Текст книги "Exposed"

Автор книги: Brighton Walsh

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter Eighteen

EVIE

Riley hung up the phone with a promise to keep Eric informed as much as possible. And now his gaze was fixed on me, those eyes narrowed and questioning, and I knew why. He wanted to know what the hell they would go digging around in my house for. But more than that, I knew he’d want to know why I’d kept this from him.

If only he knew this wasn’t the only thing I was keeping from him.

“What were they looking for, Evie?” His voice was low, smooth, despite the tension that sat heavily on his shoulders.

And I knew there was no point in keeping it from him any longer—not this secret.

I blew out a breath and got up from the couch, then went to grab my purse. Fumbling into the side pocket, I pulled out a zippered pouch that to anyone else would look like a makeup bag filled with various cosmetics. It was the same bag I’d carried with me all the time, no matter where I went, despite wearing very little makeup.

I walked back over to Riley with the bag and settled it into my lap when I sat down, then rummaged around inside it until I found what I needed and pulled it out.

Riley’s forehead was furrowed when I handed it over to him, and he rolled the small black tube around in his fingers, flipping it forward and back, looking at it from all angles. With his eyebrows raised, he looked at me. “They’re after your lipstick?”

Tipping my chin toward it, I said, “Open it.”

He uncapped the top, and instead of finding the tube of color he no doubt expected, he found the end of a USB drive. Pinching the base of the lipstick case between his thumb and forefinger, he raised his eyes to mine. “What’s on here?”

“All the evidence I found when Max had me dig into what Ned had done.” I paused and swallowed. “Plus all the evidence I found proving it was actually Max who was stealing from Blaine, and Ned was only doing as he’d been told.”

As much as I saw frustration gleaming in Riley’s eyes, no doubt at the fact that I’d kept this from him, I also saw what looked like appreciation. “How old is this information?”

“I got it all right before … before everything happened. So five years, give or take.”

“Does Max know you have this?”

“I can’t imagine how. You’re the first person I’ve ever told and the first one to see it.”

He raised his hand to his jaw, the sound of his fingers scraping against his harsh stubble loud in the otherwise quiet room. “If you were Max Cavett, would you really go to all this trouble for evidence on something that had happened so long ago? On something that was buried and done?”

Furrowing my brow, I said, “I don’t follow…”

Riley narrowed his eyes at the flash drive, then capped it again, gripping it in his fist before looking up at me, his arm propped on the back of the couch. “If you were Max and had gotten away with stealing a million dollars without being caught, would you stop after someone had—successfully, in his eyes—taken the fall? Especially when the only person who knew what you’d been doing was dead?” He fixed me with a hard stare. “Or would you keep stealing?”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “You think he’s still doing it.”

“I’d bet money on it.”

It made sense. Max was a businessman above all else—a corrupt businessman, yes, but one who would find the most effective way to make fists of money. And stealing from someone without that person being wise to it was the quickest and easiest way for him to do so.

“He’s a paranoid fucker, and given the kind of shit he’s pulled in the past … well, it’d make sense that he thinks you have something more on him. Something other than what you’d found five years ago.” He tossed the flash drive to me. “How long had he been skimming off the top when he accumulated that million?” Riley asked.

I tucked the drive back into the bag and zipped it up while I thought back to what I’d found so long ago, the information that had been burned into my brain. “Um, not quite a year. Nine months, give or take a week or two.”

“So imagine how much he could’ve racked up in five years.”

Riley stood from the couch and paced in the room, his fingers tugging at his hair. He was like a caged animal, all coiled energy, his lithe legs eating up the length of the room in five quick strides. “Maybe we’ve been looking at this all wrong. We’ve been on the defense the whole time, but maybe it’s time we went on the offense.”

“How do you mean?”

“Is there a way for you to dig into what Max has been doing the past five years, look for what you found last time?”

“I … I don’t know. All the records should be computerized, so maybe. I’d need Aaron’s help, though. I know where to start looking, but I’d need his hacking expertise to get me in.”

Riley nodded and reached for his phone. “I’ll make a call.”

RILEY

I should’ve known Evie had some sort of evidence in her possession to pin on Max. She was smart enough to know that any bit of information she could get could potentially be used to cover her ass. And that she’d carried it with her this entire time in a fucking tube of lipstick was so ingenious, so Evie, I had to smile.

I walked into the kitchen, thumbing through my phone until I got to Gage’s name.

“Riley,” he answered after only a single ring. “Everything okay?”

“We’re all right, but something’s happened.”

“I’m listening.”

I told him about the break-in, about the evidence Evie had against Max. After letting him know our plan to see what else Max had been involved in these past years, Gage was going to get in touch with Aaron and get a laptop to us tomorrow morning. The thought of sitting idle while waiting for him, knowing Max was actively hunting Evie, had me edgy as fuck, but there wasn’t anything else we could do.

After hanging up with him, I slid my phone into my front pocket. Evie hadn’t moved from the couch, her jaw working back and forth as she bit at her fingernails, her gaze focused out the window.

I walked over and settled on the couch next to her. “Gage will be by in the morning with a laptop for you to use. And he’s gonna get in touch with Aaron. See what he can do from his end.”

She nodded, dropping her hand from her mouth and looking at me. “Good. That’s good.”

I reached out and wrapped my hand around her leg, running my thumb along the smooth skin of her ankle. “We’ll find something.”

The look she fixed on me was so full of fear, it gutted me. Then she said, “That’s what I’m afraid of. What I found the first time was enough to put a bull’s-eye on my back. It was enough to send a guy to kill me. And now? If I find this when you and Gage and Aaron are all involved, too?” She blew out a breath and closed her eyes, shaking her head. “What’s Max going to do when he realizes I have even more evidence on him? It’s going to put everyone else in even more danger, just by being aligned with me.”

The thing she was forgetting was that I’d stand by her, protect her till my last breath if that was what it took. “That’s why we’re doing it this way—on our terms. If we go after him first, he won’t have a chance to come after you, because we’ll already be at his fucking front door.”

Chapter Nineteen

Sunlight poured into the loft, the brightness outside a contradiction to the mood within these four walls. Evie was restless, pacing back and forth in the space, while we waited for Gage.

I was in the kitchen, fixing a cup of coffee, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I slipped it from my jeans, and after a quick glance at the screen confirming it was him, I answered. “Yeah.”

“We’ve got movement.”

I stiffened, my arm freezing as I brought the cup toward my lips, my entire body going rigid at his words. Evie noticed, her pacing having stopped once I answered the call. She moved over to stand by me, her eyes focused intently on me. I met her gaze as I asked, “By who?”

“One of the guys—not anyone high up—just asking questions. I think Max is covering all the bases, trying to get a lead on anything, and tracking down all the people who’d known Evie is where he’d start.”

Setting the coffee cup on the counter, I asked, “How’d they find out where you are?”

“Anyone could find me if they looked hard enough. We never went under the radar.”

Not like Evie had.

With my eyes connected with hers, I asked into the phone, “What’d you see?”

“Chuck was over by the campus when I dropped Madison off today. With all the shit that’s happening, I didn’t want her walking by herself. He was twitchy as fuck, not at all covert. Fumbled his way through some bullshit excuse about why he was asking about Evie.”

I blew out a breath, scrubbing a hand over my face before shoving my fingers through my hair. “Fuck,” I bit out, consumed with worry. Knowing I hadn’t been able to protect her last time only fueled the fire currently burning up inside me. “Okay, so what do we do?” I asked.

“We wait,” he said, which was the last fucking thing I wanted to do. Sitting and waiting wasn’t in my nature. I was a doer, and I wanted to fix this, right the fuck now before Evie could get hurt. “We’ll continue with what we talked about last night. Evie can dig for info, and let’s hope she finds something. Something big that we can use against Max, because this shit isn’t gonna blow over. It’s only been a few days, and they’ve already tossed her house and sent guys out beating the streets, tracking down info.”

“You still think it’s a good idea for you to come this way?”

“Better than you two being out. If I’m seen, it’s no big deal. I live here. Someone sees you strolling around town, and flags are gonna be raised. I’ll circle around, weave in and out, make sure I’m not being followed. I’m waiting to hear back from Aaron, but I’ve already got the laptop. I’ll be by in a couple hours.”

I nodded, knowing he was right. Despite every instinct I had telling me to go out and do something, it was safer for everyone—safer for her—if we stayed put. “Sounds good. See you then.”

“Later. And Ry? Keep your eyes and ears open.”

The line disconnected, and it took everything in me to calmly slip my phone into my pocket. Because what I wanted to do was throw it across the room, smash it into the brick wall. I wanted to stalk out of this too-small apartment and hunt down everyone who was after her. I wanted to grab her and hold her, protect her from it all, because they were coming for her. No matter what I did, no matter how well I hid her, I wouldn’t be able to keep her safe forever.

And it fucking killed me that after everything she’d already been through, she still had to deal with this shit. It was never going to end for her.

With a muffled curse, I braced my hands on the counter and hung my head. Evie’s footsteps sounded behind me, then her fingers were on my back, lightly tracing, and I wanted more. I always wanted more with her.

“What happened? Are they here?” Her voice was low, resigned, and I hated that she’d already accepted this as her future.

I would do everything in my power to keep it from being so. Everything.

I turned around, leaning back against the counter and tugging her between my spread legs. With one finger hooked through a belt loop on her jeans, I kept her close to me. I raised my other hand and brushed her hair back from her face, pushing it behind her shoulder. She was in that oversized sweater again, the one she’d been wearing the night I’d seen her for the first time in five years. And just like that time, her shoulder was bare and so fucking taunting. All that creamy skin, so silky and smooth. I hadn’t had my lips on enough of her yet.

I didn’t take my eyes off the freckles that decorated her pale skin as I said, “Not Max. Some guy low in the ranks was poking around, trying to get a read on Gage. Gage thinks it was to see if he knew anything about your whereabouts.”

She shivered as I brushed my thumb over her skin, ran it up the column of her neck, rested it against her pulse point which, despite the circumstances, was steady. “But Gage is still worried,” she said.

“I wouldn’t say worried.” My brother didn’t do worried. He did prepared. “He’s cautious. Thinks there’s a reason Max is moving so swiftly with everything and wants to make sure we have our shit together if anything goes down. How long will it take you to find something, assuming you can?”

“I … I don’t know. It all depends on how well he’s covered his tracks. If he’s pulled in others to help him, or if he’s still running it by himself. Maybe a couple of days?”

I stared at her, my eyes speaking everything that I wasn’t prepared to say aloud yet, but the way she inclined her head to me, the softness around her eyes, told me she heard me anyway and knew as well as I did.

We might not have a couple of days.

Needing that reminder that she was here, she was safe, I wrapped my fingers around her neck and pulled her toward me. Lowering my face, I swept my mouth across hers, and I went from half hard to hard enough to pound nails when she melted right into me. She rested her hands against my chest, and a breathy little sound left her lips when she connected them with mine, her tongue licking along my bottom lip.

I dropped my hands to her ass, cupping it and hauling her up against me, letting her feel exactly what she did to me. With a moan, she tilted her head and opened her mouth to me, sliding her tongue against mine, and I wanted her. Right then.

While it had always been good between us, it’d never felt like this. I was a junkie needing a fix when it came to her now. I didn’t know if the change was simply the time that had passed, how we’d both changed as people, and what that meant for the chemistry between us …

Or if it was something else, something more. If the fire between us sparked so brightly because we both knew how it was without the other.

We knew exactly how much we both had to lose.

*   *   *

It was a couple hours later when the intercom buzzed and crackled, the sound breaking over the speaker by the apartment door. Evie was on the couch, her back straight as a board as she looked to me. After the phone call earlier from Gage, after our brief but intense make-out session, she hadn’t said much of anything in the hours we waited, too lost in her head.

Glancing out the window, I saw it was Gage standing at the back door, and I walked over to buzz him in. His boots thudded up the stairs, then he knocked twice before I opened the door.

“Hey.” He entered the loft, a bag slung over his shoulder, and I shut the door behind him, locking up before following him into the room. He tipped his chin in greeting at Evie.

“Anyone follow you?” I asked.

Gage turned around and leveled me with a stare, his eyes hard and his jaw set. “I might’ve been out of this shit for months, but I’m not a fucking idiot, Ry. Jesus.” He shook his head, running his thumb along his jaw.

I gave a nod of acknowledgment. I knew he wasn’t an idiot, but I couldn’t take chances with Evie. Gesturing to the bag he had with him, I asked, “You bring the laptop?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged it off his shoulder and placed it on the floor by Evie’s feet. “I had no idea what kind of specs to get, but hopefully you can do what you need to with it.”

“Thanks,” she said as she unzipped the bag and unloaded the laptop, powering it up a second later.

Gage turned to face her fully, his arms crossed. “I know you kept everyone in the dark because it’d be safer, but that time’s passed, Evie. We need to know what we’re going up against here. I need to see exactly what kind of dirt you have on Max so we can try to figure out our endgame.”

“Well, that’s just it. If—when—I find this other evidence, what then? What are we going to do with it? Knock on his door and hand it over in exchange for freedom?” She shook her head. “I don’t trust him to do that, so it doesn’t leave us with a whole lot of choices.”

Gage glanced over at me, and I could see every unspoken word reflected back at me in his eyes. We’d do whatever it took to make sure Max couldn’t threaten any of us. “Don’t worry about that now. All you need to worry about is finding whatever you need, and finding it as quickly as fucking possible, because the clock’s ticking faster every day. And Max isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants.”

Chapter Twenty

EVIE

I’d only been running jobs for Max for a couple of months when I’d run into my first problem. By then, Riley had been going with me to every single job, making sure I had cover. At first, I’d dragged him along because I’d liked him. It’d been as simple as that. I’d wanted him around. Wanted to flirt and laugh and talk, pretend for a minute that I was a normal fifteen-year-old girl. Of course, I hadn’t been a normal fifteen-year-old girl. I’d been one who made bad choices and got myself into shit situations all because I hadn’t wanted to go home. But Riley had been with me nonetheless, and on that particular night, I’d been thankful for it.

It had been my hardest job to date—a dirty cop who was sliding drugs under the table to Max. The only problem was that Max found out the cop wasn’t being entirely honest. Max had it on good authority that the cop was pocketing almost half of everything he got off the dealers and turning around to sell it and keep the profit for himself.

The job had looked simple enough on paper. Slip into the cop’s apartment, retrieve whatever drugs I could find, and bring them back to Max. Get in, get out, don’t get caught.

And it had almost worked. Riley and I had nearly made it out in the clear, but the cop had come home early. There’d been a moment where Riley had looked at me, both of us knowing it was up to us to get out of there, because all we were to Max was two disposable kids. He’d be more upset about the lost drugs than he would about some dead low-life teenagers.

Even to this day, I wasn’t under the illusion that we got out by anything other than pure luck. The cop hadn’t had time to draw his weapon, and we leapt. Riley had fought dirty, had done everything he could to make sure that if we both couldn’t get out, that at least I would be able to.

And that had been the first night I’d jumped into the fray, wanting to save him as much as he wanted to save me.

With the drugs stashed in my coat pockets, I’d grabbed the only weapon I could—a heavy lamp base—and swung widely, hitting the cop square in the nose. It’d been a messy blur of panting breaths, grunts, and blood—so much blood—and more of a struggle, but then Riley and I were running with everything we had, our hands clutched tightly together as we disappeared into the night, getting lost in the dark streets of the city.

Seeing him fight for me, struggle against someone bigger, someone stronger, just to make sure I’d be able to get out, to get to safety, had made me fall for him. That had been the night I’d realized the special thing between us hadn’t been just teenage lust or a crush. That had been the night I’d realized I’d fallen in love with him.

And now that we were facing another situation not unlike that one, where our opponent wasn’t stronger in the traditional sense but in the sense that he had a power we couldn’t touch, I couldn’t stop the worried ache gnawing at my gut …

What if we didn’t get away this time?

It was well after midnight, but sleep still eluded me. After a day of talking to Aaron and both of us brainstorming, of hacking into whatever we could—and coming up with dead ends each and every time—Riley and I had finally both crashed on the bed. Since we had slept together twice, I didn’t see a point in keeping up pretenses. Riley had fallen asleep quickly, no doubt exhausted from the last several days. He was on his side facing me, his arm wrapped around me while I lay staring at the ceiling, trying to figure a way out of this mess.

Riley shifted, tucking his arm farther around me and tugging me enough so he twisted me onto my side, my back against his chest. “Your thinking woke me up.” His voice was scratchy and rough, heavy with sleep, and hearing it transported me back to when I was sixteen, curled up on the couch in his and Gage’s apartment. My sleeping troubles had started not long before I’d met Riley, and although it’d been comforting being in his arms, it hadn’t helped. Even with his warmth behind me, his arms protecting me, I’d still found it difficult to sleep. Except at that time, what had kept me awake was something altogether different from what was causing my insomnia now. Something equally terrifying—at least to me—but something that hadn’t affected anyone but me.

Riley gripped my hip, his thumb slipping under the cotton of my tank top and rubbing a soothing circle against my stomach. Pressing his nose to my hair, he inhaled deeply, then moved the loose strands out of the way so he could brush his lips against my shoulder. “You okay?”

And, really, what could I tell him? No, I wasn’t okay. I hadn’t been okay for a very, very long time, and now I didn’t see how I ever would be again. I didn’t see how I could possibly get out of this alive, but more than that, the fact that I didn’t see how the people I loved would get out of it alive was what truly terrified me.

Mustering up as much sincerity as I could, I said, “Just couldn’t sleep.”

Riley didn’t say anything in response, and just when I thought he’d call me on my lie—because I had no doubt he knew I was lying—he pressed his hand flat against my stomach and pulled me back to him, curling around my body. “I could probably do something to help you with that…”

He didn’t wait for me to respond before slipping his hand completely under my tank and reaching up to cup one of my breasts, his thumb whispering a circle around my nipple. And I knew this wouldn’t help anything, just like it hadn’t any other time we’d slept together. But it’d let me get lost for a bit, allow me to feel something other than hopelessness and the fear that had been eating me alive for so much longer than just the past five years.

I shifted, tilting my hips so my ass rubbed his cock. He was hard already, his length pressing against me, and I reached back and slipped my hand into his boxers. I gripped him, ran my thumb over the silky smoothness of his thick head, down the length of his cock, and gave him a couple quick pumps.

His answering groan echoed into my ear, his lips resting against the shell, his seeking fingers pausing on my breast while I tried to drive him out of his mind with teasing strokes. And though this wouldn’t solve anything, wouldn’t get me any closer to the end of this mess, it would give me back something I’d had stolen from me so long ago. Something I craved with every ounce of myself.

Power.

I loved it, needed it. And here, in the bedroom, had been the one and only place I’d gotten it on my terms. That control in knowing I was the one calling the shots, that I was able to lead us however I wanted. Knowing, too, I was the one who could make it stop in the blink of an eye.

And knowing, beyond anything, that Riley would stop. Without question, without pressure or groaning or coercion, he’d stop. And that gave me the freedom to keep going.

“Touch me,” I whispered, reaching up with my other hand and guiding his lower, down to where I was already getting wet for him. He took my plea, slipping his hand into the front of my boy shorts and not stopping until he came in contact with my clit. Before being with Riley again, I’d forgotten how good it felt to be touched by someone who knew my body almost as well as I knew it myself. Who knew how fast I liked to be stroked, what parts I liked to have focused on, the exact rhythm I needed to get off.

And Riley was an expert at playing my body.

He propped his elbow on the bed, lifting himself and leaning over me, bending down to steal a kiss while the hand he had in my panties drove me crazy. He didn’t play, didn’t tease or draw out the torture. He traced his fingers down my slit, slipped one inside me, and then slid it back up, stroking the wetness around my clit. I moaned, squeezing his cock harder in my hand, and I wanted to make him go as weak as he always seemed to make me. I wanted to make him drop to his knees and beg for more.

RILEY

Her hands were like heaven, stroking me, her thumb playing with the head of my cock, and I wanted so badly to pin her to the bed and drive inside her. Hook her knees over my arms or prop her ankles on my shoulders and fuck her until she screamed. Make us both see stars.

Before I could do just that, she rolled over and placed a hand on my bare chest, guiding me onto my back. And when she slid down my body, pulling my boxers off before she wrapped her fist around my cock and licked a line straight up my length, I certainly wasn’t going to say no to a blow job, especially from her.

“Christ,” I groaned, my head falling back to the pillow, pressing into it while I squeezed my eyes shut. She licked the head of my cock, swirling her tongue around it a dozen times, before she engulfed it in her mouth, sucking on just the tip while she pumped my shaft with her fist.

I reached out for her, gathering her hair in my hands and holding it away from her face so I could watch her lips stretch around the head of my cock. As much as everything else with her was familiar, especially sex, all it took was the simple act of holding her hair back to remind me that everything wasn’t familiar.

While the way she was swirling her tongue around me and the rhythm of her strokes were both things I remembered intimately, the mass of hair I held in my fist was so at odds with the memories I had. Before, her hair had always been short. Blunt styles that I’d loved because it made her look like the badass girl she was, the girl who took no prisoners, who got what she wanted, when she wanted it. But Evie now? She was such a contradiction—her innocent-looking face dotted with freckles combined with her bombshell body, her fiery red hair—and I loved that I knew who she was behind the illusions of her outward appearance. I loved that she looked like nothing more than a pretty girl to others, but she could drop you in thirty seconds. I loved that she knew how to fight, how to take care of herself. That she could get any bit of information out of just about anyone, knew all the tricky ways to get what she wanted, and wasn’t afraid to do so.

I knew what she was like behind closed doors, behind that mask she put on for the world. Only me, and I fucking loved it.

Evie flicked her tongue against the underside of my cock, then blew a gust of cold air against it, and I wanted back inside. I wanted to feel the warm wetness of her perfect little mouth, wanted to feel her tongue massaging my shaft. Gripping her hair just tight enough that she lifted her eyes to mine, I said, “Open up. Take me inside again.” My voice was scratchy and low, and when she didn’t acknowledge me, I thought she didn’t hear.

But then she gave me a wicked smile, the corner of her mouth lifting before she drew out the torture even longer. She drifted her lips up and down the length of my cock, her tongue fluttering and teasing, her fingers stroking my balls, but she wouldn’t give me the hot suction of her mouth.

“Evie.” Sitting up, I propped myself on one of my elbows while holding her hair back in my other hand. “Give me your mouth.” I guided her up my shaft until her lips were poised over the tip of my cock and applied pressure to the back of her head. She opened her mouth against me, but instead of engulfing me like I wanted, she let her teeth drag over the head, and I hissed out a curse.

As much as I wanted her mouth on me, wanted her to go exactly where I directed her, I couldn’t deny that this power play between us was hot as hell. Part of the reason I loved Evie was because she didn’t take shit from anyone. She stood up for what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to take control. The thought that she was my equal in every way only made me hotter for her.

I looked down my body at her, seeing that mass of red hair fisted in my hand, her lips pink and wet and waiting for me. And then she was doing exactly what I wanted, surrounding me with her mouth and sucking me inside. And seeing her lips spread wide around me, taking all of me in, made my cock jerk inside her mouth.

“Fuck,” I breathed. “Your mouth is so good … so good.”

She glanced at me then, her eyes connecting with mine, and Jesus Christ, I’d missed this.

Evie and I clicked, meshed together perfectly, and that had been obvious even as young as we’d been. And despite the time apart, despite the years between us, it wasn’t something either of us could deny now.

She pulled her mouth off my cock, flicking out her tongue to tease the underside, and I groaned out a low breath, loving that she still knew how to tease my body, get me worked up so fucking much I couldn’t wait to bury myself inside her.

I let her hair fall from my grasp as she pulled away and sat up on her knees, removing the rest of her clothes. And then she crawled up my body, kissing my chest, my neck, slipping her tongue inside my mouth. I gripped her face as she settled on top of me, her knees on either side of my hips. She was so wet, she slid with ease against my cock, and as much as I wanted to reach down and grip my cock, guide myself into her, I didn’t. I wanted to see how far she’d go, how long she’d tease us both before finally giving in, knowing the payoff would be all the better for both of us when I finally sank deep inside her.

When she shifted forward, crawling farther up my body, I groaned, wrapping my arms around her thighs as she put her knees on either side of my head. And then I leaned up, licking a straight line up her slit, and pulled her down onto my mouth, sucking her clit between my lips.

She rocked against my face, pressing one hand to the brick wall behind the bed while the other clutched my hair, holding me to her. I ran my hands along the outside of her thighs, over her hips, then clutched her waist before sliding them up to cup her tits, pinching her nipples and tugging. When she ground her pussy harder against my mouth in response, I couldn’t stop my groan from reverberating on her. Stroking her with my tongue the way I knew she liked, I lifted my eyes to see her. She was staring down at me, her mouth open, her eyes fuzzy and hazed, but in them I saw everything I’d been feeling. There was no doubting that connection between us in the way she was looking at me.