Page 26 of Harboring Shantae

"No, it's okay. I wasn't paying attention and I should've heard you moving behind me."

Panther looked between the two of them. His white shirt was covered and sticking to every inch of his torso. Shantae's pale blue tank top wasn't any better. In fact, the liquid had soaked itself through and he was getting a good view of her hard nipples. The current show left nothing to the imagination, and he knew from just one glance that they were the perfect size to fit in his palms.

Absolutely not.

He needed to shut those thoughts down. Nothing good would come from him thinking of her that way. Panther forced his eyes to move farther north, but it did no good. The image was seared into his brain. It would forever remain in his spank bank for all the times he was walking around with blue balls and his only relief was his own hands.

Panther could tell when Shantae realized how she must look. Her arm flew over up to cover her boobs, and she scrambled off the floor, nearly falling flat on her face in the process.

"Shantae, wait."

She didn't wait. She hightailed her ass out of the kitchen so fast that Panther was sure to find burn marks in her wake. He was tempted to go after her and explain, but he had no idea what he would say.

Sorry that he looked at her erect nipples. Or maybe he was sorry that just one glance, and he was instantly hard and imagining what they would look like in his palms. Yeah, neither of those sounded like a great way to start their new living arrangement.

Realizing it was better to just leave it alone for now, Panther slowly lifted himself off the floor. Trying his best to avoid any more cuts, he went in search of a rag and vacuum. He would need to scrub the entire floor if he wanted to make sure there were no more pieces of glass.

The good thing was it would keep his mind off the impending conversation he was about to have with the detective in charge of Shantae's missing person case.

If there was anything that could kill a boner quickly, it was just the thought of Shantae with that asshole her father wanted to marry her off to.

Shantae twisted a thin piece of string on her cutoff shorts. Panther watched her play with it for a solid ten minutes. He was tempted to cut the thing so that she would speak to him instead.

To say the morning was strained was an understatement. After their disastrous attempt at breakfast, Shantae had retreated to her room until Ray called.

“How long before the detective arrives?” she asked.

“Any minute now.”

Shantae pulled back into herself at his curt tone. He tried to keep the frustration out of his voice. The detective they were about to meet needed to believe they ran away because they were in love. A blind mouse would be able to read the tension in the room and know that wasn’t true.

“I didn’t mean for that to come out so harsh. I’m just worried our behavior together is going to betray us. What can I do to make you more comfortable?”

He thought this would be easier. There was never a shortage of topics for them to discuss before. Telling Shantae about his life used to be one of the easiest things for him to do. Now everything seemed tense and strange. He was second-guessing the words he wanted to say.

He didn't get a chance to find out what Shantae would've said before the doorbell was ringing. He was tempted to tell the detective to go away and come back after he and Shantae had the chance to talk but that wouldn't look good. So instead, he bit down the urge to scream and moved silently to open the door.

One look at the man on the other side of the door and Panther knew this wasn't going to go well.

"Mr. Jones."

Detective Bronson didn't wait to be invited in. He pushed forward like he owned the place and looked around. There was no mistaking the disgust, although it wasn't warranted. The large five-bedroom house was nothing to shake a stick at. It was an older farmhouse that was renovated when Wes bought it. The original plan was to use it for a safe house, but Bravo Team commandeered it, and until Wes kicked him out, he had every intention of staying put.

"I'm Detective Bronson. I'm here to speak with Ms. Shantae Adams, to make sure she is not being held against her will, and to take her back to Washington, D.C."

Oh, yeah. This wasn't going to go well at all.

The detective was about to learn just how stubborn Panther could be.

"Right this way." He swept his arm out toward the living room. "My wife and I were expecting you."

That stopped the detective in his tracks.

"Wife?"

"Yes, my wife. Shantae and I came to Texas to get married."

This time, when the detective started to move, his angry stomps could be heard throughout the house. Panther reveled in the fact that he could fluster the man so quickly.