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Hesitating the barest of moments, lest Shane notice my anxiety, I draw it out of the plastic portfolio and hand it to hih the other photos, stopping on one of Derek and Ginger ss It’s a picture that always comforts me
"Where was this taken?"
Bastard I can interpret nothing fro carefully back into the case, I shift , I convinced Derek to take hter to Work Day but I didn’t tell hih toof his baleful expression when I told him My brother-in-law really is way too easy to mess with "The day started slow Then ere called to a homicide in Chinatown Atrivial, then cli to juraph Not theout thetrying to talk hiraph Derek had commanded that I remain in the car, but I hadn’t been able to stop er side Since thein Chinese, I couldn’t understood a single word she said, yet she’d had such horrible desperation on her face, I’d so to listen to any officer intervention from below Then, just as her husband appeared ready to leap to his death, she’d reached behind her and picked up a sleeping baby, holding him out thefor the man to see She held the baby so securely, I’d never once considered shebut use him as motivation for her husband to remain alive
That’s the picture I’d taken A desperate woh-riseto convince her husband to come back inside To choose theone off before I’d registered a conscious thought Just muscle memory and a need to capture that raw eone back inside ie toward theIf he’d jumped, I never would have submitted the photo to the contest Even so, so that I would take a picture of so terrible like that, but to me, it’s just the opposite Love can save people’s lives To oddamn beautiful
"Did he jump?"
"No"
"I’m not sure what to say" Shane drops down on the bed beside me "Except they probably should have sent you to a better inn"
My laugh is so unexpected, that for a fleeting second I’irl I don’t have the tih It just flows out of me, and it feels unbelievable When Shane siured htful eyes are locked on mine, and I can’t shake the certainty he knows exactly who he’s looking at I’irl with a s when he looks at me Even more, I don’t feel like one I want to lean forward and kiss hi need inside me, but I would dissolve I’d dissolve under that look and his lips at the sa, as if he can read that thought entering and leaving et out of here?" I ask
"You read my mind" He brushes a thumb over my bottooing to take you somewhere"
Chapter Sixteen
When Shane pulls up outside the Clayht he picked up Faith and I at O’Kelly’s This one is candy-apple red, sleek, and low to the ground A sports car It’s also a convertible, but I suspect the retractable roof doesn’t get a lot of use in this rainy country When he steps out of the driver’s side and rounds the car to open my door, I feel a wicked little hum kick up in er-n that says, I’ood It does nothing to cal place insideona little bit like I’ to er seat, unable to keep h the windshield as he returns to the driver’s side A moment later, we’re both enclosed in the car, the purr of the engine vibrating beneath us It’s just after ten o’clock and the street is illuered into the night, people stroll down Baggot Street, looking positively elated to be free of their jackets and u this car?"
His hand slides over the steering wheel like a caress "In a garage down the road The attendant lets ain" He throws the clutch into first gear and eases away froirls by telling thehtly crossed legs "Worked on you"
I should be annoyed or eant statement Or both Instead, his confidence is ridiculously attractive toht alone, I’ve seen hirateful, and huer And shit, I like it way too earshift like he’d been born inside of it, is sexy as all get-out His thighhis body like it had been customized for his muscular fraht is headed and ad I have the willpower to stay away from Shane It’s a pointless waste of time, and I’ve never been a procrastinator I just have to hope like hell when it coot er inside me, I’m able to walk away and see this for what it is A diversion A passing attraction that ht very well eviscerate my last relationship from my head, but one that can’t become a relationship in itself As corny and old-fashioned as it sounds, we’re two ships passing in the night Which makes my desire to know more about him rather inconvenient What I should do is ask hi hi curiosity that is far fro its nosy little head
"I overheard what Faith told you tonight," Shane says, before I have a chance to ask
"I thought asmy attention out the
"I also heard what you said back to her" He waits until I’ at hiratitude softballs being lobbed inI ell-adjusted enough to simply say you’re welcome "So, did you have this car before you left Ireland to race?"