The mailbox screeched again as it was closed.
Before she had time to consider whether it was smart or not, she was off the couch and throwing the door open. She blamed her recklessness on the whiskey, since Sober Lily would be more likely to sneak out the back door.
Sexy Depanneur Guy was standing outside.
He looked like he wanted to flee but someone had hit pause on the world. He stared at her with amber eyes she’d forgotten were so gorgeous, his arms lifted mid stride. Even one of his feet was in the air.
A long, awkward silence ensued.
She felt like she should say something, but she didn’t. Part of her was ecstatic to see the hot stranger again. She had thought about him all week, no matter how hard she’d tried not to. He’d become the monkey of her monkey mind that leapt determinedly into her thoughts whenever she tried to push him out.
The other part of her was wary and even afraid of him. He was a big, muscular man, and he was lurking outside her flat at two in the morning with no explanation.
“Say something, idiot,” someone called out from the street below.
She leaned over, craning to see who it was, and saw two more equally large men waiting at the base of the stairs. It was too dark to see much, but... were those tattoos on the one guy’s face? Her gaze shot back to Mist. Just who had she let walk her home that night?
His friend’s words seemed to unfreeze him, and he slowly turned to face her. She was instantly lost in his eyes.
“I wrote you a letter.”
“What?”
He pointed at the mailbox. “It’s there.”
“You had to deliver me a letter at two in the morning?”
“I expected you to be asleep.”
“Why aren’tyouasleep?”
“My sleeping schedule fluctuates, and I am often nocturnal.”
She blinked. Was that supposed to be a joke? His poker face was inscrutable.
“It was not my intention to wake you.” He shifted on his feet and looked away.
His obvious discomfort relaxed her. He was aware how weird it was to be on her balcony at two AM, which made it easier to accept him being there.
“You didn’t wake me, actually. I was having trouble sleeping, so…”
His eyes traveled back to hers. God, they were beautiful. Everything about him was so damned appealing. His looming height. Those broad shoulders. The messy pile of hair on his head.
She’d wondered all week what had given her the nerve to ask for his number. It was so unlike her, Iris probably wouldn’t believe it if she told her. But now that she was looking at him again, she understood. A guy like him probably had women asking him out everywhere he went.
Which made it even stranger that he had turned up onherdoorstep.
“Can I read your letter?”
He nodded. “It’s for you.”
She took a tentative step out from behind the safety of the door. She wished she was wearing more than her short, slinky nightie, but it was that or be naked in this heat. She was self-conscious of her thighs and hated wearing clothes that showed them, but her curiosity about the letter overrode her hesitancy.
That didn’t mean she didn’t race to the mailbox, grab it, and race back behind the door like a startled rabbit, however. Because she totally did.
She started to open it but stopped and glanced up when she heard Mist clear his throat. “Shall I… go?”
He obviously didn’t want her to read it with him standing there, which was fair. “Okay.”
