He swears again, his voice a bare whisper, then kisses my shoulder and pulls out.
I squat and start searching the ground for my underwear, but then he hands them to me.
“I swear to Christ, there’s a rabid animal in there, Murray,” someone says, which nearly startles a laugh out of me. Cormac, who’s peering at me in the dark, covers my mouth with his hand. I kiss it.
“Nah, I’ll open it up. I bet it’s nothing but a mouse.”
“If it’s a raccoon or something, we can’t risk it escaping. We’ll have to get building maintenance over here.”
They’ve nearly reached the door now, judging from their voices, and my heart is racing at the possibility of getting caught.
I can tell Cormac, who is obviously not as much of an adrenaline junkie as I am, is legitimately a bit nervous.
So I do what anyone with a passing knowledge of raccoon cries would.
I scream like a raccoon.
CHAPTER THIRTY
CORMAC
Nora doesnotsound like a raccoon, but the sound is startling and primal enough to plant fear into the hearts of the men beyond the door. They run away. Literally. They sound like a herd of wildebeest in the middle of the Serengeti’s Great Migration.
I’m shaken by our near miss with…okay, not the law, but a couple of employees who would certainly have embarrassed us. But that’s not the main feeling pumping through me as I grab my guitar and Nora’s hand and flee the closet.
I feel like a changed man.
I was a little bit in love with Nora Leigh in high school, but the truth is, I’m a lot fucking in love with her now.
I don’t know what to do about it, but I’m going to ride this wave where it takes me. Even if it takes me too far, into a place I don’t recognize or understand the rules for.
Nora’s laughing as we weave our way to and out of the back door of the building, both of us panting. There’s nothing on this side of the old warehouse other than a gravel lot and a commercial dumpster that smells exactly how a person might imagine.
She looks incredibly gorgeous, especially with her lipstick smeared and her hair a mess from my hands.
Wait—
“Do I have lipstick all over my face?” I murmur.
She laughs harder, then licks her finger and wipes the sides of my mouth before giving her face the same treatment.
“Did you just lick your finger and use it to clean me?”
Grinning, she pushes me lightly with the side of her arm. “Yes, and it shouldn’t bother you since you probably have a lot of my spit in your mouth.”
She bursts into peals of laughter at the expression on my face, then surprises me by weaving her fingers through mine and squeezing.
She’s holding my hand in public. She wants to. It feels like I’m in a dream.
I want to say something meaningful, but when I finally gather myself enough to speak, I say, “Mick gave me a ride.”
Idiot.
“Let’s go find my car,” Nora says. “I’ll bring you home. But first I want to tell you all about my brilliant idea.” She starts walking along the side of the building, and I walk with her. Carried along by the wonder of her.
“Your last brilliant idea doesn’t seem to be going so well,” I point out. “Pansy hasn’t broken up with José yet.”
She kicks a small rock and swings my hand. “That’s okay. We’re playing the long game.”
