“Hello,” I said.
“I’m at the door,” he replied.
I stood there in my bedroom, trying to decide what to do.
“I’m sorry I didn’t text you back.”
His voice sounded tired. What had happened today? Would he even tell me?
“I’m going to bed,” I replied.
He sighed wearily. “Please, Henley,” he begged.
Closing my eyes tightly, I made the decision. I couldn’t accuse him of something when I didn’t know the details. It wasn’t as if he had been kissing her. They had just been talking, closely, and what appeared intimately.
I walked out of my bedroom and down the hall until I saw him standing on the other side of the door. His eyes locked with mine and I stood there, wondering what if he had been with Isla … he hadn’t made me any promises. He had never said we were in a relationship. We were together every day. We had sex. But did that make us exclusive.
No. But Isla was a married woman with a child. That made it adultery. If he was doing anything with her that was. I had to know before I pushed him away. Seeing him standing out there, I couldn’t turn away from him. We might not be in an official relationship, but my heart didn’t seem to care about the details.
I ended the call and went to open the door. Saul stepped inside and closed it behind himself. Never once breaking eye contact with me.
“You locked it,” he said.
“You told me to,” I reminded him.
A tiny smirk played on his lips. “Yeah, I did.”
“I’m tired,” I told him.
He reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “Then let’s go to bed.”
I looked down at our hands. His much larger and tanned one against my smaller pale one. Being with him always felt right. Or it had. Until now. Until I didn’t know if all those warnings I received meant something.
Saul walked me back to the bedroom and pulled back the covers for me to climb inside. I didn’t say anything as I got in bed. I watched as he undressed but left on his black boxer briefs then joined me. He pulled me to him and tucked my head under his.
“Where have you been today?” I asked.
“Lily ended up keeping me until late. She was having a hard day.”
“Did she have any company?” I asked then.
“No. She never does.”
“You stayed with her all day then?” I needed him to tell me. To make it all better.
“Yeah,” he replied then kissed the top of my head. “Close your eyes. Get some sleep.”
That was his first lie.
Thirty-Two
Even with the late night, my brain had been programmed to wake up at four. I lay in bed and tried to go back to sleep, but it never came. Saul looked so peaceful beside me and I didn’t want to wake him. I stayed in bed, watching him sleep and going over last night’s events.
He hadn’t told me about Isla, but he had simply been talking to her. It may have been so innocent, he didn’t think to mention it to me last night. Dealing with Lily could have been so stressful that a conversation with a woman he came off the elevator with wasn’t worth remembering.
By the time six thirty rolled around, I was sure that I had overreacted. I had been to the Evans’ house and I had seen Isla with her daughter. She was a happy little girl. Their house was beautiful and it looked like everything a happy home should look like. My gran had babysat for them, so they could go on dates and business dinners.
I didn’t know why Saul had not told me where he had been when he got off the elevator with Isla, but it could easily have been a connection to Lily through Gran. My doubting him was unfair. He hadn’t texted me all day, but I knew his mother could be a lot on him. He was a good son. Possibly the best son I had ever known.
Reaching up, I brushed a curl from his eyes. He was also the most beautiful male I had ever known.
“Mmm,” he made a low sound in his chest then turned to nuzzle my neck. I tilted it back to give him easier access. “God, you feel good.” His voice was raspy from sleep.
I slid a leg up onto his hips to get closer to him.
“Start that and you’re gonna get fucked,” he warned, kissing the skin beneath my ear.
“I hope so,” I whispered.
With a growl, Saul flipped me onto my back and was on top of me. I stared up at him, prepared to see lust in his gaze and the dark hunger he got when we had sex. Instead, there was something more. He looked down at me with a deeper yearning. It wasn’t just me that was feeling things but he was too. Either that or I wanted him to feel things so badly I was seeing more to it than there was.
“I missed you,” he said, running his hand from my neck to my stomach slowly.
“I missed you too,” I admitted, although it had been one day we hadn’t been together. I found myself always wanting to be near him.
“I’m addicted to you, Henley,” he said before he took the edges of my panties and began to pull them down my legs.
We didn’t say anything more. My mind tried to tell me that his being addicted wasn’t a good thing. Addiction wasn’t sexy or romantic. But my body was hungry for his touch and soon it was my body that won over. Every part of me wanted to be with Saul and that want was quickly turning into something so much stronger.
I was weak when it came to him. Being weak made me vulnerable. I also realized I didn’t care as long as I was with him.
The coffee was brewing and I pulled out some blueberry muffins from the fridge while Saul took a shower. I had half a loaf of banana bread that I also took out and turned on the oven to warm them up. Gran hadn’t been a fan of microwaves. She was convinced they gave you cancer. She had never owned one in her home. Her reasons for not having a Keurig for her coffee had been more basic. She said the coffee didn’t taste the same as when it was brewed the way it was supposed to be brewed. She also drank Maxwell House so there was that.
When I heard Saul’s footsteps coming down the hall, I took out a cup and poured him some. Turning to him as he entered, I held it out. “Good morning,” I said.
He grinned. “Yeah, it is,” he agreed then took the coffee with his right hand and tugged my shirt toward him with his left. When he had me close enough, he kissed me softly. It was moments like this that I found last night hard to believe was something more than innocent. Sure, he hadn’t told me about Isla, but then there was this.
“I like you not having to leave me at four,” he said, before taking a drink from his cup.
“Me too. I’m going to work on writing down recipes this morning,” I told him. “About today. What are your plans?”