Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men 9)

He started for the stairwell, only for me to pull on his arm. “I’m on the first floor,” I told him, pointing down the hall. We walked toward the third door on the right and I paused to unlock it before I faced him and blew out a breath.

“Thank you. I know I don’t deserve your help, but—”

“Save it,” he said, stepping past me and opening the door to my apartment before disappearing inside.

“Wha—hey! What do you think you’re doing?” I hurried in after him.

“If you even suspect he might’ve followed you home, I’m checking out the place to make sure he didn’t get in somehow.”

“Really, you don’t need to bother.” I trailed him past the couch in the front room and toward the opening of the kitchen. “We’ve already changed all the locks.”

That caused him to swerve an incredulous glance my way. “Which means he’s gotten in before. So yeah, I’m definitely checking the place now.”

He paused at the table and stole an apple Sasha had sitting in a basket in the middle. As his teeth sank into the red pulp, he moseyed back out of the kitchen.

“Help yourself,” I said dryly, only to hurry after him because I knew he’d start down the hall to the bedrooms next.

My mind spun, wondering if I’d made my bed or left worn underwear on the floor. Oh Jesus, I wasn’t sure what I thought about him entering my room. But my stomach swirled with an unnatural excitement, which kept me from stopping him in the living room.

“Hey, you owe me.” He waved the already half-eaten apple over his shoulder. “You kept throwing my supper out on the ground.”

He entered the bathroom first and flipped on a light, only to stop dead in the doorway. I was about to lecture him on how unhealthy it was to drink his supper, but he held up a finger and announced, “You have roommates.”

Wondering how he’d come up with that assumption, I glanced past him into the bathroom, but it looked the same as always to me, makeup and bathroom products everywhere.

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Sasha and Tyla.”

“The tall one and the short one who were at the party tonight, booty grinding you?”

“Yes, why?” I shook my head, confused.

He shrugged. “I just figured you’d never leave a bathroom this messy. A bedroom, maybe. A bathroom, no.”

I scowled and almost told him he did not know me that well, but damn, it was kind of the truth. How the fuck did he know me that well?

“Bet I can figure out which

room is yours.” He stepped past me and entered the next doorway down the line. “Oh. Well, that was easy.”

He’d already flipped on the light when I entered after him. He stood only a few feet inside my room and gazed around at all my walls, or rather at the multitude of dream catchers I had hanging everywhere. After wandering to the closest one, he flicked a hanging feather with his finger and glanced back at me. “Which one was the first your dad bought you?”

I kept eye contact with him as I moved toward the bed and pointed out the only one hanging directly above my headboard. “This one.”

He nodded, smiling affectionately as he stared at it. “That one’s your favorite.”

Of course, he’d figured that out. I watched his face as he studied every little detail of that dream catcher, and I quietly murmured, “Yeah. It is.”

He slipped his attention to me. His chocolate brown eyes held so much sadness and longing that I was a split second from going to him when he turned away suddenly and exited the room.

I drew in a deep breath and pressed my hand to my diaphragm before stepping into the hallway too. I didn’t follow him into Sasha’s or Tyla’s quarters and he didn’t stay in them long, just checked for intruders, but I did wait just outside the door to meet him when he was done being a nice, thoughtful guy and making sure I was safe.

“See,” I told him, holding up both hands. “No ex-husband lurking about.”

He shook his head. “Nope. No ex-husbands.”

“Yeah, so…I guess you need this back now.” I reluctantly began to remove his jacket.

“Sure,” he said, “unless you wanted to keep it a while and sleep with it until you’ve worn my smell out of it.”