Alarm

“Oh, Lo told you that, did he? Well, don’t read too much into it…I don’t know…not yet…”

What had Lo said? Was he talking about me? I folded my arms around myself and bit down on my lip.

“It doesn’t matter if it is a chick. I’ll fucking kill her if she gets in the way. If it turns out she had something to do with it—anything—I’ll bury them both in the same fucking hole!”

My legs began to shake. I supposed there was a reason people were warned against eavesdropping, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

“Nothing matters more to me. You know that…I am…no, they haven’t found a fucking thing. As far as I can tell, they’re useless.”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, and my toe bumped against the wall.

“Hold on a sec,” Aiden said, and I heard him move in my direction.

Shit!

As quickly and silently as I could, I scurried back down the hallway and threw myself into the bed. My heart raced as I pulled the blanket up over me and tried to lie still.

Aiden’s footsteps were at the door. He paused, and I could hear him breathing, but I didn’t think he came into the room. I kept my eyes closed even though I was facing away from the door. A minute later, I heard him head back down the hall.

“No,” his soft voice echoed. “Just checking on something.

Alarm!

I wrapped my arms around myself as my breathing returned to normal. What was all of that? Was he actually threatening to kill someone? Two someones? Why? What was complicated, and did it actually have anything to do with me?

What had I gotten myself into?

I had to be hearing things wrong. There was no way to tell when you only got one side of a conversation. There was no way for me to know exactly what he meant, and trying to figure it out without knowing even the general topic at hand was impossible. The alarms in my head were premature at the very best. I had no idea what he was talking about, and it wasn’t any of my business.

I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to imagine there was anything sinister about the man who had bought me a dress just to go out for dinner and treated me so nicely. I didn’t want to believe he was anything other than how he seemed when he was around me. Despite everything that I had heard, I couldn’t deny how much I still wanted Aiden Hunter.

I still had to pee, but there was no way I was going to get up and go to the bathroom now. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to forget everything I had heard.

And with that, denial took me into sleep.

NINE

Day four with Aiden, and again, my sleep was restless. Every time I woke up, Aiden wasn’t there. I considered going out to find him but didn’t want to hear any more of his late-night conversations. Ignorance was said to be bliss¸ and I was hanging on to that notion.

When I woke in the morning, Aiden was wrapped around me for once instead of the other way around. My back was to his chest with his arms coiled around me. I couldn’t recall ever waking up in such a position, and for a moment, I just lay there and felt.

He was warm but not too hot. His cheek was against the top of my head, and his arm was bent to allow my head to rest on his bicep. Our knees were slightly bent, with his legs curled up against the back of mine. His arm was around my waist, and his hand was resting on the mattress next to my stomach.

I supposed this was what people referred to as a classic “spooning” position.

I looked down the arm wrapped around my middle, trying to get a better look at the tattoos there. There were stars and a dollar sign as well as the image of a basketball player. The phrase 80’s Baby was in red, right in the center of his arm near his elbow, and a long-stemmed rose swept over his forearm.

I remembered what I had overheard on the phone. Frankly, it had scared me a little. If I really thought about it rationally, I’d probably pack up and get the heck out of here. That was the thing, though—I wasn’t thinking rationally.

Despite his words on the phone, I still felt safe in his arms.

Why was that? Was it simply a reflection of his strength? Were human women really biologically programmed to seek out someone who was able to protect them physically? If he weren’t so muscled, would I still be attracted to him?

That was the crux of the whole thing—I was attracted to him and not just a little. I’d hardly been able to keep my eyes off of him the whole time I had been here and had even dreamed about him.

Aiden shifted in his sleep, pressing his body closer to mine. His elbow bent as his hand moved up to my shoulder, and his grip tightened. There was no doubt in my mind what I could now feel pressed against my ass.

It was long and hard.