Free Shane's Fall (The Escort Series Book 2) by Sloane Kennedy Page A

tell me you’re sorry one more time, I’m going to fucking lose it.”
    “You will never just be ‘any guy’ to me. I want you – the you that no one else gets to see. The you that’s kind and loyal and strong-” She couldn’t finish her thought because his mouth was on hers again. This kiss was softer, searching. And when his arms closed around her this time, the only fear she felt was knowing that she wouldn’t be able to keep her promise to not to fall in love with him because she was already more than halfway there.

Chapter 7
     
    Shane had kissed her to prevent her from saying anything else to describe him because all the words she used were built on a lie. Like everyone else in his life, she’d believed in the façade he had created. She couldn’t know that for every time she thought he was strong, he’d been weak a dozen times more. Yes, he was loyal to his friends, but his dead brother was proof that he was capable of failing even those he was closest to.
    He didn’t want her to know any of that because then she wouldn’t look at him the way she did – she wouldn’t soften and melt under him every time he kissed her; she wouldn’t get that bright color in her cheeks whenever he looked at her. Her eyes wouldn’t flare up with desire around him - they’d burn him with condemnation.
    He took another sip of her lips and then drew back and noticed his arms were around her once again. Damn, how did she manage to sap whatever control he had? He was glad she hadn’t freaked out at his hold, but he was going to have to come up with a game plan for how to keep his desire under wraps if and when they ever got passed the kissing stage.
    “Are you hungry? I was thinking we could order some Chinese and watch a movie.” She was flushed from his kiss and a little dazed, but she nodded so he took her hand and led her to the couch. He retrieved their drinks from the kitchen and then dropped down next to her. He made sure their thighs were lined up and she was pressed against him. She shifted a little bit so she could draw her legs up under her, but didn’t try to move away from him. He pulled up the menu for the Chinese place on his phone so she could pick what she wanted and then got a movie started.
     
    ***
    “Tell me about your brother.”
    Shane heard and felt her voice at the same time. At some point after they’d eaten and well into the movie, she had fallen asleep and had ended up curled against him, her head on his shoulder. Her lips were just inches from his neck and he felt her soft breath caress him. Her hand had come to rest on his chest. The movie had ended a good twenty minutes earlier, but he’d been reluctant to wake her so he had just sat there and enjoyed how her warm body fit perfectly against his. He told himself that the position they were in was too comfortable and would send out all the wrong signals, but he couldn’t force himself to change it, so at some point he had let his arm curl around her, the tips of his fingers playing with her sleek hair.
    “What do you want to know?” he responded.
    “Were you guys close as kids?”
    “Very. Gabe too – he lived down the street from us and he and Michael were in the same class. They let me hang out with them even though they were three years older.”
    “What kinds of things did you guys do?”
    Shane felt her fingers start to drum against his chest softly and he was suddenly glad he was wearing jeans because his dick started to harden.
    “Typical boy stuff – sports, video games; our dad took us out on his boat fishing. Our big thing was basketball though. We met every Saturday morning like clockwork to play – even after Gabe moved to a different neighborhood, he figured out how to use the bus to get back to our house to play. We kept doing it up until Michael died. Logan joined in too after he met Michael and Gabe in school.” Her fingers stopped their movement for a second at her brother’s name, but then she seemed to relax