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Once my fingers were pruny and my body was squeaky clean and warm, I got out and got ready for bed.

I made a list in my head of things that I needed to do as I lotioned up my body. Returning those boots being the one of the first things that I did in the morning when I woke up.

Or, at this point, the afternoon.

Thank God I had a flexible job that allowed me to work whenever I wanted to.

I crawled into bed, closed my eyes, and didn’t find sleep.

That was why I was awake when the knocking sounded on my door.

I ignored it.

There was no use in getting up.

I knew who it was.

Earlier today I’d programmed Black into my “known people” on my camera system.

No longer would I be alerted that he was here.

Paired with him knowing the code, I didn’t doubt that he was who was at the door.

The knocking stopped at my front door, but it picked up again at my bedroom window.

I reluctantly got out of bed and lifted the blinds.

The beginning of the sunrise was peeking up over the mountains.

“What?” I asked. “I told you I left your keys in the cruiser.”

“Open the window,” came his muffled reply.

I sighed, walked back to my bed, and disarmed the alarm.

When I went back to the window—because going to the door would require too much movement and I was exhausted from walking hours in boots that weren’t mine—I opened it and grumbled, “What do you want, Black?”

He hefted himself in through the window, pushing me backward when his shoulders squished against my soft belly.

I stepped back, my butt falling to the bed, and watched as he maneuvered his big bulk in through the window.

His gun caught on the windowsill, but he caught the butt of it with one hand, balancing his bulk on one hand only, and helped guide himself through.

Then he was on the floor beside the window.

He slowly lowered the window, then locked it.

Seconds later he was divesting himself of his clothes.

“What are you doing?” I found myself asking.

His belt came off and went to the dresser that was covered in my underthings.

He set the belt down, then started on his uniform shirt.

His shirt went, then his Kevlar vest, followed by his undershirt, then his pants.

When he was standing in nothing but his boxer briefs, he walked to my bathroom.