Page 89 of Panty Dropper

My cheeks burned and my jaw dropped. I wanted so badly to come back at him, defend myself and explain to him that I was the epitome of focus and work and he was the one always goofing off…but I could see by the amused glint in his eye as he watched me during his little teasing tirade that that was exactly what he wanted. It was obvious he thought it was cute when I was fired up, and I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.

I snapped my mouth shut and relaxed my face into a sensual gaze. I slinked over to the stairs and climbed them slowly, making sure that my ass more than brushed him as I stepped onto the stair where he stood stock still, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

I took one more step, stopped briefly, turned and ran a fingernail down his jaw. I leaned in close and whispered, “Your loss,” before nipping his earlobe with my teeth and continuing on up the stairs.

The groan of ultimate frustration I heard emanating from behind me on the stairs made me giggle as I took them two at a time.

He caught up to me and gave my backside a little swat. “That was just mean.”

I laughed and continued up to the top, Billy right behind me. When we reached the landing, I saw an old, worn door in the middle of the second floor hallway. Billy moved around me and turned the knob. Or tried to, anyway. It only shifted a little before stopping, and wouldn’t give no matter how much Billy tried to twist it.

He turned to look at me, brows drawn together. “What the hell?”

“It wasn’t usually locked?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t even know it could lock. Hold on.”

He pulled the same small leather folder from his back pocket that he had on the porch. He opened it and pulled two silver tools out and bent to pick the lock.

I sighed. “How many locks have you picked?”

“Today?” He flashed me a smile and wink. “Just two.”

He stood back in triumph and turned the knob again, which this time moved easily, and pushed the door open. He held out his arm in a sweeping gesture. “Ladies first.”

I stared at the set of rickety wooden steps. “Oh no, after you.”

“I see, so you want to stare at my ass.” His brows lifted with a crooked grin.

I pushed him and he chuckled as he stepped on the first step. There was a loud creak. I felt like we were walking into the opening scene of a horror movie. I followed behind and I realized that I would never have done anything I had done today if I’d been with Blaine.

I wouldn’t have left work to go to an undisclosed location in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn’t have gotten naked in a field and done things that would make the trees blush. And I sure as heck wouldn’t have participated in anything resembling illegal.

Billy brought out another side of me, I just wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

As soon as my eyes cleared the landing, I knew we were in for quite an afternoon of work. The attic was massive, spanning the entire length and width of the house. It was an entire floor on its own.

And it wasn’t one of those movie attics you’d see, either, with just a few pieces of furniture spread around, artfully draped with cream-colored drop cloths, framed in bars of sunlight that cozy little dust motes floated through—and most likely, smack in the middle of an expanse of empty floorboards would be a vintage leather trunk with brass buckles that would all but scream, “Look inside me! I clearly hold the secrets you’re searching for!”

Nope. No such luck. What we were dealing with here was rows upon rows of cardboard boxes in varying states of decay, precariously stacked nearly to the ceiling in some cases. It was going to be a long day.

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