Page 75 of Sacred Vow
I glance down as she pulls against the spoon, the ice cream clearly still very frozen in the center, and as she yanks the spoon back out, the flimsy plastic bends, creating a catapult that sends a sloppy, wet dollop of ice cream launching right toward my chest.
It splatters against me, and both Tilly and I just stare at it, each of us in shock.
“Oh, shit,” she starts to laugh, knowing she’s in trouble now.
I shake my head, lifting my gaze to hers to see her already shrinking back as though she’s about to make a break for it. “Don’t even think about it, hellcat,” I rumble, taking the ice cream tub from her hand and sliding it onto the hallway table. “You’re gonna get on your knees and lick it off.”
“Oh yeah?” she questions, stepping closer, her eyes dancing with excitement. “And if I don’t?”
My hand falls to her waist, firmly squeezing, when a sound deeper in my home has a chill sailing down my spine. I grip Tilly harder and pull her straight behind me, the ice cream instantly forgotten.
“What’s wrong?” she whispers, her hand lifting to my back as my gaze sweeps through the darkened house.
“There’s someone in the house.”
“Zeph—”
“No,” I say, cutting her off. “His Range Rover wasn’t in the driveway. It’s not him.”
“Fuck.”
My thoughts exactly.
A moment of hesitation rocks through me. Do I send her out, lock her in the garage until I find the motherfucker currently in my home, leaving her as a prize to be found? Or do I bring her with me, making sure to have eyes on her the whole fucking time, even if it means getting an up-close view of the man I used to be?
Shit.
I grip her tighter as I creep deeper into my home. “Stay right behind me,” I tell her, slipping the shitty plastic spoon out of the ice cream and snapping off the top of it to create a makeshift knife. It’s not ideal, but it will do until I can get my hands on a proper weapon.
Tilly sucks in a breath, and while it’s barely audible, I hear it like a wave crashing in my ear, her fear radiating out of her as she clings to me. “I got you, hellcat,” I promise her. “You’re safe with me.”
“I know,” she murmurs, trusting me with her life when she shouldn’t.
We make our way to my foyer and through the main entrance before creeping into the opening of the living room, when a voice sounds through the darkness. “Is that you, Caesar?” a familiar purr says. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Unease blasts through me, and I pull Tilly across the room before reaching for the light switch, sending a blinding brightness through the room, only to find the woman from Vixen spread out across my lounge in red lingerie.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” I demand, irritated with myself for not checking my phone. There would have been more than just a few notifications from my home security systemalerting me to a break-in, but I’ve been so focused on Tilly that I didn’t even notice.
The woman gasps as she sits up, her eyes wide as she takes in Tilly behind me. “What the hell are you doing with her?”
“That’s none of your goddamn business,” I growl, raising my voice, suddenly wishing that I’d spent just a little more time learning who the fuck I’d been sinking into all these years. I don’t even recall her fucking name. “Why are you in my house?”
“I came to surprise you,” she says as Tilly steps around to my side, her lips twisted into a deep scowl. “But imagine my surprise finding you withher.”
She talks as though she has some kind of claim over me, and when Tilly releases her hold on my back, I already know what thoughts are rushing through that pretty little mind of hers.
“Holy fucking shit,” Tilly mutters, shaking her head as she steps away from me. “I thought she was just somebody you screwed at the club every now and then. I didn’t realize there was anything more to it.”
“Hellcat, there is nothing more to it. I don’t even know her name.”
Tilly’s eyes widen, surprise brimming in her stare. “Wait. What? How can you not? Izaac said you’d been screwing her for years.”
“Excuse me?” the woman snaps, grabbing her coat and hastily covering up, looking at me as though she’s never been so offended in her life, but none of that matters to me; all that matters is Tilly.
“You asked Izaac about me?” I ask her, completely ignoring the woman.
Tilly smirks and clicks her tongue. “You’re getting off track, Mr. Di Rozé.”
