Page 38 of The Woman with the Handcuffs

“I’ll go to the first dinner as soon as I’m back.”

“I’ll let them know. Need anything from me? Advice on how to get out of the city?” he teased, shooting me a smirk.

“Careful, or I’ll tie your ass to that chair and not tell anyone you’re there.”

Though, he wasn’t being unfair. I hadn’t been out of the city in ages. And the last time I’d left had been against my will.

“Do you have a license anymore?”

“Yeah, I have my license. Even have my CDL.” Which I’d gotten when I’d come up with the trucker scheme. I figured it might come in handy if I ever had an issue with a shipment and needed to drive it myself. “What?” I asked when Leo’s lips started to twitch.

“Dunno, man. I feel like a dad watching his kid go drive off to college,” he admitted, a grin spreading across his face, making that dimple of his cut down his cheek.

“Christ,” I grumbled.

“Not my fault you never go anywhere,” he said, getting up. “I’ll check on your apartment while you’re gone. But check in here and there so I know you’re not chained up in a hotel room somewhere.”

I shook my head at him.

“Can’t wait to hear about how you fell in love while searching for the girl’s missing dad,” he said, but quickly moved out the door before I could snap back at him.

With that, I got up, showered, changed, and packed a bag. Once I had an address from my brother, I called one of my associates to pick me up and bring me to Caitlin’s place.

She lived in a small walk-up over a dry cleaner with a busted lock that let me just walk right in.

I didn’t know what to expect of Caitlin’s apartment. She was a little bit all over the place, so I could have seen her going one of two ways: living in chaos, or dedicating her life to hardcore organization to try to manage her chaos.

As it turned out, it was a mix of the two.

She had some store-bought bookcases lining one wall. She’d clearly attempted a rainbow organization method, but had given up halfway through. There were piles of books—unread, I imagined—scattered all around. And I liked knowing she was a reader a little more than I should have, since I wasn’t supposed to be interested in the woman.

Her dining room table was full of organization containers. All still in their original packaging. Like she’d lost the motivation to put them to use between getting the idea of them and bringing them home.

That reminded me a lot of my brother Zeno, who often lost the motivation between the idea and having to leave the apartment to put it into use.

She had a lot of shit: mismatched pillows on the couch, three separate blankets on her round reading chair that was big enough for three adults. There were cups full of bookmarks, two unopened book subscription boxes, and sweaters and hoodies on almost every surface.

The place was clean.

Just lived-in. A little messy. But cozy.

Somehow, that seemed fitting for someone who appeared to be a ball of anxiety a lot of the time.

The look of shock on Caitlin’s face at seeing me was pretty quickly replaced by fear as I followed her through her apartment as she tried to flee from me.

Any amusement I had at the circumstance died off. I’d never be a man who got his rocks off on a woman’s fear.

So I was quick with the cuffs and the explanation as I followed her into her bedroom.

It was more of the cozy craziness I found in the rest of her apartment. There were about four too many blankets on the bed. More pillows than I wanted to count. Her nightstand had several books, a book light, chargers, and an old cup of water. There were four sweaters piled on her dresser and two mismatched shoes spilling out of her closet.

I liked keeping a neat place.

But I found something strangely charming about her mess.

I could practically hear her thoughts as I imagined her digging around for just the right sweater. The inner monologue about how it was getting chilly out and, of course, she needed a cute ghost blanket to go with her cute pumpkin blanket. On top of her usual bedding.

And to her credit, her bed was comfortable as fuck. I wasn’t sure I would genuinely be able to sleep cuffed to a woman who’d just held me captive for a couple days. But I drifted off pretty quickly and slept deeply with that powdery scent of her all around me.