Page 20 of Royal Academy

CHAPTER 10

Lia couldn’t wait to get out of her work clothes and into some running shorts. Working with Nick all day had been panty melting and she needed to work off some steam. Yanking the skinny jeans down her legs she threw them over the chair and removed her jewelry.

Just as she was reaching for the drawer Lia looked over and saw something on her pillowcase. Startled she took a step closer to get a better look and that was when she let out the most blood-curdling scream of her life.

Lia wasn’t sure how she did it, but one second she was on the floor and the next she was perched on top of her dresser. Nick came slamming into the room breathing hard. She tried to tell him what it was, but her words couldn’t quite come out.

“There, do you see it? Hank, how could you?”

Lia eyed her new friend with betrayal.

Nick had come to stand beside her so that he could see what she was freaking out about. Lia sank her fingers into his hair and turned his head “On my pillow!”

The dead rodent was indeed a gruesome sight.

“A mouse,” Nick said rather calmly for how fast his heart was racing. “You screamed like you were being stabbed because of a mouse.”

“A dead mouse on my pillow, Nick!” Lia sank down on her heels covering her face. “You have to get rid of it.”

He was careful not to look at her, “I will if you get down from there. You are going to hurt yourself.”

Lia’s eyes flashed, “No way in hell am I getting down until that is gone.”

Nick fought to control his expression, “It is dead. I don’t think the mouse cares where you are standing.”

“What if it has friends?” Lia wailed.

“Well then, your good friend Hank will be sure to introduce you,” Nick couldn’t help the little jab.

Lia looked back at Hank. He seemed to be grinning in delight.

“Just get rid of it.”

Nick nodded, “I need to get something to scoop it up.”

“The whole pillow has to go! I can’t sleep where there has been a dead body. I don’t even know how I’m going to sleep in the bed.”

This caused Nick to laugh, “Well, you are going to need to figure something out. Just a second, I will take this out.”

Nick carefully picked up the pillow and walked to the door, “You can get down now. And pants would be appreciated.”

Lia felt the heat rise in her cheeks when she realized that she was only in her skimpy panties. As Nick went out the door she tried to climb down. But every time she did visions of dead things kept appearing in her mind. No, it was safer up here.

Nick returned a few moments later, “Now that’s been taken care of…” he trailed off. “You are still on the dresser.”

Lia lifted her chin in defiance, “Maybe I like it up here.”

It could have been the way her hands were shaking or the fact that she was still paler than usual. Nick could somehow sense that she was still afraid—deathly so.

“Lia, it’s okay, you can come down,” he tried to coax her.

She wouldn’t budge and with a resigned sigh, he knew what needed to be done. She was a sister, not a woman, surely he could handle getting her off the dresser.

His arms wrapped around her thighs and she squealed and cling to his head. He tried setting her down but she clung to him like a spider monkey. Her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and her breasts were smashed against his chest. Her arms were around his neck in a choke hold and she was whimpering into his neck.

“Lia, I can’t breathe!’

She loosened her arms a fraction of an inch, and he was able to pull back enough to see her face. Plump full lips and wild eyes there was something so appealing about the girl. Something that in this close proximity he was having a difficult time remembering something important.

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