“What are you doing out here?”

He was furious, but at the same time, his eyes betrayed him. They were blazing hot, and it had nothing to do with anger.

Licking my lips, which suddenly felt dry, I placed a hand on the side of the door. “Meet me later.”

“Are you fucking insane?”

Good question. Am I? I didn’t think so.

“That’s not a no.”

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he looked away and said, “Well it’s not a fucking yes.”

One, two, three. One, two, three.

I waited for him to turn back, but when it was clear he wouldn’t, I whispered the one thing I knew would get his attention. His name.

“Grayson?”

Just as I suspected, he responded, speaking so softly I had to strain to hear him.

“Go back inside, sit down with your parents, and eat your dinner. You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

As that last condescending sentence met my ears, the fact that we might get caught disappeared from my mind. I put a foot on the step bar of his truck and held the door, pushing myself up within inches of his face. He moved away so abruptly it was as if I was poison, but that didn’t deter me.

“Don’t kid yourself. I know exactly what I’m asking for, and you know it. Look at me.”

“Go inside,” he demanded with a tense jaw.

“I will. After you look at me.”

Reluctantly, he turned his head, and when our eyes met, I dared him to do something I knew he wanted, but hadn’t given in to.

“Look at all of me.”

* * *

Nothing had prepared me for this. Nothing could. This was a moment that wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t allowed to happen.

With my hands wrapped in a death grip, I finally gave myself permission to really admire her.

I started with the chestnut hair that brushed up against the creamy complexion of her skin. It seemed to go on forever as my eyes trailed down her long, elegant neck and took in all that her dress displayed—and it displayed plenty.

The way the material gathered under her breasts framed her chest almost as well as my hands would. I brought my gaze back up to find her watching me, and the fire I could see burning there convinced me that she was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted.

“Meet me later.”

“No.” My response was simple and to the point. If I said too much, I’d end up doing something stupid.

“Two-thirty-two Maplewood Drive.”

I waited as she stepped down from my truck.

“That’s my address.”

Shaking my head in disbelief, I asked, “And what? I’m just going to knock on the door and ask if you’re home?”

The smile that tipped her lips up at the corners was impish, almost cute. It was the glint in her eye that was pure sex.

“No. But you might want to drive by later tonight and imagine me upstairs in my bedroom, the window to the far left. I’ll be thinking about you.”

“I’m leaving,” I stated, finally saying something fucking sensible. I started up the truck and reached for the door handle.

“Grayson?”

Mentally exhausted, I demanded, “What?”

Stepping away from the truck, she smiled. “Enjoy your pizza.”

Good thing she’d reminded me. Within the space of five minutes, I’d forgotten all about the damn to-go box sitting on the back seat of my truck.

* * *

Four hours later, I was making my way down Maplewood Drive like the fucking idiot I was.

I hadn’t meant to drive over there. I’d gone home, eaten my pizza and downed two bottles of beer. My mind then wandered back to my father—You want her heart? Go and take it—and I started to convince myself he was right.

That was before I turned down her street and drove past her parent’s large, two-story house. It was close to midnight when I glanced up to the far window on the left side and watched in disbelief as a light illuminated the room.

Shit. I turned off the headlights and then realized how stupid that was since Addison already knew my truck.

While trying to decide what to do next, I felt my heart almost stop when the light shut off. A muted glow then lit up the center arch of the house, and a figure made their way down the interior staircase.

Put your foot on the gas and go, I told myself, but as my car idled just off the side of 232 Maplewood Drive, I saw a side door open. Under the porch light stepped Addison—still wearing her pink dress.

I could hear my breathing as it came quicker in the thick silence of my truck, and just when I thought I knew what to expect, she slipped into a long, white coat and looked at me over her shoulder.

Follow me, she mouthed.

* * *

I darted down the side of my house then looked back to the road where his truck remained. He hadn’t sat idle. The headlights were back on.

Got you, I thought and pushed open a small wooden gate that led to an alley between the houses. With a final glance at the man I somehow knew was looking at me, I disappeared to the other side.

As I made my way down the familiar path, I raised my arm and placed my watch to my ear—tick, tick, tock—yes, there it was. It would remind me when I needed to be home.

This wasn’t something new for me. Sneaking out of the house, making my way down the quiet, shadowed alley. When bright lights lit me up from behind though, I thought, that is new.

He was following me.

Adding an extra sway to my hips, I made my way to the end of the alley, and when I got there, I spun on my toes and watched the truck pull to a stop. He wasn’t too close, so I crooked my finger, inviting him closer.

That was when the truck started its slow crawl forward.

Tipping my head back, I laughed into the night sky and practically skipped out to the street. I turned to the left and started to walk faster as the truck pulled out behind me.

After passing the large oak tree on Blackwood Drive, I trailed my fingers along three wooden fence rails until I reached the final mailbox and made a right. Again, I tried to see him through the blinding headlights, focusing on the place I knew he’d be sitting.

With an extra bounce to my step, I crossed the street and walked on the footpath that lined the main road leading out of my subdivision.

I knew exactly where I was going. I’d done it every Saturday night for the last two years. I just hadn’t done it quite like this.

Stopping on the side of the main road, I looked across the four lanes of traffic. From where I was standing, I could barely make out the sign that was illuminated by two floodlights, but I knew exactly what it read.

I checked to the right and then to the left where his truck had pulled up beside me. Grayson rolled down a window, and as he peered out at me, I resisted the urge to raise my arm and press my watch to my ear.

He frowned, confused, while I grinned. For the first time, I saw everything clearly.

With him, the ticking had stopped.

Chapter Ten

Present…

Tick, tick, tock.

“Do you know what day it is today, Addison?”

Here we go again, but today I can’t bring myself to step inside his office. I see Doc sitting in his usual chair and I anxiously smooth my hands down my thighs.

Of course I know what day it is. It’s the day Daniel…I can’t even think it.

“Why don’t you take a seat?”

He seems as uneasy as I am.

“Addison?”

I don’t answer, but that’s nothing new. I don’t want to be here today. I don’t want to be anywhere.

“Please, Addison, come inside. Sit with me.”

I press my fingers to the outside of my legs but otherwise remain unmoving.

“We don’t have to talk, okay? We can just sit.”

I wonder if he really means that and if the concern in his eyes is real. It’s probably paid for concern.

“It’s okay to be sad, Addison,” he tries to reassure me.

He raises a hand and beckons me to step inside. Every day, he tries to get me to give something that I no longer have inside me. Trust.

“Is that how you feel, Addison? Sad?”

Tick, tick, tock.

With the black shadow looming, always threatening to swallow what little emotion I have left, I finally put an end to today’s session.

“I feel nothing.”

* * *

Past…

I peered out at Addison as she watched me from the side of the road and then inclined her head.

Squinting, I tried to make out the words on the sign. I couldn’t read it from where I was, and before I could ask, Addison was crossing the street.

Stay or go? Well, fuck. I’d come this far, what was a little farther going to do? Lead me down a path straight toward temptation? I think I’d already made that decision when I’d driven over to temptation’s house.

With the roads deserted, I drove out to the middle lane and then continued into the drive of—Oakland Cemetery.

What the fuck was going on? And where the hell was Addison?

Deciding enough was enough, I turned the truck off and pushed the door open.

A cemetery. I had to admit, this was not what I’d been expecting when I came to her tonight, and yes, that’s what I had done—come to her.

I could feel my confusion changing to concern when I realized I hadn’t seen Addison since she’d run out into the street.