My Ex's Uncle, My Trap novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: Out Loud
He didn't say yes right away.
He looked at me for a long moment on the cold stone step, and his face did something slow.
"Say it one more time," he said. "So I know I didn't make it up."
"Take me to your hotel, Pierson. I'm asking. It's real."
He stood up and held out his hand, palm up, the way he had at the club.
"May I?"
I took it.
His car was parked on Forbes with a ticket on the windshield. He put the ticket in his pocket without reading it.
We didn't talk on the drive downtown.
His hand was on the gearshift. Mine was on top of his.
At every red light, his thumb moved once across the comma burn on the back of my hand.
The doorman in the top hat said, "Good evening, Mr. Wardell," and pretended not to see my hair.
In the elevator, I watched the numbers climb to twenty-one and thought about every lock I'd ever opened.
You never force the last one. You wait until you feel it give.
Suite 2104 was dark except for the city in the windows.
He closed the door behind us and didn't turn on a lamp.
He didn't touch me either.
He stood with his back to the door and his hands at his sides, and he let me look at him.
"You can still change your mind," he said. "Halfway. At the very end. Any time."
"I know."
"I need you to know I mean it."
"I know you mean it," I said. "That's why I'm here."
I put the envelope with the fellowship letter on the console table.
Then I took the hex key out of my pocket and set it down beside it.
He crossed the room slowly.
I let him.
His jacket came off first, and I hung it on the back of the desk chair.
Then I stood in front of him with my hands shaking and I asked, "Can I?"
"Yes."
I worked his shirt buttons one at a time, from the collar down.
My fingers kept fumbling and he didn't help, just watched me with his dark eyes steady.
The shirt fell open and I pushed it off his shoulders.
The brass key on its cord lay against his bare chest, warm from his skin.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of My Ex's Uncle, My Trap are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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