Giovanni’s name lit up my screen.
I’m on the fire escape. Let me in.
My eyes widened. What the hell? Was he crazy?
I quickly typed back a response.
Hello, Fox’s mother is asleep beside me.
I’ll be quiet. Gently ease up the windowsill & we’ll go to an empty room.
The man was insane. Certifiable. My thumbs flew over the keyboard.
Like where? The bathroom? Because that’s literally the only free spot here.
He answered right away.
Works for me.
Yeah, my heart was on overdrive. From fear and excitement and a double scoop portion of what the fuck.
Whatever his reasons were for showing up, they must be urgent, because I was pretty sure he was no more eager to get into fisticuffs with Mia and Fox than I was for him to be caught in my bedroom.
We’d have to pin-quiet. Between the other occupants of the place and the sleeping dog in the front room, we were taking a big risk.
Huge.
The only saving grace was that Fox had taken to putting up a doggy gate to block the hallway, so Vey usually was quarantined to the front of the apartment at night. But if he started barking, all bets were off.
I rose and crept over to the window, thanking the heavens above that Mrs. Knox was a heavy sleeper. Hopefully, she would remain so. I pushed up the windowsill and the screen and blinked at the rain slapping against the ancient fire escape. I wouldn’t even trust walking on that rusty old thing, and Gio was climbing up the stairs like a fucking maniac, tiptoeing really, with his dark hair plastered to his head and a gigantic dog in his arms.
Just like that, I melted. Puddled into the very floor where I stood.
God, I loved him. Why it had to be him of all people and now of all times, I didn’t know.
Oh, and the hormones swirling through my system? Yeah, apparently they were also activated by my baby daddy hunting and gathering big stuffed animals, because holy clench between my thighs, Batman.
I pointed to the fire escape landing for the dog, though I was pretty sure leaving a giant stuffed dog out there was a fire hazard. Plus, he was getting all wet. But it would be hard enough for Gio to climb in through the window undetected. Him and a ginormous, dripping pooch? Forget it.
After pushing the sill up as high as it would go, I stepped back and bit my lip as he maneuvered his way inside. One eye stayed on him, the other on the bed. Luckily, Mrs. Knox was sawing them off like she’d gotten lost in the hardware store.
May it please continue.
Somehow he got inside without breaking the window frame apart or making more noise than a mouse in church. Considering the size of him, it was a minor miracle.
I tugged down the screen and window and moved back, holding my finger up to my mouth. He nodded and I gestured for him to follow me out of the room and into the hallway. On my tiptoes, I crept down it, avoiding the creaky spots in the floor, and eased open the bathroom door.
He trailed me inside and shut the door quietly at his back. I’d neglected to flip on the light in my haste, so we were closed in the dark, humid, closet-sized room. My sister had taken a flay-your-skin off hot shower an hour before, and the steam was still trapped inside. Within a moment of shutting the door, sweat was slipping down between my shoulder blades.
Or that could’ve been from the fact that he was standing so close, his uneven breaths wafting through my hair, bringing my nipples to points and setting my clit on throb.
I opened my mouth, needing to say something—anything—to alleviate the oppressive silence, but he moved forward and caught my hips in his big hands. I barely had a second to register the thrill of his hands on my body before he lifted me onto the sink, and my flying elbow sent the toothbrush holder tumbling into the sink.
We both stilled, breathing heavy, mouths close. So close. I motioned to the door, hoping he could see my gesture in the faint light from the streetlight coming in through the narrow window over the tub. A moment later, the lock clicked into place.
Anticipation and anxiety coiled in my belly, twin snakes. I shifted on the thin lip of the sink, restless. Needy. So damn needy.
He turned back to me and reached up to undo my messy sleep braids. His fingers streaked through the long waves, separating them, c