Page 49 of The Last Date

“Sure.” I hesitated for a second. “Could you pick me up at the corner of my street, so that you don’t have to knock on the door?”

“Anything you wish, angel,” he said softly. “I can’t wait to see you.” He ended the call without giving any further details.

Finally.

An actual, official date with my boyfriend.

Even though it was probably just dinner and a movie, or something rather typical, this was obviously going to be something special to me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

* Oakley *

Women often run ten minutes late. That seemed normal. There was a good chance that Sasha was excited about our first official date, so she might be doing her hair, or whatever women did.

After fifteen minutes, when I couldn’t stop checking the time every ten seconds, I called her.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sasha, is everything all right?”

“Um, yes, and no.”

“What can I do to help?”

She hesitated. “I hate to have to ask, but could you please sneak around to the back of the house on the west side, near the pool house?”

“I’ll be right there.”

As I darted up the street, I hoped that none of the upstanding local citizens saw the big guy in black looking suspicious. Slowly moving around to the back of the house, I looked around, but didn’t see Sasha anywhere.

“Up here.”

Jesus Christ. She was perched on the edge of the roof ten feet above the ground, with the glow of her bedroom window behind her.

“I thought I could jump,” she whispered, “But it looks a lot farther from up here. Now I can’t open the window from the outside to get back in.”

“Toss me your purse and shoes,” I said quickly.

Once she did, I set her things aside. “Alright, you’re going to scoot your butt to the very edge. When I say go, you spread your arms and legs a little, gently falling forward into my arms.”

“What if I hurt you?” she breathed.

“You won’t. But better that you give me a tiny bruise than have you break your ankle. Picture yourself falling into the pool, letting your arms and legs hit, but holding your face back a little so you don’t get your hair wet.”

I didn’t mention that I didn’t want her to break her nose across my forehead.

She got into position perfectly. I gave her a huge smile as I opened my arms. “Three, two, one – go!”

Sasha fell a bit awkwardly, but landed straight in my arms, my knees absorbing her momentum.

Holding her against me, I murmured, “If you ever put yourself in danger like that again, I’m going to say extremely bad words.”

“I’m sorry,” she purred, her lips against my neck.

Placing her feet on the ground, she slipped into her shoes, then stood in front of me with a shy smile. Her light blue dress skimmed her delicate frame, and her wavy blonde hair was held up with some fancy clips at the side. She truly was an angel.

The dim light shifted, as I looked up to see a shadow opening the kitchen window.

---