“Gives it personality,” Nick said. He pushed her hair back over her ear, trailing his fingers along her neck.
“Nice way to put it.”
Ari took the break in kissing to suggest, “Do you want to come in?”
Nick tilted his head and said, “Um…well, can we talk about this?”
“What, this?”
“Me and you.”
Ari looked around wondering where things were going. Was the kiss that bad? Because it didn’t feel bad to her. It felt pretty awesome. “Uh, sure.”
“You’re amazing. And I really like you. And kissing you? I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks.” Ari blushed and fought back a smile. So the kiss wasn’t bad. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out and when you texted tonight—I was pretty damn excited.”
“Darn,” Ari corrected out of habit. “Sorry.”
He smiled and ran his hand behind his neck. “Basically, and this sounds like I may lose my man card here, but can we take this slow? If we blow this and have to see each other every other day at work it’s going to be a train wreck. I don’t want that.”
Ari nodded in false agreement. “Yeah, I don’t want that either.”
“But please understand. I’m all in for finding out if this will work. I just don’t want to rush it.”
“Makes sense,” Ari agreed. “I can take things slow.”
“Good,” he said with a relieved smile.
“So how do we handle this?”
“I think tonight, we end this here, and I don’t come inside. Because once I get inside, I’m staying,” he laughed and Ari blushed.
She unlocked the door and quickly walked through the house, checking all the rooms for anything weird while Nick waited on the porch. When she finished she said, “All safe.”
“Good.” He leaned down and kissed her again. “Call you tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.”
He kissed her again and then twice more before she finally pulled herself away and shut the door. Nick didn’t leave the porch until she set the alarm and turned off the lights.
NINE
Ari sat straight up in her bed, surrounded by nothing but pitch dark and she held her breath. On instinct, she reached under her pillow for her phone. Someone or something had made a banging sound out in the living room and Ari’s throat lodged in her chest.
Another crash came from the living room, and she turned on her phone to light the room. For the third time that day, she fought a panic attack. Not one to lie in wait, she got out of bed, tip-toeing across the hardwood floor over to the door. She pressed her ear against the smooth surface, her thumb on the keypad of her phone, ready to dial 911.
Footsteps passed her door, clumsy and loud. She heard a man’s voice followed by a sharp, low, “Shhh!”
Ari sighed and swung the door open, “Oliver! What the heck are you doing?!”
Oliver and Veronica swayed against one another in the hallway. Veronica at least had the good sense to look apologetic.
“We had too much to drink and walked back here,” she said.
Oliver shrugged and pulled his latest conquest into his bedroom. He winked at Ari before he closed the door.
Exhausted and still a little tipsy, Ari shuffled back to her room. Just before she closed the door, the hallway light splayed across her room and dresser. She noticed immediately. The box was gone.
Ari knew she had seen the box when she came in her room for bed. Sleek and black, glinting like a secret. Confused, she flipped on her light. She walked to the dresser, opening the first drawer, tossing socks and panties on the top, next to her jewelry box and a photo of her parents. She felt around inside.