Page 30 of Shameless With Him

“Of course, I remember that day. It scared the hell out of me that you could have died, even when we were younger.”

“I would have been fine.”

“Drowning isn’t fine, Zoey.”

“I would have found my ground. A way to keep my feet steady. I always have.”

Wasn’t that the truth? “Yep, you always have. I want to kiss you again, Zoey.”

“I think I want you to.”

As I lowered my head, my phone buzzed. She smiled against my lips. “You should take that.”

“I should really ignore it.”

“Your sister-in-law is heavily pregnant, and people rely on you. You should check it.”

She pulled away, and I sighed as I tugged my phone out of my pocket.

Joey:Hey, are you free tonight? I’m feeling lonely.

I groaned and stuffed my phone into my pocket, making sure the sound was off.

“Let me guess, a girl?” Zoey asked. Her lips quirking.

“No one I’m going to answer.”

“It’s just ironic.” She started laughing, and I frowned.

“How the hell is that ironic? I didn’t ask her to text me.”

“No, you never do.”

“Hey, that’s not very nice.”

“No, it’s not. But it’s life. I think I need some time alone to process my thoughts. You should go home.”

“I didn’t ask for Joey to text me.”

“I know you didn’t. And you didn’t text her back, and I was the one that forced you to check your phone. It’s just irony slapping me in the face because I didn’t have a plan.”

“You’re not making any sense, Zoey.”

“I don’t think I’m making much sense to myself, either.”

“I want to kiss you again.”

“I think I want that, too. But not tonight. We had wedding plans we needed to discuss, and we did. And we both had lots of work all day. I had an early morning, and I wasn’t really planning for tonight.”

“You keep mentioning that plan of yours.”

“And it doesn’t exist, so I shouldn’t be talking about it at all.” She let out a sigh and moved past me towards the door. I slid my fingers down her arm, and she shivered. “You should go, Caleb.”

“I’m not going to her, Zoey. I probably won’t even answer her.”

“You should answer her. Be nice, no matter what. Having an unanswered text hurts.”

“I’ve never not answered your texts,” I said, worried I had somehow hurt her.