PLAY WITH FIRE

CHAPTER 20

HOLDEN KINCAIDE

PRESENT TIME

The front door opened and I was immediately blessed with a gorgeously lazy smile. She wasn't dressed yet, little bits of curly hair sticking out around her face, the inside of her apartment completely dark. 

"If you're trying to turn me into a morning person it's not going to work" She stated opening the door wider before turning around and walking back into the darkness that was her home. I stepped into the pitch black, closing the door behind me, not moving to make an immediate step as I could not see a damn thing and feared crashing into something and possibly breaking it. 

"And yet you greeted me with a smile" I stated, pulling my phone out from my pocket and hitting the torch, the dark apartment immediately becoming illuminated. I turned to the door, finding the light switch and hitting it, actually able to see now. I turned my torch off,  turning back around in time to see Scarlett walking out of the hallway, making her way into the kitchen as she pulled her shirt down over her bra covered breasts. I gulped, heading into the kitchen before leaning on the counter, watching her grab a bowl, a box of cereal and milk out of the fridge. She paused, glancing at me over her shoulder as she held up her empty bowl. 

"You want one?" She asked. I shook my head no, her nodding as she turned back to fill her bowl. 

"Hey, so, I was thinking-"

"That's dangerous" I but in, earning a glare before she went back to her bowl. 

"You've been my personal chauffer, picking me up before heading into the bureau, taking me home-"

"Get to the point, Scarlett" I told her, a tiny smirk on my face, arms crossed over my chest as she turned around, bowl full of cereal and milk. 

"Do you want to drive me to a friends house later today?" I stared at her blankly. Her face held the largest smile I've seen from her in a while. It was a worried smile, her face slightly reserved as she expected an immediate no. 

"Not particularly" I stated, Scarlett's smile instantly falling as she sighed. "What time?". 

Scarlett looked up, her face being lit up again with her gorgeous smile. "5:30". 

"Who is this friend?" I asked, hoping  she didn't hear the accusing 'is it a guy?' tone behind the question. Scarlett shrugged. 

"Martha Callaway. She was a guard at the Penitentiary. Her family used to come in and visit me all the time. They became a second family to me" I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched her eat. 

"I thought you weren't allowed visitors" I brought up. That was an actual part of her sentence given by the judge. No visitors allowed, not even family. 

"Technically, on paper, they were there to visit Martha. She just so happened to be guarding me when they rocked up" Her mouth held the tiniest of smirks as she stared into her bowl of cereal. 

"Sneaky" I stated, Scarlett grinning as she looked up at me through her eyelashes. 

"Very sneaky" She agreed, my eyes instantly drawn to her index finger as she wiped milk away from the corner of her mouth before she slid her finger between her lips, sucking it off. My chest heaved up and down, heart thudding against my chest as I struggled to compose myself around her. I couldn't stop staring at her mouth. As much as I wanted to look away I couldn't, I really fucking couldn't. There was no doubt she'd seen my staring, or heard my heavy breathing, no doubt in the slightest when I looked away from her mouth, taking in her eyes and the way they were set directly on me. 

She'd seen it all. She'd seen my eyes concentrated on her mouth. She'd seen my chest heave and heard my raggedy intakes of air. She'd seen the way something as simple as sucking on her finger had done to me, and yet as we stood staring at each other she didn't move to tease me. Instead her large eyes just stared at me, the silence of the apartment so fucking loud I thought my ear drums would burst.