Faking Forever (First Wives #4)(29)

Avery had been studying krav maga for over a year, and while Shannon hadn’t seen her in action, Liam had told her that Avery could put a man twice her size on the mat and make him cry.

“Of course it would be better if you came with me. Just in case I need someone to call my lesbian lover.”

“Parading around as a lesbian might not be the best way for me to find someone to father my baby.”

“A lot of men get turned on by that kind of thing.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to win this conversation?”

“Because you secretly want to display that goddess body and cut loose the ties society has bound you in. Personally, I think you’re more apt to find a stranger to sleep with if you shed all the proper bullshit you’ve been fed all your life.”

“Am I that pretentious?” Shannon truly thought she’d evolved in the last five years.

“Not pretentious, just not the kind of woman who sleeps with strangers. I’ve never seen you flirt. Do you even see the men who smile at you?”

“I don’t turn as many heads as you’d think.”

Avery ran her hand along the top of the water. “You turn twice as many. You just don’t see them. And you don’t see them because you don’t want to. The second you let that guard down, men will line up. If they’re eligible and single . . . and even if they’re not, you’re going to need me there to knock them away.”

Shannon couldn’t comment on the effect of dropping her walls, but she knew they were there. “I don’t know how to break out of this rut, Avery. I’ve been trying.”

“Here’s my advice, like it or not. Treat all the men like they’re not a threat. Look at Dylan and Erasmo. Two guys, nonthreatening on any level . . . you relaxed around them, laughed. I even saw some of that sass Victor said you had.”

Just hearing the man’s name made the hair on her neck stand up. “Victor riles me.”

“I noticed. He is a prime example of a man watching you and you don’t see it.”

“Oh, please. The man’s fiancée ran out on him three days ago, and he placed some of the blame on me. If he’s looking, it’s only to make sure I’m not sabotaging something else in his life.”

Avery smirked. “That man is a bee to your flower. Even more . . . you like him.”

“I do not—”

Avery held a hand in the air. “You don’t want to like him, you could even say it’s not right to be attracted, considering the circumstances. But you do.”

Shannon opened her mouth to dispute, only to have Avery cut her off.

“You argue with him. When he looks at you, you turn away if he catches you staring. The tension between you is there. Don’t mistake it as anger.”

“Ridiculous.”

“He’s an attractive man.”

“Looks aren’t everything. His social manners are that of a preschooler.”

“Why does that bother you?”

“Because he’s an adult. Established. He should know better. Victor has no idea how to treat a woman.”

“And he lost his fiancée because of it.”

Shannon grew warm just thinking about it. “Corrie was too young, and what the heck was he thinking, wanting to marry her to begin with?”

Avery was silent.

Shannon looked over at her friend.

“Like I said. You’re attracted to the man. If you weren’t, you would have blown all that stuff off and not given him another thought. Inside, you want to know the answer to those questions, and I bet you’ve been thinking about what the preschool executive will be wearing the next time you see him.”

“If I see him.”

Avery just laughed.





Chapter Eleven

Victor was pretty sure if he looked up the word voyeur in the dictionary, he’d find a picture of himself staring back.

Shannon was naked.

Full-on, head-to-toe, in-the-buff naked. No peeking into windows to see it either. Quite by accident, he’d caught a glimpse of her lean backside as she’d slid into the water. But sitting in the shade of his balcony, hidden by a windblown palm tree, he waited patiently for the woman to emerge again. Nothing accidental about that.

He doubted the women knew they were being watched, or they’d have kept their suits on. Well, Shannon would have. He wasn’t sure about her friend.

A decent man would have looked away.

He kicked his feet up and watched.

The view was worth it.

Long and lean, with legs that went on forever. He wasn’t close enough to see the color of her nipples, but the shape of her breasts stirred heat deep in his belly.

He shouldn’t be attracted to her.

But damn it . . . he was.

It’s physical, he told himself. A rebound attraction.

Taboo, even.

He wanted to refresh his drink, which he’d finished in one gulp once he realized who he was staring at, but he wasn’t about to miss it when she emerged from the pool. So not only was he a voyeur, he was masochistic.

The woman got under his skin. Called him out at every turn. In short, she irked him. If he’d had a sister, he imagined she would be just as annoying. But then he wouldn’t be looking at his sister naked.