Night Owl(39)

"Yeah." He sounded as subdued as I felt.

It was a hot night, but mom lit a fire in the chiminea and we all sat on the deck watching three distant displays. Matt shoved his chair laughably close to mine and still looked unhappy about the arrangement. I think he would have preferred me on his lap.

He checked his phone neurotically. I had to nudge him a few times to show him the prettiest fireworks, the ones that fell like gold dust and lingered in the sky.

When the last finale went off, Matt helped put away the folding chairs and clear the citronella candles. Daisy whined and followed him. I wanted to whine and follow him, too.

He shook hands with dad. He hugged mom. Jay and Chrissy were already downstairs on the PS3, where they'd be until two in the morning.

I trailed Matt to his car.

I could get in and go home with him. Would he want that? Tonight had been magical for me, but maybe Matt was putting on a show. Maybe he couldn't wait to be alone. He was a puzzle, and the more I opened up to him, the more closed he seemed to me.

"I know I can't steal you away tonight," he said. "Would you come?"

"In a heartbeat, Matt. But—"

"I know. Life."

"Yeah." I held his hips. "Tomorrow's Friday though."

"Can I see you?"

"Of course! There's no one I'd rather see, and it's not like I have any other friends."

"What about the high school friend?"

"Evan?" I laughed. "Doesn't count. He's trying to get in my pants."

For a moment, Matt looked frankly homicidal. I swallowed and tried to hug him. His body was unyielding.

"Hey, hey," I said. "You're my only friend here. You're my only lover."

Lover. Fuck, that word sounded strange. What were Matt and I, anyway? Were we dating, or just f*ck buddies?

"Lover," Matt murmured. He must have been pondering similar questions.

He hugged me at last and kissed me, telling me with his body that he didn't want to say goodbye. He deepened the kiss. He moaned softly into my mouth and began to pull my body against his. God, he wanted me again. And I wanted him again. I wanted him until we were both too exhausted to move.

I hooked a leg around him and squeezed his ass.

He tugged at my earlobe.

"If you get me hard," he growled, "you have to deal with it."

"Yes sir." I began to tug on his shorts.

We laughed and broke away from one another.

"Tomorrow," he said. He texted me Pamela Wing's fax number as we stood together by his car, and then he got in and drove away slower than I thought he was capable of driving. I watched his tail lights disappear around the corner.


I was starting to understand his aversion to goodbyes.

I revised my resume and faxed it to Pamela Wing's office that night, along with a cover letter reintroducing myself, apologizing for my ill-prepared state at our first meeting, and expressing my enthusiasm about working under her.

Writing the letter and retooling my resume took my mind off Matt for an hour. As soon as the fax machine spit out the pages, I felt his absence. It expanded inside my chest until it hurt. Why was this happening?

Maybe I was seeing too much of Matt.

Maybe I wasn't seeing enough of him.

I drifted around the house. He'd been everywhere, and he made everything beautiful. He made my kitchen beautiful. He made my backyard radiant. He even made our hideous gaming room funny. Now the same rooms were dark and lonely.

I checked my email as I lay in bed. I was surprised to see a story installment from Matt, sent about five minutes earlier. I checked the time. 12:50 a.m. My night owl. I smiled and snuggled down to read his paragraphs.

In the whirlwind of the last two days, I had forgotten about our story. Suddenly I couldn't wait to see Cal's response to Lana bathing. My eyes skimmed over the text.

Oh, this was good.

A familiar heat spread through me as I read.

Cal stared at Lana's naked body, making no effort to conceal his interest. "He was no gentleman," Matt wrote, "and enjoyed the luxury of knowing it."

Matt wrote without reference to the setting, which worked. Cal was oblivious to his surroundings. There was only the human bathing with her back to him. I knew things were going to get good when Cal glimpsed the rounded sides of her breasts.

Cal wasn't without complexity, though. As he undressed and approached the dark river, he considered what it would mean for himself and Lana to be together. He was a demon, after all, and she was mortal. Matt made his plight sincere—and aching.

Cal walked the world in the skin of another.

He could have Lana, but he couldn't keep her. He couldn't love her.

I projected myself shamelessly onto Lana as that dangerous creature prowled toward her and slipped into the river like a snake. He extracted the soap from her hands. He began to wash her body. The roiling undercurrent bumped them together.

Hot damn.

I texted Matt.

Nice post. Thanks.

He replied instantly.

Yw. Writing it beat lying here missing you, which I'm doing now. Goodnight little bird.

Matt was lying in bed missing me. And I was lying in bed missing Matt. Okay, we were in the same boat. Now where was this boat going?

My cell woke me at 7:15 a.m.

I groped for my glasses and took the call, though I didn't recognize the number.