Until the World Stops - L.A. Witt Page 0,43

budget, but yeah, we should do it again.”

“Definitely.”

We held each other’s gazes, and I had no idea what to say.

Fortunately, Casey broke first. “Anyway, um…” He gestured at the stairs. “I should get some sleep. Fucking day shift.”

I laughed halfheartedly. “Yeah. Have fun with that.”

He groaned. “And just when I get used to it, it’ll be back to nights.”

I made a face. There were a few things I missed about the Navy. The shift rotation at this base was not one of them. “When do you switch again, anyway?”

“In—” His eyes lost focus. Then he shook his head. “Fuck, I don’t know. I don’t even know what month it is right now.”

“Ugh. You and me both.”

“Anyway, I’ll check at work tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

We locked eyes again, and just like before, he was the first to speak. “Okay. Well. I’ll see you when I get home tomorrow. Good night.”

“G’night.”

Then he headed upstairs with Tilly on his heels. Listening to his footsteps going up the stairs, I couldn’t help being a little disappointed. It was still a habit to be relieved when he called it a night and I had the place to myself, but tonight, I wished he could stay down here for a while. Talking in the truck over dinner had actually been fun, and I was admittedly bummed out to see it end.

His door opened. He didn’t close it—he never did when Tilly was in his bedroom—but the hinges squeaked just enough to say when he’d gone into the room.

I released a breath.

I was glad he liked the idea of doing this again, because to my surprise, I really hoped we did. And I hoped we did it soon. Maybe not Olive Garden—we did have to be careful with money—but some kind of halfway decent takeout in one of our cars. Except if I suggested it for real, or more than once, then he might take it the wrong way and think I was implying that tonight had been a date or something.

But…had it been? And did I want it to be? Where was the line between grabbing dinner with the only person I could see during this pandemic, and grabbing dinner with the man I didn’t regret marrying as much as I thought I did?

I seriously had no idea what it was I wanted from Casey, or what it was about tonight that made me want more. Was it the taste of ignoring the pandemic?

I shook my head and went into the kitchen to find something to drink.

What the hell was going on in my brain?

And what in God’s name was going on between me and the man I’d married?

It was late when I decided to call it a night. Another hour or two, and Casey would probably be getting up to go to work. It was going to be weird when he was on nights and we were both up until three or four all the time.

Weirdly, though, that didn’t make me dread him going to nights. I usually loved it when he was on days because after he went to bed, I had the house to myself. After this evening, though, the thought of his company had some appeal that it hadn’t had before the world stopped.

As I always did, I climbed the stairs as quietly as I could with my cell phone’s flashlight pointed low so I didn’t trip but I also didn’t shine it into his bedroom when I reached the top. Though Casey was a heavy sleeper, I erred on the side of not making more noise or light than I absolutely had to. That was one thing we’d both gotten right from the time we’d moved in together—don’t fuck with someone else’s sleep.

I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed, still making as little noise as possible, and then went into my bedroom and left the door open a crack so Tilly could come in if she wanted to. With my phone charging, I slipped under the covers.

And I couldn’t sleep.

I was tired, and my brain was mush from spending the last couple of hours poring over my homework, but I was wide awake. Wide awake, and…horny. I’d opened my Tinder app four times tonight before catching myself and remembering that I’d deactivated my profile, and why I’d deactivated my profile. But I couldn’t help it. I was just drawn to it because it was full of beautiful men who wanted to do dirty things, and tonight, pandemic be damned, I really wanted