I choke on a giggle. “I knew what you meant from the beginning, but it was fun watching you get all weirded out.”
He jokingly scowls at me. “That was kind of mean.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s a good thing you love me.” I instantly want to kick myself for dropping the L-bomb. I know the word makes him squeamish.
He stares at me, his expression unreadable, as silences encompasses us.
“So, yeah, let’s go inside,” I say awkwardly after a soundless moment goes by.
Not saying anything, he laces our fingers together and steers me out of the garage, down my driveway, and toward his house. He pauses when we’re about to walk inside and suddenly looks down at the end of the driveway.
I track his gaze to Miss Finkleson, our neighbor across the street, watering her garden in her bathrobe. “What are you looking at?”
“Making sure my . . . babysitter isn’t around.” He tensely massages his neck.
“Babysitter? Dude, what are you talking about?” I squint at his expression. “Did you get high with Sage today?”
“No.” He sighs, his hand falling to his side. “Because of everything going on, an undercover detective has been following me to make sure I’m safe. I didn’t know it, though, and got caught going somewhere. Lila made it seem like, because I fucked up, I was going to be watched all the time, but I haven’t noticed the car around for the last couple of hours.”
“What were you doing?” I wonder. “When you got caught?”
He pulls an oh-so-busted expression. “Hanging out in front of that house Sadie last lived at. Figures the day I decide to go inside is the day they followed me. Lila was really fucking pissed off at me.”
He went into that house?
A detective is following him?
To keep him safe?
I bite down on my lip hard as reality crushes down on me and causes my eyes to water up.
“Lyric, what’s wrong?” He lowers his face closer to mine, searching my eyes. “Are you . . . ? Are you crying?”
“No,” I lie, sucking back the waterworks. “I’m almost crying.”
“Almost crying?” He frowns. “What’d I say that upset you?”
“It’s not what you said. It’s what you didn’t say, which I know is a really cliché girlfriend thing to whine about.” I blink up at the sunlight filtering through the sky, only because I can’t look him in the eye at the moment. “I hate that you keep stuff from me. You going to that house is like the Internet hacker all over again.”
“No, it’s not.” He cups my face between his hands, forcing me to look at him. “I didn’t tell you about this, because I was still trying to figure out for myself why the hell I felt the need to go there all the time.” He smooths his hands down my cheeks, down my neck and shoulders, leaving a trail of heat all the way to my waist. “I realized I was searching for something I’d never really find, so I won’t be going back.”
“Good. You should have never gone there by yourself ever. Not with all this stuff going on. It’s too dangerous.”
“I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to. Not when that detective is keeping an eye on me.” He contemplates something. “It was weird, though. While I was there, a woman came up to me and told me it wasn’t safe for me to be there. But it was raining, and she had the hood of her coat pulled up so I couldn’t see her face.”
“That’s strange,” I agree, trying not to go all crazy-girlfriend on him. But he has me incredibly worried that he’s going to do something stupid. “Did you tell Lila about her?”
“Yeah, she called Detective Rannali, and he said he’d look into it, but I guess the area where the house is has a high crime rate, especially with drugs, and he seems pretty convinced the woman was just warning me to get the hell out of the area.”
I step closer, eliminating the space between us. “Ayden, promise me, the next time you’re going to try something questionable, you’ll tell me first. I know you have this whole belief that you need to do everything alone so you won’t burden everyone with your problems, but I want to be burdened. No, I need to be burdened.”
He presses his lips together and nods once. “All right. I promise.”
“Thank you.” I free a breath of relief. “I need to always know you’re okay.” I step back and twine my fingers with his. “Now, let’s go inside and make out.”
His lips threaten to pull upward as he turns and leads me the rest of the way to the back door. I can feel the beat of his heart pulsating from his fingertips as we enter his house.
It’s quiet inside, soundless inside.
“So, no one’s home at all?” I ask as we kick off our shoes in the foyer.
He shakes his head, giving me a nervous, sidelong glance. “Nope, everyone’s gone for at least another hour.”
Biting back a smile, I let him steer me into the kitchen. The air smells like cinnamon and chocolate, and I spot a plate of cookies on the counter.
“Yes! Cookies!” I exclaim a little too excitedly. Aunt Lila owns her own catering business and is an amazing cook. “I love it when she bakes.”
He laughs at me as I swipe a cookie from off the plate. Then we start up the stairway.
As we reach the top of the stairs, he smiles at me from over his shoulder as I stuff my face with gooey chocolate. “Good?”
“Delish.” I lick my fingers clean, making exaggerated smacking sounds.
He watches me in complete fascination, his eyes burning with something I don’t quite recognize.
I lick my last finger clean. “Are you okay?”
He blinks and then clears his throat. “Yeah, I’m good.”
I eye him suspiciously. “Wait. Are we having another office moment?” I restrain a laugh when he uncomfortably shifts his weight, a flush creeping up his cheeks.
Back in the day, before we were dating, he got a hard-on while I was straddling his lap. Being slightly intoxicated, I pointed it out and embarrassed the crap out of him.
“Honestly,” he starts, carefully calculating his next words, “we’ve had a lot of office moments over the last few months.”
Acting like a ridiculously silly girl, I grin. “Really?”
“I don’t know why you look so shocked,” he quickly says, looking off over my shoulder. “Just looking at you is—does—turns me on. But kissing and touching you . . .” He blinks back at me. “But, yeah, anyway . . .” He waits, looking hopeful that I’ll let him off the hook.