Page 96 of Hero's Heart

God, this man did things to her heart she was never going to recover from. Neverwantedto recover from. She would not have said she needed dates or flowers or romance.

But she did. And he’d recognized it long before she had.

“I would like that.”

He smiled and kissed her softly again. “Good. So would I.”

They slipped back inside a few moments later. Callum squeezed her hand, a silent promise, before heading for the door. “I’ll be back to walk you and Joy home after your shift,” he said, pinning her with a look that set her ablaze all over again.

She nodded, not trusting her voice, and watched him leave. Everybody was staring, and she knewtheyknew that she and Callum had been making out. But she couldn’t bring herself to care. Could barely stop herself from touching her lips and sighing.

Joy materialized at her side almost immediately, eyes wide and imploring.

“I see those swollen lips! You have to swear I still get to be this baby’s auntie,” Joy said, catching Sloane’s hands in her own. “Auntie Joy. Promise me!”

“No matter what, you’ll always be Auntie Joy.”

They embraced tightly, a watery laugh escaping Joy as they pulled apart. “Okay, enough sappiness. We’ve got work to do!”

As they fell back into the rhythm of serving drinks and bussing tables, Sloane marveled at the giddy lightness in her chest.

She was going to bewooed.

Sloane’s eyes blinked open from her bed in Joy’s guest room. A smile still lit her face from what Callum had said earlier. True to his word, he’d escorted Joy and her home, providing a demure kiss on the cheek before he’d turned to go.

Sloane wanted so much more than a demure kiss on the cheek.

She let out a sigh, turning her head toward the door, expecting to see the comforting sliver of light that always spilled beneath it from the hallway night-light that let out a rainbow of colors.

But there was only blackness, thick and impenetrable. Odd. Had the bulb from Joy’s favorite light from childhood burned out?

As Sloane’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, a shiver raked down her spine. The space next to her bed seemed cloaked in a shadow far more pervasive than it should be. The darkness felt almost tangible.

Her eyes shot open as realization slammed into her with sickening force. The door wasn’t just closed—it was blocked.

By aperson.

The looming figure beside her bed was so close that its massive shadow eclipsed everything else. Too large to be Joy. Too large to be anyone who belonged in this room while she slept.

Sloane’s breath caught in her throat as icy tendrils of panic wrapped around her chest. Her mind reeled, thoughts scattering. Should she move? Scream for help?

Options flashed through her mind, each more desperate than the last. If she bolted for the door, could she slip past? The window, same problem. The intruder was already too close to her.

Her phone sat on the nightstand, so close but achingly out of reach.

The shadow shifted. Body heat radiated near Sloane’s face as a sweaty hand clamped over her mouth, fingers pressing hard against her skin, sealing her lips shut. The option to scream vanished.

The option to doanythingvanished.

A low, venomous voice hissed in her ear. “I hate losing my most precious toys.”

Her heart seized at the sound, the voice she’d prayed never to hear again after Moldova.

Nikola.

“Don’t try to scream,bábika,” he breathed, sick amusement dripping from his words. “It would excite me too much, and we don’t have time for that right now.”

“If you fight us, we will go after your friend too.” There was another shadow by the door now, smoother and less emotional. “She can stay asleep in her bed if you comply.”

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