Page 16 of Come Inside

I surveyed them both, definitely a lie, but whatever. I needed to get going. “Sure. And my shoes?”

Kazi pointed to the door. “There’s a new pair along with a replacement phone at the door for you. The new phone should be programmed and ready to go.”

I offered him a genuine smile. “You know you are the best assistant a girl could ask for?”

“I aim to please, Miss Yara.”

I went down a hallway to the door and sure enough, right inside were two bags.

When I returned to the men, they were both dressed.

“Here, I’ll swing you by the house to get ready and refreshed,” Kazi offered.

“Sounds good, well bye then Mr. Mateo.”

Kazi appeared uncomfortable for a minute before stepping into my space and steering me back towards the door. “He’s going to be sticking around.”

I started to protest. Sure, I would have fucked Mateo last night, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see him every day. I may be more comfortable around him than I ought to be but that was it. That wasn’t a ticket into my life.

Kazi saw my trepidation and cut me off before I could argue. “He works as a bodyguard back home. He’s going to stay until we figure out the stalker situation.”

The air whooshed out of my lungs. I was doing my best to actively forget about that. Especially since I could guess who the quote-unquote stalker was. “Fine,” I agreed begrudgingly.

I could tell when Kazi wouldn’t let something go, he was a stubborn fucker. It was what I loved about him.

But in this moment, I was beginning to hate it too.

Chapter 12

Yara

It had been a week since my first encounter with Mateo, and I was currently doing something I tried to actively avoid as best I could. Staring at my reflection. Except I was examining my arm, pointedly ignoring the rest of my body.

Specifically, the bandage covering the gash on my arm. I wracked my brain for the umpteenth time trying to recollect the incident. I remembered the rest of the night, but for the life of me, I couldn't recall injuring myself.

The cut was directly over my birth control implant. For a sick moment, when I first saw it, I thought I may have somehow managed to remove it, but after rubbing the area, I could tell there was still something in my arm.

It was mostly healed now, and I secured the bandage back into place, re-covering the mirror. I could tell it was going to scar.

Another imperfection.

I shut the entire line of thought down as I stepped out of the bathroom, it was connected to my office, and I was grateful to see that no one else was in it.

Since waking up in that hotel room, Mateo had not been more than fifteen feet from me at any point.

It was aggravating.

At least that’s what I was trying to convince myself, except I found that I was enjoying his attention.

His intense unwavering gaze, his calming aura, the way he ignored the rest of the world except for me.

It made me feel special in some twisted way. Being around him had me dressing up for him, just to see his reaction. He made me feel confident, beautiful,wanted.

The only problem was that I knew he didn’t buy my car accident story and every time he saw a new scar, something akin to rage skittered across the man’s face. I knew it was only a matter of time before he pushed me, and I wasn’t ready for it when he did.

Settling down into my chair, I caught my reflection for a moment before logging into my computer. The self-deprecating thoughts did not assault me today, and I was incredibly grateful for it.

Pulling up my email, I switched to the account I made for something specific.

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