Page 51 of Come A Little Closer

“Spiders! Watch out!”

“They’re fake,” she said as she kept laughing, purposely moving her flashlight in the direction of the landing.

As I processed her words, I spun to look at the little fuckers. Without me flailing around, they weren’t moving. I narrowed my eyes, my heart still pounding, but there was no doubt about it. Those weren’t alive. I poked at one with the toe of my shoe, just to be sure they weren’t playing possum. It didn’t react.

“What the fuck?” I breathed, my eyes slamming shut as I tried to rid myself of the sensation of those things crawling all over me.

“You must’ve knocked over the box of decorations I was going to use for the stairs,” she explained with amusement lacing her tone. “You’re okay, baby. They’re not real. I promise.”

I finally opened my eyes again, swallowing hard as I spun back to face her. She was striding toward me, a big, goofy grin on her lips. She wound her arms around my neck and pressed her soft curves up against me. “Take a breath, Niall. Just focus on me, okay?”

I nodded, even though my heart was still beating out of my chest. “Are you okay? I went to the guest house to find you, but when you weren’t there, I got worried and I thought I’d try to find you. Before I was attacked.”

“Well, you found me,” I said, grinning. “I got bored at home alone and I figured I might as well be productive, so I came here, but I brought the flashlight with me because I learned my lesson during that last storm. Good thing too.” She pressed up on her toes to plant an open-mouthed kiss against the thundering pulse underneath my jaw. “Are you sure you’re okay? I was hoping you’d show up tonight, but I would’ve moved the decorations if I’d known you’d be coming here.”

Inhaling a deep and calming breath, I focused on her eyes in the light of her flashlight and smiled. “You wouldn’t have moved the spiders. You’d just have planned it as another prank instead of having it happen by accident.”

She giggled softly, shrugging as I wound my arms around her hips. “Oh, I see. You think you’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?”

“I do.” I slid my hands up to her ribs and tickled her. “For example, I know how much you enjoy scaring people.”

She laughed, squirming against me before lacing her fingers through my own. “Too bad I didn’t plan that scare, but it was still pretty awesome. You screamed.”

As she waggled her eyebrows at me, I took her hands and started walking her backward down the hall to one of the guest bedrooms. “I did scream. I think it’s only fair if I get my turn to make you scream now.”

“Really?” She giggled, but the sound was breathier as I dropped my mouth to her throat and started pressing hot kisses to it. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“You’re only wearing a tank top and pajama shorts, and you look beautiful. I’m sure a few ideas will come to me.”

She sighed wistfully and looped her arms around my neck, willingly walking backward as I pushed her into the nearest bedroom. “I can’t wait to see what you’re going to come up with.”

23

TALLULAH

Iwasn’t sure if Niall knew how spooky I’d made these guest rooms look, but I was hoping he wouldn’t notice and get distracted by it. As always, as soon as he’d touched me, my body had turned into a live wire and need was already coursing through me.

He sealed his lips over mine, soft and firm while his kiss was hungry to the extent that he almost seemed desperate. I understood it, though. It’d been a couple days since we’d spent any time together and I’d genuinely missed this.

For someone who was only starting to discover real intimacy, it was amazing how much I’d come to crave it. As I slipped my fingers into his hair and held him to me, I kissed him back with just as much passion as he was showing me.

The backs of my knees brushed against the mattress and I sat down, pulling him with me and moaning when his weight came down on top of me. I loved feeling him against me like this, my body consumed by the size of his.

I stroked his strong cheekbones and smiled at the stubble I felt on his jaw. Niall was always clean shaven, but in the evenings, there was always a bit of growth from the day and I liked feeling it. It reminded me that he was real, and that what we had was real too.

He groaned into my mouth. “What are you smiling about?”

“You,” I murmured against his lips, scooting up on the bed and feeling him move with me. “I kind of like you, Niall Morrison.”

“Well, that’s great,” he replied on a husky whisper. “Because I kind of like you too, baby. Just a quick question, though.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“Why is there a pile of naked, plastic dolls in the corner?”

I groaned. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that. Ignore them. They’re part of my décor for this room.”

He grabbed the flashlight I’d dropped beside me and turned it off, smiling before he kissed me again. “That’s better. God, I don’t know how you come up with this stuff, but it’s damn creepy.”