Page 77 of Safe With Me

“Don’t be silly. I’m almost finished with?—”

“And it can wait,” Jake said, coming up to us with a wide grin, jerking his chin toward the door. “See you in the morning.”

“Okay.” I relented, a real smile pushing across my lips for the first time all day. “I guess I’m leaving with Officer Russo.”

“Guess you are,” Mike said, offering me the crook of his elbow. “Get your stuff. You’re playing hooky with me this afternoon.”

I turned back to my desk, saving my work before shutting down my computer and grabbing my phone and purse.

“See you in the morning,” I told Jake over my shoulder as I slipped my arm through Mike’s.

“Did you really ask your father to let me out early?” I asked Mike as we headed to my car.

“I did. I figured you could use a break. Far away from the chaos of yesterday. See? Good as new,” Mike said, tapping the door.

The blue paint almost glowed in the sunlight, making my car look even better than before the scratches.

“I can’t believe how good it looks.” I skated my finger across the door, the metal smooth to the touch instead of the ragged scratches from last night.

“Aaron and his crew do good work. They’ve fixed a few scratches and dents for me over the years. Looks great, right?”

“Almost as if it never happened,” I muttered, the words sour as they slipped off my tongue.

Because it did happen. And while I very much wanted to think I was a victim of summer mischief, I knew deep in my gut that I wasn’t. This was intentional and, I feared, only the tip of a scary iceberg.

“So you’ll let me steal you from my father for an afternoon,” Mike said, snaking an arm around my waist as I stared at my car door.

“Sure,” I said, falling back into his embrace as I shut my eyes. “Where are we going?”

“Where there are no assholes from the past or stupid kids in the present. Just you and me,” he whispered. “I’ve thought about you all day.”

“You’ll be happy to know that I managed not to have another panic attack in front of your father. I guess itiseasier when people know.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that. Well, okay, I was a little.”

I swiveled my head to his wry grin.

“I was worried about you being shaken up, yes. But mostly, what I thought about was last night,” he whispered as he coasted his hand down my hips. “How sweet you tasted when you came on my tongue, your beautiful tits bouncing as you rode my cock.”

“Jesus, Mike,” I hissed as his hands drifted above my waist, one of his thumbs brushing against my breast.

“I want you to come back to bed with me.”

Heat pooled between my legs from the husky dip in his voice.

“At four in the afternoon?”

He spun me around and pulled me flush to his body, a feral gleam in his eyes as he smoothed his hand down my cheek.

“Yes. And this time, I want you inmybed. I want to wake up in the morning and smell you on my sheets and feel you everywhere.”

My eyes flicked to his waist, his erection pressing against me through his jeans. If we were being watched, this would only make it worse, but part of me, regardless of how reckless it was, wanted to antagonize Ted if he really was back.

Ted had trapped me in a box, afraid to live anything but a quiet life under the radar, alone. I wanted to love Mike out loud, enjoy every bit of him until we were sweaty and spent.

Before you have to say goodbye.

I blinked away the intrusive thought before I registered the one before it.

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