Get a Clue(66)

Or so she told herself. “Please.”

He went very still, staring at her for a long moment before lifting his hands from her and taking his weight off the mattress. “You know where to find me if you need me.”

“I won’t.” With only one boot off, she turned over into a little ball and closed her eyes tight, not relaxing until she heard the door shut behind him.

“It’s locked,” he said through it. “Keep it that way.”

Sleep didn’t come as easily as it had the night before. For the longest time she lay there, muscles sore from holding herself so tense. The fire crackled. The walls creaked.

So did a floorboard.

Uneasy, she sat up, her gaze frantically searching out each corner of the room.

No floating face.

No boogeyman.

Nothing.

And yet she was in this house with a dead body. And someone who’d made him dead.

She lay back down, but that lasted only until the next mysterious creak.

Why had she wanted to be alone?

Damn bad time to have given up men.

Then, from somewhere in the house, came an odd, indistinguishable sound. Not the house creaking, but she couldn’t place it. Again she sat up.

She’d definitely been hasty in sending Cooper away. Truth was, she didn’t have to give up men as long as she did one thing—hold on to her heart and soul for all they were worth, never letting them go.

For anyone.

Hoping she was right, she slipped out of bed and slowly cracked open her door. The hallway was pitch black—not a sound, not even a whisper of air. She couldn’t see all the way to the honeymoon suite where her salvation lay in one tall, hard, gorgeous package.

Couldn’t see anything.

That’s when the house creaked again.

Goose bumps rose over her skin, fear bubbled in her throat, and she ducked back into her room looking for a flashlight or a candle or something.#p#分页标题#e#

But the candles had burned down to stubs and Lariana hadn’t replaced them. She’d had the fire for light and that had been enough. Stumbling into the bathroom, she went straight to the gift basket and fumbled for the vibrator that had reappeared. Thanks, Lariana, for your obnoxious sense of humor. Rushing back to the fire, Breanne held the thing up in front of the flames for a moment until it began to glow pink.

At the next creak of the walls, she gasped, gripped the vibrator out in front of her like a beacon, and bolted for the honeymoon suite, limping in her one high-heeled boot.

This time she didn’t jump Cooper in the bed. She didn’t have to because he wasn’t in it.

Shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans low on his hips, he stood facing his own fireplace, hair rumpled, feet bare. For a moment she hung onto the doorjamb staring at him, a yearning welling up within her so strong she didn’t know what to do with it.

What was it about him? Granted, he had an amazing body. His back was sinewy and sleek, broad and sculpted, tapering in at his waist and hips. And that butt . . . Lord, she just wanted to bite it.

Only it wasn’t her body that tingled at the sight of him, but something deep inside. Note to self: your heart and soul are locked up tight! Not accessible! Remember that!

“You going to shut the door?” he asked without turning around.

With a sigh, she did, no longer surprised that he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head because she was getting used to that sense of awareness he had. She imagined he’d honed it over the years of being a cop.

Craning his neck, he finally looked at her, taking in her makeshift flashlight. “You need me to show you how to work that thing?”

“In your dreams.”

“Oh yeah, in my dreams.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead as if she gave him a headache by just being.

She had to admit it was entirely possible that she was a walking/talking headache inducer. “I, um, forgot to tell you something.”

“Well, then.” He turned toward her and slipped his hands in his pockets. The movement shifted his jeans even lower on his hips, gaping away slightly from his rippled abs that she always wanted to touch. “I’m all ears, Princess.”

Actually, he was all solid, tough muscle, but she wasn’t going to point that out. Locking up the heart and soul and tossing out the key!

He jerked a shoulder toward the fire. “Come here.”

Yeah, colossally bad idea. “Don’t you want to know what I forgot to tell you?”

“I want you to be warm.”

His words made her realize she was hugging herself, and extremely chilled. “Getting close to you is bad for my mental health.”

“And yet you’re here instead of with anyone else in the house.” He waggled his fingers. “Come on.”