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chair, watching her. Unlike hers, his plate was empty. Apparently while
she d been woolgathering, he d wolfed down his food.
She pushed what was left of her food around on her plate and
grasped the only opening she could think of. Are you still hungry? I
could whip you up another omelet.
No thanks, I m good.
Yes, yes he was. Very good.
When nothing more was said and silence reigned supreme yet again,
she gave up and carried her plate over to the sink. She shoveled over half
of her dinner down the garbage disposal and turned on the water to let it
heat before starting the dishes.
Elbow-deep in suds, she jumped when Shame s voice rang out
behind her.
My daughter.
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Shameful
She glanced back at him over her shoulder. Huh?
You asked who Sophie was. She was my daughter.
She couldn t help but ask, Was?
Shame nodded, the fierce expression on his face clearly saying he
didn t want to elaborate.
Though her curiosity was killing her, she turned back to the dishes.
I understand if you don t want to talk about it, but& She couldn t help
but leave that but dangling on the end. If there was any chance he
wanted to tell her more, she wanted to give him the opening. If not, she
would let it go and try not to pester him into telling her something he
obviously wasn t comfortable discussing.
After all, she could understand secrets. She had a few of her own she
wasn t willing to share.
I d really rather not get into it right now.
Gail shrugged like it didn t matter and decided to cut him a break.
She pulled the stopper from the drain and turned around to face him.
So, if you don t want to talk, what do you want to do?
Before he could answer, she untied her robe and let it fall to the floor.
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Amanda Young
Chapter Six
Morning light filtered in through the window, rudely shining down in
Gail s face. She awoke slowly and groggily flung her arm across the bed,
yearning to feel Shame s warm body beside her. Her arm slapped the cold
pillow instead. Shame was gone. Again.
It had been the same thing each morning. Over the last four days
he d been staying with her, she had yet to wake up with him next to her
in the morning. He always disappeared before she woke up. Or maybe it
was during the night. She wasn t really sure. All she knew was that she
fell asleep with him and woke up alone.
For such a small thing, awakening alone was beginning to get to her.
She longed to wake up in Shame s arms, snuggled up safe and content at
his side, just as she fell asleep every night. Shame had a way about him,
nothing concrete but more of a quiet presence, that made her feel
entirely too connected to him, too at peace in his company. Almost as if
they d been together for years.
The first morning she d woken up to a cold and empty bed her heart
seized in her chest, thinking he was gone for good. She d spent the rest of
the day moping around the house, feeling sorry for herself. Hating him
for leaving without saying goodbye. Hating herself for being so needy.
When he d shown up in time for dinner that evening, she d been
shocked. Unwanted tears had surged into her eyes at the sound of his
truck pulling into her drive. She d run into the bathroom and splashed
cold water on her face, hoping it would take away the puffiness and ugly
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Shameful
red blotches from crying. As she d looked at her reflection in the mirror,
she d given herself a nice, long lecture about the perils of letting herself
get attached to Shame.
Just because he d come back this time didn t mean he planned to
stay. He wouldn t and had already told her as much himself, though not
in those exact words. Shame was only staying long enough to take care
of whatever business had brought him into town in the first place and
then he would move on and leave her behind.
That thought brought on a fresh round of tears and she d had to re-
dunk her face in icy water.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to get a grip
on her wonky emotions. He was a temporary lover. A mere speed bump
on her way to improving her self-esteem and enabling herself with
enough courage to get out there and meet new people, meet Mr. Right.
Shamus Long was Mr. Right-now, nothing more.
Then what s with the tears? That one burning question repeated,
unanswered in her mind.
And so the next few days passed. Each day she came home and
started a dinner for two, hoping he would show up to help her eat it, a
part of her brain telling her that this would be the day that he didn t
come back.
Gail allowed herself to settle into a routine she had no business
getting used to and lectured herself about it constantly, to no avail.
Today was no different. She spent her day fruitlessly searching
through the want ads. Few companies in the area were hiring and those
that were only had positions way out of her league.
She wound up going to a temporary agency, the last refuge of the
jobless. There she spent three miserable hours filling out forms and
taking mundane computer tests, only to hear the usual We ll call you
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Amanda Young
when we have an opening line as she left. They may as well have said
Don t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out for all the hope she
felt toward landing a position there.
When she got home, she showered and shaved, and slathered
perfumed lotion from head to toe. Just because she was down in the
dumps about work, or lack thereof, didn t mean she wanted to be a
grump when Shame showed up. Their time together was limited enough
and she wanted to enjoy each moment they shared, for it to be special. In
truth, she just wanted him to look back years down the road and
remember her as the catch he d let get away.
Tonight she planned to cement the memory of her into his brain.
Which was why she spent so much time carefully choosing what she
would wear. She wished she could ve gone shopping and bought
something frivolous and naughty, perfect for the night of seduction she
had planned. But with no job and few prospects on the horizon, she
couldn t afford to blow the cash, so she scrounged through what she had
in her closet and made do.
The best she could come up with was a short black skirt, with a hem
that billowed out around her knees, and a long-sleeved pink blouse thats
plunging-V neckline showed off a bit of cleavage. What she wore
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