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“What’s that?”
“He likes to come to the rescue. You are not the first woman he has rescued.”
Who else did he rescue? I didn’t feel I had the right to ask that question, so I waved it away. “Even more of a reason for us to remain friends. I don’t need a hero to swoop in and care for me. I can do it all by myself. Last night was a fluke.”
“Did your ex have anything to do with it?”
“I don’t know. I doubt it.” I hated that Zack had said something to Lydia about the possibility of Wade being involved. It wasn’t his place to get involved.
She nodded, “Alright, well, I have warned you on Zack. What you do now is up to you. How about we put that aside and get to work?”
I smiled brightly at her. “I would very much appreciate that, Lydia.”
“Perfect.” With that, the day progressed as it should, and before I left, I stuck my head into her office. “Um, by chance, could you give me his address so I can find my way back to his building?”
“You have his car, right?” I nodded, “Then just turn the GPS on and hit home. He has it programmed.”
“Oh, I didn’t even think about that. Perfect. You have a great night, Lydia, and I promise I will be on time tomorrow.”
“Night, Lilly.”
I made it back to his house with no trouble and found myself amused as the gate moved up at the entrance to the garage. I located his parking space and was stepping out when the door off to the side opened, and another man stepped out.
“Are you Lilly Rouse?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Hi, I’m Mark. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m on duty until midnight. If you have any problems, please let me know.”
“Thank you very much, Mark,” I replied and moved along to the elevator as he disappeared behind the door again. I smiled as I stepped into the small metal box and began climbing to the seventh floor. It was very nice knowing that people were looking out for me. Not that I should get used to it because I’d only be here for a couple of days before I either went home or found another place.
As I let myself into his condo, I set my purse down and slowly walked around the place, taking in the decorations and the view from his window. He had a balcony, and I walked out on that and leaned on the railing. I bet the sunset was beautiful from here. I could get used to this, but sadly, I knew I shouldn’t.
I made my way to the kitchen and dug around in the fridge, surprised to find fresh fruits, vegetables, and other items that most people only bought if they cooked full meals. In the freezer, I found several containers with labels on them. Obviously, Zack enjoyed cooking and made extra for leftover meals.
I pulled out one of the containers from the fridge with pasta and wondered if this was supposed to have been my dinner last night. I warmed it up, made myself a small salad, poured myself a glass of white wine that I found open in the fridge, and took my food outside to sit on the balcony.
I relaxed for the first time in days as I sat and looked out over the river. What I wouldn’t give to live in a place like this. It was beautiful. I wondered how much time Smoke spent out here and thought about making dinner on Friday and serving it here.
After dinner, I cleaned up my dishes and wandered again around the condo. I found myself standing at the door to his bedroom and was tempted to go in and look around, but I forced myself to turn around and not invade his privacy.
Back in the living room, I found his bar and poured myself a glass of whiskey. I returned to the balcony and sipped it as the sun began to set. For the first time since I moved here, I felt truly content. However, as the sun disappeared over the horizon, the darkness began to settle over me. My thoughts turned dark like the sky as I dwelled over my situation and wondered if I would be safe in my apartment.
Had Wade broken in and destroyed my property? It made sense, but then again, it didn’t. Why would he do that? He had wanted the divorce. He was the one that wanted the marriage over. Why would he come here and try to ruin things for me? That is the part that didn’t make sense.
Yet, he had done something so similar in the past that I had difficulty not blaming him. Perhaps I should have told the police that I suspected him. I just didn’t want to incriminate someone without proof.
Just because he had done it before did not mean that he had done it this time.
I went back inside, turned off the lights, and went to my room. I had just entered when my cellphone rang, and I saw Zack’s name on the screen.
I curled up on the bed while we spoke, and while I kept telling him that I didn’t want anything with him, I knew that part of myself was lying. However, I knew I could not jump from one relationship into another, and as Lydia told me, Zack liked to rescue people.
That made sense since he had been a firefighter. However, that was not his job, and I couldn’t rely on him that way.
After we hung up, I got ready for bed, and as I drifted off, I recalled the moments in Lydia’s office where he had pleasured me intensely. I woke up in the middle of the night wishing like hell that Zack was here. If he was, I might have just tried to slip into his bed to find out of it had been a fluke.
I rolled over, telling myself that it was stupid to even think like that, and drifted back off to sleep, denying the hunger that was building deep inside of me.
