Declan is the best kid ever. I wish he was mine. I’d love to have a kid like him. Maybe someday when I find Mr. Right. If, that is. I hope whatsisbucket isn’t too hard on you guys at the restaurant. Tell him I don’t miss him at all. Love, Jacy.
I sent my note via my cell phone as I didn’t have a computer.Maybe I’ll get one with my first paycheck.Sitting in the near darkness of my spacious and comfortable room, I thought about turning in. Though it was nearly midnight, I wasn’t sleepy. Declan had gone to bed hours ago, sleeping the sleep of the innocent.
Avery, too, had yawned sleepily over a cable movie before finally leaving for his room two hours ago. Alone, I sat in the TV room for a while after he’d gone before deciding I should try to sleep. Instead, I sat, wide awake in the dark and played a game on my mobile.
The walls in the house weren’t exactly thin, but I heard Avery’s door open and snick softly shut. Listening, I heard his tread on the carpet as Avery passed my room, then fade as he went down the stairs.Unable to sleep and in need of warm milk? Getting a late-night snack?Too curious for my own good, I opened my door to listen to whatever Avery was up to.
He left by the front door.
Okay, this is weird. Where’s he going? He didn’t go through the garage to get his car.
Pacing to my window, which faced the street below, I parted the curtains just enough to peer out and down. On foot, Avery walked quickly down the street and vanished around a corner. Weirder and weirder. I watched for a few more moments, then started to turn away.
Something big, a dark shadow I thought, passed over the house. I quickly stared out again, my gut twisting with nervous fear.What was that?It certainly wasn’t a cloud passing over the moon and stars. Clouds don’t move that fast. Whatever it was, and I’m certain I didn’t imagine it, was huge. Flitted across the night sky and cast it all into brief and absolute darkness.
Too unsettled to go to bed, I paced my room for a time, nervous and upset. With Avery gone, wherever he was, I was now Declan’s only protector. Not that – thatthing– would somehow break into the house and abduct us, of course not.
Still, I left my room to quietly open his door a crack.
Declan slept under the faint light of a Scooby-Doo nightlight, his right hand fisted and tucked under his chin. Outside his room’s window, the property’s security light gleamed through his curtains. Finding him safely asleep didn’t ease my worries, however.
Creeping downstairs like a burglar, dressed in nothing more than my shirt and panties, I patrolled the darkened house. Every room remained dark, silent, empty. Somehow, that madeit all the spookier. If whatever that was out there managed to come inside, I had no weapons, no means of protecting Declan.
Where is Avery? Why did he leave in the middle of the night? He didn’t drive, he walked.
Okay, a midnight walk sort of made sense. He’s unable to sleep, restless, he goes out for a walk to settle his mind. I could dig that. I peered out the front picture window and saw nothing alarming. No horrifyingly big shadows crossing the night sky. No Avery striding up the sidewalk toward his house. If the neighbors also saw the big shadow, I failed to see them peeking out of their doors or windows.
It's your imagination running into overtime.
Taking a deep breath, I walk into the kitchen, and open the fridge. Taking the milk jug from it, I seized a glass from the cabinet. After pouring a glass, I put the milk back. I took a long soothing drink, then turned –
Avery stood in the kitchen doorway.
“Shit,” I exclaimed, shocked, and nearly dropped my glass. “You scared me. Dammit, don’t do that.”
He eyed me up and down with a slow grin. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just walked in.”
I watched his gaze travel down to my nearly naked body. Suddenly horrified, I realized I had nothing to cover myself up with. And he stood between me and escape. No, I wasn’t a swooning virgin. I’d had lovers in the past. This was myboss, however, myemployer. And I stood in his kitchen, half-naked, a glass of milk in my hand, blushing like crazy.
“Uh,” I began, frantic to get back to my room and away from his knowing gaze. “I need to, er, get to bed.”
Avery graciously stepped aside, his eyes now on my face and not my bare legs. “Yeah, me, too. Big day tomorrow.”
“Goodnight.”
I edged past him, smiling nervously, ordering myself not to pause to ask where he’d gone off to.Not your business, girl, and it doesn’t matter. Just scoot up the stairs and lock the damn door.
“Goodnight,” he replied.
I knew Avery’s eyes followed me as I strode up the stairs, watching my ass the entire way. I knew because I felt him staring. Behind my closed and unlockable door, I leaned against it, almost forgetting the glass in my hand.Holy shit. He’s too damn hot for you to be prancing around him nearly naked. His bones are far too jumpable for words.
***
“Dad looks at you when you’re not looking.”
I couldn’t halt the hot blush that stole up my neck to invade my cheeks. Not daring to turn from the kitchen sink where I scrubbed the breakfast pots, I merely shrugged. “Looking is free, isn’t it?”
“I guess so.”
