Page 25 of Saved from Obsession

And tomorrow I’ll have to shove my inner high-schooler back in the corner and be an adult about everything. When Leo comes back over tomorrow, I’ll put on my best everything-is-fine mask and pretend like nothing ever happened. After all, it’s nothisfault I made a move that he didn’t want to reciprocate.

As for tonight, I’m going to get some sleep and hope that everything will be better in the morning.

* * *

For the thirdtime since I turned out the lights at ten o’clock, I jerk out of sleep with a panicked gasp and my heart racing.

I glance at the clock and see it’s just after midnight, which means I’ve had three nightmares in just under two hours. That has to be a new record. Usually I can get through the night with only one bad dream, but my churning emotions must have lowered my defenses even in sleep.

I’m not going to try to sleep again right now—I know when I’m beaten. Breaths still too fast, my heart still thrumming, I look around the bedroom and feel the darkness closing in on me. I know Cole must be downstairs, Rylan and Leo next door, but right now I feel very alone.

I wish. It’s a childlike notion, wishing for something that I know can’t happen, but I wish Leo could be here with me.

I shouldn’t have kissed him. At least then we could keep up the pretense of only being friends. Now that I bared myself to him, I don’t know if there’s a way to go backward. Maybe I could play it off like I was overwhelmed by my emotions after the package and the discovery of the dead bird?

But that idea tastes sour to me. I don’t want to make up some story—a lie—about my feelings for him.

A soft knock on my door sends my heart rocketing into the stratosphere. Half a second later, the logical part of my brain tells me there’s no way my stalker strolled into the house without anyone noticing and is casually knocking on my bedroom door after midnight. It has to be Cole checking on me.

Another knock sounds, and I call out, “Yes?”

Then a voice I wasn’t expecting. “Georgia? Can I talk to you? Please?”

Leo? Why is he over here? He can’t possibly want to dredge up my mistake again, can he?

I can’t pretend to be asleep now that I’ve already said something. So I ask, “Why, Leo? There’s nothing else to talk about.”

There’s a heavy sigh and a soft thud on the door. “Please, Georgia.“ A thread of strain runs through his voice. “I just—I didn’t want to wake you up, but I heard you moving around in here, and I really want to talk to you.”

I hastily start erecting shields and barricades around my heart. As I flip on the bedside lamp, I reach up to smooth my hair but snatch my hand away. He doesn’t care what I look like, anyway. Then I take a deep breath and say, “Okay, Leo. Come in and we’ll talk.”

CHAPTERNINE

LEO

She’s been having nightmares again.

I suspected it when I came upstairs and heard her tossing and turning, her soft whimpers sneaking under the bedroom door and pulling at me. Her sheets and blankets are all twisted around her body, and there are bluish shadows under her eyes. Even her pajamas are in disarray—her T-shirt wrinkled and slipping off one shoulder.

She looks so beautiful and brave and vulnerable, I want to sweep her into my arms and protect her from everything.

Georgia’s gaze is guarded, her features smoothed into a neutral mask, but she can’t completely hide the pain I caused. I’ve spent the last five hours being angry with myself, pacing the kitchen, holding silent dialogues. Debating the best way to make things right with Georgia, and how to explain to Cole that I want to break our rule about not getting involved with clients.

When I came back down from Georgia’s bedroom after my big screw up earlier, I had to push those thoughts to the side and focus on the other issue at hand. Rylan was back from interrogating the man who delivered the package and we had to discuss how it impacts our plans going forward. Now we have eyes on the CCTV near the last place the stalker was sighted—if he comes back, we’ll try to identify him using facial recognition technology.

After that, Cole went back over to our side of the duplex to catch a few more hours of sleep while I went over all the ways I messed up after Georgia kissed me. I can’t forget her wounded gaze, or the way she stepped away from me. How she curled into herself on the bed and asked me to leave her alone.

And I kept reliving the kiss—her little moans, the weight of her body pressing into me, and the way my heart felt almost unbearably full when I held her. How right it felt, and how I never thought I’d meet a woman who made me feel that way. By the time Cole came back at midnight for his shift, there was no way I could wait any longer to talk to him.

Cole didn’t beat around the bush—he dragged me over to the dining room table and jerked his head at me to sit down. Taking a seat across from me, he raised his eyebrows and said, “What’s going on with you and Georgia?”

Nothing like getting straight to the point. But I’ve known Cole for a long time, have literally trusted him with my life, so I wasn’t going to waste time dancing around it. I told him, “I care about her. More than just as a client.”

There wasn’t a flicker of surprise in his even gaze. “And?”

“I know we have a rule. No getting involved with clients. But,” I took a deep breath and laid it all out there. “I thought I could ignore how I feel about her. But I can’t, and I don’twantto. I want to be with her, Cole, if she’ll have me.”

A corner of his mouth quirked up. “Based on your expression after leaving her room earlier, things didn’t go too well?”

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