Down and Dirty(35)

“Okay,” he said with a short nod.

The fact that he accepted her response without question made her feel like crying, and the fact that it made her feel like crying made her want to punch something. She had to get out of there fast, before she did something even stupider than she already had.

“So I guess I’ll see you later,” she said, clicking on her seat belt and eyeing his arm on the door pointedly.

“Sounds good. Are we going bungee jumping tomorrow or did you want me to come by to go over some more responses?”

“I don’t think I’m going to do the jump. It’s going to be really cold out anyway, and my knee is still sore, so I’ll do it another time.” The cold-weather excuse was bullshit. Actually, so was the issue of being paired with a stranger. She didn’t care a lick about that. She was just so preoccupied with thoughts of Shane and all the stupid girls e-mailing him, she knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy herself if she went. They weren’t even an item, and the soul-sucking—although unintentional—was already starting. Imagine if they were together for real? She turned the key in the ignition. “And I’ll let you know about stopping by.”

“Sure thing.” He nodded and gave her car door a pat, slammed it shut, then turned and jogged lightly up the walkway without a backward glance.

He seemed fine, which was good. She didn’t want to hurt him with her erratic behavior. She only wished she was handling it all as well as he was. But what the hell with this new Shane? All of a sudden the guy who’d followed her around for a year scaring off potential boyfriends, arguing with her over how many drinks was too many or why skinny-dipping at night was a bad idea, wanted to go bungee jumping with her? Talk about confusing. She felt like her head was going to explode, because nothing was the same as she remembered it.

Except the sexual chemistry. That was good then, and it was good now. Which made it even worse. Less than a week since they’d slept together, and so far, Operation Forget About Shane was going about as well as the maiden voyage of the Titanic. She could see the iceberg ahead but just couldn’t seem to steer clear of it. Maybe it was time to abandon ship. Just stop trying to fix him up and avoid him altogether. But the thought left her feeling just as miserable as the alternative.

She leaned her forehead on the cold, leather steering wheel and blinked back tears. “Shit.”

…

Shane crept back into the house, hoping to sneak past his mom, get his keys, and get the hell out of Dodge before she cornered him. It was a pipe dream, though, and the second he picked up his keys from the glass bowl in the foyer, she appeared like a meddlesome specter in the night.

“Heading out?”

“I was going to, yeah,” he said, still hanging on to the slim hope that she’d let him off easy.

She sat down on the long, floral couch and beckoned him over. “Sit with me for five minutes and tell me what’s going on with you and Mary Catherine and why it looks like it’s bothering you so much.”

Fuck if he knew. The sight of Cat sprawled on the dining room table ran through his mind, and he nearly groaned. This getting all worked up and going nowhere shit was for the birds, but he certainly wasn’t going to confess that to his mother. Telling her that he was crazy about Cat would cause even more problems, because then she would be relentless. He shot for vague. “I can’t answer that right now. I don’t know myself.”

“It’s something, then. That’s good. I was a little worried my instincts were getting rusty.”

“Nope, no rust there.” She wasn’t going to quit, so he bit the bullet and went to sit next to her.

“What do you intend to do about her?”

“Right now? Nothing. Wait for her to figure out what she wants.”

“If you wait on her and she’s confused, you could be waiting forever. And if you let her have you when she wants you but let her throw up a wall the rest of the time, then there’s no incentive for her to make up her mind.” She leaned forward and patted his hand gently. “My suggestion? Go on your dates using this computer service, and see what happens. Maybe that will make Mary Catherine realize she could lose out on a chance with a great guy and she’ll gain some clarity. Or maybe it won’t, but you’ll meet someone you like and that will be okay, too.”

He didn’t know about that last part, since the idea of coming out the other end of this with someone other than Cat had no appeal for him at all, but the rest fell nicely into line with his own thinking. Maybe he’d stay in tonight after all.

“Thanks for the talk, Ma.”