Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(75)

I gasp—

Yes!

—and clutch his wrist…and seek him, stroke him, until both of us writhe, until I feel as if I’m coming apart against him and he’s finding his release in my hand and the empty house is loud with the sounds of us, together…

The phone rings.

No!

“Don’t stop,” I gasp.

“Never,” he breathes, and he doesn’t stop, and oh god, the fire.

I’m consumed…

#

I gasped and jerked awake. Morning had come and I lay against Cory on the couch, his arm slung around me, my head pillowed on his chest.

I didn’t move.

A dream. It was only a dream. But it was alive, not just in my mind but in my entire body. I felt warm all over. Burning.

Oh, god, did I…? Did we…?

But by some miracle, he was still asleep. I inhaled slowly, deeply, willing my pounding heart to slow, and oh so carefully slipped out of his embrace, to my bathroom, and the shower.

I hung my head as the cold water poured over me, trying—again—to douse the fires that Cory kindled in me, even in my sleep.

There aren’t enough cold showers in the world…

#

I was making coffee when Cory came in to pour a bowl of cereal.

“Would you like some?” I asked, proud of how steady my voice sounded.

“Yeah, sure, if you can spare it.”

I concentrated on my task while he reached for a bowl in the shelf above my head. I felt his nearness all along my arm and the right side of my body, as if I were standing too close to a live wire.

“So…what do you have going on today?” I asked, striving to keep my tone light.

“Tuesdays I usually visit my dad,” he said, his back to me as he rummaged in the fridge.

I snuck a peek. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, both of which fit the muscular contours of his body so perfectly my mind took a nosedive straight into the gutter. I cleared my throat and poured the water.

“That’s nice. You go every Tuesday?”

“I try to. When I’m not locked up in a bank with armed psychos in cheap Halloween masks.”

I turned, shaking my head at his grin. “Oh, is that bank hostage humor?”

“So overdone, I know.”

“Tired material.”

We shared a light laugh and he said, “Yeah, so I try to go every Tuesday. Work sometimes gets in the way, but then they’ll let me visit at night too. I have no excuse.”

“I think that’s admirable.”

He shrugged. “You’d do the same.”

I tried to imagine my father in a home or hospital, and nodded vaguely. “I would,” I agreed. “But I’m sure my job would get in the way after a while. It has with everything else.”

Cory leaned his back against the counter, palms flat on either side. “I doubt that. When the shit really hits the fan, priorities seem to line up pretty quickly. Pops had a lot of friends in the business before the strokes. They visited him pretty regularly at first. Then less regularly. Then not at all. But that’s friends, not family. Family is different. You show up for family.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess you do.” It was so easy for him to say that. Just a simple truth in his world. I had an ugly feeling it wasn’t the same in mine.

“Anyway,” he went on, “I used to get pretty pissed that the guys stopped visiting. But I don’t think Pops even remembers them anymore. Still, it’d be nice if he could see something besides my ugly mug once in a while. Callie comes along sometimes,” he said, brightening. “She’s a little trooper. Some people get nervous there, but she walks around like she owns the place.”

He smiled to himself, and I did too, watching how his distinctly not ugly mug softened and became even more handsome when thinking of his daughter. Then he shook himself and said, “Anyway. What are you up to today?”

“Nothing, actually,” I said. “There’s a yoga class, I suppose. Maybe read or…I don’t know. I’m still not used to having nothing to do.”

“Go to the beach,” Cory said. “I would.”

“I prefer tropical beaches to Los Angeles. Too many people, not enough greenery.”

Cory nodded and he crossed his arms over his broad chest. “You could…uh, come with me. If you wanted.”

“To meet your father?”

“I mean, you don’t have to…”

“No, it’s just...You want me to?” I tried not to let it show how touched I was that he’d think to include me. He must have taken my shocked silence for hesitation.

“We could grab some lunch after…” Then Cory shook his head and waved a hand. “Nah, it’s okay. Never mind. I’m sure it’s not how you want to spend your free time. I can’t blame you.” He smiled and took his cereal to the bar and sat down. “It’s cool.”

There was a silence and then I heard myself blurt, “I’ll go.”

He looked up quickly, a flash of happiness passing over his face. “Really? No, no, it’s fine. I feel like an ass for asking. I shouldn’t have…”

“I’d like to go. After all, someone needs to tell him what a hero his son is.”

“No…uh, no. He can’t know anything,” Cory said, and the seriousness of his tone wiped the smile off my face. “It might just confuse him and then worry him. His Alzheimer’s is getting worse every day. I don’t know what he thinks is real anymore. I mean, he’s not totally lost but if you told him about the robbery…it might turn into something worse for him. Okay?”