A knot of guilt tightens in my belly to know thatI’mthat past—and Ihavefound her.
If I were a good man, a man worthy of her affection, I would leave her be.
It’s clearly what she wants from me.
But I can’t do that.
I can’t stay away.
Instead, I’ve limited myself to just an hour with her each day—near her, I mean.
I follow her home, just to make sure she gets there safe.
Or at least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself.
Though it’s pretty apparent she doesn’t need me.
She seems to have done just fine without me for the past eight years.
Combing my fingers through my hair, I feel that familiar tug of guilt that tells me I shouldn’t be spying on her like this.
Stalking her.
Invading the space she’s so carefully created for herself. But it feels like after eight years without oxygen, I can finally breathe again—at least for the hour a day that I see her.
She and Jackson go through their familiar dance, Jackson running upstairs while Stephanie heads to the kitchen to start dinner.
I take up sentinel by the side window, enjoying the view as she opens the fridge door and bends to find something near the back.
God, she always did have the perfect ass.
My cock twitches at the thought, and I turn away to pull myself back together—because that’s not what this is about.
Yes, my body comes alive at the thought of Stephanie.
Just remembering the way she felt in my arms makes me ache with need.
But that was only the beginning of what I loved so much about her.
And I won’t devalue our history by turningthatinto the reason I’m following her home.
“Hey, Gio.”
Jackson’s voice startles me as it comes from my right today.
He’s in the front yard—not his typical spot, and now he’s caught me loitering.
“Hey, kiddo,” I say, pushing off the house and stepping out from the narrow walkway between the townhomes to come stand outside the fence and face him.
“What are you doing hanging out?” he asks, glancing toward the spot where I was hiding in the long shadows.
“Oh, I missed you yesterday and didn’t want to go two days in a row without catching up,” I say, my lips quirking into a grin.
It’s not a lie.
I’ve come to enjoy my brief chats with Jackson in the days that I’ve spent stalking Stephanie.
He might just be the coolest kid I’ve ever met, and while I don’t spend much time around children, I have a feeling that sentiment would stand regardless of how many kids I knew.
