Page 90 of Safe With Me

“Yeah,” she whispered, her voice scratchy as she pressed her lips to mine. “Every single moment with you has been perfect.”

19

LILA

Mike’s alarmblared from his phone and woke me up with a jolt. I lifted my head, not realizing what it was at first, until an arm around my waist pulled me back.

“I have fifteen minutes,” Mike mumbled behind me, dragging his lips down my back.

“Not enough time to start anything, Officer Russo,” I said, my gravelly voice still full of sleep.

“I think you’re a little too late on that one,” he said, chuckling as he pulled me closer, his already hard cock poking my back.

“Why don’t you take a shower here? I’ll make you some breakfast while you’re in there so you can get to work on time.”

I turned around, my bleary gaze snagging on Mike’s wicked grin. The extra layer of stubble combined with the hungry gleam in his eyes made him impossible to resist, but if we truly started anything, he’d end up missing the entire morning of work.

“Or you could come in with me, and I could bury my head between your beautiful legs and eatyoufor breakfast,” he whispered, his voice rough as he held my gaze, drifting his hand down my stomach.

“I’m trying to be the responsible one here,” I said, catching his wrist before he touched my already wet clit and neither ofus would end up going anywhere today. “Rain check on the joint shower. Go.”

He growled, narrowing his tired eyes at me as he swung his legs over my bed. I watched him stumble into my bathroom, enjoying the view of his strong legs and the flex of his amazing ass as he disappeared behind the door.

I laughed as I settled back on the bed, tucking my hands under my cheek, when I noticed my bracelet was missing. It was a thin black string with silver beads, not expensive, but I felt naked without it on my wrist.

I glanced around, a guilty twinge in my gut that it was probably lost, because how would I be able to find a tiny string anywhere?

I sighed and stood, rummaging through my dresser for a T-shirt and shorts and wincing from the sting between my legs as I changed position too quickly.

Mike and I had had a fair amount of sex over the last few days, but last night’s marathon after we’d come home from the beach had finally done my lady parts in.

I’d told men I loved them before, but I’d never meant it as much as last night. Of all the things still hanging over my head since I’d arrived, I still felt like the luckiest woman in the world because Mike was mine.

It didn’t matter how fast it had happened or how little the immediate pull between us made sense. It felt too right to worry about timelines or years between us.

I almost wanted to thank Ted. This move because of him had pushed me to where I was always supposed to be.

I headed to my kitchen and started a pot of coffee. I set my pan onto the stove and turned on one of the burners before I scrambled a couple of eggs in a bowl, smiling as I listened to the rush of the shower.

Before I dropped the eggs into the pan, I noticed something peeking out from under my door.

I didn’t receive much mail here since I paid my bills online and gave my rent money directly to Kathy and Terry. My mailbox was right next to my door and hard to miss, so there was no reason to stick anything under my door.

Unless someone wanted me to see it right away.

The frying pan hissed behind me as I stared at the envelope. It reminded me of the gifts that would be right outside my door almost every day from Ted. He’d buy them from the florist but bring them over immediately to make sure they were directly in front of my apartment.

I sucked in a shaky breath and grabbed it. The plain white envelope seemed harmless as I studied it. It felt like a letter inside with an odd bump in the middle, a random gift I was sure I didn’t want.

I still wanted to believe it was innocent, but my gut and my racing heart already knew it wasn’t.

My bracelet slid out onto the floor when I ripped it open. I picked it up and noticed grains of sand in between the silver beads. I’d lost it at the beach last night and hadn’t realized it.

Last night.

It was barely seven in the morning on a Saturday. How would anyone know this was my bracelet and where I lived?

Unless they were watching me.

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