Fall From Grace(11)

I heard Lea’s laughter in the kitchen and smelled the fresh aroma of dark brewing coffee.  My mouth watered.  I had missed Lea’s muddy strong coffee.

I still had my heels on. So I slipped out of them, changed my jeans for a pair of boy shorts and just left Shane’s shirt on. Then I walked out into the hallway and into the bathroom.  I wondered if Conner was still here.  Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I walked out of my room to run into one of Lea’s friends.  I laughed remembering the time one of them tried to jump in the shower with me.  The poor guy didn’t know what hit him, but the way he screamed like a girl, made Lea and me both laugh for days.  I could tell that Conner was different for Lea though, she was serious about him.  As long as he didn’t try to bathe with me, I figured he was golden.

I floated into the kitchen, grabbed a mug, filled it with coffee and turned around to find Shane leaning up against the sink, watching me.  He ran his hand through his mass of sweaty hair and wiped his forehead with the tee shirt he had hanging around his neck.  He wore nothing else except a pair of black running pants and sneakers.

Conner came into the kitchen dressed the same way.  Apparently, they went jogging together every day, Conner was explaining to me, but I was too distracted by the sight of Shane to listen.  He was ridiculous to look at; every single muscle on his body was clearly defined.  The only word that popped in my mind was delicious.

Shane cocked his head and gave me a sideways smile.  His eyes were the lightest shade of blue I’d ever seen. They were intense and alarming.  They reminded me of something from long ago.  “Red, you still have my shirt on.”  His voice was low and raspy, wrapping itself around me.  I could understand perfectly how any girl could fall for him; he was dangerously beautiful.

Embarrassment spiked through my veins.  I was standing in front of him with his shirt still on and a pair of tiny boy shorts.  I saw him smiling and appraising me.  There was no way I could let this man know how he affected me.  There’s no way, I could let any man affect me, period.

His eyes continued to sweep over my legs, and I could swear that everywhere his eyes locked on me, I could feel a slight touch.  I kept my gaze steady on his eyes until he locked back onto mine.  An alarmingly gorgeous half-smile stared back at me.

“Would you like it back right now?” I asked daringly.

Conner had stopped talking at some point during our conversation, but neither Shane nor I noticed when.  I only noticed Shane’s slight forward movement at the thought of me returning his shirt at that moment.  Like I would fall into his trap and take my shirt off for him.

“Sure thing,” I said and bounced my way out of the kitchen and back into my bedroom.  I change into an oversized sweatshirt and sweat pants, ran back into the kitchen and tossed the shirt at him.  “Thanks again,” I called to him as I left the kitchen.

Lea was laying on the couch in the living room in the same exact place I left her the night before.  She had her Kindle eReader on and was probably devouring some cheesy romance novel.  I sat down next to her and sighed.  “What are you reading now?”

“Vampire romance.  It’s pretty hot, you should read it after me, and get away from reality for a while.”

I barked out a laugh.  “Nothing can make me forget my reality,” I answered flatly.

Looking up Lea asked, “Why do you have an aversion to reading all of a sudden?”

“Why bother?  There’s no book; fictional, horror, fairytale, anything that could come even close to the warped disturbing reality of my horrible existence,” I shuttered.