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16

LIA

I was frozen.

Scared shitless and not knowing what I could do.

He was back.

But instead of watching me shower from a small distance away, he was in my bed, holding onto me like lovers would, and he was quiet.

I didn’t know what he was thinking, nor did I want to know.

He tightened his arms around me marginally, and I let out a stuttered exhale.

In the face of danger, I didn’t fight, and I didn’t run. No, I froze.

And I was stuck frozen on my bed, praying he wouldn’t do anything more than hold me.

I closed my eyes. What would I do if he did something more?

Fuck.

How could I be so helpless?

And what should I do?

I didn’t know anymore. I wanted to turn around and ask him what he wanted from me. The words would not come, however, and a part of me was scared of what the answer might be.

Why me?

What had I done to catch his attention that he felt the need to do this to me?

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I closed them tightly shut, hoping this would be nothing more than a bad dream.

It was a bad dream.

It had to be.

* * *

I woke up in fright to the blare of my alarm.

I blindly reached for my alarm clock, slamming it shut until the noise stopped, and I didn’t feel like my heart was about to fall out of my throat.

Disoriented, I looked around my room, my empty room, as last night’s memories rushed toward me.

It wasn’t a dream.

I knew that much, no matter how badly I had wished for it to be so.

My… stalker had snuck back into my apartment while I slept and gotten into bed with me and held me.

I had stayed up for most of the night since the moment I felt his arms around me.

He stayed for most of it, and a part of me wasn't fully convinced he didn’t know I was awake.

He didn’t do anything to me except hold me, but that was enough.

I shivered in disgust and looked down at my body. I was still in the same clothes I wore to bed last night, and I didn’t feel any different.

But he had touched me.

His arms had been around my middle, spooning me.

Saliva built in my mouth, and the urge to vomit took over.

I didn’t know when he left.

I tried to stay awake. I really did. And I managed that for most of the night, but fatigue finally caught up to me sometime after three o’clock in the morning, and I fell into a restless slumber. Which was so incredibly stupid.

He could have done anything to me while I was asleep.

He could have done anything to me while I was awake. It wasn’t like I could physically go head-to-head with him, but at least I would be aware of that.

I closed my eyes.

I was tired and confused and lost.

I didn’t know what to do anymore.

I was just beginning to feel safe. I had half convinced myself the man would really leave me alone, but he was just toying with me. Giving me a false sense of safety right before he quickly pulled the rug right out from under me.

I wanted to stay in and hole up in my own self-pity.

But the last thing I wanted to do now was stay in this apartment.

I flung the blanket off my body and got ready for work on autopilot.

* * *

We were busy enough at work that for five blissful hours, I managed not to think too much about all that had happened the night before.

It all came crashing down the moment the bell on the door rang, and Mael’s huge form took up the space.

I looked at him, feeling my heart plummet straight down to my stomach.

His eyes found mine right away, and he smiled that charming smile that should have brought me the excitement and nervousness of a girl who had just gone on a first date with a boy she really liked.

Instead, I wondered if I should even pursue this further and bring him into my mess. He certainly didn’t sign up to date someone who was being stalked.

I quickly looked away from him and got to work, letting Sophia take his order and Emily make his Americano. I knew he was trying to catch my eye the entire time, but I couldn’t even look at him without feeling like bursting into tears.

I couldn’t do this, could I?

How was this my life?

I could go to the cops and tell them the man was back. I still had the card Officer Stevens had given me, but there was no proof, and I didn’t know how they would catch him.

What could they do?

And was I making the right choice by keeping this to myself?

I jumped when I felt a hand around my bicep. I turned to see Mael’s concerned gaze, his blue eyes honing in on me.

“Are you okay?”

I pulled my arm away from his grasp. “I’m fine.”

His eyebrow rose in surprise.

“I have to get back to work,” I said before he could say anything else.

He took me in for a beat before nodding. “Okay, baby.”

I turned and walked away, trying hard not to look at him as I worked. He stayed with me for the rest of my shift. I wished he wouldn’t do that. I wanted him to leave so I could…

So I could go back to the apartment my stalker had access to.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my emotions from showing on my face. A glance back at Mael told me he was sitting where he had been since he first got here, and I wasn’t ready to face him yet.

I rushed to the bathroom as soon as I clocked out, taking a look at myself in the mirror. I looked terrible and had bags under my eyes that even concealer couldn’t hide.

And I had no energy.

I couldn’t even remember if I had eaten anything all day. I pulled the hair tie holding my ponytail in place and fixed my hair, trying to make myself look… less dead.

After taking some deep breaths in the bathroom, I forced myself to walk out, grabbing my purse from underneath the counter before I left.

And Mael was gone.

I stopped in my step and took in the empty table.

He was gone.

Just like that.

It was what I wanted, wasn’t it?

I just thought he would have fought a little harder for me. But this was good.

It wasn’t like we were in a serious relationship or anything.

There was no relationship.

And I had wanted this.

So then, why did I want to cry?

I blinked away the moisture collected in my eyes and hurried out of the shop without saying anything to anyone, not wanting any of my coworkers to see me lose it like this. The last thing I needed was for more talk around the shop to circulate about me.

I stepped out into the cold night air, inhaling deeply and then letting it out.

As much as I loved the summer, the winter air was just easier to breathe.

I quickly walked over to my car.

Movement from my side startled me. I jumped, and my ankle bent at an off angle. I nearly fell to the ground had someone not been there, wrapping me in his arms and pulling me in close to his body.

I turned, my eyes connecting with familiar blue ones.

Mael.

He was still here.

He hadn’t left.

“Sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I blinked, not knowing what to say to that.

I straightened and pulled away from him.

“You’re still here.”

He nodded. “Yes. I was waiting for you.”

“Oh.”

He was waiting for me. He hadn’t given up. That shouldn’t make me happy. So then, why did it feel like his waiting for me was the only thing that had gone right for me today?

“Yeah,” he said, taking a step closer to me. “Oh. Are you okay?”

I shook my head, looking off to the side. “I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

He didn’t say anything right away. Then he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into his warm body. I was tense, but only for a moment. He just felt so good.

So good.

And warm.

And safe.

“I get it,” he said.

No, he didn’t get it. Not entirely. But that was okay. Right now, I just wanted to stay in his arms for a little while longer.

I pulled back and looked at him.

He moved slowly as if giving me time to turn away. I didn’t. I held still as he pressed a sweet, swift kiss on my lips and pulled away.

“Come home with me tonight,” he said.

“Come home with you?”

“Yeah. I’ll make sure you can get a good night's sleep.”

Despite all the shit that was going on, I felt a smile tugging at my lips. “You will, huh?”

“Yup. I’ve been told I’m pretty snuggable.”

“Snuggable?” I asked with a laugh. He grinned at me. “Is that even a word?”

“It can be.”

I shook my head. “Who even told you that?”

“My brother. We used to sleep close to each other for warmth growing up.”

That took away my smile. Why would he need to sleep close for warmth growing up unless their childhood was… shitty? Fuck, I didn’t even want to think about that for him. I was starting to care for him, and just the thought that he might have been hurt somehow, even if that had happened in the past, just shredded my heart.

“Does your brother have a name?” I asked.

“Theo.”

“Younger or older?”

“He’s younger than me by two years.”

“You guys sound close.”

“He’s the only man I trust with my life.”

I blinked. That sounded serious. “I’m glad you guys had each other growing up.”

“Me too,” he answered gruffly. “Now, back to my question. Do you want to come home with me?”

I bit my lip. If I went home with him tonight, I wouldn’t have to go back to my apartment. But…

“Don’t you think it might be too soon?”

“There are no expectations. Nothing has to happen tonight if you don’t want it to.”

I nodded. I believed him. It might make me na?ve to believe in another man I hardly knew, but I did.

“I don’t have any clothes.”

“You can wear mine. Or nothing at all.”

I shot him a look. He returned it with a playful smile.

“Okay, you can wear my clothes,” he amended.

I laughed. “What about some stuff I need to get ready at night?”

“How about we stop by your apartment so you can pack? I just… I just want to hold you tonight.”

His confession was made softly as if he didn’t know what to do about that statement. And I could feel any resistance I might have built up against him crumbling like a house of cards trying to stay standing against a tornado.

I stood no chance. “Okay,” I said, and much like the time I agreed to our first date, I hoped to God I wasn’t making a mistake. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Everything went by in a blur. Before I knew it, I was standing next to Mael while he held my night bag in one hand and opened the door to his apartment with the other.

He pushed it open, leaned in to flick on the lights, and turned to me. “After you.”

I licked my suddenly dry lips and looked inside the apartment.

He lived in the better part of town.

The rich part of town.

I didn’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. I thought I would have been less surprised if he lived in a nearly torn-down building, but this?

And it wasn’t because Mael looked like he did, only that there was this… roughness to him that didn’t quite match with his posh neighbor we had run into on the elevator ride up.

I shouldn’t be surprised that he had money. His clothes might not be flashy, but the materials were nice and clearly expensive, and when I had left my car back at my apartment after I had packed a small night bag, Mael had driven us here in a different car than the one he’d driven on our first date. I didn’t know how many cars he had, and at this moment, I didn’t really want to know.

“You actually live here?” I asked.

He didn’t look offended. If anything, he appeared amused.

“Yes,” he said with a laugh. He playfully tapped my ass, getting me to walk inside the apartment, with him following close behind. He closed the door behind him, not that I looked back to see. I was too busy taking in everything.

From the open concept of the space, I could see almost everything in its entirety, from the stainless steel kitchen appliances off to the right to the large white marble island that took center stage to the expensive dark wood dining room table that seats six, to the black leather couch that looked as expensive as it was comfortable. A thud of my night bag being dropped to the floor sounded out from behind me, and then Mael was against me, his arms wrapped tightly around my middle. He leaned down and kissed my neck, and I moved my head to the side to allow him better access.

“I can’t believe you live here,” I said. His chest shook against me as he laughed. “What do you do?”

I now realized I didn’t even know. We never talked about that on our first date.

“I’m… a freelancer.”

I frowned and looked at him. “A freelancer? Doing what?”

“Whatever my clients tell me to do.”

“Whatever?”

Like illegal stuff?

Was that possible? Was I starting a relationship with a criminal? Wouldn’t that just be my luck?

He laughed again and tapped my nose with his index finger. “I do have some lines I won’t cross, you know.”

I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding until now.

Right.

“Come on, I’ll give you the tour and then call for dinner. How does that sound?”

“Wonderful,” I said.

The smile he gave me had the power to stop the world from moving. I was sure of it.

“Wonderful,” he repeated.