“I should get inside,” she said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dante said.
Clasping her chin, he lifted her face and kissed her again. Reluctantly, he pulled away and turned to leave. With every step, he told himself not to look back, but he couldn’t resist when he reached the corner.
Cassidy stood in the glow of an oncoming car. When she lifted her hand to wave, he waved back and watched as she jogged up the stairs to her building and vanished inside. He felt as if she’d taken a piece of him with her.
Chapter Nineteen
It wasn’tKyle and Julian, who met her inside the door, but Aida. Her friend’s golden-brown eyes sparkled as Aida practically pounced on her. Pulled back in a ponytail, Aida’s black hair bounced against her shoulders as she followed Cassidy down to the laundry room and waited as she bought some detergent, removed the stakes from her coat, and tossed it in. She added more detergent than was suggested, but it was going to take a lot to get the smell of the fire out of it.
“What, were you in a fire?” Aida asked as she hopped onto a washing machine and swung her legs back and forth.
“Yes.”
Aida stopped swinging her legs to gawk at her. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, and it sucked.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really, but I’m sure my brothers will be looking for some info, so why don’t we discuss it then?”
“Fair enough. Wasn’t that the same guy who was in the bar a couple of weeks ago and last night?” Aida asked.
Was that really only last night? Cassidy dragged a hand through her hair as exhaustion nearly overwhelmed her. She turned and leaned against the washing machine as she folded her arms over her chest. “It is.”
Aida’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“No, I haven’t. When he came into the bar again last night I… well, I… kinda invited myself into his life.”
“I have a feeling he probably didn’t put up too much of a fight about it.”
“He wasn’t thrilled in the beginning. You know that whole ‘must keep me safe’ thing and all.”
Aida rolled her eyes. “Oh, I know. So, what did you do? Where did you go?Whathappened?”
“You’re as bad as my brothers.”
“I can guarantee your brothers don’t want the detailsIdo.”
Cassidy laughed and then cringed at the idea of discussing sex with her brothers. “We went to a bar… and I’ll fill you in more on that with Julian and Kyle. Then we went to his place, and now I’m here.”
“Thatcan’tbe it.”
“I hate to disappoint you, but there aren’t many juicy details to reveal. Come on, I’m exhausted.”
Aida jumped off the machine; she walked beside her as they left the basement and trudged up the stairs toward their apartment.
“I saw that kiss; there is definitely more to reveal,” Aida said.
“That’s all we did.”
“Uh-huh.”
