Page 45 of My Turkish Fling
But if nothing was missing, and the phantom burglar had planned to pop in unnoticed, then why break in at all? It made no sense. The whole situation was making me itchy.
I was so deep in thought, mulling over every scenario, that I never even considered I was approaching Janie’s bedroom. The sliding door was now locked, and the curtains drawn. I rounded the corner.
I swear it never crossed my mind that she had a window on the other wall, right above her bed. It didn’t have a curtain, maybe because it was quite narrow and sat relatively high. Not too highfor me, though, especially as I stepped on a wooden bench lining her wraparound deck. I only did it to check a potential vantage point the intruder might have used to spy on her. To my shock, standing on the relatively low bench gave me a direct view into her bedroom, zeroing in on the bathroom door. I couldn’t see Janie, but I pointed my flashlight carefully down at my feet, to avoid spooking her if she happened to look outside. Looking down at my feet, my eyes caught something shiny. A gum wrapper. It had lodged between the wooden slats. I hadn’t noticed Janie chewing gum but maybe her sons did. Was it possible someone had been standing right here at night, peering into her house like I was doing right now?
I was about to step down from the bench, when the bathroom door opened, and Janie stepped out, wearing a towel. I turned off the flashlight, just to be sure, and should have looked away. I should have left. But when I saw her starting to unwrap the towel, my body seized. I couldn’t look away. I stared, unwilling to even blink, as the towel came undone, falling on her bed. Janie, in the nude. I kept staring as she picked up a pair of black panties and pulled them on. She was so hot I gave up breathing along with blinking, my throat turning to sandpaper as my mouth hung open in the cool night air. All the Pilates had paid off. Her body was a work of art, one I desperately wanted to touch.
Janie reached under her duvet, digging up something purple. I was still looking as she pulled on pajama bottoms, then a matching camisole. When her pink nipples finally disappeared behind fabric, I sucked in a sharp breath, lowered onto the ground, and shiftedaway from the window, leaning my shoulder against the wall. I tried to adjust the crotch of my pants. They felt too tight.
Focus, I ordered my brain. Check the rest of the perimeter. Make sure everything is in order. I shone the flashlight down to the bushes, but my mind replayed a highlights reel of Janie’s curves.
Taking small, uncomfortable steps, I returned inside, locking the door. I highly doubted the intruder would try again the same night, but I still brought out one of the dining chairs, propping it against the door handle. If anyone tried to break in, they’d make enough racket to wake us up. Gru followed me around the house, jumping on the chair.
“Good boy. You keep watch all night, let us know if anyone tries to get in.” I gave the dog a meaningful look and he yipped, settling on the seat.
I’d mostly seen him snoozing on his fluffy bed in the corner of the living room, or zooming through the house for no good reason, so it was good to see him looking alive. At least one of us was onto it and not too horny to think straight. Who would have thought it was the dog?
I grabbed the heavy flashlight and the book I’d pretended to read and retreated to my bedroom. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 22
Janie
It’s nothing, I told myself, for the thousandth time. But I knew I’d seen something behind the window. A flash of light. I stepped closer to look, my heart beating like a drum. I could only make out the faint outline of the bench by the deck. Everything I knew to be out there, the lawn and the bush behind it, disappeared in the blanketing night. I could make out the faint outline of the ferns against the sky, so subtle it only appeared after my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I held still, listening for any sounds, my limbs frozen with fear.
I couldn’t go to sleep like this. I couldn’t imagine ever sleeping again in this house. Not with both eyes closed. Not alone.
I was weak and pathetic, but I had no choice. Tears burning behind my eyes, I gathered my pillow and my phone and marchedthrough the house.
Whatever the emotionally damaged Turk thought of me, tonight, he was my only option. He’d have to deal with me.
I knocked on his door. “Emir?”
“Come in.” His voice sounded a little strained, even through the door.
I found him in bed, under the covers, leaning on the headboard. Did he sleep in his dress shirt? I shook my head at the odd look, but fear had me in its grip, overriding other concerns.
I dropped my phone on the nightstand, threw my pillow on the bed and climbed in, burrowing under his blanket. “I’m sorry. I can’t sleep in there. I feel like someone’s lurking outside and I don’t even have a curtain for one of the windows. It’s creeping me out.”
A shudder ran through me, and I dug in deeper under the blanket, and closer to him. As I did so, my foot brushed against something. His leg. His bare leg.
“Are you not wearing pants?” I whispered, looking up. “Why do you have a dress shirt on?”
Emir shifted away from my toes, looking embarrassed. “I was in the middle of getting changed when I heard your knocking, so I jumped under the covers.”
I sat up, for the first time noticing his dress pants strewn across the bedroom chair. “You could have just asked me to wait.”
He frowned in his usual way, pained and earnest. “But you could have been in danger.”
“I promise, if I’m being chased by zombies, I won’t knock. I will barge in.”
“Okay, good.” His shoulders dropped as he held my gaze, and I watched the miraculous transformation. The frown smoothed and his mouth tugged. “You could also give me a heads up by screaming ‘zombies’ so I can get my flamethrower.”
My body flooded with endorphins, and I smiled back like an absolute fool, reveling in the miracle. Emir was smiling. He was smiling to make me feel better. For a moment, I held my breath, scared a sudden move might scare it away. But soon, I couldn’t resist. “Emir. You’re smiling.”
“I am.”
We’d been staring at each other for a while, and I could tell he was struggling to keep those lips curved. It was waning. I felt like I was witnessing the final moments of sunset as the last whispers of smile disappeared, leaving me with a warm glow.
