She's Cold✔️

Chapter Thirty Seven

She watched him with her mouth hanging open as he walked towards her. He gave her a small smile that lacked the warmth she was used to, then took the opposite seat Ian had vacated.

"Josie," Shane said in a low voice. Hearing her name from his lips broke something in her, and without meaning to, tears started rolling down her face. "Hey, hey. Please don't cry. I can leave if you want."

She wiped her face with the back of her hand, then shook her head. "don't go. Its just been so long and I thought-- I thought I was fine."

Shane moved and took the space beside her, pulling her face closer to his. He cradled her face in his warm hands and wiped the remaining tears with his thumbs. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine. At least I thought I was. I didn't realize I'd miss you this much. Seeing you again after a few weeks just hit me now."

Shane grinned at her. "You missed me?"

"I did. I really did," she smiled through the outpouring tears.

"Good! Because I missed you like crazy. I thought I'd die without you." His fingers lightly caressed her face before he pulled away slowly. "Did you really have to leave like that? I was scared shitless and I was so worried."

"Why were you scared?"

He gasped in mock horror as he stared at her. "Incase you've forgotten, you were kidnapped less than a month ago. What was I supposed to think when you disappeared the second time?"

"Elaine was arrested that same day. The authorities alerted me and I didn't want to press charges. After she got admitted to the hospital, the psychiatrists moved her to another ward."

"I didn't know those details. All I heard was she got arrested, so of course I got scared."

"Well I'm fine, so you can stop worrying," Josie said and then pulled away from his hold.

"So? Why did you leave like that?"

Jocelyn sighed before saying, "I wanted to sort everything out with Elaine first. I couldn't drag you into my mess again."

"You could have texted or called me. I felt like I meant nothing to you." His eyes were darker and rimmed with red, as if he'd not been sleeping well. Thinking about it now, he didn't look as perfect as she'd last seen him. His hair was a mess and he had about two days stubble on the lower half of his face. He also seemed to have lost weight.

Jocelyn felt guilty about her actions and couldn't possibly add that she'd deleted his number. "I'm sorry."

Shane let out a breath and relaxed. "Well, now that you've sorted everything that had to do with Elaine, you didn't still contact me. I had to guilt trip Ian to let me come with him."

"I didn't know what to say," she muttered.

"You could have led with a simple hi. I'm sure I could have kept the conversation going."

She stared at the table and her long forgotten drink as if she could find the right things to say inside it. "I was scared," she said finally.

"About what?"

"Us? Or the possibility of an us. I haven't ever cared for anyone else since after my parents." She didn't need to explain what she meant by saying after her parents. From the way his features tightened, she was was sure he understood. "When I thought about Elaine harming me and you coming to my rescue, and then potentially getting hurt, all I could do was run. The thought scared me so much."

"You leaving me hurt much more than anything you were scared of. I would have gladly traded places with you. Don't you realize I love you?" Shane grabbed her hand that was folded in her lap. He squeezed it as a way to make her feel better.

"You do?" Her eyes widened.

"I do. I don't know how long it's been since I felt that way. Maybe it was from the very beginning, but I realized it the moment you went missing during our engagement party."

"I don't think we should get married, Shane. You got the deal you wanted, there's no need to go through with it."

"Why? You don't feel the same way?"

She shook her head vehemently. "Its not that! I know next to nothing about relationships and I don't think marriage is the place to start. Lets get to know each other better and build from there."

"So you're calling off our engagement so we can date? Like a real relationship?"

Jocelyn nodded. "We can take things slow. I'm not sure I can do well enough, but I'm willing to try."

"You're already so good at this, baby." He beamed at her.

"Oh, stop it," she blushed.

"Can I at least kiss my girlfriend now?"

"If we're dating, you don't need permissions," Jocelyn said.

He placed a kiss on her cheek, making the blush spread all over her face and neck. "So I can do this," he placed a kiss on her other cheek. "and this? Without asking for permission?"

She turned to face him fully. "You can do more than that," she said before pulling him towards her for a kiss. Shane groaned low in his throat and pulled her close, carrying her off her chair and into his lap as he deepened the kiss.

Jocelyn's hands tangled in his hair as they poured out the emotions that they couldn't express with words. "I love you," Shane said when he finally pulled away from her. "I really do love you and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better."

"Hopefully, you don't change your mind after getting to know me."

"Even after everything, I'm sure I'd always love you," he muttered. "Now let's get out of here."

The End!

I finally made it to the end of this book!

This was my first wattpad book and I can't believe it took me more than seven years to actually complete it!

Thanks so much for reading till this point!

You're amazing!