When Darkness Falls(6)

“What?” she said.

He took her hand to lead her upstairs. The feel of the cold bedroom floor made Haley’s toes shrink as goose bumps rose on her bare legs and arms. She swallowed hard.

Devon paused in the doorway. “Too soon?”

She shook her head. Nervousness and the chill in the air dampened her desire, but she didn’t want to stop. A tiny voice in her head—which sounded a lot like her mother’s—whispered she should, that she needed to get to know him better. But she’d known Brian forever, and where had that gotten her?

A chest of drawers and a straight-back chair stood against one bedroom wall, opposite a queen-sized bed covered by a blue and green quilt. Devon lit both wicks on a cranberry-colored candle on his nightstand. The music from downstairs switched to Ella Fitzgerald singing “If You Ever Should Leave” in a sweet, warm alto that made the song happy and plaintive at the same time.

The quilt felt cool beneath Haley. Devon wound his hands into her hair as he kissed her again. The heavy fabric of his jeans rubbed across her bare thighs. She shut her eyes, tasting the red wine on his lips.

When she heard the nightstand drawer slide open and a wrapper tearing, she kept her eyes closed tight and tensed, waiting for the rough, sandpaper feel of the condom inside her. But after he pressed into her, he stayed still until she relaxed. She felt the warmth of skin on skin, his stomach against hers, his thighs pressing against her thighs. She opened her eyes, staring into his, lost in the warmth of him all around her.

After, Devon held her close. Haley felt afraid to look directly at him. She didn’t want to see in his face that it had been nothing out of the ordinary for him. When he eased away and disappeared into the bathroom, she slid under the quilt and wrapped it around herself.

Devon got back into bed. “What are you doing way over there?” He pulled her close to him so they lay on their sides, facing each other. He ran his fingers along her face. “I love you.”

Haley stopped breathing. “What?”

“I love you.”

Heart racing, Haley untangled herself from Devon and sat with her back against the exposed brick wall. She’d feared indifference, but a declaration of love this soon was more frightening. “You can’t. We hardly know each other.”

Devon sat, too, cross-legged and facing her, and took her hands in his. “I know how I feel. And I’ve never felt this way before. Ever.”

“It took Brian three years to say he loved me.”

“I’m not Brian.”

His voice was soft. He wasn’t angry, though she would have understood if he had been. It wasn’t fair to compare him to Brian. But she couldn’t ignore her past relationship, or the yawning emptiness in her life when Brian had left, an emptiness she’d barely started to fill.

“I know you’re not, and that I have to get past what happened. But I knew him for so long, and I didn’t—”

Devon smiled. “I’m not someone who plays around.”

“I know.” Haley felt she did know, though she wasn’t sure how, especially considering she’d been clueless about Brian. She took a deep breath, trying to stop shaking. Devon pulled the quilt so it wrapped around both of them. “But a month isn’t very long. There’s a lot we don’t know about each other.”

The old-fashioned metal alarm clock on the nightstand ticked. Jazz piano music played from below.

“So we’ll learn.” Devon touched her forehead, then let his fingers glide along her collarbone. “I get that you’re scared. But I’m not. For once in my life, I’m not. I love you. I want to spend every day with you.”

“I don’t want to move in with anyone again,” Haley said. “I know people do it. And it’s not your fault that turned out so badly for me before. But it’s not for me.”

“I’m not asking you to move in.”

“Oh. Okay.” Haley’s stomach dropped. She didn’t know what to say now. She’d clearly read too much into his words.

“I want you to marry me,” Devon said.





Chapter Three


The entire office building shuddered. Haley eyed the rectangular window over the file cabinets. As far as she knew, the window had never broken and sent glass flying all over the reception area, but she’d only been working at the Center for Pregnancy Help and Prevention three weeks, and the news reported the winds were the highest in twenty-five years in the Chicago area. She sipped the last of her Coke. It was ten after eight Monday night, and Haley was exhausted. After his proposal, which she’d never answered, she and Devon had talked until two in the morning, made love again, and dozed for a couple hours before she’d had to get ready for work.

A door slammed in the back of the basement suite. Haley spun toward the sound, her mind flashing to the week before when protestors had thrown bricks at clients and staff. The clinic didn’t do abortions, but it got targeted anyway.

“Only me,” a voice called. Haley let her breath out. It was Jacinda Chaff, the short, plump staff counselor who’d interviewed Haley. Everyone else, including the clinic director, had gone for the night. “My car alarm went off, but it was the wind. Our last girl still a No Show?”

“Yes.”

“Doubt she’ll make it. It’s horrendous out there.”