Wrecked: A Stepbrother Romance Novel (17 page)

“Well... I live here now,” I said with a forced laugh. “It’s a huge step up from the shitty apartment I used to have.”

Shaw narrowed his eyes, but the small smile didn’t disappear. “Is this not Mr. Jensen’s apartment?”

Busted.

“It is. We... We’re together now. We’re actually engaged.”

I waited for the shock or disgust or anything to register on his face— but nothing happened. Either he was a master at controlling his facial expressions or he had seen this coming just like my mom had. Or both.

Probably both.

As a cause of both my own jittery nerves and the blank expression on his face, I began to ramble.

“I’m so sorry to call you here and waste your time like this. It’s just that— you changed my life. Seriously. So when Brandon said you were going to be in town and I never got the chance to really talk to you after our last conversation, I wanted to thank you in person and—”

Shaw held up a hand to stop me, the corners of his lips tugging up in amusement. “Slow down, Vanessa. It’s not a waste of my time. I would have told you I couldn’t make it over the phone had I been busy.”

My shoulders sagged with relief. “Thanks for saying that. There was another reason I asked you to come over. Just—give me one second,” I said, holding up a finger before I rushed over to where I had dropped my messenger bag and rummaged through it for the envelope.

After I handed it over to him, I said, “I wanted you to be the first person I officially invited to our wedding.”

That got a reaction out of the typically stoic man. A look of surprise paired with a proud smile as he slipped the invitation out of the envelope and scanned over it with his eyes.

“I’ll make sure to keep my schedule clear. I look forward to attending and you have my sincerest congratulations.”

Then, in the most shocking move he’d ever made, Dr. Shaw stood up and gave me a hug. It was incredibly awkward—one could barely call the brief pats on my back a hug, really—but I recognized it for the gesture it was meant to be.

We were just wrapping up our slightly uncomfortable hug when Brandon entered the room, freezing in his tracks at the sight. When Shaw and I separated, he cautiously approached.

“This is a surprise.”

“It was a surprise for me as well when your fiancée rang me up and invited me to drop by for a visit while I was in town. But it’s always good to see you both.”

Brandon gave me a confused smile as he strode forward to shake Shaw’s hand. I simply shrugged at him—knowing he wouldn’t really understand why I wanted Shaw to be the first person I invited to the wedding considering I never told him about the advice Shaw had given me.

But there was a strong possibility that if it hadn’t been for Shaw, we might not have even gotten together. It was his talk that day that had spurred me into action and I couldn’t say for certain that I would have made it to that point on my own.

Figuring I owed Brandon an explanation of all that, I mouthed the word
‘later’
at him and watched closely until he nodded his understanding.

The discussion drifted between multiple topics; our wedding plans, the move back to the city, how Brandon had been healing, the bakery, and what Shaw had been up to since we last saw him. The three of us were still chatting when the sun started to set and Shaw regrettably informed us that he had a dinner to attend.

I could feel Brandon staring at me with confusion when I approached Shaw for another hug and whispered
‘thank you’
into his ear one last time. This time, the hug was more warm—almost paternal—and I knew that the moment he left, Brandon was going to badger me with questions.

After the elevator doors slid shut, I turned to Brandon and watched his mouth open. My hand moved like lightening and I covered his lips, ignoring the irritation that swept across his face.

“What’s Shaw’s first name?”

The irritation disappeared and I felt his lips twitching beneath my fingertips. I pulled my hand away just enough to hear his response, but it was still too muffled for me to hear clearly.

“What?” I asked after I took my hand fully away.

Brandon smirked, clearly amused.

“Shawn. S-H-A-W-N,” he said, spelling it out for me.

The look on my face must have been hilarious if Brandon’s hysterical laughter was anything to go by. I mentally pictured the spelling of it, no longer needing to wonder why he never introduced himself with his full name.

“Shawn Shaw. Are you fucking serious?”

Brandon was doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed. He tried to control himself and nodded, just barely managing to croak out, “Completely.”

Standing there in the foyer of our apartment, the two of us laughed until tears were leaking out of the corners of our eyes.

When we finally calmed down enough to breathe, Brandon put his arm around my back and led me back into our apartment, subtly fishing for the real reason why I invited Shawn over to see us.

Even though I planned on telling him anyways, I still made him work for it. Right there on the couch Shaw had just been sitting on.

Life wasn’t good.

It was
perfect
.