Page 8 of The Games We Play (Balance of Power #3)
SEAMUS
T his is twice now. Twice she’s almost seen me, and twice I’ve ended up trying to blend into a goddamn wall.
I crane my neck to peek out between the drawn blinds of the window. I can only see her lower half as her feet shuffle into her flip flops and then she steps inside her house.
She must have seen me, or at least the silhouette of someone watching her, otherwise she wouldn’t have stopped.
She does yoga in her underwear.
She does yoga…in a dainty bra and barely there panties.
In her backyard.
I glance around the surrounding houses and, fortunately, none have a second story, so no one has the same view I have. I can’t decide if I’m happy about the fact that I chose this specific house or really fucking pissed off about it.
It’s a torturous temptation.
She stretched and moved her body flawlessly through every pose, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
It was like her own personal dance that was a show just for me.
My cock, normally not influenced by something so basic as a woman in a thong and sports bra, was standing full salute the entire time.
Jesus, Hudson is right. I am losing my touch. I have no control over my body or my incessant thoughts of Mimi.
I was going to give it a little more time before I dropped myself back into her world, but I’m tired of waiting.
If I can just reconnect with her, clear the air between us, figure out what happened, I won’t feel so conflicted and unruly. I’ve never felt so out of control in my entire life, and I need some of it back. All of it, preferably.
But if our meeting at Afterburn is a precursor of how she’ll respond to me when she sees me again, I have to plan the next one perfectly.
I move to the other side of the room and peer out of the blinds into the bay window that looks into her kitchen. This has the perfect view of the sink that sits in front of the window and the kitchen island behind it.
She’s sitting at the edge of the counter as she pulls her hair out of the messy bun she threw it up in when she was working out.
It falls over her bare shoulders with only the straps of her sports bra between.
She’s holding her phone face up, presumably the call on speaker, and the genuine smile she’s beaming into it is real and comforting.
I tilt my head and squint as I focus my attention on the lit screen.
It’s a picture of an older woman with dark hair and a smile that mirrors her own.
Shifting my gaze, I watch Mimi’s lips move as she talks.
What are you and Dad up to tonight?
So, it is her mother. She keeps her eyes on the screen as her mother continues to talk.
That sounds fun.
Mimi flips her hair over to one side and leans her chin into the palm of her hand.
No, I don’t have any classes today, but I do have a date later .
What. The. Fuck.
Not with that guy, he was pretty dull. I haven’t met this guy yet. I’ve been talking to him on the site I told you about.
I know, Mom. I know. I always give Penny the profile information for the guys I meet online and I share my location with her the entire time I’m out.
Mimi rolls her eyes.
Mom, I’m super safe.
Her mom continues to talk, and Mimi listens with impatience written all over her body.
Yeah, okay, okay. I gotta go, though.
She hangs up the line, clearly irritated. A feeling I can completely relate to at this very moment.
I should expect that she would be dating, knowing she wasn’t married and attended Afterburn on opening night. But now that she’s here, next to me, so fucking close, knowing she’s going out with another guy, has me seeing fucking red.
I’m in complete control, on the outside, not showing a single emotion, but I am raging on the inside.
Mimi gets up from the stool, takes a swig from her water bottle, then disappears from view.
I wasn’t planning on making my presence known for a little while, but it looks like I have a date to crash tonight.