Page 28 of Savage

“How about we rename him as the sexy masked man?”

She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. What if he turns out to be some lunatic?”

He could, I guess. It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought it once or twice myself. But I knew something Hannah didn’t—he’dsavedme. So why would he do that if he was just going to turn around and hurt me later?

“I don’t think that’s going to happen—like I said, I invited him in. Plus, if he was going to hurt me, don’t you think he would’ve done that when I was pinned to the bed under him?”

She gasped. “Cooper. You didn’t…”

“I told you, hot, kinky sex. And tell me, how is it any different from hooking up after swiping right?”

“Because he didn’t find you online,” she said. “He found you by peering through yourwindow.”

I chuckled and nodded. “I know, and call me crazy, but I found it…sexy.”

“You’re crazy.”

Yes, I was. But I also wasn’t lying. Seeing my hot vigilante standing out on my fire escape after dreaming about him had been one of the most surreal moments of my life. Also one of the hottest, and crazy or not, I was happy I’d had the courage to ask him to come back, becausewow, what a night that had been.

“So, you had hot sex with some stranger in a mask and now all that remains—because your dignity left this deli when you admitted to all of this—is his glove?”

“So much for being supportive and nonjudgmental.”

“I can judge you and still be supportive. I just don’t want you to wind up in some alley no longer breathing.”

I grimaced. That comment was a little too close for comfort, but not in the way she thought.

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Hannah reached over and squeezed my hand. “I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh.”

“I know?—”

“It’s just, I worry about you, and your parents would kill me if anything happened to their baby.”

She was right, of course. My parents were already worried about my moving to the big city. If anything were to happen to me, it would crush them.

I was such an idiot. I should’ve just told Hannah about Lachlan, the safe coffee shop guy I’d connected with. Why had I decided to confess this dangerous little story?

Because you wanted to see if you were crazy for having done it in the first place—and shocker, moron, you were.

“Look, I’m okay. It was one moment of madness.”Unfortunately. But after days staring at my open window, I’d finally given up on his ever coming back. “We’ll chalk it up to the one risky thing I’ve ever done in my life. Hell, if it wasn’t for that”—I pointed to the glove—“I might think I’d hallucinated the whole thing.”

“Are you sure you didn’t?”

I shook my head. “My body definitely went throughsomethingthat night, so no, I don’t think so.”

Hannah picked up the glove and examined it. “You don’t think your hero will come back for this?”

I shrugged. “Maybe if it’d been his mask. But no, I think that will be the last I see of him.”

“Maybe that’s for the best.” She handed the glove back to me, and I stuffed it into my pocket, nodding my agreement.

“Maybe.”

As if she could sense my disappointment, she picked up the other half of her sandwich and said, “But thatisa very juicy story.”

I grinned. “Told you.”

AN HOUR OR so later, we parted ways at the deli, Hannah rushing back to work while I did a little window-shopping before heading home. It’d been great to catch up with her, even though she probably thought I needed therapy now.

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