A spotlight cutting through the darkness interrupted our afterglow.

“Fuck,” Simon whispered, throwing a corner of the blanket over me.

“Time to go?” I asked.

“Unfortunately.”

The unfortunate thing was the fact that I had to pull myself away from Simon’s fabulous, orgasm factory of a cock. Remembering that we’d gone bare, I felt around for a napkin to clean up the mess. The bouncing spotlight was moving closer, so I hurried into my dress and grabbed my bra and panties. Simon tossed the remains of our picnic into the cooler and bundled up the blanket. I snagged my shoes, opting to leave them off.

“Let’s go.” He gripped my hand and started to lead me toward the ramp. He stopped abruptly. “Shit. I don’t want you walking on this barefoot.” He dropped the blanket and the cooler on the deck of the barge and swept me up into his arms. I clung to his neck as he carried me down the ramp and to the car. He’d just shut my door when the security guard reached us. I could hear muffled words, but couldn’t make them out. I really hoped Simon was using that silver tongue to talk our way out of this. A cold sweat prickled over my body at the thought of possibly getting arrested. My fake ID wouldn’t hold up long under heavy scrutiny. I squeezed my eyes shut. I’m not ready for this to end. I’m not ready to let him go. I took a few deep breaths to calm my hammering heart as another thought intruded. Will I ever be ready to let him go? It was a stupid question, and I knew the answer before I’d finished thinking it. But it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t have a choice.

The light turned and headed away from the SUV as Simon opened the driver’s side door.

“Sorry about that, babe. It was security. They changed shifts, and my guy forgot to mention it to his replacement.” He must have noticed my pale face or my fingers clenching the fabric of my skirt, because his forehead crinkled with lines of concern.

“You okay?”

I nodded, swallowing back my momentary panic. Pasting a smile on my face, I tried to think of something casual to say. I ended up going with, “And here I thought you were finally breaking the rules.”

The lines of concern didn’t leave his face, leading me to believe that my attempt at masking my freak out had failed. He didn’t comment, though, and for that I was thankful. “I’m going to grab the rest of our stuff.” Simon flicked on a flashlight I hadn’t noticed. Gesturing with it, he said, “Got it from the security guard. Apparently he didn’t want to be fishing me out of the river tonight. Be right back.”

Simon loaded the blanket and cooler into the back of the SUV, and we drove out what I assumed was the same way we’d entered. Silence stretched between us. I had no idea what he was thinking; I was too busy trying not to think at all.

He reached over to pull my hand away from where it was tangled in the folds of my skirt. “You want to come home with me?”

I studied him in the glow of the streetlights. One hand casually on the wheel, the other holding mine, eyes directed out the windshield as he changed lanes. Of course I wanted to go home with him. But I couldn’t.

“I want to, but I can’t.”

He glanced at me. “Why not?”

“Huck. Harriet helped me out last night and tonight, not to mention letting him out every day while I’m at work. I don’t want to take advantage of her. And I also don’t want Huck to get lonely. He’s already pretty depressed being in his crate most of the time. Although, starting tomorrow, he’s allowed to be out for a little bit longer on a short leash.” I smiled at the thought of Huck’s marked improvement over the last few days.

“Then your place it is.”

I raised an eyebrow at his words. “Did I invite you?”

“You were getting around to it.”

It was strange waking up next to Simon for the second morning in a row. And it scared the hell out of me how much I liked it. In my full-size bed, we had no choice but to cuddle. And I was not a cuddler by nature, or at least I hadn’t been before Simon. I tried not to wonder what that said about me and the other guys I’d been with before. Regardless, I didn’t have time to enjoy the heat of his body surrounding me, because in exchange for my Saturday off from the Dirty Dog, I’d agreed to go in and do inventory at nine o’clock today.

I tried to extract myself from Simon’s hold, but his arm tightened around my stomach.

“Sleeping, babe. Try it.” His voice was grumbly and rough.

I wiggled to get free, but stilled when I felt his morning wood press against the crack of my ass. “I have to go to work. And after that I have to go to my other work.”

Simon growled. “You work too much.”

“Says the guy who left me naked in bed yesterday to go to work on a Saturday.”

He sighed and released me. “Fine. When do you have to be there?”

I rolled off the bed. “In twenty minutes.”

His eyes popped open, and he looked at the clock. “Shit. You want me to go let Huck out while you get ready?”

My heart warmed at his question. I was leaving him hard up in my bed, and he was offering to help take care of my dog. “That would be awesome.” I thought for a moment about warning him that Harriet didn’t always wear a robe in the mornings, but figured since we’d heard the sounds of Madame Butterfly coming from her studio until shortly after two o’clock, she’d probably sleep until noon.

Simon pulled on his slacks and shirt from the night before and left my apartment as I rushed to get ready for work. I threw on my uniform of choice: black skinny jeans, a hot pink bra, and a white wife beater. My hair went up into a messy bun, and I put on some eyeliner, mascara, and lip-gloss, and called it good. I slipped into my Chucks and was heading down the spiral staircase when Simon was leading Huck back into the house. A few words and a snuggle with my pup to get him settled, and I was about to leave Harriet’s guestroom when Simon grabbed something off the bed.

He held up Breaking the Code with Cryptography, and I froze. “Harriet breaking codes lately?”

Oh. Shit.

I thought I’d grabbed all of my library books yesterday, but apparently not.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I snatched it out of his hand before he could flip it open and see the library bar code.

I forced a laugh. “Who knows with Harriet? I’ll stick it back in the bookshelf. Otherwise, she’ll probably never find it.”