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window in all directions. “Is Emily home?”
    “No. You know she and Mark went home. You scared the crap out of me!” She swatted at his arm, but not too hard.
    She was, frankly, glad to see him. “And why’d you come up the fire escape?”
    He turned, the smell of gasoline and alcohol wafting over her and nearly churning her stomach. He gently grasped her shoulders. “Before I say or do anything else, I need a serious answer from you.”
    Her pulse still struggled to settle into a regular pace, but she nodded.
    “I mean it,” he said. “If you can’t promise to do this for me, I need to leave and you need to say you never saw me tonight.”
    “What is it? You’re scaring me.”
    “When did Emily leave?”
    “Mark picked her up about five thirty. Why?”
    “Are you prepared to say I was here all night? Regardless of what it might look like to anyone? That I got here around seven and spent the entire night with you?”
    “Ross, what—”
    “I mean it, Loren. Yes, or no. No is an acceptable answer, but you need to say you never saw me tonight, if that’s the answer you choose.”
    “Yes,” she softly said. She didn’t want him to leave. She’d say whatever he told her to keep that from happening.
    “We ate, we made love, and we fell asleep,” he said. “I spent the entire night.”
    She nodded.
    “Say it back to me.”
    “We ate, we made love, and we fell asleep. You spent the entire night.” She wished that second option was true. Ross was maybe the only eligible man on the planet she had anything approaching romantic feelings for. He was safety, and lately she only truly relaxed when with him.
    Ever since that night.
    “When is Emily due back?”
    “Not until tomorrow after classes. She went home for the night. Mark picked her up. Their little brother had a Scout thing or something tonight they didn’t want to miss.”
    He stepped closer. “Okay. I need to wash my clothes. This part didn’t happen. There was nothing amiss when I arrived at…” When he didn’t finish, she realized he was waiting for her to finish the sentence.
    “Around seven,” she said.
    He smiled. She realized from the way her heart flipped that she’d kill, do anything to earn that smile from him.
    “That’s my good girl,” he whispered, kissing her on the forehead.
    “Why do your clothes—”
    He gently laid a finger over her lips. “Do you trust me?”
    She nodded.
    “I made something right tonight. If you trust me, you have to promise me never to ask me about this again. Ever. Never ask about it, never talk about it, never bring it up, never mention it. Understand? This never happened. You have to accept what I’m telling you now as the only thing you’ll ever hear about it. Otherwise, I need to leave right now, and you go back to the story that you never saw me tonight. I will not hold it against you, I promise. But that is an unbreakable rule I cannot bend. I can’t tell you, and I never want to lie to you.”
    She studied his brown eyes in the dim light. They looked coal black in the darkness, intently focused on her.
    She didn’t want him to leave.
    Loren nodded.
    He smiled again. “Good girl.” Another kiss pressed to her forehead, tender, and yet still stoking the coals of those fires she thought that night had put out for good.
    She did trust Ross.
    With her life.
    “Can you please show me how to work the washer?” he asked.
    She led him to the utility closet off the kitchen where the stacked washer and dryer unit sat. He stripped down completely, grabbing a clean towel from the dryer, from the load she hadn’t folded yet, and wrapped it around his waist. Even his socks and underwear went in. When he sniffed his sneakers, he considered it, then tossed them in, too. He ran the water level at full, temperature warm, and added enough soap for a full load.
    Once that was going, he turned to her again. “May I please take a shower?” He didn’t smell as much like gasoline and booze now, but