His Return

Chapter 5

Mallory woke with a start. It was pitch black, which was odd as she usually had a small nightlight plugged in so she could see where she was going without having to turn on the lights.

She went to throw back her blankets to discover that she wasn’t alone. It took only a second to process everything and remember what happened last night. She had royally messed up.

Shane was asleep next to her, one arm on her back as she attempted to remain silent, to not wake him up as she laid there trying to sort her thoughts and next move. While she didn’t want to wake him, she needed to get up and get out of here before she did something stupid again.

What had she been thinking, just falling into his bed like that? Not much, clearly.

It had been good, passionate s*x, though. That didn’t make up for the fact that she still shouldn’t have, but damn, at least it was good. It had been over a year since she’d had s*x, maybe that’s why she was so easy.

She slid, carefully, out of the bed, doing her best not to disturb him and headed for the bathroom. Thankfully, she had been here enough times to at least somewhat know the layout with no light.

Once she quietly closed the door, she flipped on the light, looking directly at herself in the mirror. She sighed at her reflection. She looked a mess. Running water, she quickly wiped her face off before using her hands to comb her hair.

Next, she took the time to right the clothes she was still wearing. She needed to find her shorts and shoes still, but was relieved she hadn’t gotten completely undressed.

Turning the light out, she blinked a few times to try to get used to the darkness again, but gave up. She’d never find her stuff in the complete darkness.

“s**t,” she said to herself as she opened the door just wide enough to slip through and use the light to find her clothes.

“Everything okay?” Shane asked, sitting on the bed.

Surprised, she jumped and placed a hand on her pounding heart. “Oh, umm, yeah, I just need to head out.” And pretend this never happened.

“Let me help you find your things. You can turn the light on,” he told her as he stood, completely naked.

Mallory felt herself blush as she looked at the ground. “You can go back to bed. I’ll, umm, just be a second.”

She wasn’t watching him, but she felt him move closer, definitely not getting back into the bed.

“Are you going to be shy now?” He asked.

“I’m just looking for my shorts,” she looked around, any direction but his.

“Here you go,” she heard the grin.

She looked up to see him holding her shorts out to her. Snatching them out of his hand, she shimmied back into them.

“Well, umm, I’ll see you around.” She slipped her feet into her sandals and grabbed her purse.

“Mallory,” he called to her, “wait a second.”

“I can’t. I need to get home.” She didn’t turn back around.

“s**t,” he mumbled. “Let me get my shorts. Just wait a damn minute.”

The last thing she wanted to do was stand there, but something in his tone kept her standing there facing the door but not opening it. If she stayed much longer, people were going to notice her car there and the rumors would start.

They wouldn’t be rumors though, they’d be true. That made it even worse. Plus, when her parents found out, they’d find a way to let her know they disapproved of it, even if she hadn’t spoken to them in years.

“Okay, I’m decent,” Shane said from behind her.

She turned his direction, still avoiding looking at him, “I have to hurry, it’s getting late, or early, I don’t know.”

“Why?” He asked.

“I need to get ready for work, and people are going to see my car out there, Shane.” She threw her hands up as she spoke. “I just have to go.”

“Are you upset?” He asked after a moment.

“It’s not like either of us meant for this to happen, so it doesn’t really matter, because it won’t happen again,” as long as she was never alone with him long enough for it to happen.

Shane sighed, “I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I’m not upset that it did.”

Mallory let her shoulders fall. “I have to go.”

“Can we talk about this later?” He was closer to her now. If he wanted to, he could reach out and touch her.

She turned back to the door, pulling it open. “Sure,” she answered as she walked out, with zero intentions of talking to him about this.

Her morning alarm went off as she climbed into her car. Today was going to be rough.

She tossed her clothes the second she hit her bedroom and jumped into the shower. In record time, she got ready and got back in her car to head to work.

Real estate wasn’t the easiest profession to be in, but it was one of the fewest careers she could do with her skills and not a ton of money on training. Today, though, she had a meeting first thing and could not be late.

With five minutes to spare, she was in the office and walking into the conference room. “Hi everyone,” she announced herself.

“Cutting it close this morning?” Andrea asked as she took her seat, keeping her voice low. “I messaged you last night.”

“My phone died.” That wasn’t a lie. She hadn’t even charged it yet.

“I thought that might be the case, but I came by and you weren’t home…” Andrea trailed off, arching a brow at her.