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He left me alone, with his memories.
Chapter Seventeen
JONAH
Jesus. She had no idea.
That shit she said to me?
I couldn’t.
I just…
I couldn’t.
Fuck.
I’d left her alone again.
Chapter Eighteen
CARSON
A little while later, he found me in what I assumed was the library.
One wall was the floor-to-ceiling glass, facing the atrium, but two of the other walls were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. And books lined every inch of those shelves. The other wall was painted black with a leather couch against it that looked hella comfortable. Two afghans were folded on one end. The place should’ve been in a design magazine. I hadn’t a clue how to describe the rug, except that it was fuzzy and white, and I could’ve taken a nap on it. For twenty-four hours.
Jonah stood in the open doorway.
I glanced over at him as I perused the shelves. He looked ragged, and cautious. He tipped his head back, a soft sigh leaving him as he put his hands in his pockets. “I’m tired.”
“Sorry for going all Sixth Sense on you.” But I wasn’t, actually. Not at all. It was my truth, whether he took it or not.
“You believe what you said to me?”
I paused, but then nodded. “I do. It’s—I’ve never felt something that strongly. It was… I couldn’t forget it.”
He narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to the side. “Can you—I mean… Do you feel her now?”
“I’m not psychic, so no. Whatever that was, it was a one-and-done thing.”
“You said you’ve felt them before?”
“Yes. Sometimes it’s a presence, like if you’re sitting somewhere and someone comes up behind you. I feel ’em once and then not again after.” Goose bumps lined my arms as I remembered some of those times. “I’ve never told anyone about that stuff. It makes me sound like a freak.”
He snorted. “We have a situation, or I have a situation. I’m dead on my feet, and knowing my brother, when he gets back here, he’ll be raring to go. So while I’ve adapted not to need a ton of sleep, I’d still like to get some.” He raised an eyebrow.
I shifted my feet. “What?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“I’m not a fan of tying you up, or using handcuffs, or even locking you in a room. So yeah. You’re the situation.”
“I’m not going to run.” I motioned toward the glass wall. “Run where? And who buys a place in the middle of a forest, but has cameras and lights installed? That’s insane.” I thought about it, and a shiver went through my body. “Don’t answer that. I won’t run.”
“I’m hoping you won’t kill me either.”
“Huh?”
He moved across the room and grabbed my wrist, then switched his hold. He dropped his hand into mine and led me from the room. We went down a hallway and back to the other building. Then we went down some stairs, and he tugged me into a back corner room.
It was large, dark, and the bed was enormous.
Releasing my hand, he waited till I stepped all the way inside before shutting the door. There was a code set next to it. He pressed and held the bottom button. Two green lights flashed, and there was a locking sound in the door.
“If you put in the wrong code even once, the room will light up, and an alarm will sound. We’ll have guards at the door within ten seconds.”
Okay, then. No trying to hack a coded breaker.
He went to the far end of the room and opened another door. A light switched on. “Here’s the bathroom if you need it.”
He disappeared into a walk-in closet and came back with clothes. “Here. For sleeping.”
He had everything I would need: a soft tank top, pajama bottoms.
He went back into the closet, leaving me alone in the room.
Guess it was bedtime?
But I felt dirty from my forest jog, so I went to the bathroom. I cleaned up as much as I could, rifling through the drawers and finding a toothbrush still in its wrapping. I brushed my teeth, and after I couldn’t stall anymore, I opened the door. But I wasn’t ready.
Who could be?
I should’ve been, because I’m a forensic technician. Bodies weren’t new to me. They were my job on the daily. But no. No one could’ve been prepared because holy fuck me, Jonah Bennett’s body was glorious. Glor-i-ous. Emphasis on all of that.
He was standing, his head cocked to the side, in a pair of sweats. They dipped low, resting on his hips. My mouth went dry. It wasn’t that he was ripped, because he wasn’t. I didn’t like that look, but he was lean, and there was definite muscle definition. He took care of his body. That was evident.
He had the penis landing strip, the two muscles (I knew the scientific names, but they weren’t coming to me right now) that if you kept following them down…there you go. As a colleague would giggle sometimes, you’ve landed on home base. I’d never been infatuated with those muscles (on live people, of course), but on Jonah, they made my knees a bit weak.
