Page 97 of Eyes in the Shadows

Hours later, I wake in the middle of a bad dream. I sit up, chest heaving, and check the clock. 7:23. It’s probably too late in the morning to fall back asleep, but maybe if I lay in bed, it will come back. After a visit to the bathroom, that is.

I hear the bedroom door close as I’m washing my hands and my heart does a little flip in my chest. Mac’s back.

“Hi,” I say, smiling at him. The light spilling through the blackout curtains gives the room a strange light quality, like dark daylight.

He comes immediately to me and drops a kiss onto my lips. I eagerly go up on my toes to meet him halfway. “I was expecting to find you asleep,” he says, rubbing my bare upper arms. “That goodnight text came late—or, early, I guess.”

“I decided to stay up; I got all out of whack with bedtimes the past couple weeks. But it’ll be good to be back on roughly the same schedule for when I go back to the restaurant. If I still have that job, anyway…”

He tilts his head at me, then goes to sit on the bed to remove his shoes. “I thought you didn’t want to work in the restaurant.”

I love how well this man listens. I also love watching the veins in his large hands as he unlaces his black combat boots. “I think that realization was just the first step. I’d like to have any business I start already turning a profit before I leave a steady paycheck.”

He nods, but his face is impassive so I can’t really tell if he has any opinions on that. “That’s a safe way to do it. Do you have a timeline in mind?”

I shrug as he stands and starts working his belt. “Being in business for myself is something I can start doing anytime, I just have to really go after it. It’ll probably mean longer days for a little while—two jobs, getting my name out there—but it’ll be worth it for something I like better.”

He meets my eye, then starts unbuttoning his shirt in the front. “It’s your call, of course. But you’re not going back to that apartment, that’s for sure. You’re going to live in another building, one with better security and a doorman—”

“I can’t afford that,” I point out with a laugh. What a nice thought, though. “I’m not quite paycheck to paycheck. I’m… weekend trip to new cell phone. It’s not a comfortable way to live.”

“I’ll pay for it.”

“And, what, I’ll be some kind of kept woman?” I laugh again, even as my stomach flops over. It sounds a little more forced to my own ears this time. “You’re sweet, but if you’re not in my life, I need to have the apartment I can afford with the job I’ve got—”

“What the hell makes you think I’m not going to be in your life?” the lightness is gone, and his brows have snapped together. His fingers have stopped unbuttoning and his posture has become rigid.

I falter. I hadn’t really meant to say that part out loud. “Oh, um…”

“Eleanor,” he says, his tone a warning. “What about anything that’s happened here has given you any indication I intend to let you go when this is over?”

“I… uh…”

He takes a step towards me. “I thought we agreed to make this work. Didn’t we? Don’t you want to?”

My mouth has gone dry and my heart is racing. Distractingly, it’s part fear and part desire, as the aggression in his steps towards me has me remembering back to when we first got together—when he was all wild passion and possession. Heat blooms in my face and moves under my skin, directly to my core.

I fall back. “Yes, of course—”

“Then why did you just say I won’t be in your life?” he demands.

“I… you just said earlier that I would be staying here after the job is done and I know you won’t be… It’s not like you meant we were going to be living together.”

“That’s exactly what I meant, Eleanor.”

“What?” I stop as the bathroom door presses against my back. “You just saidIwasn’t going back to my apartment, thatIwas going to live somewhere with a doorman. You never said ‘we.’ It didn’t sound like you were planning on joining me.”

He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, just breathes audibly through his nose and stares down at me. His chest brushes against mine and I feel cornered. “We’regoing to live in an apartment building with a doorman.”

Hope, and a lifting sense of joy fills my body. He’s making plans for a life with me? He has been, all this time? “Really?” I breathe.

But he doesn’t share my newfound happy relief. His hand comes up to circle my neck and I feel my eyes go wide. His voice is that low, dangerous tone that sends a shiver up my spine. “You seem to have forgotten something very important, darlin’. I think you need a reminder.”

My breath catches. I think I know where he’s going with this, but… I really, really want to be right. “Does that mean… I haven’t been a very good girl, Mac?”

His eyes drop to my lips and I lick them. He releases me and takes a step back. “No, you have not. Go stand by the bed.”

My entire pussy contracts, spasming. I look down towards the floor as I wind around him, shuffling over to the corner at the foot of the bed.

---