Page 39 of Dark Secrets

Delaney bolted up in bed, frantically looking around for the noise that had woken her. Another low rumble reverberated through the room. She rubbed her hands over her face. Just a truck driving by on the street.

It was an unfamiliar sensation, being jerked out of a sound sleep, because she hadn’t let herself sleep that deeply in such a long time. She was used to being half alert, ears straining for even the slightest hint of danger. Even before she’d run, she could never let herself truly relax. It always seemed to hurt less when you were constantly prepared for it.

Twisting to look at the clock, she jolted. It was almost ten. So much for her plans to get up early and take a long, hot bath while James was out doing whatever he was doing this morning. She was sure he’d wake her up moving around, but she’d been too wrapped up in her dream to hear him.

Maybe because her dream had been about him. His hands on her waist, his lips against hers. Her dream had taken them farther than the kiss they’d shared in the living room the night before. He’d pressed kisses over her skin while his hands skimmed up under her shirt.

He’d groaned when she’d tightened her grip on his hair and guided his mouth to her breast. Then he’d rewarded her with a slow circling of his tongue over her nipple through the thin cotton of her tank top. Even now, she could feel them pebbled and aching at the memory of his mouth. The imagined, entirely fictional memory of his mouth.

She slid out of bed and crossed to the bathroom. Unwinding the scarf she’d tied around her head, she ran a bit of product through her hair and used her fingers to fluff out the curls. She rubbed moisturizer into her skin and, for the first time in a long time, thought about buying a little makeup to wear.

The idea felt ridiculous. Makeup was just one more unnecessary thing to haul around when she left again. Unless she didn’t leave. She’d promised James an answer by tomorrow, and she was no closer to deciding one way or another. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She knew what she wanted to do; she just wasn’t sure it was the right choice.

She wanted to stay, wanted to kiss him again, wanted to allow herself more. It would be easy; he’d weakened her defenses. Not with brute force, but with trust. He was constantly handing her the control, reminding her she could stop whatever happened between them at any moment, that all of it was her choice.

It had been so long since she felt like any of that was true, but she felt that way with him. He could be manipulating her, making her feel safe so when he pounced she was too stunned to see it coming, too dependent to leave. But even as she tried to paint him with that brush, it wouldn’t stick. She knew the signs now. He didn’t have any of them.

Hopping into a pair of jeans and pulling her Orchid t-shirt on over her head, Delaney stared down at her bag on the floor of the closet and slowly slid the door closed. Decision made, her heart thumped in her chest.

It felt both heady and terrifying to stay. It could be fine, or it could all go horribly wrong. She wouldn’t know which one until she was in the thick of it. But she wasn’t a doe-eyed co-ed anymore. She’d take it one day at a time and not look beyond that. It’s not like she was looking for happily ever after. She didn’t believe in them anyway.

Jogging down the stairs, she grabbed a banana from the bowl and peeled it on her way down to the pub. She was cutting it close, but she had a few minutes to spare before Addy showed up. Maybe she’d run to the store and grab that makeup. She was out of practice, but it couldn’t be that hard to relearn some old tricks, could it?

The noise didn’t even register until she tugged open the lower door, and then the sound washed over her. The pumping bass of Addy’s music. Shit. What the hell was she doing here already? If the music was going, that meant she’d had at least one cup of coffee.

There was no way to sneak out from this spot unless she got lucky and Addy was in the walk-in. Even if she was busy in the freezer, Addy had definitely seen Delaney’s car in the lot when she pulled in. Shit, shit, shit.

She didn’t expect to keep this secret forever. Then again, she hadn’t really known she’d be in Philadelphia much longer until a few minutes ago. Desperate to hear something over the noise, Delaney thought she could just make out the distinct whoosh of the walk-in door opening.

Perfect. She tugged open the door separating the stairs to the apartment from the rest of the kitchen. If she hurried, she could rush past the freezer without Addy being any the wiser that she was there. But she’d miscalculated.

The noise wasn’t Addy going into the walk-in. She was coming out. And when she saw Delaney standing at the bottom of the hidden stairs, the door slowly swinging shut behind her, her mouth fell open.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Delaney silently kicked herself. The lamest line in the history of the English language.

Addy jerked as if Delaney’s words had yanked her out of some kind of trance and carried the bowl she’d filled with ingredients into the kitchen, setting them on the counter. When Delaney followed, she reached over and violently pressed the button on the Bluetooth speaker to silence the music.

“It’s none of my business what it looks like.”

“Addy—”

“Really,” Addy interrupted, neatly lining up her ingredients on the stainless steel table. “You’re two grown adults who can do whatever you want in your free time.”

“We’re not sleeping together.”

Addy’s hands stilled, then reached for the beef she’d brought out from the walk-in, dumping it into a clean bowl and adding seasonings to it. Delaney was sure Addy didn’t believe her, and that thought caught on something inside her.

This woman was the closest thing she’d had to a friend in a very long time. Clara too. She didn’t want either of them to think less of her. Another attachment she hadn’t allowed herself in what felt like forever. Worrying about what people thought of her.

“Morning!” called Clara’s singsong voice from the hall. Jesus, why was everyone so early today? Clara appeared in the doorway and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Addy said quickly.

Delaney sighed when Clara’s frown deepened. “If you’ll let me, I want to be honest with you both.”

Clara stepped further into the room, looking from Delaney to Addy and back again. “Be honest about what?”

“About why Addy saw me coming down from James’s apartment this morning.

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