The group shuffled into the kitchen, which was set up as a field hospital. Fake blood dripped from the counter. Each sticky drop plunked on the floor. I winced at the mess. It didn’t feel real. Too recent experience taught me that blood didn’t make such a neat pile. Even if it hadn’t, my fingers tingled at the idea of scrubbing it off the floor. The AC chose that moment to gust through the pipes as the host dramatically explained the first hours of the days-long skirmish held once upon a time on the farm.
A pained groan sounded at the back door.
Gavin looked positively green.
I hoped he puked. Amy deserved better.
Was it very nice of me? Nope. But that was life.
The bang of musket fire made the group jump as a whole. Even I jerked with surprise.
Nico put his hands on my hips and hauled me against his body where my feet weren’t in danger of being stepped on. He moved to release me the moment there was space, but I pressed my hands over his.
“You’re just a tourist, remember,” I whispered. “We don’t know each other.”
A rough, low-pitched masculine growl of approval rumbled from the monster.
Was I really doing this? I should be creating distance! But this wasn’t the heir to the criminal empire and the grandson to my employers. This was the man from the bar. The fiend who’d maimed and slain for me. The Roman god from the hot tub. The first boy I kissed.
What was the harm in a little fun? He’d stalked me tonight. It was nice, even though a sane girl would argue it was creepy, but I wasn’t in the mood to be rational.
“Now…what’s your move?” I whispered.
“I would see if you wanted a real thrill,” Nico murmured and trailed the tips of his fingers up my side.
Something wicked sizzled between us. It shifted through me. Settled in my bones. Made my core clench.
“Of course I do.” I took a deep breath. “But what happens tomorrow?”
We wouldn’t be able to go back to the status quo. The suggestive way his fingers grazed the wire of my bra before brushing down the other side of my ribs said this was going somewhere else—and fast.
“I want you, Rae. I’m not going to hide that.”
I swallowed hard. This was fire. And I was the little idiot ready to play with it.
We couldn’t do that. Could we? It was one thing to flirt, to move around one another with this undeniable pull that was damn near magnetic, but crossing the line he was suggesting would be a monumental mistake.
Is it, though?
My inner goddess preened. He was here. With me. I was pretty sure that thick rod I felt pressing into my lower back wasn’t a husk of corn.
And besides…no one had to know.
“What happens here has to stay here,” I insisted.
The tourists were already lumbering up the back stairs. The last thing I wanted was to follow. Not when there was the promise of more.
“No one will know,” he agreed.
I pursed my lips. It was this place. The eerie night beyond begged me to be reckless. Letting out a long breath, I gave into the animal urge to take what this man offered.
“I’m not letting you fuck me in this creepy, animatronic house,” I breathed.
Nico groaned. His fingers sank into my hips, and he tugged me against his hard body. I felteverything.
“You have the dirtiest fucking mouth,” he growled against my ear.
I smirked. “If you think that’s bad….”
