“Locked yourself out, eh?” He jerked his chin toward the building.
I rocked back on my heels, my hands in the pockets of my jacket. “I’m an idiot. I was in such a hurry to get out of that cab because the cabbie was skeeving me out—and now my keys are just chilling on the seat.” I pulled a hand out of my pocket and pointed at it. “These pockets suck. I lose stuff all the time. Basically, I suck, and it’s been a sucky night.”
“Where’s the guy who talked to you?” Cav’s head was turning, searching the dark streets.
“Long gone, hopefully.”
Looking back to me, he frowned. “You can’t do shit like this, Greer. You’re not invincible. You need to stay off these streets after dark.”
I narrowly kept from stomping my foot like a toddler since he was scolding me like one. “I know this. I didn’t lock myself out on purpose. I don’t know where everyone is who’s supposed to be able to help.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be out late by yourself.”
I held up a hand. “Whoa, whoa. I’m twenty-three years old and can do whatever the hell I want. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“No, but you need a fucking keeper.” Cav crowded me into the front of the building. “What if I were looking to get a piece of your fine ass? No one could stop me right now. There’s no one around who’s gonna save you from me.”
I shoved at his chest. “Why the hell aren’t you looking to get a piece of my fine ass? I’ve been wondering when you’re finally going to make a move.”
His dark scowl faltered with the hint of a smile. “Fuck, you’re a sassy thing. Who says I’m not?” The smile faded. “And even if I am, you shouldn’t let me. I’m not good enough for you, Greer. You shouldn’t let a guy like me get so damn close. It ain’t right.”
This time, I was the one scowling. “You don’t get to decide that for me. Only I get to decide that.”
“Because you’re twenty-three years old and can do whatever the hell you want,” he finished for me.
“Exactly.”
A low growl rumbled in his chest, like he wasn’t sure what to do with me. He pushed away from the wall and stared up at the building.
“Let’s get you inside before daylight, okay?”
“Good. Let’s.”
“You got a fire escape around the side?”
I jerked a thumb toward the left side of the building. “The one over here comes pretty close to my window.”
“Good. Then that’s how we’re getting in.”
“My windows are locked.”
Cav’s grin flashed. “Not a problem.”
He pulled me around the side of the building and stopped under the fire escape. With a single leap, he grabbed the bottom rung and pulled it down. Glancing at me, he said, “You’re coming up too.”
I looked down at my black boots, glad I’d picked the no-heel pair. “Why?”
“Because I’m guessing you’ve got one of those fancy alarms that’s hooked to your windows, and as soon as I get the fucker open, it’s going to start beeping. If you don’t put in the code, the cops will be here to arrest me for a B&E.”
Shit. I didn’t even think about that. I nodded. “Okay.”
“You’re not scared of heights, are you?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m good. I just don’t like climbing fire escapes in a skirt.”
“Anyone looks up it, they’re gonna answer to me. You go first, and I’ll be right below you. You won’t fall because I got you, baby girl.”
Any lingering fear I had about climbing the fire escape fell away with his reassurance.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
Ladder after ladder, we climbed to the ninth floor, and I was glad I wasn’t living on the seventeenth like I’d originally planned. I stopped at the ninth floor landing when we reached it and leaned over the edge to peer inside my window. My apartment was all locked up nice and tight, without me in it.
Cav pulled me away from the edge of the fire escape. “This is my part. Make sure you hold on. I’m not about to lose you now.”
He wasn’t even out of breath, and I was huffing and puffing. Apparently Cav didn’t skip as many workouts as I did, which explained how damn ripped he was.
“I’m not going to fall off.” And he wasn’t going to lose me. Shit, he hadn’t even had me. Maybe tonight . . . He had to come into the apartment to go back down through the elevator . . .
Quickly, I tried to get my head in seductress mode, which was quite a challenge while the cold night air blew up my skirt. Besides, did I even know how to seduce this guy?
I watched as Cav reached into his pocket and pulled out something, but in the darkness, I couldn’t make out what it was. He leaned over the railing of the fire escape to the ledge of my window.
“Shit. Need to get a little closer.”
Cav lay down on the fire escape and pulled his body halfway out to the window. He was suspended without support over ninety feet off the ground, and the thought flipped my stomach over into knots. Before I had a chance to ask him what the hell he was doing, he was already shoving the window up and jumping inside my living room.
The beeping of the alarm system came from behind him, just like he’d said it would.
“Come on, baby. I’ll help you inside. Come under the railing, and I’ll grab you and haul you in.”
I ducked down, not wanting to have to explain to the cops why I was breaking into my own place, or how the hell Cav had done it. Seriously, how had he? A lock-pick set?