River's Return (River's End Series, #3) (3 page)

Allison’s gaze shot to Shane as he stood there, shaking his head, his grin growing wider. “I would have noticed your giant motorcycle out in front of my house,” Allison replied icily.

“It’s off to the side, behind Celia’s hedge. She told him we’ve been putting it there just to save your reputation. Small town and small minds, you know.”

“You mean there are people who think I’m having sex…
with you
?” The horror in Allison’s voice was loud and clear as she nearly shrieked with alarm.
Gross. Ick.
Like she’d ever consent to having sex with this walking hormone and no doubt, sexually diseased asshole. Her initial take on Shane Rydell was totally spot on, now wasn’t it?

He held his hands up. “I didn’t do it. I swear to God, I had no idea she said that to anyone, or ever used you as a cover. Actually, I don’t even know why the hell she didn’t just tell me to hide my bike. I kind of thought she wanted to get caught. She has nothing but complaints about being married to Jett. From how he leaves his socks on the floor to his dick being too small to even—”

She held her hands over her ears. “Don’t finish your sentence. Ever. Please.”

He grinned and repeated, “So, teacher, what do you say? You going to break up a marriage tonight, or let me come inside your house?”

She clutched her wine glass before tipping the contents into her mouth and downing the whole thing. “I
cannot
believe Celia would do that to me. Or how she could even think that risking her marriage to Jett for stolen nights with you could possibly be worth it.”

He shrugged and stepped closer to her. She stepped back, not so excited about him coming near her. Especially now. She nearly gulped out loud when he leaned down towards her ear and said softly, “Oh, it’s worth it. Trust me. I’m very, very much worth it.” Lifting his face, he grinned, and winked at her as he passed by and entered her house. She was left staring after him, her mouth agape.

Calling him an asshole didn’t even begin to describe how repugnant and awful Shane Rydell truly was. And damn her heart for nearly leaping out of her chest in response to his words. Her insides seemed to grow warm at his suggestive tone.

But then she spotted Jett’s car and it was pulling into Celia’s driveway. She sighed and followed Shane inside; realizing no, she couldn’t make Jett realize what was so clearly going on right in front of his face. That left Shane with her inside
her
house. Her stomach clenched as she grabbed the door handle.

ALLISON TRIED TO HOLD in the monstrous sigh that nearly escaped her lips as she trailed Shane through her sliding door, but at a much slower pace. He was huge. He was like an enormous giraffe, no, more like a great ape, in the center of her living room. He might have been six-foot-five or taller. She had to strain her neck back to see the top of his head with her gaze. His long hair was held back in elastic and several more were added to make it like a long, swinging tail that reached midway down his back. Some of the black hairs sprang up off his forehead, disturbed by something, most likely Celia’s hands. She turned away from him as a weird blush raised her body temperature substantially when she imagined what her petite, rather mousey neighbor had been doing with this man. He wore a red t-shirt with a black, leather vest over it, and dark jeans. His boots were like huge gunboats on his size thirteen or fourteen feet.

She peeked at him from the corners of her eyes. He was standing on the line between her small kitchen and breakfast nook and her living room. It was dainty, fragile furniture in mostly all white. Her kitchen was also white, but for the splashes of calming blues. He looked just
wrong
standing there.  There was nothing harsh about her decorating style; and that’s all Shane Rydell was. A big, dark, wild, unconstrained-looking man who was harsh and rough and really didn’t belong in her house.

She set her wine glass on the counter. At a loss of what to do with him there, she grabbed the bottle from the fridge and asked politely, “Can I get you anything?”

He spun towards her voice and his green eyes were simply electric. They were big and had long, dark lashes that looked almost feminine if the analogy of anything feminine about Shane Rydell wasn’t so ridiculous. He made everything soft and pretty want to curl up into a small ball before it withered and died. “You got any beer?”

“No. I just have this wine. Or water. Or milk.”

His lips twisted up into a smile that seemed like he had some amusing secret he was keeping to himself. “Pop? You don’t even have a can of soda?”

She arched an eyebrow, trying to show her disdain towards him. “No. I don’t. I didn’t expect to accommodate your tastes last time I shopped.”

His grin seemed to widen even more at her prissy tone.
Dimples.
Big dents of dimples flashed on his cheeks as he crossed his arms over his chest. His biceps bunched and strained, his short-sleeved shirt revealing his tan, bulked-up arms bare from his shoulders down. He had tattoos scattered all over them, but didn’t, to her surprise, have full sleeves. She wondered why some spots were tatted up, but others were just bare, tanned skin. “Water. In case you ever think of it, I like beer the best.”

She gritted her teeth and grabbed a glass before filling it with ice and water. She could feel his gaze on her as she prepared it before handing it to him. “Not bottled?” he asked, his eyebrows sprouting up towards his hairline.

“I don’t believe in them. I always avoid them if I can help it. Useless and pointless waste of plastic and total land fillers. A glass gets the job done fine.”

His hand made the eight-ounce glass look like a little thimble. He raised it as if in a toast to her and took a sip. “Real global thinker, huh?”

More than him, no doubt
, but she kept that retort to herself. He turned and started wandering through her living room. The front door opened right into it. It was small and cozy with patterned couches and two chairs that complemented them nicely. A table sat before them and a small, tasteful TV graced the top of an antique dresser she had restored. She cringed as his boots left footprints across the pristine, plush white carpet. She was hoping they were clean.

He spun around. “Real nice place you got here, teacher,” he said in a kind of lazy tone. He grinned with a small lift at the corners of his mouth.

Was he mocking her? She really had no idea. “Uh, thanks?” She stepped into the living room from the small eating nook. “It can’t be your style.”

“Well…nooo. Last I checked, I wouldn’t have bought a floral pillow to decorate my couch, but for you? It’s nice and pretty, just like you. You put a lot of time and energy into it. You seem like you got all your shit together. That’s real admirable.”

Again, was he mocking her? Or flirting with her? Or was it simply an observation? She didn’t know and her forehead scrunched as she tried to make sense of the big, smiling, yet kind of brutish man standing in middle of her white, blue and yes, floral and candle themed living room. He looked so wrong there. Like taking a small kitten and setting it in someone’s S&M room. Glancing at Shane, she could almost see him as one of those doms in a room like that. All leather and biker and…

She turned to stop her strange, meandering thoughts about Shane. A weird tingle went down her arms. She definitely noticed Shane, and was almost hyperaware of his every breath, it seemed. She could sense when his eyes moved about the room, or settled on her, or when he simply dropped his arms and let them hang at his side. She felt a hyperawareness with him; or was it because some kind of opposites were attracting? Yet she could never classify it as flirtatious attraction. No. No way. It went way beyond any description of what she thought of Shane.

Still, he was so much to be around. He overwhelmed the room, her house, her classroom, and her. She found his mere presence simply overbearing. Masculine, intimidating, and just so stinking big, there was no ignoring him.

“Yes, I am pretty together.”

“Adult-like, huh? Mature? Responsible? Pay all your bills on time and always in full?”

She scowled at him. He made it sound like bad a thing. “Yes. I would think as someone who teaches your valley’s youth, you’d consider those admirable traits.”

“Oh, they are,” he said, his grin still lurking on his lips.
How infuriating! Was he mocking her?
She couldn’t really respond to it or his comment.

“So what exactly is this?” Allison finally asked. Shane just turned and started inspecting her house some more. Not what she expected from the flirty biker. He examined her house with such care, like another woman might have. Not like a man hiding out from his lover’s husband.

“This?” Shane’s eyebrows popped up again.

“Well, you know, Jett is coming? Can’t you just leave now? Go out my front door? There isn’t any reason for you to hang out here.”

He shrugged and walked to her front window. Setting aside the lacy, privacy drape, he leaned over to peek out. “Jett just pulled in. Damn. No wonder Celia was freaking out.” He kept watching them, and saw Celia open the front door before hugging Jett in wife-like warmth. Did it bother Shane? Did his heart twist in jealousy? Anger? Possessiveness? Regret? Hurt? Anything? Did he feel anything about doing that to another man?

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Allison finally asked when she could no longer restrain herself.

Shane dropped the lace and straightened up. “Does
what
bother me?”

“Seeing them together? Cheating? Lying? Anything? Does anything bother you?”

“Lots of things bother me. But I don’t cheat. I don’t lie. And no, it doesn’t bother me who Celia is hugging.”

“Oh, really? How do you figure you don’t lie? Or cheat? Isn’t that the whole reason you’re in my house?”

Shane’s entire posture stiffened and his mouth turned into a deep frown. She stepped back in surprise, realizing only then she might have offended him. She didn’t think that was possible. “Well, now no. I never told anyone I was f—sleeping with you. I never cheated on anyone, ever. I don’t make those kinds of commitments. I tell a woman exactly what I’m about, and it’s never a long-term dating relationship. It’s just sex. Good, fun sex for an evening. Sometimes, it happens more than once, but I’m never exclusive with any of them. And I never lie about that. That was all Celia’s decision to lie to her husband.
Her
relationship. She’s the liar and the cheater, not me. If I ever chose to make that commitment, that would be it: to only one person. However, since I don’t want to make that commitment, it would never happen. It’s not on me if Celia chooses to be the kind of person that makes those commitments and doesn’t keep them.”

“Do you have some kind of twisted moral code about cheating?” Allison asked. Her facial expression could not mask her total shock at Shane’s take on what he was doing.

“Yeah, I don’t do it.”

“But, isn’t that just a technicality? You knowingly engage in—in relations with women who you know for a fact are married. You are the other ‘man.’ I don’t see how you include that as part of your ‘code.’”

“Those are their actions, and their decisions. Not mine. I can’t control what they do, much less presume to dictate what their morals or behaviors should be. I control mine, and I make it quite clear what mine are. No one crosses my boundaries. I decide what is right and wrong for me. And I never lie or cheat. If Jett asked me if I ever had sex with his wife, I’d tell him yes. If he asked if I was sleeping with you, I’d say no.”

“But you wouldn’t volunteer any of that information. You must run into Jett all the time; it’s a small, nosy town. You don’t willingly discuss your relationship with his wife to him, now do you? So you get off with semantics. You choose how you present yourself. You’re not really as honest and pure as you portray. You can’t pretend your actions don’t have direct consequences on other people. And sleeping with married women has total and long-lasting effects that can be devastating for the husbands.”

Shane’s mouth puckered up as if he were deep in thought. “Point taken. I guess, yeah, I guess you’re right. My theory has no room for worry or care about what the consequences of my actions are for other people.”

“Do you know Jett?”

His mouth was definitely scowling at her now. “Yeah. I know him.”

“He’s a perfectly nice, decent man. He doesn’t deserve to be played like such a fool. Or is there something about him I don’t know?”

To her surprise, Shane shifted his weight from one foot to the next. “No. Not that I know of. I never ask about their marriage.”

“Obviously,” she mumbled as she bypassed him and headed towards the front door. “Look, if Jett ever asks me, I won’t lie to him about anything. Not for you, or for Celia. I won’t lie by omission either.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” She whirled around and glared at him. “Why shouldn’t I put the poor man out of his misery for not understanding what his marriage really is?”

Shane started to smile as he stepped after her. “You sure get riled up. Much more than I first might have guessed, teacher. You usually appear so calm and cool and sophisticated. And then… this. You’re kind of…”

“Moralistic, decent, upstanding… and not an asshole?” she interrupted, smiling sweetly. Shane let out a bark of laughter. She couldn’t quite get him pissed off.

“Yeah, those things, definitely. Not an asshole? Is that directed at me?”

“Yes,” she answered honestly.

“I’m not an asshole,” he muttered as he came closer. She grabbed the front door handle and clicked the door open as his intimidating bulk started to close in on her.

“Matter of opinion,” she smiled sweetly, holding the door open.

He stepped out. “Is this your request that I leave?”

“You think?” she rolled her eyes.

He smirked. “I’ll change your opinion of me. You’ll see.” He leaned in and said it almost right into her ear, causing an embarrassing heat that rose up from her chest. “Until then, I’ll see you next time I come over.”

With a salute, he spun on his foot and took the steps off her front stoop.

“Wait? Next time?” He turned at her startled exclamation. “You’re coming back to repeat all this? Even after…” She let her sentence trail off when she noticed Jett coming out his front door and walking to his car. Shutting her mouth in frustration, she felt like she was part of some mean-hearted conspiracy. Jett lifted his head when he heard her voice and waved. There was a long hedge separating their properties that was as high as her chin. She waved back, feeling like she was stabbing Jett in the heart with her duplicity. Jett simply turned back to open his car door and pull a suitcase out of it. How could Shane stand to do that?

“See? Very nice man,” she hissed at Shane. He didn’t turn to look at Jett. As if that somehow kept him from having to face what he was doing.

“I never said he wasn’t.”

“You should care what you’re doing to him.” She was careful to keep her tone quiet and low.

“If he were a bad guy. If he lied and cheated, or… hell! What if he was a drunken asshole? Would it be okay then? Do you care because he’s so nice, or because what I’m doing is so wrong?”

She flinched. “Don’t put a spin on this. What you’re doing is so wrong. And you should care more,” she hissed. “Jett’s innocence and being undeserving just makes it all kind of worse.”

“Again, a matter of opinion, teacher.”

“How can you cross my lawn and go into his driveway with full knowledge you’ve just—” Allison lost the nerve to spew out what she really wanted to say. She longed to punctuate how despicable she truly felt his actions were.

Shane studied her before a small smile crossed his lips. “You’ve had someone cheat on you before, didn’t you?”