Page 45 of The Sinner's Bargain

A real monster.

I started to wish for Lacroix, but what if it was him getting ready to kill me and dispose of me in the swamps? No one knew where I was and if they did, no one would care.

Why would he save you just to kill you? a barely audible voice asked buried deep in the roar of my fears.

To kill me himself maybe?

Willing myself not to cry, I focused on the door. If I could get to it, I could run.

I could hide.

It the creature was on my left side, the door was on...

Something creaked under a shifting weight.

A floorboard.

Behind me.

All thoughts of rationality evaporated as I screamed and tore off the bed. I practically tumbled off the edge but didn’t stop. I ran straight into the bathroom and slammed the door. The lock flipped clumsily under sweaty fingers but latched with a satisfying click.

Breathing in jagged pants, I slapped the light on and stumbled back just as the first bang erupted somewhere on the other side. A second later, a second bang shook the frame. This one on the door keeping me safe.

I screamed again, limbs trembling hard enough to nearly take me to the ground.

“Blue!” The banging repeated, harder, followed by someone yanking on the knob. “Open the door!”

Through the thundering of my heart between my ears, I registered that I knew that voice, but I didn’t trust it.

“Why ... why are you in my room?” Even to my own ears, I didn’t miss the sob in my voice.

There was a pause before he answered, “You screamed.”

I shook my head even though he couldn’t see it. “No, before ... before that.”

“What are you talking about?”

I swallowed. “Someone was in my room.”

The silence was longer followed by, “No one’s here, love. Come out.”

I couldn’t decide if he was lying but a door wasn’t going to stop him if he wanted me out.

Cautiously, I undid the lock and pulled the door open.

Lacroix stood before me in black and white checkered flannel and nothing else, a breathtaking display of hard, coiled muscles and a tapestry of ink carved into taut skin. It ran wild and unrestrained across his chest and down his arms. His jungle of hair fell all over his face but everything from the neck down made me momentarily forget why I’d been hiding.

“Blue.”

“Hm?”

My gaze shot up to his golden ones watching me with slight amusement. Heat erupted beneath my skin and I hurriedly turned my attention to the room behind him.

“Someone was in my room.” I turned to the bed left exactly how I’d abandoned it with the blankets thrown back. “I was asleep, and I heard the floorboards.”

“It’s an old house, love. It makes noises in the cold. You hear it more at night when it’s quiet.”

I considered that logic, but still shook my head. “Someone turned the light off. I had it on.”

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