Page 57 of Her Alien Librarian
He laughs, and the throaty sound of it sends goose bumps across my skin. “I mean, will you be resuming your frequent work travel and shooting in Sudbury between your assignments?”
Finally, I get to tell him about my plans. “Oh, that. No, I’m not planning to go back on the road. Not for a while anyway, and it definitely won’t be as often.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I’d like to stick around. See what it’s like to be a Sudburian as an adult, you know?” I furrow my brow teasingly.
His arm brushes against mine, and I realize he’s walking closer to me. “So, you plan to stay.”
“Yup,” I tell him when we reach the end of my driveway. Then I turn to face him, letting my hand hover just above his arm. “I don’t know, it just feels like the right time for something…real.”
Before he can respond, I turn on my heel and hurry toward the front door. “Goodnight, Mylo,” I call over my shoulder.
He chuckles, amused by my flirting. “Goodnight, Samantha.”
The moment I’m inside, I wonder if I’ve made a mistake. Should I have waited to see his reaction? He said he only wanted me if I was ready for something real, and tonight I flat-out told him that something real is what I’m looking for. Then I ran inside.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Although maybe it was the right move. I’m as terrified of rejection as he is of getting his heart broken, so this way, he can go home and take some time to think about it instead of hastily agreeing just because I said what he wanted to hear. I also want to be sure he still wants to be with me.
At this point, I’m all in. I don’t care that his eyes haven’t turned red. I want to go to sleep to the sound of his voice as he reads to me, and I want to wake up in the safety of his arms.
The question is, does he feel the same way?
CHAPTER 20
SAM
The sun wakes me by blasting me in the face through the window, and I smack my palm against my forehead for forgetting to close the blinds the night before. But once I’m up, I’m up, and it’s a nice enough summer day so I open all the windows, throw on a sports bra and booty shorts, put my headphones on, and blast Busta Rhymes as I clean the floors.
When a song I don’t recognize pops up, I reach for my phone to press skip, and I discover a text from Mylo.
Mylo:Are you home? I need to speak with you. It’s urgent.
Hmm. What could this be about?
Me:Yeah, I’m home. Is everything okay?
My mind drifts to Vanessa.
Me:Is it the baby?
Mylo:No, all is well with Vanessa. May I come now?
Nerves tighten my stomach as I ponder a million possibilities. The one that sticks is the worst one of all. Perhaps he considered my plan to stay in town, and he realized that since the thrill of our secret hookups is gone, there’s no point in making it official.
Or it could be that he’s changed his mind about wanting a relationship and would prefer to go back to the anonymous sex that brought us together in the first place.
Or maybe his eyes have turned red for someone else since I last saw him and he’s coming over to break the news.
Oh yeah, that last one is what I’m dreading the most.
I throw on a pair of sweats over my booty shorts before I let him in. His posture is stiff as he steps inside wearing sunglasses that he’s never worn, and my palms start to sweat.
“You still cannot go up the stairs?” he asks.
“I can,” I tell him. “I just hate looking at them,” I shrug as I walk into the kitchen and pull a glass from the cupboard. “Not sure what to do about that long-term, but for now, I try not to think about…you know, what happened on them.” I open the fridge, stalling. “Want some water? Or lemonade?”