No. The only thing that would satisfy me other than seeing Pax, was pie. I drove to the all-night diner that truckers used. It was a dump, but I needed to be anywhere that wasn't my bedroom where I'd spent the last three hours thinking about my mate’s laugh and his cheek dimples.
But when I walked in, Pax was sitting in a corner booth reading a book and with his own slice of pie.
“Couldn't sleep?” I asked.
The book slipped from his hands. “Not really.”
He asked me to join him, and I ordered whatever pie they had left.
Pax took a mouthful of his dessert, and I wished part of me was between his lips. He chewed slowly, and I had to remind myself to breathe when the cherries stained his lips.
We talked about nothing at first. But then Pax asked if I’d ever wanted to leave town, as I’d lived here most of my life.
“I had plans. I was offered a job at the design house after college.”
He didn’t push for a reason, and we finished eating. I asked why he’d given up his life and taken over June’s house. He mumbled about looking for something, and my dragon perked up.
Us. That’s what he’s searching for.
I was tempted to ask if he’d ever been to the Antarctic but stifled it.
We shared another moment of standing by our vehicles, talking about nothing in particular until we said good night. It would have been so easy to lean in and brush my lips over his. He parted his mouth, and I wanted to trace around it, hoping he’d bite or lick my finger. But that was my frenzied brain talking.
While Pax was in my head 24/7, he’d given me no indication he thought of me other than as a contractor he was forming a friendship with.
I hung back after Pax drove off. Nothing would happen to him on the short drive home, not in this town. But I wanted to make sure. Not in a stalker kind of way, but I was being protective. He was my mate.
His car was in the driveway, and there was a light in the room he was sleeping in. The tattoo was burning my shoulder as I wondered what would have happened if I’d kissed him tonight.
FIVE
PAX
I woke up to a loud scratching that echoed around the turret on the floor above my bedroom and descended the circular stairs. Goosebumps raised their spiky heads on my arms, and I clutched the duvet under my chin. I wanted to hide underneath it and wish away whatever was making that noise.
I reasoned that it was an animal, either on the roof or it had crawled into a space between the walls. But it originated from the turret. If a squirrel got into that space, it’d run down the stairs, looking for a way out. Damn, it would probably come in here.
I leaped up and put a chair under the door handle as I’d seen people do in movies, while begging the universe to make the noise stop. But as I lay in bed and the minutes ticked by, the scratching continued.
I couldn’t sleep, but no way was I venturing up to the turret, not by myself. My imagination was filled with increasingly grim images, most of which involved me screaming.
But I was alone and knew no one in town other than Dray.
I couldn’t call him. He was my builder, not my boyfriend or even my buddy. But he did owe me two favors, one for wettingme with the hose and the other for spilling coffee over me. Was that enough to have him make a house call in the middle of the night?
I nibbled off what was left of my nails and picked up the phone. It was midnight and he was probably in bed, maybe not alone. That image was worse than the pics my imagination conjured up regarding the scratching.
I pulled up Dray’s contact, and I hesitated. Calling your contractor in the middle of the night was weird and inappropriate. But the scratching became louder, and I texted him. I couldn’t bear to speak to him and hear the confusion in his voice before he refused.
Sorry for the late message. There’s something or someone in the turret and I’m freaking out.
I hit send and regretted it. Shit, he’d wake in the morning and think I was bonkers.
But my phone buzzed.Be there in ten.
I threw on clothes over my tee and boxers. He pulled up seven minutes later, and I wrenched open the door before he could knock.
“I shouldn’t have texted you.”
