Page 27 of Savage

“No.” I pointed to the glove. “The guy didn’t only wear gloves, but a mask too. So he definitely fits my superhero vibe more than your romcom.”

“A mask?” Hannah dropped her half-eaten sandwich onto the plate and leaned across the table. “What do you mean he was wearing a mask? Did you go to some kinky sex party without me?”

“Not exactly. But I did have some kinky sex.”

“Shut the hell up.”

“Okay, but then you won’t get all those juicy details you were asking about.”

Hannah pursed her lips, running her eyes over me, then her mouth curved into a devilish grin. “Well, we can’t have that, can we? Spill.”

Okay, where to start? Where to start…

She didn’t know about the drug dealer situation, so it wasn’t like I could tell her my hero had followed me home after I botched a deal and snuck in my window. So how did I fudge that little detail?

“I was at home one night, researching my story, when I glanced out the window and…”

“And…?”

“Remember you said you wouldn’t judge me.” She nodded, and I continued, “And I saw someone watching me.”

There. That wasn’t a complete lie.

She swallowed her bite, and then cleared her throat. “Someone waswatchingyou?”

“Mhmm.”

“Like a…stalker?”

I’d never thought of him that way. But she didn’t know the other part of the story, so of course it sounded like he was a stalker.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then what would you say?”

“Hot, masked stranger?”

“That you don’t know.”

“Right.”

“So let me get this straight in my head. One night, you were sitting at your desk working and you looked out the window, saw some masked guy on your fire escape watching you, and decided,he looks like someone I want to sleep with?”

“I did mention he was hot, right?”

“He was wearing a mask—how could you tell?”

Did she have to be thinkingsologically? Logic had no room in this conversation. “Hey, you said you wouldn’t judge.”

“That was before I knew you were risking your life for sex.”

“Kinkysex,” I corrected her.

“You’re crazy. You know that, right?”

“Probably. But it’s not like we just jumped straight into bed. The first night I saw him, he was going to run but I stopped him. I was so…intrigued that I invited him in.” I shrugged. “So I guess I was the one who made a move.”

“On a stalker?”

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