Luc winced as he shifted to go, but quickly pivoted back.
“Where is her friend?”
“She went home last Thursday. Are you wounded?”
“I’m fine,” he snapped. Ariel’s steady stare unnerved him, reminding him of Mother. In a milder tone, he said, “I’ll be back when Nadia wakes. She should hear the news from me.”
Nadia woke, drenched in sweat and a cry on her lips, to her trusty cat’s sandpaper-like tongue swiping her cheek. Half-heartedly, she shoved Ariel away.
“Stop. You lick your butt. It’s disgusting.”
The feline eyed her from unnaturally wise eyes, blinked once, and grunted.
Nadia frowned.
Some days she swore that damned animal was human—or at least it had been in a previous life.
“Thanks for waking me, baby girl. My dream was a weird one.” She scratched behind Ariel’s left ear.
After a trip to the bathroom, she stumbled her way through her morning routine.
Coffee brewing—check.
Tuna and veggies for Ariel’s bowl because the alleycat was picky AF—check.
Scroll through phone messages and respond accordingly—check.
Email—check.
She toyed with opening a social media app but decided against it. Other people’s drama was a pure time suck and would make her later than she already was.
Scraping noises on her patio caught Nadia’s attention.
The morning breeze blew the filmy white curtain inward, and an extremely large human-sized shadow passed along the outside. Her heart stalled in her chest, and she held her breath as she fumbled for the knife beside her plate. What harm she thought she could inflict with a butter knife was the prominent question, but still, it was better than nothing.
Why the hell hadn’t she thought to close and lock her doors last night?
Granted, her place overlooked the courtyard from the third story, but a single woman living alone couldn’t be too careful.
Ariel stood guard in front of the opening to the porch, tail twitching in agitation.
Weren’t animals supposed to be intuitive?
Every scary movie Luc had forced her to watch came back to haunt her, and Nadia’s terrified mind went numb. As the shadow moved closer, she pinched herself, giving herself a silent scold to get a grip.
The smart plan would be to get to the front door before an attacker decided she would be their next victim—if only her legs would work.
“Nadia?”
Relief made her weak, and the tension left her body like a deflating balloon.
“Luc?” Did her voice sound as fearful as she actually felt?
He fought his way through the billowing curtain, glared at a hissing Ariel, and stepped into the room. Nadia’s breath caught in her throat as it always did upon seeing his perfect male beauty, everything else forgotten but him.
It had been two and a half weeks since the pool incident. It seemed he’d shoved her into the friend zone so fast, she’d gotten whiplash. Still, she welcomed him into her home any chance she got. Being close to him was always better than not. But if she was doomed to admire the man from afar, that’s exactly what she’d do.
Before she could get carried away lusting over his body, she demanded, “What the hell were you doing out there?”
