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Leave now and never come back.
But as I start to stand, so does Payton.
I freeze.
She’s walking across her small living room, toward me, and my heart beats harder with each step.
Payton stops with her hand resting on the handle of the sliding glass door, the one I walked through a few weeks ago. She blinks, then heaves the door open.
A gust of wind, that I know is cold, blows through the opening, sending her hair flying around her tear-splotched face.
But she doesn’t move out onto the little balcony.
“What are you doing, Payton?”
I step closer to the window.
She takes a step back. And then another, causing her hand to fall away from the door.
“Payton,” I growl her name into the dark room.
Her shoulders rise with one final deep breath, then she turns away and walks out of view.
Leaving the door open… for me.
CHAPTER16
Payton
I wake with a gasp,something invisible pulling me out of sleep.
“Shit,” I whisper toward the ceiling, as I roll onto my back, my chest rising and falling with quick inhales.
My bladder makes itself known and, with a groan, I roll the rest of the way out of bed.
It’s only a matter of steps to cross the hall and enter the dark bathroom. And I don’t bother with the light, dropping my sleep shorts and sitting on the toilet.
Looking down at the shadowy outline of my shorts, I shake my head. I never wear these pajamas. I bought them last year in an after-Christmas sale in a fit of impulse shopping. The silk shorts are a bright red, clashing with my pale thighs; and the top is a cream-colored silk with short sleeves, red buttons, and a red collar. And I don’t need the lights on to tell me they aren’t the sexy pjs I thought they were. They’re basic. Cheap. Another failed attempt at being something I’m not.
Yanking my shorts up, I wash my hands and am grateful I can’t see my reflection.
This whole outfit was forhim.
Leaving my hair down when I went to bed was forhim.
Stupid, Payton.
Seriously, what was I thinking? I left my patio door open, in the ridiculous hope that my Mystery Man would see it, take it for the invitation that it was, and come ravish me.
So stupid.
And on top of being dumb, now my apartment is freezing.
I feel around on the vanity until I find a hair binder and quickly pull my hair up.
I haven’t seenthat mansince he walked out my front door.
There’s been a few times that I could’ve sworn I’d seen him outside the café, but every time I’ve turned my head to look, the street has always been empty.
