Page 105 of The Woman By the Lake

That felt even better.

Then I sensed him get closer, my hair was swept away, the bristles of the whiskers on his chin grazing my skin, and his breath was on my neck.

I shivered.

“Not fair,” I whispered.

“Who said I play fair?” he whispered against my skin.

The wheel was turning.

I was either in for a fun ride that I’d eventually get thrown off.

Or the ride of my life.

With Riggs, the first was probably a better bet than the last.

I thought of the way he held me while we were in his dining room, looking at the lake.

The way he twirled my hair in his fingers last night.

The semi-argument about Gia we had on the drive home from Hutch’s.

I’d played it safe and fallen in love with a wonderful man who was dying.

I’d lived a good life from my birth of abundance and privilege with good people who utterly adored me and showed it, but there were only two of them, and they were both dead.

Now, I was on my own.

I didn’t have Dedulya to turn to for advice.

I didn’t have Mom to talk things through with me.

The rest of my life, it was all me.

Just me.

Fuck it.

I turned left.

Riggs fingers closed on my hips instantly. He crowded me and shuffled me the short way down the dark hall to his stairs.

I felt a thrill whoosh through my belly like I was on the downslope of a roller coaster.

It was spectacular.

Come what may, feeling that, I knew one thing.

I’d made the right choice.

I stumbled when we made it to his stairwell because I couldn’t see.

He knew his house, so he lifted me up, guided the way, and halfway up, he turned us, so he was up, I was down. His mouth landed on mine, his tongue spiked inside. I moaned at the feel of it, getting it after I’d longed for it what seemed like ages, experienced the heady taste of beer and Riggs, and it was good he dragged me the rest of the way up, because my legs had stopped functioning.

He let me go at the top, and I opened my eyes to being able to see due to the moonlight flooding his room, and then my arms were up, and I was blind again because my sweater was being pulled over my head.

My hair tumbled down while I watched Riggs’s sweater go off.

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