Page 18 of Reckless Kiss

She returned to her makeshift dressing room and found a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Then, running down the stairs, she left the cottage. She didn’t come to Copper Island to die on her first morning.

Walking with purpose along the path to the next cottage, she reached the front door. It looked like somebodywas living in it. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Erica could see a grander house in the distance through the tall trees. When she got to that building, it was utterly deserted. Erika could see an even more prominent place, more like a stately home in the far distance. It took ten minutes to get there. The imposing building screamed go away, but she needed to speak to somebody.

Hearing somebody was mowing a lawn, she turned in that direction. Walking around the perimeter of the vast mansion, she spotted Ralph, the man who had picked her up from the quay. Standing with her fists to her head, she waited for him to turn the mower to face her. When she got this attention, she waved. Ralph turned the machine off and jumped down, wiping his hands on a rag he pulled from his pocket.

“Is everything all right, Miss Turner?”

“No, Ralph, I’m afraid it’s not. I just stepped into the shower and got electrocuted.”

“Oh my God, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, but it’s obviously a death trap. Can I move cottages?”

“Why don’t I send the maintenance guy around first to see if you can see what the problem is?”

“That would be great. Do you know how long that will be?”

“I’ll go and fetch him right now. Do you want a lift back to your cottage?”

“No, that’s unnecessary.”

Ralph didn’t know how to end the conversation, so he turned his back and strode towards the main house. Erica looked up at the building, wondering what kind of family lived inside the four walls. She hoped it was a happy home.

She spied the swimming pool on the other side of thegrounds and noted its location. She would need to use that very soon.

Chapter 12

Erica

An hour later, no one had come to fix her shower, and she was desperate to wash away the travel from her skin. She picked up a towel from the stack in her bathroom and her wash bag. Erica assumed all the cottages she’d hired were for her use and should be ready to accept guests. Walking to the nearest cottage, the one she passed up to the main house, she used the keys she was given. The place looked exactly like hers. Same décor, same layout. It made it easier for her to find the bathroom attached to the main bedroom. She stripped off for the second time. Nothing would stop her from getting under the warm water, not even the vague idea that the front door had just slammed shut.

She stepped towards the switch on the wall and reached out to press it when a man appeared in the open doorway.

“Don’t press it,” he yelled.

But it was too late. Her finger had already started its trajectory and had pressed the button. The man yelledfuckand ran towards her. The shock of electricity shot up herarm. Erica let out a scream and stumbled back, and then she fell. The man caught her as she sank to the floor, falling to the floor with her. They landed in a heap on the tiled floor. Erica was sitting on his lap, and he had his hands on her.

A rough palm of his hand cupped her breast while his other hand was on her hip.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said, whipping his hand away like her skin burned him.

He reached across, snatched a towel off the vanity unit, and draped it over her.

“Thank you, I think,” she said.

“How did you know the shower is trying to kill me?”

“The same thing happened to me in Emma Lodge. I fixed that one, but I hadn’t had the chance to check in here. They told me you wouldn’t be living in this cottage,” he said.

“The switch in Emma Lodge attacked me too. Are they all like this?”

“I didn’t think so, but I’ll get them all checked out straight away.”

“Now that you’ve grabbed my breast, maybe you could tell me your name?” Erica said, making no effort to move away from her position on his muscular thighs.

“I’m Archer,” he said, holding out his hand in the awkward position. She took it but didn’t shake it. Instead, she held his hand and leaned against his torso.

“I’m Erica, and I feel a bit light-headed,” she said.

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