Page 55 of Lights Out

“Our angel baby did absolutely nothing wrong, and I resent the insinuation that he ever could,” I said, setting the small plate of bacon beside her and handing her the tea.

She shook her head at me, but I knew she was fighting a smile from how tightly her lips pressed together.

I let out a relieved breath, glad to return to safer, more antagonistic ground. Not that I didn’t want to fuck Aly – standing up, sitting down, sideways, backward, against a wall – but something was holding me back besides her need for sleep and recovery. It felt almost wrong to have sex with her before she knew the whole truth about me. Not just who I was but where I came from.

I hadn’t told any romantic partners after my high school girlfriend about my dad. Hell, all my hookups and situationships ended when it felt like we were getting too close to that information. That was because I’d gone into them thinking they were short-term, but that wasn’t the case with Aly. This wasn’t just a kinky hookup anymore. Sometime in the past week or so, I’d begun to develop feelings for her, and though it had been a while since I’d had a real relationship, I knew that starting one on of a foundation of lies was a great way to set yourself up for failure.

That didn’t mean I was ready to stop toying with her yet. Our game had just gotten started, and as much as I wanted to stay here and watch her fall asleep, I was excited to make the next move and see how she reacted.

“Hey,” I said, tilting her chin up to see her eyes.

Her expression softened, turning into something my traitorous mind tried to tell me was longing. “Yeah?”

“I’m gonna go so you can eat and then sleep in peace.”

Her face fell, and I probably shouldn’t have felt so triumphant at seeing her open disappointment, but I couldn’t help it. Aly didn’t want me to leave. Good. It might not have been a declaration of her undying love, but it felt like the first step toward getting there.

I leaned down and bumped my masked forehead against hers. “I meant what I said earlier. You were perfect. The hottest thing I’ve seen in my fucking life, and the next time I get the chance, I’m going to find some way to make you come even harder.”

Her eyes flashed wide. “Is that safe?”

I chuckled. “Only one way to find out. You in?”

She let out a shaky breath and grinned up at me. “Fuck it. Yeah, I’m in.”

“Good. I’ll see you later, baby.”

I turned to leave, but she surprised me by grabbing my hand. “Wait a second. I want to make sure it’s healing okay.”

“I was joking about the infection,” I said.

She shot me A Look. “I know that, but I would never forgive myself if I didn’t check and something went wrong.”

I flinched as she tugged up the bandage and then poked and prodded the area around my wound, testing the skin and then leaning in close to inspect the stitches. “It looks okay. Have you been following the instructions I gave you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

She released my hand and shook her head at me. “Then I guess you’re free to go.”

I snagged my backpack from her chair but paused before her on the way out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, unable to stop myself. It was impossible to have her so close and nottouch her. “Take care of our son while I’m gone,” I said, forcing myself away. “And don’t give him any more bacon. He’s had enough.”

Her laughter followed me out of the room. “You are so presumptuous!”

I paused and leaned back through the doorway to have an excuse to look at her one last time, perched on her bed in her prim pajamas, balancing the food I made her in her lap, dark hair tumbling around her, sunlight streaming through the cracks in her blinds.

“Presumptuous?” I said. “Nah. I noticed how you look at me and decided not to fight your inevitable claiming.”

She chucked a pillow at my head.

I laughed and ducked out of the way, pausing to say goodbye to Fred before turning off her front door camera and leaving.

I tugged my mask off as soon as I stepped outside, sucking in my first unincumbered breath in over an hour. God, it felt good to be out of that thing. I was going to scrub my face raw when I got home because, otherwise, I’d probably end up breaking out.

I pulled the hood of my jacket up to hide from Aly’s view if she decided to peek out her window, then turned my back to her house and strode down the front walk, pausing to wave at her next-door neighbor, Wendy, who was out getting her mail.

Ten minutes later, I was in my car, heading back into the city. My phone was propped on the dash, showing Aly sitting in the middle of her bed beside her half-eaten breakfast while she stared intently at her open laptop, tracking me. I grinned and palmed the quarter-sized device she’d hidden in my bag. It was good that I’d been watching her, or I would have stumbled into her trap.

See, this was why you had to keep your eye on women. They were always up to no good, invading your privacy, pushing rightpast the boundaries you set for them, with no care for things like societal norms or laws. What next? She broke into my house?

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