That was new.Real new.
“I’ll see you then,” I said.
She nodded again, slower this time.
I didn’t like leaving her there alone.
Didn’t like that the house was so big and the property so dark and her parents gone for who knew how long.But there wasn’t a real reason to think she’d be in danger there tonight.The doors were locked.The alarm worked.The place was clear.
Still.
My gaze caught on her before I could help it.
She was still holding her keys, knuckles pale around them, like she didn’t fully know what to do with her hands now that I’d apparently bulldozed through her whole night.Her lips were slightly parted, her eyes wide in a way I’d never seen before—not because she was scared exactly, but because I’d thrown her off balance and she hadn’t found her footing yet.
I liked her that way more than I should have.
She looked affected by me.
The urge to step in closer and kiss her hit so hard it damn near made me dizzy.
What the fuck had changed?
That question had been dogging me for days now, and standing there with Ever in front of me and her house warm and quiet behind her, it came back meaner than before.
Because I had never looked at her like this.
Not once.
Not in all the years I’d known her.
And now?
Now I was one bad decision away from dragging her against the wall by the front door and tasting her just to see if it wrecked me the way I thought it would.
I took a step back instead.“Night, baby,” I said, because apparently I was incapable of helping myself.“And make sure to lock the door behind me.”
She nodded.
I headed for the door, then stopped and looked back one last time.She hadn’t moved.“Lock it.”
Another nod.
I stepped out and pulled the door shut behind me, standing on the porch long enough to hear the deadbolt slide home and the lock click into place.
Only then did I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“Goodnight, Ever,” I called through the door.
A beat passed.Then I heard her, soft through the wood.“Goodnight, Jude.”
I stood there a second longer than I should have, staring at the door like it might explain any of what had just happened.
It didn’t.
Nothing about tonight made sense.
Not me waiting for her in the parking lot.Not me following her home.Not me walking into her house and checking every damn room like I had any claim to her safety.Not the way I’d wanted to kiss her so badly my whole body had gone tight with it.
