Page 9 of Three Rules I'd Never Break

A knock sounded at the back door, and I checked the time. Who could it be? Tessa usually messaged before coming over. Cami too. I tossed my book on the bed and unlocked the bolt.

Eli crossed his arms when I opened the door. “You shouldn’t open the door for strangers.”

“You aren’t a stranger.” I said it with all the confidence of someone who had just thrown down the winning card in a poker game.

“You had no way of knowing it was me.” He didn’t even smile.

The man could be incredibly maddening, but he was talking to me, and I wanted to keep the conversation going.

I leaned against the door frame. “Now see, that feels a little like entrapment.”

His brow furrowed. “I just wanted to be sure you weren’t having any trouble.”

“Want to come in and check for yourself?”

His gaze dropped to the hem of my long night shirt, but only for a split second. Then he shook his head.

“Thanks for checking on me.”

Thanks to Tessa’s conversation with Eli, I knew he was working nights all month. Would he check on me often?

If so, I couldn’t waste the opportunity.

He tipped his hat. “Night.”

I closed the door but didn’t turn the bolt. One...two...

“Lock it.” Eli had two settings—silent and commanding.

I wasn’t sure which I liked better.

Instead of doing as he asked, I yanked the door open. “What if we set up a secret knock? Then I would know it was you. Something like—oh, what’s that called?” I rapped my knuckles against the door. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Tap. Tap.

“Shave and a haircut is too obvious. Lots of people knock that way.”

“I said something like it. Make something up.”

His lips pinched together.

That was my signal to wait. The man was a walking database it seemed. And sorting through all that data took time.

After a few seconds, he knocked out a rhythm on the door. Tap, brief pause, tap, tap tap, tap, tap. Pause. Tap, tap, tap, silent beat, tap. Pause. Tap tap, brief pause, Tap, tap, tap, tap.

That seemed like an excessive number of taps, but the chance of someone accidentally figuring out our secret knock was close to nil.

“Wow. Okay. You’ve given some thought to secret knocks. Clearly.”

He folded his arms. “That’s too long, isn’t it? I’ll just do the first part. Want to hear it again? Just the beginning.”

It meant he’d stay longer.

“Please.”

He tapped out the new shorter secret knock. Tap, slight pause, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. I memorized the number of knocks and where the pause was.

“Will you remember that?”

“Yep. Now I’ll know it’s you.”

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