“We’ll have to talk more soon, and I promise I’ll catch you up on things. I missed you.”
I felt his fatherly arms come up to wrap around me, and in his arms, I didn’t feel like I had to be the powerful woman I’m pushing myself to be. I could be vulnerable. Because this was the man that single-handedly raised me since I could remember, and while I’m expanding the circle of people I could trust, he still only had me.
“Go to bed,anak. And tomorrow, you can gush to me about how your date went. I know you’ve been crushing on Nero ever since he stepped onto our porch years ago.”
“You’re horrible for reminding me that you know my secret like you’re my girl friend or something,” I teased, pulling away and jokingly glaring at him before trudging up the stairs. “Night, dad.”
25
NERO
Me
You asleep yet?
My eyes left my phone’s screen, immediately looking across my bedroom window to see Cosette’s phone light up. She had the tiny device positioned beside her pillow, screen up, and when she reached for it, I didn’t have to look at her reply.
I pressed on the call button, and it rang once before Cosette finally answered it.
“Stop staring at me. I can feel it, and that’s why I can’t sleep,” she said, making my shoulders shake with laughter.
“Is it really that or is it because you can’t stop playing tonight over and over in your head?” I asked, my eyes never leaving her figure as she finally rolled over to face me instead of her bedroom ceiling. “Because that’s the reason why I can’t sleep.”
“Do you have an off switch for your flirting, Combs?”
I barked out a laugh, my heart warming at the idea that even if things were changing between us, C was still the same person I knew. Maybe a little feistier, which I’m really fucking liking.
“Even if I did, I doubt you’d want it off.”
“If you’d say yes, I’d come over right now myself just to flip the frickin’ switch as soon as I possibly could.”
“I mean, if you wanted to come over, I wouldn’t stop you.”
Okay, that came out much needier than I wanted it to be.
That did shut Cosette up, though.
Because now that the can was open about how much sexual tension there was between us? It was hard to ignore. Hard not to feed it until we both exploded. At least, it was hard on my side because I loved teasing the fuck out of C.
“If your dad wasn’t home, I’d be sleeping over there beside you right about now, wouldn’t I?” I asked, my voice unintentionally turning into a deeper rumble.
“I— uh, yeah. Maybe. Probably.”
Oh,nowshe’s too flustered to talk straight?
“You know what I was wondering about, C?”
The line went silent aside from her breathing as I held her gaze through our windows.
“I was wondering why you left your curtains open tonight.”
Fuck. I can feel the heat traveling down my body just thinking about how she may have unconsciously wanted me to watch her sleep tonight.
“I’m also wondering if I’m just imagining things, or if you’re really breathing a bit faster now.”
I know it’s probably impossible to notice such things as her clenching her thighs together from this far, but I could dream, right? If it really was just in my imagination, that is.
“And now? Now I’m wondering if you’ve ever laid on your bed just like you are doing now, touching yourself to the thought of me, curtains closed while I’m here still clueless.”
