AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shit.
He got up the nerve to step out on a limb and I break it. Send him plummeting to the ground.
“This way,” he says walking down the hall opposite the kitchen, between the living room and dining room. “These stairs take you to the street. The door at the bottom is unlocked from the inside.”
I can get out but can’t get back in. Not that I could have gotten back in if he let me out of the shop entrance but there is something about sending me this way that seems more final. Like, once I walk out this door, I won’t be welcome back in.
“Thank you, Riley.” Daniel holds the door as I step into the exterior hallway. The street lights shine through the glass door at the bottom of the stairs, showing the way out.
But I don’t want to go now.
“I’m glad you called. And that offer is always open. Emergencies or whatever.” I reach my hand toward Daniel, then stop when he shies away.
“Goodnight, Riley.”
My hand falls to my side. “Goodnight.”
As Daniel shuts the door, needles prick the backs of my eyes. If all I was leaving behind was a physical connection, I don’t think I’d feel so empty. But we made a deeper connection tonight. He called me for advice. I taught him a skill close to my heart. And he showed me a piece of his past. It might not seem like much but it’s enough. I want more.
Blinking back tears, I walk down the stairs.
Almost succeed in suppressing my sadness and convince myself I can get through this, even though, deep down I know it will eat me alive for years to come when I remember my car has been sitting in the lot for hours longer than I intended. The fee will be astronomical.
I look up the stairs. He offered to validate my parking before…
I should eat the cost. Live with the regret. But I can’t afford either.
So, standing at his door, I lift my fist, ready to knock.
∞∞∞
I barely touch my knuckles to the door before it swings open, Daniel cups my face in his hands and crushes his lips to mine.
My body turns to jelly. When I fail to hold myself up, Daniel catches me with a hand on my back pulling me close, holding me against him.
“I just came back to see if your offer to validate my parking is still good,” I joke when he breaks the kiss and touches his forehead to mine.
“I need to see you again,” he says with a dark edge in his voice and glint in his eye. His appetite for me showing more and more every second. “Dinner. Friday night.”
My body slacks again but for a different reason. “I have to work.”
“Saturday.”
“I have to work every night, Friday through Wednesday. Tomorrow—or today now, actually—is my only day off.”
A growl rumbles in his throat. “I can’t wait that long to see you again.”
“Trust me, Daniel. I’m not any happier about my schedule than you are.”
“Lunch,” he growls.
“Today?”
He nods and crushes his lips to mine again. My heart hammers my sternum as his tongue brushes my bottom lip. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders I part my lips and let him in. His tongue is sweet and a little dark, peanut butter cookies laced with sex. Rich and smoky. Like top-shelf whiskey.
I melt in his arms humming, kissing him harder. I want more of him. All of him, on top of me, showing me how a real man makes love.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Daniel says against my lips.
