching. See? I remember.”

He moved to the door, reached for the knob, and hesitated. He glanced back—that sweet smile still on his lips. “Thank you.”

She gave him another beyond-her-control nod.

He left.

She inhaled. No sugary, birthday-cake smell anymore. No fresh wind-and-hot-boy scent. Just the astringent odor of the hospital, and the bitter

smell of a startling realization. A cold, oh-shit realization.

She had just agreed to start seeing Perry again. “Only as friends,” she whispered aloud, but it left her tongue like a lie.

For Goddess’ sakes, what have I done? But there was no taking it back.

Nope. It was done. She was going to be spending time with Perry.

How in hell was she going to explain this to Shawn?

*

Perry left the hospital, his smile still in place, and did one leap of joy and a fist pump in the night air. She’d agreed to see him. Just see

him, but that was a start. A really, really good start.

For one second his mind churned on how Miranda was going to explain this to Shawn. Hopefully the warlock would finally see that Miranda still

had feelings for him and back off. He could hope. Not that he would blame the guy if he didn’t give up without a fight. Miranda was that

special. But she was Perry’s special someone.

He’d known it from the first time he’d laid eyes on her over three years ago, the first time he’d met her at the summer camp. He hadn’t

even spoken to her the first year. But he’d spent time shape-shifting into every kind of animal there was, just so he could hang around her.

The second year, he started teasing her a little. The third, they finally became more than friends.

Happy for the first time in months and feeling light on his feet, he jogged to the back of the hospital behind a brick wall and the garbage

Dumpster to turn. Right before he stopped, his phone rang. Probably Burnett. The guy could be relentless.

Certain it was Burnett, he answered before checking the number. “I’m on my way.” He hoped Burnett couldn’t hear the sheer happiness in his