Page 38 of His Lair

I’m heading home. Meet me there?

Sammie:

Already here.

I smile. I had a feeling he would be.

Shit… I should definitely be more concerned about him snooping and finding something he shouldn’t. I try to think. I’m always careful to never leave anything out that could compromise my cover. I also don’t take Sammie for the snooping type.

Chapter Seventeen

Istraighten when I hear the doorknob turn. I’ve been waiting here for what seems like hours. I was beginning to think she wasn’t coming home. I would have found her wherever she went if she didn’t show up, though.

“You know, one of these days I might set a booby trap on my door,” she says, appearing in the living room. Her bag drops to the floor. Her hair is damp, her face free of makeup. She showered. Why?

“Where have you been, Lailani?” I ask her without moving from the sofa. I don’t want to touch her. Yet. If I do, I’ll forget about the questions currently running through my mind. Like whose fucking shower she’s just stepped out of…

“I was out, remember? You saw me,” she says. “Are you okay?”

“Where did you go when you left the club?” I press. “Because I came straight here, and it’s been hours. So, where haveyoubeen?”

Her gaze drops to the floor, and she sinks in on herself. Shit. I need to remember she’s not used to my world. The last thing I want is for her to be afraid of me.

“I went to a hotel room, at Paris. I was… I was going to stay there because I didn’t want to see you,” she says quietly.

“You didn’t want to see me?” I parrot.Well, fuck, that’s not what I was expecting.

Lailani shakes her head without looking at me. Then she turns towards the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?”

“Why didn’t you want to see me?” I stand and follow her.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I changed my mind,” she tells me.

“It matters to me,” I say. “Why, Lailani? I can’t fix it, or make sure whatever I did to push you away doesn’t happen again if I don’t know what I did.”

“It’s not you.” She sighs. “It’s me.”

As much as I try not to laugh, I can’t stop myself. “Okay, then what’s wrong withyouthat madeyounot want to see me?”

“Why? So you can fix me? Some things can’t be fixed, Sammie.”

“Everything can be fixed, babe,” I tell her. Because like fuck I can’t fix something.

“I was jealous, okay? And I didn’t like it or know what to do with it,” she finally admits, her eyes lifting upwards and connecting with mine. “I’ve never been jealous before.”

I blink, not sure how to reply to that. “What were you jealous about?”

“When I saw a woman with you, I didn’t like it and it’s not my place not to like it. I have no right to be jealous. I know that, and I’m working on it so you don’t need to worry. It doesn’t change anything,” she says.

It doesn’t change anything?Like fuck, it doesn’t change anything. It changes everything.

I smile. I’m not stupid. I know this girl likes me a lot more than she wants to let herself like me. I get she wants to keep whatever we have under wraps. For now. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want more. I don’t know why she won’t allow herself to go for more. I’ll find out, though.

Then again, the only way I can keep her safe from my world is to keep her a secret. Make sure no one finds out just how much I fucking enjoy spending time with her.

“I like that you got jealous,” I say. “It’s a good thing.”

She shakes her head. “No, it’s not.”