Page 82 of Love Me Carefully
Chapter Seventeen
As much of her clothes and personal items that Terrell could fit into the back of his car, he did.
She would not be returning to this apartment, and that was final.
Leah hadn’t even bothered to put up a fight. She didn’t want to be here—didn’t want to think of lying in that bed when he’d so obviously been in her bedroom.
They’d eaten at Ms. Rosie’s, as planned, after talking to the police again. Leah gave them a description of Leon, his address and his usual hangouts, even though she still hadn’t fully accepted it was him.
Now she was back at Terrell’s, sitting cross-legged on his new bed, waiting for him to finish with his phone call. She’d calmed down over the past few hours, even though she occasionally berated herself for not realizing sooner that Leon was unstable.
Her only defense—and it was a logical one—was that most criminally disturbed people look just like the ordinary ones, making it almost impossible to tell that there’s anything wrong until it was too late.
Never in a million years would she have believed that a successful entrepreneur, an attractive, educated man, could be an obsessive stalker. All the dates she’d been on with him, all the time they’d spent alone, and the thought had simply never crossed her mind.
The negligee obviously meant sex—which she and Leon had never had. But if he still wanted to have sex with her, would he want to harm her as well? She was getting a headache trying to figure it out.
“Hey, you’re too pretty for these worry lines.” Terrell smoothed her forehead.
“You remembered I was here.” She smiled and leaned into his open arms.
“Don’t be smart, I told you I had a few calls to make. But now I’m all yours.” He ran a hand up her bare leg.
Leah sighed, let her head rest on his shoulder. “What’s going to happen now?”
“I’m going to take care of you, just like I said I would. Don’t worry.”
“My hero.” She smiled up at him.
“Of course, all beautiful ladies have to have a hero.” His hand on her leg inched its way up to her thigh.
“Mmmm,” she murmured when his fingers slipped beneath the rim of her panties. “An adventurous hero.”
Terrell shrugged, continued on his voyage. “If you say so,” he whispered just before his fingers found her warm, pliant flesh.
“Oooohhhh, I definitely say so.”
* * *
Making love with Terrell had been the sedative she needed. Their hot shower and subsequent round two, the ultimate nightcap. Then they’d fallen asleep under the fluffy new comforter she’d helped him pick out. Now in the dark room and huge bed she reached for him, found his warm body and cuddled closer.
Then she heard it.
A whisper of movement. She froze.
Terrell was a light sleeper and, with a half-naked woman beside him, practically an insomniac. He’d heard the same thing she had, and moved beneath the covers to pull her closer.
“Shhh. Don’t move,” he whispered in her ear.
Leah nodded to let him know she understood.
Then before either of them could speak, the lights came on.
“Isn’t this cozy?” a smooth baritone cooed.
Leah couldn’t help it. She turned on her back and looked to the end of the bed where he stood.
“You get off watching other people have sex?” Terrell asked, sitting up in the bed, keeping Leah close to his side. His chest was bare, but beneath the covers he wore lounging pants.
