Page 54 of A Matter of Time

I only nodded, squinting at him.

He leaned in and kissed me hard and fast before standing up again and looking down at me. “What time do you get off work tonight?”

“Why?”

“I’m gonna come and get you.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why you wanna get me?”

“I’m gonna feed you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Dinner’s on me.”

“Why?”

“’Cause I wanna make sure you’re safe. Is that all right?”

“Yeah, that’s all right.”

“Okay then,” he said, looking into my eyes. “Come walk me to the door and lock it behind me.”

I trailed after him, wrapped in a sheet. At the door he reached out, put a hand around the side of my neck and eased me close, parting my lips with his tongue. The kiss was very hot and left me breathless.

“What time?”

“What?” I had no idea what we were even talking about.

His smile was wicked and smug at the same time. “What time is work over?”

“Six.”

“Good. I’ll be there. Wait for me.”

I nodded.

“And lock the goddamn door,” he growled as he walked out of it. “I don’t want anybody in here with you.”

After he left, I stood there trying to figure out how I felt for a long time before I gave up and went to take a shower. After much deliberation I decided the one thing I knew for sure was that I was really looking forward to seeing him. And that was a miracle in itself, since I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cared at all.

At eight that night, as I emerged from the elevator on the ground floor, I got a call.

“Jory.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, it’s Sam. I’m real sorry I didn’t show up, but I got kind of roped into something.”

“Sure.”

“You didn’t wait around, did you?”

“Nope. Six fifteen, I was out of there.”