Page 42 of Choosing Stella

“You were about to.”

“I was going to say that staying awake tonight won’t kill you.”

I stared at him.

“That’s worse. Now I can’t even argue with you.”

“I can say something unreasonable if it’ll help.”

The smile came easier this time.

“You’d hate that.”

“I would.”

We let the subject drop. Geo returned to his phone, and I took the couch with my water. For the next hour, rain drummed somewhere above us. I left the second tarot deck zipped inside my bag. Geo didn’t try to fill the silence for me.

By the time I set my empty glass on the table, Geo was leaning one hip against it. Without the jacket, I could see the solid width of his shoulders and thick muscles in his arms. A pale scar disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt. The same man had taken a knife away from an attacker without shaking afterward and stopped short of touching me when I went pale in the hallway.

Heat stirred low in my stomach.

It had been there before the attack, at my apartment door and in my kitchen while I packed. Adrenaline had buried it for a few hours. Now Geo shifted to reach for his phone, and the pull returned hard enough that my attention dropped to his mouth.

If Geo wanted to stop me, I probably couldn’t make it three steps.

He wouldn’t try unless I asked him to.

I set my glass down.

“Can I ask you something that isn’t about the murder?”

“Ask me.”

“Have you ever done primal play?”

His eyebrows lifted.

“I know what it is, but I haven’t done it.”

“If you’re picturing a random man chasing a screaming woman through the woods, that isn’t what I mean.”

“I was picturing negotiated chase, capture, and resistance.”

“That’s closer.”

His gaze stayed on my face.

“Why are you asking me now?”

“I’m asking because I like it.”

“You were nearly abducted a few hours ago.”

“I know. I also liked primal play long before today. Antonio and I had a standing arrangement for it at a club. We negotiated before every booking. What happened in my hallway didn’t create this.”

“I didn’t think it did.”

“But you’re wondering whether tonight is a terrible time to try it with someone new.”