Page 55 of Stalked By Shadows

Defense mechanism.Lukas’s message appeared.

Which had been my thought as well, though I’d done my best to try to make him comfortable.Yeah. So that’s why we only almost had sex.

You’re such a nice guy sometimes. You could have used that to overcome the first hurdle.

First hurdle? Since when is sex a first hurdle? And rude that you think I’d take advantage of anyone.

Most guys would have.

Good thing I’m not most guys,I sent back a little irritated.I wish he would open up to me a little.He’d tried. Sharing a bit about the closet, his crafting, and how he felt things other people didn’t, but those were all things about him, not how he felt, emotionally. I didn’t know if he was that reserved or I was missing something. He’d broken down and sobbed in my arms in the middle of the night, crying like his heart had been ripped out, but giving me nothing other than his tears. It made me wonder if it was I who had disappointed him, or life, or something he hadn’t yet mentioned.

Time.Lukas sent back.

Maybe. But there were other problems I had to fix.Need to research garden monsters. Talk to you later.

Garden monsters?

But I closed the message window and pulled up Google. Micah had mentioned salt and holy water. I’d heard of those things. Wasn’t sure how it corresponded with our nightly visitor, but I began to research anyway, hoping to at least give Micah a little more peace at home.

I spent over an hour searching, making notes, and planning, then made another cup of coffee, this time bringing it up the small stairs to Micah. I set it down two inches from his nose, which was the only part of him poking out from the rolls of the quilt. A few seconds passed, then his nose wiggled a little. Yeah, he was as much a coffee addict as I was.

“Morning,” I said when he pushed the blanket off his eyes. “Brought you coffee.”

He glared at me. “Please tell me you’re not a morning person.”

“Nope,” I promised. “But already been up an hour or so. Was going to run some errands really quick, and I wanted to make sure you were okay with me leaving for a while. I can see if Sky will come stay with you for a bit.”

“I’m fine,” he said without feeling. How many times had I said that same thing? It was a lie to cover up things too complicated to say.

“Yeah? How about you have some coffee, maybe a warm bath, and I’ll bring you breakfast. What do you like?”

He frowned at me, half a dozen emotions flitting across his face too quickly for me to read. “You don’t have to do anything for me.”

“Nope. But I want to. So what would you like?”

“Those pancakes you had last night looked good.”

“The French toast? Okay. I know where that place is.” And it was on the way to the rest of my errands. Thankfully, most of what I needed was in the Quarter. “Are you going anywhere right away? Big plans for this morning?”

He shook his head and lifted it a little so he could sip from the side of the coffee cup. It was funny as hell because it screamed of laziness and coffee addiction all in one.

I leaned over and kissed the side of his face. He frowned at me.

“Can you rest a bit this morning? I’ll be back in an hour or two?” I looked at my phone and it was almost eight. “Let me bring you breakfast.”

“Why?” He asked. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“No. And that’s sort of the point.” My brain had been going over it for a while now. “You don’t owe me anything either. Not for the job, or hanging out with me, or even for being my friend. You know that, right?”

He stared at me but said nothing. That’s kind of what I had thought.

So I spelled it out for him. “You don’t owe me sex.”

“I want to have sex with you. I like sex,” he said. “I find you attractive.”

“Thank you.” I nodded. “I find you attractive, too, and maybe soon, we can have sex. When we’re both ready and in the moment. You said something about training and still thinking of each other after a few days? I’d rather be that than a spark that burns out.”

“A spark would hurt less when you go,” Micah whispered.