Page 23 of Shane
“That’s what makes his TEAM the best to work for.” She tipped back a bit to look closer at him. And damn, her breath hitched like she was some star-struck Chippendale fan. Which she would never. But sitting this close to Shane was… was… yeah. Breathtaking. The alpha vibes rolling off of him matched Alex. His meltdown earlier magnified the sharp edges to his face, neck, and... those arms.
“L-looks like you had a good time schmoozing tonight,” she muttered to get her brain back on business.
“Hard not to. Alex has a solid team. Everyone here’s been easy to talk with.”
“Plus…” She hesitated. Sharing her PTSD stories was hard, which is why she hadn’t shared any. Didn’t need go to any shrinks, either. “I suspect everyone’s been telling you their own personal PTSD stories. You do realize we’ve all got it, one way or another. What happened to you this morning probably encouraged everyone else to open up. Look around. Dinner at the Stewarts is group therapy at its best. Some of these guys’ wives have lived through some pretty awful crap, too. See McKenna over there?”
“You mean Doc Fitz?”
“Yes. Her mother’s sisters, her aunts for Pete’s sake, tried to kill her. That’s when she met Beau.”
“Sounds like he’s been through some real shit, too.”
Everlee nodded. “He has. Scuttlebutt says Alex almost fired him. You heard Beau mention how Maverick fell through a concrete floor. Well, Beau’s the one who jumped down into that hole after him, did heart compressions until EMTs arrived, and pretty much saved his life. Us guys from the Seattle office heard it was touch-and-go for a while, and I think that happened during the same time Mother lost her daughter. So yeah, like Alex says, we’re a banged-up bunch of losers, but we’re all he’s got.”
“He really says that?”
“He’s a Marine. What’d you expect him to say? Something sweet?” Everlee chuckled. “That’d be the day.”
Shane scratched the back of his head. “Guess not. He’s one powerful son of a bitch, though. Almost didn’t believe it when he told Mark to hire me. Not the way he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.”
“He can be a hothead,” Everlee said thoughtfully. What she wouldn’t give to have been a fly on Mark’s office wall during that interview. She’d heard a door slam. But why had a simple job interview pissed Alex off? That was the real question. As much as she wanted to ask Shane what happened, she opted instead for, “Have you ever thought of taking something for anxiety?”
His brows slammed together, and she had to stop herself from licking the pad of her thumb and scrubbing those adorable lines out from between his brows. Hot damn. This guy had the thickest eyelashes, but those testy brows were masculine as hell. When he frowned, the winkles between them turned him into an indisputable alpha. The five o’clock scruff shadowing his jaw didn’t hurt his sex appeal none, but those deep, dark blues and the worry lines between his brows shot a healthy dose of lust to Everlee’s core, one that was downright intoxicating. In another place and time, she might just—
“I already take crap for migraines,” he declared with conviction, completely oblivious to what had to be her glassy-eyed stare. “And I’ve got my girls. They work just fine.”
He leaned forward and looked around Everlee, so she turned and looked, too. She’d forgotten both Dolly and Molly were lying beneath the expansive shade cast over most of the yard by the maple tree in the opposite corner. Their attention was solely on Shane. When he snapped his fingers, they bolted across the lawn to him, then sat like twin statues at his feet, their bodies quivering as they waited for his command.
Everlee put her fingertips to her lips and laughed. Man, if only Blade behaved as well as these two Springer Spaniels. If only he obeyed as quickly. But he tended to be more creampuff than obedient, and he was built like a snuggly, warm tank. These two happy girls made her big bad boy look like a roly-poly pansy, but she wouldn’t have him any other way.
Shane’s dark eyes scrolled from his dogs back to Everlee. “Something funny?”
She shook her head, loving the picture of this damaged warrior with his‘girls.’“They adore you, don’t they?”
“I guess. I’m the one who feeds them, aren’t I?”
Everlee curled her fingers into a fist and smacked his biceps, fully aware how solid this man was. How close he was. How good he smelled, outdoorsy with a hint of cigarette smoke. No scent of whiskey though, despite the shots he’d tossed back before dinner.
“It’s more than that, and you know it. They love you, Shane, and I’m a little jealous. Blade doesn’t look at me like that.”
“Yeah, well…” He lifted the arm closest to Everlee. For an instant, she thought he might hug her. But he just reached over his shoulder and scrubbed that big hand up his neck, as if his muscles were tense. Hers sure were.
Flash.The erotic image of her straddling Shane’s bare butt while she massaged that stiff neck—and anything else that might be stiff—ignited a blazing grease-fire in her sex-starved brain pan. Everlee’s mouth went dry at her nearly virginal body’s fiery reaction to the heft and bulk and nearness of this man. She knew, just knew, he’d never hit her. But mixed with that stab of panic was the very real notion that he could’ve hugged her. He still could.
For a second, her heart drummed a lickety-split two-beat dance of anticipation, and wet, slick heat melted her core. Not good. Well, good, yeah, a hug from this man would be, oh, so good, but no, no, no. Shane was off-limits.
Rule number two for any smart single woman:No office romances.They were hard on a woman’s ego. Just as hard on office morale when you still had to work with the jerk who dumped you or who you dumped. Just. No.
Everlee jerked her eyes off Shane and shook the wayward but totally erotic image of the man she barely knew out of her head. Had to be all the sugar she’d indulged in tonight. Not once had she pictured Alex sans clothes and she’d been crushing on him forever.
Mental note to self:Lay off the calories, girl. No one likes a fat ass, so no more chocolate mousse, and no more stupid crushes. You were an officer, act like one.
Thank heavens, Molly whined and jumped onto Shane’s lap. Then Dolly kind of crawled, mostly begged up his leg for a hug. “You ready to go home?”
When Everlee didn’t answer, he nudged her with his elbow. “Hey. I was talking to you.”
“Umm, sorry, what?”