Imagine With Me (With Me in Seattle #15) - Kristen Proby Page 0,37
take me long to get everything inside and put away, even getting the dirty laundry into the wash. I’ve just stowed my suitcase in the closet under the stairs when the doorbell rings.
Maybe Lexi is back from her run already. But why would she ring the bell?
I hurry to the door and open it to find not Lexi, but Taylor.
Fuck my life.
“Why are you here?”
The expression on Taylor’s pretty face falls into a pout. “Don’t be mean to me, Shawny, I just wanted to come and see you. Cheer you up a little.”
“I don’t need to be cheered up. I’m cheerful without you, thank you very much.”
I turn to walk away and shove the door closed, but she catches it and follows me into the house.
“What is with you?” she demands. “I’ve been throwing myself at you for years. I’m hot, I have a good job, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me, Shawn.”
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with you.”
“Then why don’t you respond to me? You could fuck me seven ways to Sunday any time you want, I’ve made that clear. And, nada. Nothing. Do you know how many men would love to get a piece of this?”
“Then let them have it,” I say, frowning at her. “Because I’m not interested. I tried to be nice about it for a long time because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but now I’m just fed up and embarrassed for you. I. Don’t. Want. You. I can’t put it any clearer than that. You’re just not for me. Go find one of those men who would kill to get his hands on you.”
Her lip quakes with anger. Her hands are in fists at her sides. She wants to hit me, to throw a fit, that much is clear.
But it won’t matter.
I don’t want Taylor.
“If you send me away now, I won’t give you any more chances.”
I laugh and rub my hands over my face in frustration. “For the love of God and all that’s holy, Taylor, go. Get out of my house and away from me. I don’t want any more chances.”
She stomps her foot like a four-year-old and then whips around to walk out the door. A minute later, the tires of her car squeal as she speeds down my driveway.
“Who was that?”
I turn at Lexi’s voice, surprised to see her standing next to me. She’s pulling earbuds out of her ears as she catches her breath. I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my life.
“Taylor.”
She blinks rapidly. “Taylor the bimbo?” she asks.
“The same one.” I cross my arms over my chest. “I think she’s mentally unstable. I had to get mean with her, and I didn’t enjoy that. But she hasn’t taken no for an answer for five years. It’s fucking annoying.”
“If the roles were reversed, she would have sued you for harassment years ago,” Lexi says. “This is the same thing. Maybe getting mean is the only way to get through to her.”
I nod but still feel like a jerk. “How was your run?”
“Exhilarating. I only went about four miles, but it felt amazing. I think I’ll start jogging in the mornings before we work.”
“Good idea.” I reach for her hand. “I put your dirty clothes in the laundry. I hope that’s okay.”
“Did you at least separate them?”
“I’m not an animal, Lex. Of course, I did.”
“Then it’s totally okay.”
“How did you enjoy the cabin?” Keegan asks Lexi a couple of nights later as he pours us each a glass of whiskey. We finished a particularly difficult part of the screenplay today, so we decided to come to the pub for a drink and some food to celebrate.
Lexi is particularly fond of the nachos.
“It’s absolutely wonderful, and not a cabin at all,” she says with a laugh. “When Shawn said he was taking me to the cabin, I pictured something much more rustic than what’s up there.”
“It’s a nice place, and that’s the truth of it.”
“Not that he knows, because he’s never been,” Maggie says as she brings us our food. She places a basket of fish and chips in front of me and the nachos in front of Lexi. “We can’t get him to leave this damn pub.”
“I leave it,” Keegan says with a frown.
“When was the last time you had a day off?” I ask him and grin when he flips me the bird.
A man walks into the bar and sits on the other side of Lexi, orders a Guinness, and then turns