And that was encouraging.
“Ah, Pia. Are families always so complicated?” The dog moaned once more and Bobbi grinned, scratching her behind her ears. Shane hadn’t spoken of his family at all on the way home, other than to comment on the fact that his father had mellowed a bit and that Eden had certainly grown up. He thought her attitude needed to be adjusted, but he said the words with a smile, and she thought that maybe he saw something of himself in his little sister.
Moving slightly, Bobbi melted into the sofa even more, dragging Pia along with her. She’d spent every night here since their hot tub Sunday. Every. Single. Night.
It was as if the past three or four years had never happened. As if they’d skipped all the bad shit and landed right smack in the middle of something amazing and real.
She and Shane had made love more times than she could count. They’d watched movies together. They’d eaten in bed. They had showered together and talked until they were ready for the silence to wrap them whole. He told her about prison. About Wilson the elderly man he’d befriended and the one who’d taught him woodwork.
He told her that as much as he’d wanted to forget about Bobbi, she had always been inside his head.
Her heart swelled painfully. He hadn’t said those other words—those three little words that change everything—but she knew his feelings were there. They had to be. Because she was drowning in hers and she didn’t want to think about drowning alone.
Bobbi glanced at the rug in front of the fire place. She and Shane had fallen asleep there the night before—wrapped in each other’s arms after Shane had done, naughty, naughty things—and this morning she’d woken with him deep inside her.
He had held her from behind, tenderly stroking her back, and neck, his lips trailing kisses where his fingers had been as he slowly thrust in and out. Slow. Then fast. Teasing and dragging things out until she thought she was going to break apart. And when they came together she had felt tears in her eyes. Tears! Who the hell cries when they’re having sex? Better yet, who the hell cries when they’re having the best sex of their life?
“Oh, God,” she groaned.
Just thinking about their morning was nearly more than she could take. But it had been so intense and Shane had touched her in a place that only he could reach. He had touched not just her heart, but her soul. She had never felt more close to anyone, ever. Not even before when she and Shane had been together.
She shivered and drew a blanket across her lap. She was scared because she knew they were progressing to the point of no return and while Shane’s spirit had certainly lightened—as if the path he was on was straight and true—she had become quiet and tense because she knew the truth would either be the glue that would hold them together, or it would surely break them apart. It would break them apart forever.
“Forever,” she whispered, her fingers buried in Pia’s fur. The word on its own sounded nice, but there was also darkness to it. The other side of forever wasn’t exactly paradise.
She would never make it through a forever without Shane in it.
To not know his touch. Or hear his voice. To not see the dimple in the corner of his right cheek when he smiled at her, or the way he looked into her eyes just before he came as if he wanted her to see into the depths of his soul.
She’d never been this content before, yet her fingers stalled and Pia whimpered. She’d never felt this scared before.
“Shit,” she murmured, eyes open once again. “I’ve got to tell him everything tonight, don’t I?” Everything.
Pia looked up with her dark eyes, wagging tail, and lunged forward, her pink tongue happily licking at Bobbi’s fingers. It was as if the little dog was trying her damnedest to give Bobbi the encouragement that she needed.
“Okay, okay,” Bobbi murmured. “I know.”
She heard the door open downstairs and sat up, glancing across the room. Shane was out with his Friday night men’s hockey team. Normally they’d be playing but with the league tournament next weekend there was no hockey this week. Instead they’d called a meeting, a—what had Shane called it?—a pre-tournament meeting? Her grin widened. Yeah right, a pre-tournament meeting at The Grill. She knew what that meant. Hockey might be involved but it would be whatever game was on the flat screens.
It was just an excuse to get together with the guys, drink some beer and shoot the shit. He’d kissed her and left and the fact that she was comfortable here, on her own, in his place, said something. It said a hell of a lot.
I want this every night.
Steps on the stairs had her stretching her neck to see, the tension still there, but the anticipation so much stronger. He must have forgotten something?
“Bobbi?”
Like air whooshing out of a balloon, she collapsed back onto the sofa. It was Billie.
Her sister appeared in the kitchen and doffed her white puffy winter coat, shucking her boots as she did so before crossing the room to stand beside the sofa. Her long hair was loose and she was dressed casually. Black yoga pants and bright blue T-shirt with ‘Drink Milk’ across her chest.
“Hey,” Billie said breathlessly, flopping onto the rug and giggling when Pia jumped off Bobbi and into her lap.
Bobbi sat up and stretched. “What’s up? I thought you’d be a The Grill with the rest of the guys.”
Billie tucked her hair behind her ears and for a moment said nothing. “I was, but Shane said you were here so I came by.”
Something was up. “Okay,” Bobbi replied. “Is everything alright with you?”