Page 41 of Leah

A faint knock sounded out.

I opened my eyes in the darkness and sat up slowly in bed, straining to listen. It came again, and I followed the sound to the window. I rubbed my eyes, a small smile already playing at my lips as I noticed his face peering through the glass.

What the hell?

I climbed off the bed and walked to the window. It was already opened, but the air was so dry and hot, it had offered me little relief in the summer heat.

“What are you doing, Carter?” I whispered at him in disbelief.

“Knocking on your window,” he answered, before adding, “Like I used to.”

I sighed, pretending to be irritated when I wasn’t. “I didn’t realize we were going down memory lane at two in the morning.”

“It’s not like you were sleeping.”

“How long have you been at the window?”

“Enough to warrant you filing a restraining order against me.”

I burst out laughing. “Wow, there’s something insanely cool about a rock star knocking on my window like a creepy dude.”

“You could make any guy creepy, Leah.”

I rolled my eyes, grinning. "Thanks?"

He smiled back at me through the mesh. “Open up, and let me in.”

I stared helplessly at the screen in front of us. “How am I meant to remove this? It’s not like the trailer without the flywire.”

“You should be able to pull on the plastic tags at the bottom there.”

“How about I just open the door for you?”

“How about you fulfill my fantasy and pull this out?”

Cursing under my breath, I rubbed my eyes again and grabbed at the plastic tag on the bottom corner of the screen. I huffed as I tried to pull it back, but it didn’t budge. “It’s not working,” I muttered under my breath, tugging again. “It’s stuck.”

He watched me pull in vain, and then he exhaled dramatically, resting his forehead against the screen. “This was meant to be romantic and easy. I was meant to climb into your room and sweep you off your feet.”

I felt my chest expand from his words. I smiled like an idiot at him as I tried again, pulling harder than before. The screen suddenly popped out, causing me to fall back and land hard on my ass. A jolt of pain shot up my tailbone and I yelped, falling to my side.

“Shit,” he cursed, knocking the screen to the floor before he climbed inside. Immediately, he knelt down beside me and his arms went around me. “Are you alright?”

I was shaking in his arms, and not from pain, but from laughter. He looked down at me, his eyebrows coming together in confusion as he watched me lose my shit in a fit of giggles.

Maybe I was a little tipsy from all that vodka.

“That was so embarrassing,” I said, turning completely red. Thank God it was dark, or else he’d see how flushed I was.

He shook his head as his hand trailed down my side and settled at the top of my ass. For a second, it seemed so normal for him to rub me where he knew I was hurt, and my breath thinned as I watched his concern fade into a lazy smile.

“Nicely done,” he remarked. “Now we’ve probably woken up the entire house with all that noise.”

“You should have just come knocking on the door,” I told him.

“I know. I’m a fucking idiot, trying to be Casanova. Romance is a lot harder than I thought.”

I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing again. “It was a nice effort, especially for a guy that shouldn’t be here.”

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