Tiger Bound by Tressie Lockwood

recognized his jealousy for what it was, and he knew he behaved like a child. His eyes itched to see her, and his palms to touch her. Before they were intimate, Deja occupied his thoughts a large part of his free time, but he took it in stride and didn’t stress over it. Being inside her put the feelings he had for her on steroids, and he didn’t like it one bit.
    “Deja.”
    “Okay, okay, I’m coming over now if you want. Kind of late.”
    “Stay the night?”
    “Sure.”
    “Okay, I’ll go out and pick something up to eat.”
    “Don’t bother. I’ll get it on my way, and Heath?”
    “Yes?”
    “I love you too.”
    The line went dead. He stumbled over and sat on his bed, staring at nothing in particular. She loved him? The words tumbled from her lips in the same joking manner she always used with him. She teased nonstop, and he liked that about her, but did she mean what she said?
    After he wasted enough time sitting there thinking about the situation, he hitched his shoulders and stood up. He would judge Deja’s mood when he saw her and leave it at that. Pondering her feelings for him would do no good right now, and his weariness of mind and body made it impossible either way.
    After he lowered a shirt over his head and yanked on a pair of sweats, his front door opened and Deja shouted down the hall. The scent of fried chicken and potato salad hit his nose, and his stomach stirred once again. The only place she could have picked up the food was the diner, which he didn’t mind.
    Her head popped in the doorway to his room. “Hey, hope you’re hungry.” She stepped farther into the room and held up a plastic bag, filled, he assumed, with takeout containers. Something new stirred in him, and it had nothing to do with food. She wore a denim minidress he had seen her in before, which had thin straps that crisscrossed over her bare back. The dress reached down just past the tops of her thighs, making her legs look longer, and a zipper down the front would give him easy access to her breasts.
    He approached her. “I could eat.”
    Her eyebrow slid toward her hairline, but she offered no snarky reply. He put his hand in hers, and they walked together to the living room like two high school kids on their first date. Heath took the bag from her in front of the couch and turned her to face him. He drew her into his embrace and then slanted his mouth over hers. Just as he remembered, she tasted incredible, and the curve of her body pressed close hardened his cock a little bit more. Heath left her sweet mouth and planted kisses on her shoulder. Because he could, he ran a hand over her ass and lifted her dress. She stopped him when he would have ventured into her panties.
    “Heath, we have to eat,” she chastised him.
    “I intended to.”
    She smacked his hand and sat down to bring the food out of the bag. Heath had no choice but to join her. Soon enough, he would get what he’d been reliving in his mind all week.
    “You still haven’t looked in that?” she asked, breaking his train of thought.
    “What?” She indicated the box.
    Heath took the offered container, opened it, and ate a good portion of his food before he answered. “No time like the present, I guess.”
    Leave it to Deja to get him moving when he put things off. He finished his food and tossed the trash into the plastic bag. Then he washed his hands. The old metal box weighed more than he thought when he had pulled it free from its hiding place. He assumed his dad had stashed old porn magazines in it given he didn’t bother dating after Heath’s mother passed. He hoped it also contained information on his medicine. As a last resort, he would see a doctor and give him or her a couple of pills to examine so they could match the prescription or offer something better.
    Heath examined the lock and frowned. He needed a key he didn’t have, and after packing away all of his dad’s things, he was pretty sure he hadn’t come across any. “I got