and decided on, “I’m glad it was you. And it’s not fair that it’s complicated. I’m not a little girl. I should get to choose what and who and when.”
“I don’t think we live in that world, Lia.”
“I hate it so much when you guys talk like that. There’s only one world!”
“Is there?”
Lia huffed and crossed her arms—and her bottom lip pushed out, possibly not making the best case for her claim that she wasn’t a little girl. But also looking absolutely sweet and hot and desperately fuckable. Alex couldn’t help but lean in and nip at that lip.
His cooking skills were decent, probably slightly above average, and definitely well above average on the single-guy scale. He cooked for his mom when he was home and she had a long day in the salon, and he’d been the main dinner cook during the years when she’d taken classes at night and gotten an Associate’s Degree in business. So he knew his way around a stove.
Lia’s half-size fridge was fairly well stocked, as he’d already known, seeing as he was the one lugging her groceries in. There were plenty of cooking ingredients but not a lot of high-calorie options. Still, he managed to make her up a nice two-egg spinach omelet and a little fruit salad on the side. Instead of coffee, he brewed her hot tea and dropped a couple spoonsful of sugar in.
He used her lap desk as a tray and brought her breakfast in bed at five-thirty in the evening. As he kissed her head and turned back to rustle himself up a couple sunnyside eggs, he noticed that her drapes were open, with only the sheers left to cover the windows.
There were cameras out there, angled to show anyone who might try to work their way up the sides of the building. Those cameras showed Lia’s windows, thus what was going on inside the windows, which was why she rarely opened the sheers.
He was pretty sure nothing worthwhile could have been visible this afternoon, but it was getting dark. He’d turned on a few lights to cook by. The cameras would pick up virtually everything now, and it didn’t look like he was leaving soon. He’d be seen making himself comfortable in her apartment, well after he should have said his goodbyes. Lia would be seen to be in bed, too.
Not that there would be any further sexcapades to be seen.
Still, he pulled her drapes closed. If there was the slightest possible chance he wasn’t going to be killed, or beaten until he wished he were, he had to be careful.
Once they were secured within the cocoon of her apartment, Alex went back and made himself some breakfast for dinner.
~oOo~
She ate most of her omelet and drank two cups of tea, not commenting on the presence of sugar. Alex sat in the chair near her bed and had his eggs. They talked a little, but only about the meal he’d made, and how he’d learned to cook. They both seemed too overwhelmed by the events of the afternoon to be ready to face them.
After they’d finished eating, he took the dishes back and cleaned up the kitchen. When he checked on her after he was done, Lia was asleep.
He could go now. He’d taken care of her. He hadn’t fucked her and split, while she was so upset. They had things to talk about, definitely, and if he had a chance, they would. But not tonight. Tonight, she was tired, and he was fried, and he had no idea what happened next.
He didn’t want to go. What he wanted to do was slide into bed with her, pull her close, hold her while she slept, fall asleep that way. But he couldn’t do that.
So he went to her and lifted her hand. Giving it a little shake, he said, “Lee. Wake up, babe.”
She moaned and shook her head, but her eyes opened. He crouched beside the bed. “I have to go now.”
“I don’t want you to,” she mumbled, letting her lids fall again. “I want you to stay.”
“I want to stay. But I can’t. You understand?”
“Papa.”
“I’m not supposed to talk about him tonight. But yeah.”
“It sucks.”
“I’m sorry.” He kissed her cheek. “Go back to sleep.”
Her eyes popped open as he stood. “Will I see you tomorrow?”
Alex smiled, though the question made him queasy. “I hope so.”
~ 9 ~
In the harbor outside Nick’s office, a ship sounded