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Stripping off my clothes that smelled like embalming fluid, I crawled into bed in only my panties and bra.
He opened his arms for me, and I curled into his embrace, sinking into his warmth.
“I need to talk to you,” he said quietly.
My head turned, and I watched him with concerned eyes. “What is it?”
“I never meant for this to happen,” he said roughly.
I froze before I pushed on his chest to get away from him.
He tightened his arms on me.
“Shhh,” he said. “Sit still for a minute, please.”
I calmed, but only barely.
“I told you last night that I was in the middle of an investigation. But I wanted to let you know that, starting in the morning, I won’t be able to be seen with you.”
His words froze the air in my lungs, and tears pricked my eyes.
“If you didn’t want me, then why did you fuck me last night?” I snarled, pushing against his chest again.
“Stop it,” he snapped back, freezing my protests.
I stopped, and looked up into his eyes.
They were filled with worry and despair.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I have to give my testimony at Varian Strong’s trial. And until I do that, I want you to understand why I’m staying away from you,” he said softly, pulling me closer into his chest.
I laid my head down against the cool leather of his vest and waited for him to continue explaining.
He didn’t disappoint.
“He has some powerful friends. Friends that I don’t want you mixed up with. If he thinks he can stop me from testifying, he’ll use everything and anything in his power todo it,” he said jaggedly.
“Okay,” I agreed. “For how long?”
Did I sound needy?
Before last night, I hadn’t believed in love, but over the past few months, I’d certainly fallen off that wagon.
I was hopelessly in love with this man.
He’d mowed my lawn, saved me from an asthma attack, and I had a sneaking suspicion he’d been the one to replace the exhaust in my car, but I hadn’t been able to prove it.
He’d talked with me, watched me, allowed me to watch him, and had been a very charming man.
I hadn’t realized it at the time, but all it took was the threat of losing him to make me realize what was being taken from me.
“I’ll still live next door. Still visit you in the night when I can. But any other time, I’m going to act like I don’t know you. It’s only for two months,” he said.
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, as well as me, and he wasn’t doing a good job with either.
“Okay,” I said brokenly.
