Page 27

“You’ll have to excuse me, Mr. Vampire. I have to get to safety.” That was not a classic line. It was barely flirtatious. But there wasn’t time to feel silly.

The masked man closed the distance quickly, his socked feet whispering across the tile floor. I spun around and fled. Picking my way carefully up the stairs in a pre-memorized path, I was only halfway up when the sound of his heavy tread hit the stairs below.

The toes of my right foot curled in pain as I hit a wrong spot. But I fled, climbing quickly.

A stifled roar of frustration bellowed from below.

Well…now he knew why Legos were one of the worst possible toys to give children. We would have to wait and see if he learned that they were a special kind of torture packaged as engineering tools for parents too exhausted to realize how painful the miniature pieces of plastic could be on socked or bare feet. Granted, it was I who’d planted them on the stairs, creating a booby trap so that I could escape to the safety of my room.

I reached my room first as planned, panting as I sagged against the chair in the corner. The nightstand lamp cast the room in a welcoming glow. Maybe it was my delusional brain, but the light seemed to flicker, echoing my triumph. I reached for the small bottle of tequila on top of the dresser and poured myself a victory shot.

“Rose,” darkness sang out behind me.

With a hiss, I shook away the burn before turning to face the shadowy figure in the doorway. “Too bad you haven’t been invited inside.”

This was fun.

Something I hadn’t had in ages.

While the flirting probably wasn’t the kind Cosmo would recommend in an article, it worked spur of the moment. The heat in his gaze told me he’d enjoyed the moment of chase. I was already plotting tomorrow’s sequel.

“Let me in,” he demanded, leaning forward with a hand braced on either side of the doorframe.

I shook my head, biting my bottom lip to keep from saying something foolish.

“You know it’s only going to be worse for you when I catch you, my sweet Rose.”

Anticipation shivered down my spine.

I took a slow, calculating step toward him. “What if you don’t?”

“Catch you?” He laughed roughly. “Please. It’s just a matter of time.”

“Oh? And just for the record, what exactly will my punishment be when you do?” I pushed, though my voice was breathless.

I didn’t even recognize the woman I was, egging him on like this.

This hungry gaze swept over my body. “I will make you come so fucking hard that you forget your name.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded. “And once I erase that, I’ll give you a new one.”

I arched a brow. “A new name? And what will that be?”

Whatever he was going to say was cut off when the creak of the floorboard across the hall snapped me back into reality. As the doorknob jiggled, I lunged forward, fisted his black shirt, and tugged. The burst of energy made the mass of muscle stumble into the room, but I was too busy closing my bedroom door just as my grandmother opened hers.

I leaned against the wood, cursing the fact that she had raised babies of her own and had that keen sense of hearing that guaranteed no mother slept soundly through the night.

“Rose?” Nonna knocked on the door. “Everything okay in there?”

Air stuck in my throat. “Yep!”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

My grandmother harrumphed. “Get some sleep, ragazza mia.”