Page 22 of A Perfect Match
I wait until the back door shuts behind him before I return to the honeysuckle.He might think Kru is a sociopath, but me?I’m just curious.Perhapstoocurious.I’ll admit the Daly brothers are something like local celebrities now, after Maverick was on the show and Hazel and Grayson got married, not to mention their older brother Dominic opening up a heart clinic downtown that specifically serves low income patients.They’re great guys—and if Maverick is in this backyard with Kru right now, that means Kru must be great, too.Right?
Grayson brings out a new round of beers; everyone clinks bottles before drinking.I spy until I, too, begin to feel weird.I need to lay this post-coital obsession to rest.Kru is my landlord now.Potentially my neighbor as well, and definitely myusurper.Resuming the behaviors from our first night together would not be wise, because it would make everything intolerably messy.Not just for me, but also with my family.
No way in hell wouldanyof my brothers let me date the man who kicked me out of my own apartment.
So this is it.You’ve thrown muffins at his bare chest.You’ve binge watched his reality TV show.You’ve spied on him during a cookout.Can this be done now?
I turn to extract myself for the last time from the honeysuckle but my T-shirt snags.Damn, it’s the rose bush.I twist to find where exactly I’m snagged, but my fingertips meet the sharp point of the rose thorn.I yelp, bringing the wounded fingertip to my mouth.
It’s too dark back here along the fence line, so everything is a struggle.Not to mention, I really don’t want to mess up the perfect roses I’d spotted, so I’m trying to dodge those as well.The leaves rustle as I twist and bend and grope for release.Does this rose bush have claws?Has it grown fingers and made a fist around my T-shirt?Frustration grows as I continue my battle with the foliage.
“Can I help you?”
A rough voice interrupts my struggle.I look up, finding Kru along the fence line, looking down at me with a smug smile.
“Uh…no.I’m fine, thanks.”
He tips his head, and I can feel his gaze coursing over me, even in the low light of the backyard.“Damn, Piper.You just can’t get enough of me, can you?”
The grit of his voice scrapes through me, leaving goosebumps in its wake.I’m embarrassed to notice that my panties are damp now.Still, I scoff, even though internally I’m agreeing with him.“Please.I just came out to enjoy the night air.I had no intention of finding you here.”
“Finding me is one thing.Staying is another.”
Fuck.Heat floods my cheeks, and I’m glad it’s dark so he can’t see proof of my embarrassment.Maybe he’s been watching me for longer than I realized, which is another source of embarrassment altogether.
"I’ve only stayed long enough to notice you don’t have your camera crew following your every move.I wasn’t aware you were able to survive without that level of documentation.”
“Just like you can’t survive without keeping tabs on me.”He delivers his rebuttal so coolly, effortlessly, that I want to stomp my foot.This was the same type of energy that hooked me the night we first met.And I’ll be damned if it’s going to get me a second time.
“I have zero interest in keeping tabs on you,” I tell him.“Meanwhile, it seems you are obsessed with following me everywhere.Even to my brother’s house.”
“Me?”A small laugh escapes him.“I didn’t even know your name until last week, how could I have possibly followed you to your brother’s house?”
“There are ways,” I tell him, though I don’t care to expand on what they are.“Fact is, my brother has been living here for longer than you’ve even known Bayshore existed, so I don’t want to hear anything that suggests I’m in the wrong here.”
His head tips to the side.“I found you creeping along the fence line, staring at my party like an underfed orphan from a Dickens novel, and somehow that’s my fault?”
The Dickens novel reference stops me, so all I can do is blurt, “Yes.”
He laughs.Genuine belly laughter.It dissolves every last ounce of friction inside me and suddenly I’m glad the rose bush has its death claws in me.
I’d like to stay here.
“It’s not funny,” I tell him when his laughter dies down.“Stalking is a serious thing.”
“Stalking.Right.”He drifts closer, leaning his forearms against the chain link fence.I wish it were lighter back here so I could see how close he truly is.Maybe I’d catch the flecks of amber in his eyes like I did in Cleveland.Get lost in the map created by the tiny freckles on his cheeks.
“Piper, I have one question for you.”The rough scrape of his voice straightens my spine.“Do you remember me from last month?”
He’s added “from last month” to his question because he remembers how I answered this question last time.Damn him.The question, combined with the fact that I can feel the heat radiating off him, catches me off guard.I lace my fingers into the chain link fence for stability while I grope for my answer in the darkness.
“I guess I should take your silence as my answer, huh?”His voice is a little softer now.I can hear the hurt threaded through his words.I squeeze my eyes shut.I wish emotions had an off button.But there’s no stopping the tidal wave of desire that courses through my body whenever I’m near this man.Especially this close.
“Maybe I just need a reminder,” I blurt.My throat is dry and I swallow hard.Did I really say that?I tip my head back, and Kru fills my vision.My belly presses against the fence between us, and my knuckles brush against the solid heat behind his gray tee.Everything else shrinks to a blip around us.All I can see is his handsome face bathed in shadows, those brown eyes drinking me in, his lips curling at the corners.
“Oh yeah?What kind?”
I push up on my tiptoes, hoping my meaning will become clear as our noses touch.I don’t remember in what moment we erased the space between us, but I’m glad we did.The hard planes of his chest press against me.He wants it.I want it.Anticipation bloats between us, heavy and seductive.
