Unlike Juliet, and possibly Gus, Shawn did not subdivide the voices in his head. Up there, it was all Shawn, all the time.

He hadn't come back to kiss her. He just needed to see her. It had been a weird day, and he wanted to be sure she was all right. On the way in he was trying to think of a good one-liner to make her laugh, but she started right in on the serious talk.

Contrary to his dad's frequent assertions, Shawn did have a serious bone in his body. More than one, even. He could track with serious.

So when she started coming down on herself for one little mistake, he was ready with his serious response. Because everybody made mistakes. He should know. And friends—the really good kind of friend, like Gus was for Shawn, or like Shawn wanted to be for Juliet—were there for you when you screwed up.

Funny thing—when he put his hand on her shoulder, it was nothing at all like reassuring Gus.

Which was how he ended up nose-to-nose with his good friend Jules.

Which was way too close to be completely serious.

Knowing her as he did, he figured her mind was operating at the speed of light, rationalizing this latest slip and trying to explain it away with fatigue or stress or whatever. He'd had other opportunities to kiss women who were on the fence about whether or not they wanted to kiss him back. He'd taken every one.

Shawn's mind operated at light-speed, too, but he wasn't reviewing objections. He was reviewing Juliet.

The slightly high-strung young detective who always felt underestimated.

The ditzy sorority sister.

The feverish dancer.

The woman who scorned the idea of marriage but had her wedding planned to the most miniscule detail.

The crazy person who had unspeakable things in mind for her future husband and their future...after-birth...ritual thingy...

He didn't just want this kiss. He wanted it all.

Okay, so he took part of the kiss. While he was there. And because any woman who would talk that close for more than a second or two had really already decided what she wanted. Even if she couldn't admit it yet.

Other than that, for pretty much the first time in his life, Shawn postponed instant gratification because he had an eye on the future.

He grinned as he walked down the hall at the incongruous thought that popped into his head: So there, Dad.