“Go back to sleep, Louise. And lock the door when I leave.”
“Bossy,” she mumbles with no heat in her tone, one side of her mouth tips up in a smirk, one dimple showing.
Fuck, the way I don’t want to walk out this door. I want to stay, I want to lose myself in the adorable, sleep-rumpled princess here in my house.
I want to show her just how bossy I can be to snarky brats like her.
“Go,” she whispers again, but there’s something different in her tone. Like she can sense the hesitation anchoring me to the fucking floor.
Like she doesn’t want me to go, either.
Dangerous, dangerous little thing.
So, I do as she says, and walk out the door, closing it behind me. And as I walk away, I hear the lock engage from the other side.
“Good girl,” I breathe as my long strides eat up the distance to my truck. As much as I would love to let my mind linger on thegirl inside my house in the tiniest damn shorts I’ve ever seen… I need to get my head on straight before walking into that fire.
Fourteen
Louise
It’s either very late—or very early—when I wake to the sound of the lock disengaging. The door opens and closes almost silently. Blinking my eyes open blearily, I sit up from where I’d fallen asleep slumped in the corner of the couch, the throw blanket I’d pulled over myself slipping down my shoulder to land in a pool in my lap.
I hate the sigh of relief that escapes at seeing him. He looks exhausted and his face is smudged with dirt and soot. But he’s still the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.
His steps slow when he sees that I’m awake, and he reaches up to scrub one dirty hand over his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I was trying to be quiet.”
His voice is low and soft in the darkness of the room that surrounds us. It’s intimate in a way I can’t explain. Like the darkness shrouds everything else and all the reasons we absolutely shouldn’t be feeling the way we do disappear.
I can’t stop these feelings I have, and I have this suspicion that he can’t, either.
Like the way he’d stared at me before walking out the door earlier.
I stand, rounding the corner of the couch, painfully aware that my sleep shorts have ridden high up the insides of my thick thighs, and my tank top does little to hide much, too.
“How bad was it?” I ask, wrapping my arms around my waist. I’d searched social media and found very little information on the fire but had read that it was consuming one of the apartment complexes in town.
He sighs, shaking his head. “Total loss of all six units. One fatality.”
Tears prick my eyes. I can’t even imagine. “Will there be any kind of support? For the families, I mean?”
“Usually,” he says softly, nodding. “I’ve seen extended family members or friends of the family do fundraisers and clothing drives for donations. For something like this, having affected multiple families, the community will probably do a benefit.”
“I’d like to help, if I can.” Nodding to him then, I whisper, “Go take a shower and get some sleep. I’ll stay and get up with the girls in couple hours so you can rest, I’m sure you’re exhausted.”
“You don’t have to do that. You can head back to your place—”
“And leave Chloe to try and figure out breakfast in the morning? We’d be calling the crew here next,” I laugh quietly, shaking my head. “I don’t work tomorrow, I’m happy to help. I’m glad I was home.”
He sighs again, reaching up to clasp one of those big, strong hands at the back of his neck. I can see the muscles in hisforearm flex when he squeezes the back of his neck tight with his fingers. “Fuck, so am I. Thank you for coming over to sit with the girls so I could go. Normally my Mom helps out, but—”
“It’s seriously no trouble,” I assure him. “Go take a shower.”
“You saying I stink?” he teases, passing me on his way toward the hall.
I wave my hand in front of my nose, making a face, then wink. “I would never be so rude to say that out loud.”
His chuckle is deep and makes me smile. Dammit, this man is too handsome. Especially this late at night and a little loopy from exhaustion. I drop back into the corner of the couch and pull the blanket over my lap as he nods and walks down the hallway.
