Landon nods and takes me home, and when he walks me to the door, he kisses me just as passionately as he did last night. His hands are firm and warm on my arms as he pulls me closer, and his mouth devours mine, in the absolute best possible way.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” It’s said with promise in his voice.
When I get inside and shut the door, I can’t help but do a quick, undignified happy dance, startling Scoot. “He’s into me. You don’t kiss a girl like that unless you’re into her. I haven’t dated like this in ten years.”
Scoot’s eyes narrow, and he flicks his tail and turns his back on me.
“Don’t judge me, you little judger.”
SOMETHING CRASHES, WAKING me up out of a dead sleep and scaring the fuck out of me. I sit up, looking around my bedroom, but it’s pitch-black. The power’s out.
Suddenly lightning flashes, brightening up the room, and is followed immediately by the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard. Scoot is crying and pacing the bed.
“It’s okay, baby.” I reach out to pet him, and he hisses, but then runs into my lap and huddles against me. “I’ve got you. It’s just a storm. It’ll go away.”
But more lightning and deafening thunder hit again, making us both jump. Rain is pelting against my window so hard it sounds like it could break the glass.
This is one hell of a storm.
As the rushing in my ears slows, I swear I can hear a scratching noise, which only scares me all over again. I grab my phone and call Riley.
“This better be good,” she mumbles sleepily into the phone.
“I think someone’s trying to break into my house,” I whisper to her. “My power is out and I hear noises.”
“Why are you calling me and not the cops?” Riley asks. “Jesus, it’s two in the morning.”
“I wouldn’t know that. My power’s out. And there’s a murder-death-kill person here.”
She giggles and I scowl at the phone. “This isn’t funny!”
“You’re right. Did you lock your door?”
“Yes.”
“You need to get an alarm.”
“Not the time to berate me,” I say, and take Scoot to the bathroom, locking him in. “I’ll protect you, baby.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“My cat.”
“Jesus, you’re the crazy cat lady.”
“Not helping,” I hiss, and drop to my hands and knees to find the baseball bat under the bed. “Seriously, I heard a noise.”
“It’s a storm, Cami. It was probably a tree on your house or something.”
I take a deep breath and sit on the edge of the bed, bat in hand.
“You’re probably right. I don’t hear anything now.”
“Go back to sleep. The storm will blow over.”
I nod. “Okay. Good night.”
“Night.”
I hang up and shine my phone around the room. It all looks normal. Riley is probably right, I’m just scared because of the storm.
Just when I stand to let Scoot out of the bathroom, I hear another noise. I tiptoe to the door and peek my head around, petrified to see my front door creaking wide open.
Holy fucking hell.
I clutch the bat in my best grand-slam stance and take a deep breath.
“Whoever you are, you need to get the fuck out of my house!” I yell, sounding much more confidant than I feel. “I have a gun and the cops are on their way!”
“Jesus, don’t shoot me.”
Landon.
I drop the bat just as Landon reaches the top of the stairs and I launch myself into his arms. And I do mean launch. My arms are wrapped tightly around his neck, most likely cutting off his air supply, and my legs are wrapped around his waist.
“You scared me!”
“I’m sorry.” He’s holding my ass, but when he realizes that I’m glued to him and he doesn’t need to hold me up, he runs his hands up and down my back, soothing me. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I wanted to come see if you’re okay.”
“Why didn’t you just knock like a normal human being?” I ask with my face buried in his neck.
“I didn’t want to wake you up if you were sleeping.” He sits on the bed with me in his lap.
“So you thought that me waking up to a tall man at the side of my bed would be less scary?” He chuckles and kisses my cheek. “You seriously need to stop breaking into my house.”
I pull back.
“Wait. Is that how you got in yesterday morning? You picked the lock?”
I can’t make out his face in the dark, but I feel his shrug. “Old habits die hard.”
We used to break into each other’s bedroom window when we were kids. We’d sneak in and talk, especially during storms. I hate thunderstorms. I always have. I’m surprised Landon remembers.
“Here I thought you had some kind of magical powers,” I say. “But in all reality, you’re just a felon. I couldn’t pick a lock these days if my life depended on it.”
“I’m not a felon,” he says with a laugh. “And if I am, then we all were when we were young. And if memory serves, it was you who taught me how to pick a lock.”
I laugh softly. “No one lived in that old scary house by the river when we broke into it. It was empty.”
“It wasn’t ours to break into. I’m pretty sure I could turn you in for breaking and entering.”