Page 96 of Doing It for Love

“You scared the hell out of me.”

“It’s okay…I saved your laptop,” I say into his shoulder. He pulls back and kisses my cheeks, my chin, my forehead, my nose, my lips, a million times over.

“I saw the cops and you weren’t home.” He pries the laptop from my hands and sets it on the couch upside-down, not even giving it a single glance. Then he kisses me more…and more…and I don’t want to stop him, but I can tell we’re making our friends uncomfortable, so I end up squeezing his palms twice, and he squeezes back twice, then I do it again, and he does it again, and we secretly say I love you over and over until Officer Dawling interrupts.

“We’re finished up out here,” he says to Theresa. “Thank you for your statements, and I’ll give you a call if we find your things.”

“Thanks, Officer.”

He tips his hat, and he and his partner head to the elevator. Landon still hasn’t let go of my hand.

I’d feel like one-half of strawberries and whipped cream if I wasn’t so freaked out.

“I don’t think I can sleep here,” Theresa says, rubbing her arms with a cringe on her face.

“You can stay at our place,” I say, and Landon nods.

“Thanks.” Theresa picks up her pillow, strips off the case, and starts trucking down the hallway. Alec scratches the back of his head, and he and Landon share a look before we all follow Theresa.

“You guys take the bedroom,” Landon says when we step inside our apartment.

“I don’t mind the guest room,” Theresa says.

“I’m staying with you.” I cross my arms, because that is my final word. She can’t be alone tonight, because I’m sure her night terrors will be a hundred times worse than normal. “But Landon, I can stay in the guest room with her.”

He shakes his head a firm no. “I want to be close to the door.”

Yep, there will be no arguing. And really, it’s a stupid thing to fight about. So I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him goodnight, then drag Theresa to my bed. Alec and Landon’s voices carry into the room, so I shut the door for privacy. Alec will probably end up on our couch.

“Can I take a shower?” Theresa asks, already stripping from her oversized T-shirt. “I feel really gross.”

I toss a towel at her from our walk-in, and she covers herself and dashes across the hall to the bathroom. While the water runs, I fluff her pillow, make sure it’s extra comfortable, and Landon sneaks into the room and wraps his arms around my waist.

“I wanted to say good night,” he says into my ear. His voice is low and gruff, and I turn around in his hold and give him a hug.

“I’m okay.”

“I know. I’ll just miss sleeping with you.”

“I’ll tell Theresa to keep it in her pants.”

He laughs, and for the first time in weeks it’s a real one.

“Good night, Tumbles.”

He kisses my forehead and leaves, and all I can think about is how lucky we are to have all our things, all of Landon’s movie, and out of everything we could’ve lost today, he was only concerned about me.

Go figure. It’s the first night in weeks that I’m ready to lose our bet.

Chapter 31

Theresa hasn’t left my apartment since the robbery. She puts on a brave face around all of our friends, but I can tell she’s still shaken. Last night she slept with a bat between our bodies and kept waking me up with, “Did you hear that?”

With two days till the wedding, I’m getting nervous about if she’ll be okay in her apartment again, or if she’ll end up bunking with Jaycee or Penny. She hasn’t said anything, and I’m not sure if or when to bring it up. Don’t want to seem insensitive.

Alec twists the lock on the front door of Bed Bath & Beyond and carries the umbrella over our heads while the snow pelts downward. I squeeze in tight and try to keep up with his long legs.

Headlights flash in our direction, and both Alec and I squint through the flurry to Landon’s car as he pulls up and rolls the passenger window down.

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