AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After so many weeks of dealing with both, I realized it was a trait Shane shared with her. He certainly did a fine job concealing just how attentive and careful he was, but I’d finally picked up enough of the little signs to be sure. Even if it drove me nuts, it was in the way he poked and prodded to see if someone would slip up and then watched what slipped free. It was in the way he had made an assessment of me to his mother but had never said anything to me, probably knowing I wouldn’t have trusted a word out of his mouth. And maybe, just maybe, it was in the way he had known I was attracted to him and waited until the ‘safest’ moment to bridge that gap.
That still made him a terrible straight man, and I wasn’t going to let him forget it.
Sophia cleared her throat and picked up her book. “If you’re simply going to stand around and gawp at the walls when on the clock, do it elsewhere. And while you’re being useless for the rest of the night, fetch my son for me.”
I raised a brow but didn’t bother to argue. It wasn’t really my job to fetch people for her, but it would have been slightly hypocritical to give her shit about not taking it easy and then make her find Shane on her own.
“I don’t know where he’s at,” I told her with a frown. “I didn’t even know he was here.”
“And I thought you were attentive and aware,” she said dryly, changing the page. “If he’s not lurking around the house, he’s surely in his room.”
I was opening myself up to further abuse, but I only shrugged. “Is that on the other side of the house?”
“When have you ever seen him in the house long enough to count as having slept here? Perhaps it’s best you went with the career you did. Something more demanding of your attention, like being an agent, would have resulted in your death,” she said without looking up. “I’m sure if you look out back, you’ll find that rickety cottage is where he spends most of his time when he’s not, in fact, lurking.”
Though I had never seen the entire cottage or even come close to it, I had little doubt in my mind that anyone could call the small place rickety. Considering this family's money, it was probably better furnished and decorated than any place I’d ever lived in. Hell, the contents of that cottage would probably pay my rent and utilities for months.
“Alright, call me if you need anything, Miss Perkins,” I said, turning and walking out.
I wasn’t surprised when she said nothing. I couldn’t prove it, but I’d bet she was still stewing over what I’d said. Faintly, I wondered if I had managed to seal my fate after that little speech. There was no denying she had been angry, but she also hadn’t torn into me as I expected. Considering I only had hearsay to work with, I thought she was the type to chew someone out and then fire them, so perhaps her silence meant I was safe.
As I reached the dimly lit kitchen and glanced out the back window, my thoughts shifted to my current problem, facing Shane. Not that I hadn’t already spoken to him a few times over the past week, but once more, he had lapsed into the strange distance he’d put between us before. It continued to nag at me, and I wondered what was going through his head when he spoke to me. The topics were only about his mother’s condition, his plans for the day, and idle comments.
If anything, he seemed even more distant than he had in the weeks before. I had yet to spot him watching me carefully whenever he was in the same room, and I’d yet to spot that knowing smirk on his face. It was precisely the sort of thing I’d wanted out of him for weeks, and now I had it, I found it disconcerting.
“Idiot,” I muttered, opening the back door and stopping short when I saw the cleaner smoking by the back porch again. “Oh, evening.”
“Hey,” he said, waving his lit cigarette. “Come to breathe in nostalgia?”
I laughed, shaking my head. “No, I’m off to fetch the young master of the house for the mistress.”
My terrible accent made him chuckle. “Well, the lights are on out there, so he’s home.”
“Good to know,” I said, going down the steps.
“Hey, uh, quick question for you,” he called softly before I got too far.
I spun around. “What’s up?”
He flicked his cigarette. “Gonna shoot my shot here but uh, next time you’ve got some spare time, you up for getting a coffee or a drink?”
Surprise made me hesitate before I smiled gently. “I…appreciate it. But I don’t mix my professional and personal life, and we both work here, so…”
“Ah, right, yeah, of course,” he said quickly.
And because I appreciated the boldness, and he was pretty cute, I added, “That’s for now. On the last day I work here, or the last one you do, we can swap numbers, and I’ll take you up on that offer. How’s that?”
His disappointment was still evident, but it eased. “Sure, if someone hasn’t managed to snatch you up in the meantime.”
“I doubt that,” I said with a laugh.
Sensing it was the best time to retreat, I walked away with a smile. Even if I wasn’t actively looking for someone to date, it was nice to know I was attractive and interesting enough to be asked out randomly. It didn’t exactly hide the fact that my excuse to him, while true initially, had sounded hypocritical to my ears. I had already crossed that particular line with Shane, and despite refusing to agree to his face, I would have been a liar if I had outright said no when he suggested I would be open for more.
I hastily shoved the thoughts out of my head before I reached the cottage door. The last thing I needed was for Shane to read the emotions on my face before I’d managed to open my mouth. As eerily well-behaved as he’d been for the past week, I didn’t want to be the one to prompt him to break that streak.
Hesitating outside the door, I forced myself to take a deep breath before reaching out and rapping my knuckles against the wood. The solidness of the door took me by surprise as if I had expected a little house to have little noises attached to it. Then again, considering what Shane probably got up to when he was away from his mother, thick walls and doors were probably a necessity. The whole place was probably insulated not only against the Northwestern winters but against noise leaking out as well.
I didn’t hear anything until the doorknob jiggled, stopped, and then turned again. My jaw tightened immediately, locking the hastily and perfectly reasonable explanation I had prepared in my throat. Shane stood in the doorway, light spilling from a nearby room to bathe him. His hair was in disarray, and there was a rumpled look about him as he squinted at me. He was wearing a thin pair of sleep pants, which hung dangerously low on his hips.
