Page 24 of Blade
He places his hand on the other side of me and meets my gaze. “Someone broke into your apartment.”
I close my eyes and draw in a deep breath. Why am I not surprised?
“I’m so fucking glad you trusted your instincts and came here as fast as you could, honey. I don’t know what time they broke into your apartment, but thank fuck you weren’t there.”
“It had to be Pete. No one else would give a shit about me. What did he take?”
“Not a single thing. Granted, I can’t be sure of that. But he didn’t touch your computer. Did you have any jewelry or anything he would have wanted? Cash? Paperwork?”
“Ha. Jewelry… The only jewelry I had was my wedding ring. I took it to a pawn shop. It was worth about twenty-five dollars. Everything about my life was fake.”
“I’m sorry, Little one. I think he hired someone to flip your apartment on its end and scare you.”
“Hired someone? What makes you think he didn’t do it himself?”
“A professional opened the door. Does he pick locks?”
“Fuck if I know. Maybe he picks locks for a living. Everything I ever knew about him was probably a lie. When I thought he was at work, he could have been robbing banks.”
Blade cringes. “I guess it’s possible then. What took me so long was that I had Cannon meet me there with supplies. He dusted for prints. Do you mind if he comes up to get your prints so he can eliminate you from everything?”
“No. That’s fine.”
“I’ll let him know. Also, he has your computer in a plastic bag. If you need it tonight, he’ll process it quickly. If you don’t need that specific laptop, I’ll grab another one from Mace. Is your teaching stuff accessible in a cloud?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You can manage with a different computer then?”
I nod and then feel mischievous. “I’ll just curl up on that bed I’ll be using in the guest room and set it on my lap.”
He growls. “You’ll do no such thing. I got distracted, though, and didn’t get a desk brought up for you. Can you work at the kitchen table tonight? I promise to stay out of your way.”
“Until I go to bed in the guest room, right?” I can’t help but needle him. I love that growl he makes.
He surprises me by moving lightning fast to kick off his shoes, climb onto the bed, and straddle me. He’s not touching me, just hovering over me with his hands on either side of my head. “Such a naughty girl.”
The man slowly lowers, bending his elbows until his lips brush mine. After that, he moves his lips to my neck and nibbles a path to my ear. “Naughty…” he repeats on a whisper. “So very naughty…”
“Are you going to spank me?”
Who am I? A mystery woman has taken over my body.
Blade growls louder into my ear. He lingers a few moments before bouncing off the bed to stand next to me, breathing heavily. “You are a giant temptation, woman.”
I push onto my elbows. My entire body is tingling from his hovering. I’m disappointed he moved. I stare at him and drop back down because this position hurts.
“How’s your pain, honey?”
“I could use another dose of pain meds.”
“You’re probably going to get sorer before you start getting better.” He picks up a bottle of pills and shakes two into his hands before helping me swallow them with some water from the sippy cup.
“Good girl. Do you want more of the black cherry seltzer?”
“That sounds good. I should get up. I need to pee.”
Blade slides a hand behind my back and gently helps me sit.
