Cuffed: A Novella (4 page)

Steph had assured me that Shane was working. It was the only
reason I was willing to go over to their house tonight. I had no desire to see
Shane anytime in the near future after Thursday night’s debacle. He had called
several times Thursday night, three times on Friday but today he had been
surprisingly silent. Not a single call. His sudden silence made me slightly
nervous that he’d be waiting for me, but I was mostly convinced that he had
taken the hint and given up.

I pulled into the Williams’ driveway searching for signs of
Shane or his truck. I was being paranoid but the last time I thought he wasn’t
home I had literally run into him within seconds of walking through the door. I
peeked in the garage just to be safe before walking into the house.

“I’m here Steph,” I called out setting my things on the
kitchen counter.

“In the living room,” she responded. “I have wine.” There
was a god.  

“Where’s my glass?” I asked walking into the living room.

“Here you go,” she said holding out a glass to me. “Have a
seat.”

I curled up on the loveseat across from her taking a sip
from the glass she had just handed me. “This is good.” I said with a sigh. “How
was your week?”

“Not as interesting as yours.” She replied with a knowing
grin.

“Oh god, can we not discuss my week?” I pleaded knowing
that’s all my best friend wanted to do.

“My wine, my rules,” she said as I groaned.

“Fine, but I’m going to need more wine if that’s the case.”
I said downing my glass in a gulp and holding it out for a refill.

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“So you’ve been avoiding his calls?” Steph asked when I
finished giving her the details of my Thursday evening.

“Of course,” I exclaimed. “What could he possibly have to
say to me that would make any of this any better? I just want to forget the
last week ever happened.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Steph asked holding out the
bottle of wine to me. “It’s not like you can avoid my brother forever.”

“Wanna bet?” I asked as I topped off my glass, emptying the
bottle. “Besides I’m sure his blonde friend will keep him busy for awhile, and
when he gets tired of her he’ll have another and another. It will be easy to
avoid him.”

“Is that what you think?” Shane asked from behind me causing
me to jump and nearly spill my glass of wine.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded throwing back the wine
remaining in my glass. Liquid courage was definitely needed for this situation.

“I live here.”

It dawned on me then that Steph had set me up. “Really
Steph? You tricked me?”

“I didn’t plan this I swear,” she protested standing up.
“Shane texted and asked what I was up to and I told him you were here.”

“How could you?” I stood up too, feeling betrayed.

“Don’t blame Steph,” Shane said and I whirled around to face
him. The blonde was standing next to him; at least she was fully clothed this
time.

“What’s she doing here? Haven’t you had enough of rubbing it
in my face that you picked her over me? Fuck you Shane! Just leave me alone.”

I stomped out of the living room and into the kitchen,
grabbing my purse off the counter on my way out the door. I slammed the door on
my way out. I had an eerie sense of deja vu as I started walking back to my
house. This was starting to become a habit I needed to break, quickly. I
couldn’t believe Shane. Why did he feel the need to continually make my life
miserable? What had I ever done to him? I wasn’t the one who had initiated
things last Friday night. That had all been Shane. So why was he torturing me?

“Alexis Marie Thomas! Stop right there!” Shane called after
me.

I froze the moment I heard my name come from Shane’s lips.
He actually knew my full name? Wait, that didn’t matter, Shane was still an
asshole.
Keep walking, don’t engage him
. If you respond you’re letting
him win I told myself as I continued down the sidewalk.

“Don’t walk away from me,” Shane called after me. I kept
walking.

“Where are you going Shane?” I heard a feminine voice I
didn’t recognize yell in annoyance.

“I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago.”

“But, what about..”

Shane cut her off, “I don’t care Rachel. Tell him whatever
you want to, but I won’t be there.”

So the blonde had a name. I briefly wondered who ‘he’ was
but it wasn’t worth my time. I noticed curtains twitching in some of the houses
lining the street. Great, all their yelling was attracting the attention of the
neighbors. Just what I didn’t need. I walked a little faster. I really should
have driven home. I’d have been there by now, but with my luck Shane would have
pulled me over for driving impaired.

I saw my house as I rounded the corner, finally. It had been
silent for about a block so I gave into temptation and glanced quickly over my
shoulder. Shane was about 500 feet behind me, walking like he didn’t have a
care in the world. His calm demeanor just served to elevate my anger. How dare
he? He had no right to act like he didn’t have a care in the world when he kept
disrupting my life. I wasn’t some toy he could play with whenever he felt like
it.

I grabbed my keys from my purse as I approached my front door.
I needed to get inside before Shane could stop me or force his way in after me.
I heard the scrape of his shoes on the walkway behind me as I attempted to
slide the key into the lock. It wasn’t going in the lock; did I have the wrong
key? I glanced down and realized my hand was shaking. Damn it, I was not this
person.

“Let me help you Lex,” Shane said softly from behind me. I
could feel him standing slightly behind me. I knew that I couldn’t win in a
fight against him for the key; my shoulders slumped in defeat as I gave in. I
hadn’t realized how tense I was until that moment. I dropped my keys into his
outstretched hand without looking at him.

Shane reached around me and unlocked the door before handing
them back. I opened the door, dropped my things in their usual place on the
table by the door and headed straight to the living room. Once I was seated on
the sofa I looked up at Shane. He was standing just inside the living room
watching me.

“What do you want Shane,” I asked tiredly.

“Who do you think Rachel is?” He countered. I frowned at
him, did he really follow me here to playing childish games? I took a deep
breath to give myself a moment to compose myself.

“Did you really follow me home to discuss your latest
girlfriend?” Then it dawned on me, he was worried I would tell her about Friday
night. “I won’t say anything to her about what happened.”

Shane let out a sharp laugh that startled me. “She already
knows. I told her Saturday morning.” I sat there confused. It must have showed
on my face because he continued. “Rachel is my partner. She had left her
glasses in my car Friday and was picking them up.”

“You were laughing… “ I started, letting the rest of the
sentence go unfinished when I realized how petty and jealous I sounded.

“I had just told her about how I’d finally gotten you in my
bed when Steph interrupted and then when I got back you had fallen asleep.”
Shane said with a sheepish grin as he walked farther into the room, now
standing only a few feet away from me.

What did he mean by finally? I’d known Shane for almost
twenty years and not once had he shown an iota of interest in me. I would have
known, I had been infatuated with him growing up. He had always treated me like
he had treated Steph, casual indifference.

“Why are you messing with me Shane?” I asked perplexed by
his sudden interest.

“I’m not Lex,” Shane said moving closer still. “I’ve wanted
to date you for years, but you always treated me like Steph’s older brother. I
took a chance last Friday night and hoped it would pay off. I didn’t expect you
to freak out Saturday morning when you saw Rachel. I thought we’d have time to
talk when I got back from training. Then you wouldn’t return my calls.”

He knelt down in front of me. “I was hoping you wouldn’t say
no to Steph when she invited you to come over tonight. I texted her every
twenty minutes asking if you had gotten there yet. I needed to see you after
Thursday night.”

“Why?” He looked down for so long I thought he wasn’t going
to answer.

“I can’t stand the thought of you dating another man.
Spending time with him, cuddling with him, sharing your bed with him when those
are all the things I want to be doing with you. It’s all I can think about.”
Shane admitted looking up at me through his thick, dark lashes.

“You’re crazy.” It was the only thing I could think to say.

“About you,” he said with a self-deprecating chuckle.

“I’m not sure what to say right now.” I told Shane staring
over his shoulder at the pictures hanging on my wall. It was hard to think with
him this close to me.

“Just say you’ll give me a chance.” He said as he got up and
sat next to me on the sofa, invading my personal space as his thigh pressed
against mine. “That’s all I want Lex, a chance to be with you.” Shane’s arm
wrapped around my shoulders pulling me tight against him.

I briefly wondered if I was having another wine fueled dream
and would wake up alone in my bed. But, if that were the case there would be
far fewer clothes involved right now. So this was actually happening, holy
hell. What was I going to do? The teenage girl inside of me was jumping up and
down for joy, but what about the adult me? What did I want?

Who was I kidding? I was ready to start jumping up and down
too, Shane wanted to date me! I must have been taking too long to respond because
I felt Shane’s fingertips on my chin, gently turning my head to face him.

“So, what do you say Lex, will you give me a chance?” He was
giving me those damn bedroom eyes again.

What did I have to lose? It couldn’t be worse than the past
week. If I said yes I wouldn’t have to live with the regret of never having had
a chance with Shane. He was offering me one on a silver platter. Besides, those
green eyes of his were hard to resist.

“Yes,” I managed to say before he kissed me. I melted
against him as he threaded his fingers through my hair.

His lips felt heavenly against mine, and I didn’t resist
when he pulled me into his lap, my back resting against the arm of the sofa. I
lost track of time as we kissed. Shane pulled back and stared down at me, “I’m
so glad you said yes.”

I gave him a shy smile. This was new territory for me. I’d
never made out this passionately with anyone before, nor had I sat in a guy’s
lap before. I had always been too afraid I’d hurt him. Shane seemed content
with the way we were seated though, so I didn’t say anything.

Shane leaned in to kiss me again when I yawned. I was
suddenly exhausted. I hadn’t slept well all week and now that I had finally
relaxed my body, with the help of the wine, was reminding me it needed rest.

“I’m sorry,” I said slightly embarrassed I had yawned in his
face. “It’s not you.”

“I know, come on, let’s go to bed.”

Just because I had agreed to date him and had made out with
him on my sofa didn’t grant him automatic access to my bed. I gave him the same
look I gave my patients when they did something outrageous. It had the desired
effect because Shane held his hands up in surrender.

“I meant to sleep. Do you really think I’m going to let you
alone all night so you can change your mind?”

I yawned again, at least this time he wasn’t trying to kiss
me. Before I knew what was happening Shane had scooped me up and was standing.
I let out a panicked squeak. “What are you doing?”

“Carrying you to bed,” he said with a grin. “No complaints,
it’s more for my benefit than yours.”

I focused on not hyperventilating while we made the short
trip to my bedroom. As soon as we were inside the door I made him stop.

“We made it. You can put me down now.”

“Sure thing,” Shane said switching his hold on me so that I slid
down the front of his body before my feet touched the floor again. I was
immediately turned on and impressed that he was moving me about like I weighed
next to nothing. “So, do you want help changing or are we sleeping naked?”

My jaw dropped and I reached for the nearest thing available
to throw at him. A stuffed bear my grandparents had given me for my seventh
birthday, but before I could launch the bear at Shane he had slipped out of my
bedroom and closed the door with a soft click. He sure moved fast for such a
large man.

“Just let me know when you’re ready for me to come back in,”
he called through the door.

I walked to my closet and pondered what I should wear. I
didn’t have any fancy lingerie to impress him with, and I wasn’t going to sleep
in my underwear. Calm down, he’s already here you don’t have to impress him, I
rationalized to myself. I shed my clothes and pulled on a tank top and comfy
cotton shorts before padding over to my bed. I crawled in and made sure I had
the blankets covering myself before I called out to Shane.

“Ready when you are.” I settled back against the pillows and
waited for Shane to enter.

He was back in the room in seconds, closing the door behind
him. I wasn’t sure who he thought would walk in on us, I lived alone. I noticed
that he had removed his shoes at some point as he walked over to my bed. A man
hadn’t been in my bedroom in over two years and then only for a couple hours,
it was weird to think of Shane spending the night.

“Do you mind if I sleep in my boxers?” He asked, distracting
me from my thoughts.

“No,” I said, my mouth going dry. I was going to see Shane
in his boxers. Calm down! You’ve seen him in swim trunks before; it’s the same
thing.
No it’s not
, the teenage girl inside me yelled,
he’s never
been in your bedroom in his swim trunks before, has he?
She had a point.

I watched as Shane made quick work of shedding his t-shirt
and jeans. The man was beautifully made, all lean muscles and tan skin. It was
hard not to drool. The bed sank slightly when he got in next to me.

“Relax Lex, I won’t bite.” He paused, “At least not
tonight.” I shivered at the thought.

Shane pulled me over to him and then draped his arm over my
hip, his hand resting on my stomach. Cuddling with Shane wasn’t as weird as I
thought it would be. I found myself relaxing into him as he played with my
hair. I was almost asleep when I felt him kiss my neck and whisper, “Night
Lex.”

“Night Shane, love you,” I responded as I fell asleep.